reminiscence and new ideas!

Looking back over my days at primary school, high school, sixth form and eventually university, i have been involved in many events. events for fun, events for charity and events for the school itself. I was looking back at pictures and thinking of the events i took part in that i found most enjoyable. Obviously doing the shows was enjoyable as i would't be doing the degree im doing now, but there was one event that stuck out in my mind, even more so when i saw a picture of myself, dressed completely head to toe in tin foil. This sounds strange but let me explain!

I myself dressed in tin foil, my friend stood next to me wearing a dress made of crisp packets, and my teacher on the other side wearing a hat made of paper plates and bottle tops. This was no ordinary schoolday, this was our charity based recyclable fashion show. An event that raised money to watch us walk down the catwalk in "clothes" that we had completely fashioned ourselves out of objects that we no longer needed. Not only was the cat walk fun, the making of the clothes was even better. we all came together with ideas, and created a number of outfits from the most bizzare items, ranging from, cds to bubblewrap.

Since the very beginning of this project, i have know that i wanted to work with children as i find their imaginations and creativity inspiring. They are the perfect community to participate in such an event! Not only will such a project encourage children to come together as a community and be creative, it will encourage other communities to come and watch what the children have created.

I have been leasing with a school in which i have suggested a temporary afterschool club in which we make and design the outfits, eventually resulting in a charity fundraising night with our recyclable fashion show a part of it.

A crazy idea, however one that encourages the protection of the environment with recycling, and of course the bringing together of different communities.

worries!

As everyone wo knows me would say, i am a worrier. I worry about the smallest things to such a point that i begin to panic. I even worry for other people when they're not worrying...its crazy! I have reached this stage now!

I am so worried about this project. I feel completely lost. I was really interested in creating a project at st marys for primary school children to be a part of, what i was unsure about was what exactly i wanted to present. Do i want to do a production? Do i want the children to showcase their talents and create a variety show? or do i want to recreate true stories as after our lesson on reminiscence theatre my brain got whirling once more. I feel so lost with so many ideas but no where to go.

As i said i would, I created leaflets and handed them out to parents at my place of work, "nelson and st eds afterschool club." Almost every parent took a leaflet and i have had a few responses, but im not sure if it's enough to create a project with. maybe there is a small response due to my lack of information in the leaflet, or maybe the parents have forgotten, as i did this before christmas, the busiest time of year! I am reluctant to create another batch of leaflets however as i am still so un clear as to the direction i'm headed. I've booked the theatre space during march, however i am still unaware if this is going to be suitable! please help me! i need inspiration that will make me think..." yes that's exactly what I want to do!!!......

first thought???

Todays lecture was utterly inspiring. Listening to Mark talk about past projects got my mind working overtime. I was intrigued by the solo project created a couple of years ago by another girl named kirsty in which she single handedly created her own performance written and performed by herself and a number of children. I myself hope to go into teaching in the future and i see this as a great opportunity to gain further insight into the ways in which children work. I would really love to do something similar, preferably with children at the primary school age. I currently work as an after school playworker in which myself and 3 others supervise 40 children after school and generally keep them entertained. I had an idea to maybe ask them and also their parents whether they would be interested in taking part in such a project. If there appears to be a succesful response, i will almost definately be heading down this route... 

cardboard citizens- The Help

Carboard Citizens, a drama company specialising in forum theatre, with all members who currently, or have previously experienced homelessness. My initial thought was, "wow, how unique, i have no idea or no preconception of what this may be like." I walked into the theatre and was greeted by a group of faces that felt as if they were following me to my seat, this was intimidating and slightly uncomfortable, however i immediately felt a part of the action even before it began, this was already forum theatre!

the performance consisted of three stories, all of which were autobiographical, this lead me to question, " is a performance more powerful if it is autobiographical, or simply make believe? something that i will think about when creating my final performance. The fact that all three stories were autobiographical, they immediately impacted on me to a great extent. when recreating these stories on stage, the audience were creating different scenarios and making different choices as if they were that individual. what we found was that there really wasn't another choice or another way of surviving, this was their lives and it was as if there was no powere whatsoever to change it.

Cardboard Citizens have all experienced first hand the feeling of being alone and homeless, therfore i felt as if they were able to succesfully create a powerful and meaningful performance, however do i have that ability without the experience? I thought long and hard about this, and i came to realise that of course i have the right, through watching performances such as cardbard Citizens,talking to victims of homelessness and by simply researching my chosen target audience, i feel i would gain an insight into the lives of others, thus enabling me to recreate something real.

How important is a storyteller?

when listening to a story, are we listening to the words? Are we listening to the tone of the story? or are we listening to the way in which the story is told. We experimented with this during our lesson. Listening to the story of "the 12 sisters" I realised that the storyteller is the most important part of a story. Molly contrasted two different types of storytelling when reading this short story to us, she spoke in a relaxed format, then all of a sudden, changed to a more strict and decisive tone. The way in which I was listening to the story completely changed as Molly changed. This made me think about how important my role is in devising theatre for a community. How should i go about presenting my ideas? Is it important to know your community in depth before creating a piece of theatre for them; particularly when talking about cardboard citizens, (a company completely led by those who have experienced aspects of homelessness.) Do i have the right to create a piece of theatre for the homeless if i have never experienced homelessness? Will i stereotype and come across as patronising or will i be able to create a piece of theatre that is appreciated by such a community?

what is a community?

To me, community simply means a group of people joined together by their place of residence, but what does a community represent?...

• togetherness
• love
• strength
• protection
• maybe at times, isolation

i have realised that a community is more than just a group of people that live within close proximity of each other, it completely defines you! I am a part of many communities, each one holding a little element of my personality; sub-consciously, i am who i am because of my community.