Super Saturday

What a day. Never has that short, but to-the-point sentence been so apt for me. I’m very tired right now, but I wanted to quickly write something up before I turn in for the day.

Rehearsals were a bit of a waste of time for me. I could only go for two hours, and because one of the cast members I work quite closely with wasn’t there until 10 minutes before I had to leave, the rest of the time was just chatting and watching other scenes. It’s not that I mind doing that, but I did let them know over a week in advance that I would have to leave early. Oh well.

The plays were good. I’ll talk more about them tomorrow when I’m not falling asleep at my computer. And the company was excellent, we had a lot of fun.

I have study, food shopping and other stuff to do tomorrow, so I’ll have to sacrifice catching up on all my lost sleep until tomorrow night/Monday morning when I might get to bed earlier/sleep in. But I’m feeling pretty good anyway.

Time, Study and the Light at the End

I know, I missed yesterday. Time got away from me (I can’t believe 24 hours ago I was writing reference lists and studying for my media law exam – it feels like a week ago). And I was very busy with assignments. From last Friday to this Friday I’ve done six assignments. And they weren’t that evenly spread. But now I have only two left, and they should be goodies.

I went and had drinks this afternoon with my journalism friends and associates at uni. Our lecturer organised it and I’m so glad she did. It was really a lot of fun (minus the bombardment all our ears got – apparently Friday afternoon of the last teaching week is the time to go for a drink). It’s interesting, because when I went to submit my three written assignments today, I was thinking about how deserted the campus was. When I headed over to the uni bar, I realised why.

Still, it was fun. I even ended up having a chat about Doctor Who with my lecturer!

Anyway, I think I need to go to bed. I haven’t had much sleep this week and tomorrow is Super Saturday (as in rehearsals in the morning, Much Ado About Nothing straight afterwards and The Laramie Project after that). I’ll have to write reviews for the plays!

A Culture of Fear

We sat in the dark performance space waiting for the audience to enter. An eerie song was playing and the only light came from four torches. Once audience member followed the light to the centre of the room before changing their mind and moving outside the light. When it was dark, we began to talk.

I walked around, taking photos of people in the dark, then handing them disturbing images which they could look at when the lights were turned on. The stockings on our heads made us uniform, and the scattered sentences unsettled a lot of people. The lights, when they came up, were only light enough to illuminate the space, not much more.

It sounds strange, and possibly a little over-dramatised in written form, but the effect on the audience was what we had hoped for. Our performance was exploring the phrase “a culture of fear” and we were both facilitating and sharing fears with the people around us. In a post-September 11, post-Bali Bombings, post-London bus scare, terrorism is fear’s word of choice. And suspicion is rife.  How do you know who is planning something? Could that person talking quietly into their phone and rapidly looking around be someone suspect enough to call the National Security Hotline?

You know there’s something wrong with society when the sound of fireworks can be mistaken for gunfire – even if only for a second. We’re more on edge than before, and in some ways I think that is a normal, reasonable reaction to recent world events. But in many ways I wonder if there is an alternative, and this performance gave me a chance to make others question their own fears.

When the fluros were turned on and our performance was over someone gave the best feedback I could have asked for.

“My heart was racing. I was scared, but I also asked myself why I was scared.”

That was what I had hoped to hear.

Tuesday

Who would have known walking around with a stocking on your head could be so much fun? Well, I certainly didn’t until we had our group dress rehearsal today. Not only did it bring about stomach-cramping laughter, but also some great photos (which I might even try and post tomorrow after the performance).

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, but I’m also feeling exhausted already. And the idea of three more non-stop study days is not very appealing. But, I shall persevere!

At the moment I should get back to fixing up this video for tomorrow. Most of my group thought it was “perfect” (to quote one girl), but I noticed a few sections which were edited badly. So, onward with the video.

More tomorrow (if I don’t feel swamped that is).

The Death of the Theatre?

We had a debate today. Team Affirmative, as I decided to call us(one “witty” guy wanted to call us “Team Dan”, but I suspected that was an ego thing of sorts), was arguing that theatre is dead. So…is it?

We argued that theatre, as defined by Aristotle some 2000 plus years ago, is not alive. Performance, on the other hand, we believe is very alive. See, theatre, with a linear narrative and fourth wall, only appeals to a small percentage of todays society. Performance is everywhere (and if you read the work of someone like Schechner, everything).

Team Negative argued this was just an evolution of theatre and could still be called “theatre” as such, but I tend to disagree. If, as scientific theory compelling suggests, humans evolved from some form of ape, why then are we not still called apes? Because we have evolved so much that we could hardly be called apes? Isn’t that the same as with contemporary “theatre”/performance? I would argue yes, but feel free to rebut.

You might have also noticed my headline for today is alluding to Roland Barthes’ essay The Author is Dead, which states that authors are no more than the people writing, and the readers are the ones creating meaning. In his essay, Barthes suggests “death” is a metaphor for a power exhange, or an evolution of sorts. If we apply that same “death” metaphor to the changing face of “theatre”, it could easily be seen as dead.

Either way, it was a very interesting discussion and a number of Team Negative attacked me in their rebuttal. I’ll admit one of them had a very good reason to do this (I got my theories mixed and my words muddled), but I like to think I got the most notice because what I was saying made them think. And, for me, that is the important thing about debates.

Sunday

A short post today I think, because I almost forgot (again) to make one. I’ve been working on an essay most of the day, and I feel surprisingly good. Yes, it’s true that at one stage, in the late afternoon, I had to run around my study area and do a bit of a physical shake-out to re-focus myself, but I still got a lot done.

