A Bouncy Castle and A Mug Of Tea
Today is a day of coffee, tea, talking, tea, planning, tea, reflecting and perhaps another cup of tea. (Or peppermint tea for Hattie) Meeting up the day after the work in progress to plan the next block of rehearsals and discuss set, marketing and other more administrative aspects is probably one of my favourite parts of the process. It is a time to reflect on the week, check in with the work and observe how it has developed. Many artists may begrudge this phase of the work, and I’m not going to lie and say that these kinds of days wouldn’t be improved if they were done whilst on a bouncy castle or in the format of a karaoke battle but let us not be silly now. Besides, it would be very difficult to type whilst pinning off the walls of an inflatable fort.
It’s been a long week. An enjoyable long week, which began by welcoming two new artists into the fold. George and Gemma (the alliteration was a happy coincidence). We started by reflecting on our trip to Newlyn in June. This helped us get G and G up to speed and also gave us the chance as a whole to clarify our aims and motives behind the work. Introducing a fresh pair of eyes is incredibly useful and what could be better than two pairs of eyes? Gemma Williams our dramaturg has been invaluable, getting us to think and play around with the material we’d already created. I’ve never worked with a dramaturg before and so far I love it. Her presence in the room is well respected like a beautiful matriarch figure that brings us breakfast muffins (which actually happened) Her input is precise and very effective, continually guiding us towards finding what we’re after.
Sam Wyer our fabulous designer also accompanied us throughout the week. Having a designer so engaged with the work is fantastic. With an art form as visual as puppetry I imagine it must really help to be close to the process, Sam has a very good eye for what a scene requires both visually and theatrically. On several occasions I would stumble upon him hunched over a small light in a back cupboard working away to then have him emerge minutes later with a pop-up newspaper or seagulls on wire or other props which would make us go “Ofcourse! Why did we not think of that?” As if he had the foresight to know what we needed before we even asked. I may have a boy crush on this man.
Pleasance Theatre was a lovely venue to perform at. The technical team were superb which made the usually feared tech much more comfortable. The show went really well and we received some great constructive feedback. At this stage it’s really important to check in with the work we’ve created to find if we are meeting our goals but also if it is resonating with the audience as well. It’s always exciting to show work to a new audience, especially when the material feels so fresh. If any of that audience had come to the scratch at hatch (poet in the making) and then came to see the work-in –progress at the Pleasance Theatre they would have witnessed two very different pieces of work. It feels like we have taking a lot more time in this past week to look at our narrative and the journey of Alf as our lead puppet. This is also important because whilst we have the necessary information about the industry and could perhaps convey these aspects of debate to our audience we still need a strong narrative that the audience can engage with in order for the show to have a heart.
But here we are, on our coffee, tea, talking, planning, tea, reflecting and perhaps another tea day. On Friday we met at Deptford Lounge to go over the feedback and plans for Cornwall. As I’ve already said there was no bouncy castle so don’t give your hopes up! Matt, George and I were in charge of scheduling the trip and planning rehearsals so heaven help us if we make it back alive! When we all met up at the end of the day it was great to hear the ideas that the rest of the group and Sam had for set and puppet design. This discussion means that whilst we’re away in Cornwall Sam can make a start on design ready for when we return for build week. Going through the plans I found myself getting more and more excited to go. I’m sure we’ll have a great time and I’m really excited to be having George there as well. Let us just hope I don’t get seasick this time.
Goofy Apple out.