Sunday 17 April 2011
WE ARE THE NEW THEM: A Long Time in the Works
WE ARE THE NEW THEM: A Long Time in the Works: "Nathan Keates is a playful character and creator of Ludus Ludius in Cardiff. Pretty much every week he will cover the full width of the coun..."
Monday 11 April 2011
Taxi Game
Some context is most probably needed here, Iain was playing the Taxi game which was initially described as: whoever is the driver has to take on the characteristics of each of the passengers that enters. One way of interpreting this would be to mimic each of the separate characters that enter, Iain instead chose to perceive this as slowly building a montage of all the characters together resulting in this comical ending. Jolly good, as our show is about perception!
This was apart of the Ludus Ludius rehearsal for their upcoming improv production going to Edinburgh Fringe.
Rehearsal 5: Emblem - EdFringe
5th Week of Rehearsals
With Anna flying back to Mexico, we were left locked out of Atrium for the time being and returned to Keith's house, which was very much appreciated. For this rehearsal we began by exploring some short form Improv, moving onto structured long form and ending the session with focus on exploring and defining our environments. Memborable moments arose from: Ian, as the Taxi driver who adopts and collates characteristics from each of his passengers; Amy beating us at our own wish to make her frustrated during the Conference game; a fiendishly long game of 'biberty bibert BOP', with underhanded tactics by all and an effective use of stomach rumblings by introducings characters who were, like us at 2 o'clock waiting for our lunch break, quite hungry.
Two instances stood out from the session as a whole: a wonderfully awkward moment between a father (Nathan) and son (Ian) when the father reveals that the reason his family has always referred to him as 'Uncle Bill' was because he was infact, Ian's uncle and not his father, resulting in Nathan fufilling the role of the dirty uncle with a disturbing attraction to his nepthew, and also the small details that engage an audience when establishing an environment. It was agreed that we would like to explore both of these areas in more detail as the more awkward and sinister situations hold more realism underneath; we were laughing because the only other alternative way to react is to accept the gruesome possibilities, as well as the awareness that the two actors may have to actually play the parts out which, in retrospect, we felt had been cut short to avoid this. The establishment and use of an environment was engaging as it allowed the audience to engage with our activities, the rinsing of a sponge as someone cleaned a window and the shuffling of a pack of cards were notably effective, as well as changing our previous pace and style. We felt this allowed more time for each character to form and for the story itself to progress from the group collective, instead of the inter-mingling of our individual ideas which seemed somewhat strained at times.
All in all a productive rehearsal with a realisation for the importance of discussing the events of the day at the end of the session in order to allow us to grow as a group. And, perhaps, the importance of being quiet and stealthy Ninjas instead of Karate Kids whilst in someone's house, due to shouts for us to 'shut up' from across the street.
With Anna flying back to Mexico, we were left locked out of Atrium for the time being and returned to Keith's house, which was very much appreciated. For this rehearsal we began by exploring some short form Improv, moving onto structured long form and ending the session with focus on exploring and defining our environments. Memborable moments arose from: Ian, as the Taxi driver who adopts and collates characteristics from each of his passengers; Amy beating us at our own wish to make her frustrated during the Conference game; a fiendishly long game of 'biberty bibert BOP', with underhanded tactics by all and an effective use of stomach rumblings by introducings characters who were, like us at 2 o'clock waiting for our lunch break, quite hungry.
Two instances stood out from the session as a whole: a wonderfully awkward moment between a father (Nathan) and son (Ian) when the father reveals that the reason his family has always referred to him as 'Uncle Bill' was because he was infact, Ian's uncle and not his father, resulting in Nathan fufilling the role of the dirty uncle with a disturbing attraction to his nepthew, and also the small details that engage an audience when establishing an environment. It was agreed that we would like to explore both of these areas in more detail as the more awkward and sinister situations hold more realism underneath; we were laughing because the only other alternative way to react is to accept the gruesome possibilities, as well as the awareness that the two actors may have to actually play the parts out which, in retrospect, we felt had been cut short to avoid this. The establishment and use of an environment was engaging as it allowed the audience to engage with our activities, the rinsing of a sponge as someone cleaned a window and the shuffling of a pack of cards were notably effective, as well as changing our previous pace and style. We felt this allowed more time for each character to form and for the story itself to progress from the group collective, instead of the inter-mingling of our individual ideas which seemed somewhat strained at times.