I’m now entering the Dreaded Week 13 at uni, and I’m not looking forward to it. But I am looking forward to the end of the week, so that’s something to keep me going. And tomorrow I have an appointment about my drama future, so it will be nice to have some more organisation. Until then, I think it’s time for bed.

(And for once I have managed to write a short post!)

Saturday – Plays and History

Do you know what I enjoy about studying plays for drama? Part of it is my enthusiasm for drama, but part of it is the history you get to learn. At the moment I’m writing about Kushner’s Angels in America and Kaufman’s The Laramie Project and I’m learning so much about the United States political history.

At school here you tend to get taught a minimal amount of world history, and a lot about Australian history, so things like Reaganomics and Clinton’s policies escaped me for a long, long time. Being able to read about them now, and find links between politics and the plays is proving particularly interesting.

Yes, I have changed my tune (again) about university work. I’m enjoying it at the moment. But I know next week will be my Week of Hell, so making the most of this assignment means I can try and keep sane for everything else I’m not so enthusiastic about. And it’s not often I get the chance to write about a play one weekend, and go and see it performed the next. I’m really glad this is the case with The Laramie Project.

When I first read The Project, I was amazed by it’s scope and the effectiveness of the docudrama genre (some people call it Verbatim Theatre, but I disagree with that). And also by how much the words effected me. I’m a little ambiguous about seeing it next weekend because I know it will be great, but also very moving. I’m not usually one to cry in things, but I have a feeling I’ll need a box of tissues handy next Saturday night.

Anyway, I think I’ll turn in for the day (in terms of writing at least). I have to go to the shops and then make dinner for Sister Dear and I.

Friday

A short entry is in call for tonight I think. I’ve had a mad hatter of a day today. Firstly, I went to uni, handed in an assignment and rushed off to my Media Law class, almost colliding with my lecturer in the process. That was, of course, fun.

The class was great, a revision type thing for the exam next week which got me thinking about that on top of everything else I need to think about. After that I raced up to the bus stop to catch the inter-campus bus to get to my group meeting. On the way I realised I had a message from my dad about some projects I have planned for the summer holidays.

Group meeting. Ok, we got stuff done and I don’t feel so bad about it all now. But it didn’t help that two of the members got really stressed and inadvertently took it out on the group. Yes, fair enough one of the other members was playing director and sounded patronising about it (note the word sounded though because I don’t think it was intentional). And yes, we were a bit rude when one member started saying they had an assignment and couldn’t meet up the day before the performance, but those were not fair reasons for people to leave almost in tears and blunder off like Heathcliff on a bad day. Seriously.

On the other hand, play rehearsals tonight were lots of fun. So it was good in the end.

Thursday

I woke up to the sound of construction work this morning, and despite the late night last night, I managed to get up and prepare for my long day of uni work. Surprisingly it wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated and once I got started I was ok. I think my mind blocks certain things to stop me from getting (more) stressed, and sometimes it must forget to unblock certain things when I’m trying to work. Unlike with some computer issues, there’s not really a methodology to the unblocking process.

Still, I got things done. And I even had time to read the news online. Now don’t get me wrong, I love newspapers (I don’t know many “young people” who do, but I do), especially the bigger ones, but I don’t like spending money on them. So online it is at the moment.

Of course, with the Federal Election closing in on us all, a lot of the news was about that. Apparently Prime Minister John Howard plans to open a training facility in the Greenslopes Private Hospital (Brisbane, QLD). This is (I think) actually in Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd’s electorate. Tactic? Or is Howard addressing the crumbling health system?

With a decreasing number of nurses and doctors being trained in Australia, the opportunity to be trained in a private hospital is certainly something that needs to be considered. However, the proposed project would be done in association with the University of Queensland. Now I’m a fair opportunity type, and very much against university bias (I both acclaim and criticise most universities I know of). But it sounds very much like this project would be readily available to UQ students, and perhaps not to the other major Brisbane uni’s – Queensland University of Technology and Griffith.

Would students from Brisbane universities other than UQ get opportunities to work at Greenslopes if the project went ahead? Shouldn’t all medical students have the same workplace training opportunities?

I’ll be voicing my opinions about things like this as the election process continues.

Wednesday

A late post, and with only two minutes left before 12am, I’m guessing it will end up being my first of two technically Thursday entries. Oh well, I’m still counting it as daily.

Group work continues to be a bit of an issue. Fortunately we will be getting together on Friday afternoon to work things our further. I am hoping that we’ll be set for next week by the end of that four hours. If not, they might just end up seeing the Bad and Rarely Seen Side of Amy.

I apparently have a package I need to pick up from the post office tomorrow. I’m guessing it’s some articles I asked mum to send me, but I have no idea why she would have had them sent via registered post. It’s a bit of a mystery. I tried to solve it late this afternoon, and apparently the person who “tried” to deliver it (people were home all day, so I doubt there was much trying) hadn’t got back to the post office. Oh well, at some stage tomorrow I’ll need a break from work, and now I have an excuse.

With the Federal Election campaign well underway now, I have realised there is a good chance I’ll be out of the state on election day. My first election, and I will be doing it probably by postal vote, which actually means I get a bit more time to figure out if I’ve done everything right. Ah, the joys of being a civic-minded citizen. Actually, I found a rather pertinent “letter” from the Opposition Leader in our letterbox today, all about doing postal votes. Hmm, maybe someone know it would be an option for me… you never know…

That’s about it for (tonight? today?) now. I’ll be back at an earlier hour (today? tomorrow?) later.