All in all a productive rehearsal with a realisation for the importance of discussing the events of the day at the end of the session in order to allow us to grow as a group. And, perhaps, the importance of being quiet and stealthy Ninjas instead of Karate Kids whilst in someone's house, due to shouts for us to 'shut up' from across the street.
Friday 8 April 2011
Edinburgh Fringe Photoshoot 2
This last Wednesday we had a small photoshoot. These images are going to be adapted to suit the purpose, obviously. However there was a huge amount of fun with these and some great moments can be seen in them.
And now for some more of the pictures... Thank you Matt Mills, who took these.
Last two now!
Here...
And now for some more of the pictures... Thank you Matt Mills, who took these.
Last two now!
Here...
Monday 4 April 2011
The British Improv Scene: a dedicated improv theatre
The United Kingdom having its very own improvisation theatre was not a lone thought. The voices heard at the start of these spoken thoughts about this very concept was very exciting. It probably is certain that every improviser had the idea of starting an actual building with the commitment to improvisation. I know I did and in a way still do. The excitements of hearing other people desire the same as myself meant that the likelihood that a place would appear and be totally dedicated to the common cause was more probable.
I cannot tell how many of those original voices are involved with The Miller becoming this very building, but with a multitude of resident groups performing in the venue we can be safe to say we have a step closer. I heard mentions from the likes of Jules Munn who runs many theatre projects including improvisation tasks, such as The Nursery and their festival and the Slapdash improv festival in London and no doubt a countless amount of other vast and impressive events and projects. And we all look forward to the next Slapdash that will join the history of improvisation festivals that the UK has: Assisting the growth of the variety of improv that exists in the country. With Bristol Jam entering its third year and Shifti that sadly hasn’t returned since its debut in 2007. I also heard Steve Roe talking about the possibilities. He is from Hoopla that had weekly shows in the venue (The Miller near London Bridge tube) and then joined Shotgun Impro that also then began performing in The Miller. With weekly drop-in sessions in The Bedlam in Balham and also Saturday sessions that are always something magnificent. This is along with many other names that you could have heard on the grapevine. Whispers have been around for longer than I was close enough to hear and now we cannot just hear but see! So to those people that are actually involved, I thank you and look forward to hearing more from over the border with the sheep. The sheep and I are looking at each step with glee and anticipation.
The main reason why this should excite most if not all improvisers in Britain is because we can become a tighter community of improvisers. We can easily see that many people desire this with the start of Crunchy Frog Collective that began about five or so years ago and the recent online request from Alex Fradera who has started a ning network for Community Improvisation. The load of times I have gone to other groups and played, from Wow Impro in Coventry to The Bourne ImprovAbles in Bournemouth.
Connecting up with others is more of a joy for me. Easily found when I got strangers together in last year’s show in London, ‘Catch Impro’, to perform in a duo against another pairing. A good network leads to better quality and this creates a wider audience. When my Nan is going to improv shows I know we have made a good network. A dedicated venue shall have a major impact on the network. Like the Improv Symposium in Edinburgh in August ’10, bringing people together is beautiful.
We can all aspire to have the nation-wide recognised improv theatres, events and productions. We have ‘Scenes from Communal Living’ that started in Australia and moved to us and ‘Fingers on Buzzards’ that is now being performed in Canada, so how come we cannot get shows to be national if we have international. Personally I am doing my part with beginning a youth group in Cardiff and will try and get them to compete in ‘Cagematch’ wherever possible. (So if you have a youth group, then let’s play!) There are a lot of shows that are like Theatresports or Maestro – depending on how you perceive the productions. I guess what I am trying to say is perhaps naming it one title and spread that around. Or is it important in the slightest? Is the one roof the tie of recognition? I know Fat Kitten have competed against Student Improv Nottingham and MissImp against BangorSoc from North Wales. These probably were not the same game. How about Britain Improv Games? With the likes of the fantastic David Shore we should get more and more long-form, perhaps Harolds. This may well lead to Harold competitions or even the afore mentioned Cagematch. The improvisation scene in Britain is getting highly interesting, exciting and thrilling. With new influences, new mediums being used like ‘Fast and Loose’ on telly and ‘Showstopper’ on radio. (Although this is more getting back onto those mediums) and also the best result an actual venue.
‘London Improv’ is the place to perform at the moment. They are booked up till the Edinburgh Fringe, which I have a show in and you can get more about that via searching ‘Ludus Ludius’. Further articles may well come about this too. Unfortunately we cannot bring it to the venue before the festival. However, if we want this to work then everyone needs to bombard them with requests to perform in The Miller and make sure we are seeing the true depth of what people are producing from all around the UK. Utilise what we have and let us see something magical.
Thank you,
Nathan Keates
I cannot tell how many of those original voices are involved with The Miller becoming this very building, but with a multitude of resident groups performing in the venue we can be safe to say we have a step closer. I heard mentions from the likes of Jules Munn who runs many theatre projects including improvisation tasks, such as The Nursery and their festival and the Slapdash improv festival in London and no doubt a countless amount of other vast and impressive events and projects. And we all look forward to the next Slapdash that will join the history of improvisation festivals that the UK has: Assisting the growth of the variety of improv that exists in the country. With Bristol Jam entering its third year and Shifti that sadly hasn’t returned since its debut in 2007. I also heard Steve Roe talking about the possibilities. He is from Hoopla that had weekly shows in the venue (The Miller near London Bridge tube) and then joined Shotgun Impro that also then began performing in The Miller. With weekly drop-in sessions in The Bedlam in Balham and also Saturday sessions that are always something magnificent. This is along with many other names that you could have heard on the grapevine. Whispers have been around for longer than I was close enough to hear and now we cannot just hear but see! So to those people that are actually involved, I thank you and look forward to hearing more from over the border with the sheep. The sheep and I are looking at each step with glee and anticipation.
The main reason why this should excite most if not all improvisers in Britain is because we can become a tighter community of improvisers. We can easily see that many people desire this with the start of Crunchy Frog Collective that began about five or so years ago and the recent online request from Alex Fradera who has started a ning network for Community Improvisation. The load of times I have gone to other groups and played, from Wow Impro in Coventry to The Bourne ImprovAbles in Bournemouth.
Connecting up with others is more of a joy for me. Easily found when I got strangers together in last year’s show in London, ‘Catch Impro’, to perform in a duo against another pairing. A good network leads to better quality and this creates a wider audience. When my Nan is going to improv shows I know we have made a good network. A dedicated venue shall have a major impact on the network. Like the Improv Symposium in Edinburgh in August ’10, bringing people together is beautiful.
We can all aspire to have the nation-wide recognised improv theatres, events and productions. We have ‘Scenes from Communal Living’ that started in Australia and moved to us and ‘Fingers on Buzzards’ that is now being performed in Canada, so how come we cannot get shows to be national if we have international. Personally I am doing my part with beginning a youth group in Cardiff and will try and get them to compete in ‘Cagematch’ wherever possible. (So if you have a youth group, then let’s play!) There are a lot of shows that are like Theatresports or Maestro – depending on how you perceive the productions. I guess what I am trying to say is perhaps naming it one title and spread that around. Or is it important in the slightest? Is the one roof the tie of recognition? I know Fat Kitten have competed against Student Improv Nottingham and MissImp against BangorSoc from North Wales. These probably were not the same game. How about Britain Improv Games? With the likes of the fantastic David Shore we should get more and more long-form, perhaps Harolds. This may well lead to Harold competitions or even the afore mentioned Cagematch. The improvisation scene in Britain is getting highly interesting, exciting and thrilling. With new influences, new mediums being used like ‘Fast and Loose’ on telly and ‘Showstopper’ on radio. (Although this is more getting back onto those mediums) and also the best result an actual venue.
‘London Improv’ is the place to perform at the moment. They are booked up till the Edinburgh Fringe, which I have a show in and you can get more about that via searching ‘Ludus Ludius’. Further articles may well come about this too. Unfortunately we cannot bring it to the venue before the festival. However, if we want this to work then everyone needs to bombard them with requests to perform in The Miller and make sure we are seeing the true depth of what people are producing from all around the UK. Utilise what we have and let us see something magical.
Thank you,
Nathan Keates
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)