Information about project assignment

The important thing to remember is that I want a discussion about the process. I am not looking for an 'academic analysis'. 

There is no need for academic references in this, a paper which asks for your subjective thoughts and comments on the creative process and how its development altered or adapted as circumstances changed.

What was the decision making process?

Who had the initial idea/s and how did these develop into a project?

What problems arose and how were they overcome?

Where did the project lead you either personally, intellectually, or as a group?

This is your opportunity to explore the reasoning behind a creative project. 

By expressing the 'process' in written form, you are developing your own writing skill within the parameters of creative endeavour. 

This can, for some, be far harder than it seems at first. 

It will stretch you, and hopefully give you confidence to tackle written assignments in your professional career that specifically ask for subjective commentary about your decision-making.

Phaedra's Love

Written in 1996 by playwright Sarah Kane, Phaedra’s Love is the visceral “in-yer-face” portrayal of a fictional royal family, involved in a tangled and unforgiving web of incestuous love and desire, inevitably resulting in ruin and despair. I attended a production of Phaedra’s Love at the Arcola Theatre in London, and just as I had been warned to expect, it was a grueling evening of melancholy and horrific violence. At times the play was bleakly comical and intellectually challenging, albeit in a very dark and provocative way, but overall, it left me feeling frustrated and bewildered, ultimately unable to fully digest all that I had just seen.

The first scene opens with Hippolytus, a depressed, lethargic, and narcissistic member of a dysfunctional royal family. His stepmother Phaedra feels an intense and irrational infatuation for him, and on his birthday, gives into her desires and gives him a blow job, an act which received mixed responses of gasps and scattered, suppressed giggling from the audience. The apathetic young prince rejects Phaedra, and, adding further insult to injury, tells her that he’s had sex with her daughter Strophe. In the next scene, Strophe informs Hippolytus that Phaedra has hung herself, and has left a note accusing Hippolytus of rape, and that a vengeful mob is rioting in the streets, out for blood. Hippolytus surrenders to his fate, surprisingly contented at the turn of events, ultimately relieved to have found a means to an end of his superficial life of boredom and emptiness. 

In the following scene, which for me was the most shocking and controversial, as well as the most intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking, Hippolytus is visited in prison by a priest who attempts to offer Hippolytus a path to salvation through religion and repentance. Hippolytus scoffs at the priest and his empty words of consolation and attempted guidance. In a poignant critique of the church, Hippolytus accuses the priest of living the ultimate lie, reproaching him for his hypocritical practices of living in sin, while hiding behind a façade of piety and virtue, conveniently self-assured by the guarantee that, upon confession and repentance for his sins, he will be forgiven in the eyes of God. In a surprising response to this scathing critique of the church and its self-indulgent practices, the priest gives Hippolytus a blow job, further exemplifying his own hypocrisy and moral ambiguity.   

The value of the play was not in the actors’ performances, nor in the individual stories of its characters, which to me were not particularly moving or inspiring. Rather, it is the social commentary of Sarah Kane’s writing which offers a compelling insight into difficult social issues, the weight of which is never fully conveyed by the production itself. Kane’s uncompromisingly critical text, is an acerbic political satire which blatantly criticizes the royal family, as well as the church, as arbitrary and superfluous institutions, which sell their image to the public as a way of maintaining power, and which encourage and manipulate mass idealization of the monarch and the clergy, romanticizing a fairytale image itself for public consumption. Kane highlights the sheer hypocrisy of this exploitation of the masses, and shows how this manipulation of public opinion ultimately backfires when the royal family or the church finds themselves plagued by scandal and are thus subjected to immense public scrutiny, which as Phaedra’s Love demonstrates, ultimately leads to these institutions’ downfall.  

Steve Aoki in London

               

On Saturday September 10^th Steve Aoki performed at Club Koko in London for the club’s Electro vs. Dubstep Wars.  Though this was my second time seeing Steve Aoki live, this show was much different from most of the electronic music shows I’d been to. The typical “rave scene” that I had become accustomed to was generally typified by crowds of sloppy, sweat-drenched, half-naked ‘ravers’, dancing and doing drugs in an empty warehouse or other dingy club venue. In comparison, the scene at Koko, however, felt much more ‘posh’ and glamorous than what I’d normally have expected, and overall, the vibe and venue were much more enjoyable.

I first arrived at the club and gazed upon the huge ‘Koko’ sign illuminated against the club’s neon-pink, neo-classical exterior, then made my way to the end of the line that wrapped all the way around the building’s periphery. After waiting for what seemed an eternity, I entered the club, immediately feeling the beat of the music, giddy and eager to make my way to the dance floor. My friends and I made our way to the bar area, and ordered our over-priced cocktails from the model-esque bartenders in tight black outfits, all busy serving drinks to queues of trendy Londoners, then continued to work our way toward the stage, a fantastical sight framed by lush, red-velvet curtains and its proscenium arch adorned with golden statues of cherubs and angels.

The spectacle was only a small part of the overall experience however. The music as well as Steve Aoki’s stage performance and enthusiastic interaction with the audience were what really made this event memorable.  Aoki performed a number of his most popular tracks and introduced some new material off his latest album as well, pumping up and invigorating the audience, who danced along enthusiastically, pumping their fists in the air, and banging their heads with the heavy beat of the bass.  Aoki kept the momentum going with his vivacious audience interaction, popping bottles of champagne, guzzling it down then spraying members of the audience. Later he climbed up the side of the stage onto the balcony and jumped off into an inflatable raft supported by the crowd, and at one point, even threw a cake at the audience. While under normal circumstances such acts may have been met with shock and outrage, in this setting, audience members were all too delighted to be doused in cake and champagne by an international superstar. Aoki’s dynamic charisma, light-hearted playfulness, and energetic musical performance, made this a highly successful and entertaining event, and for me was one of the most enjoyable and memorable experiences during my all-too-short stay here in London.

STOMP: A Unique Musical Theatre Production like no other

Rubber tubes, kitchen sinks, matchboxes, zippo lighters, basketballs, brooms, buckets, plastic bins-- all these everyday objects are transformed into unconventional instruments in the unique musical theatre production STOMP. Directed and created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, Stomp is an extraordinary percussion dance show that stars eight energetic performers that generate rhythmic and vociferous music out of the most unexpected objects. This high energy production defamiliarizes rusted, industrial urban junk and transforms objects into sources of a contagious rhythm. 

 

Stomp makes us aware of the interesting sounds around us on a daily bases that we usually neglect. Through an explosion of sound and movement that is perpetually entertaining, the show opens our ears and refreshes our senses like no other production. The use of Zippo lighters in one segment is one example of the innovative and fresh performances in the production. Patterns of lights and clicks are created by the performers in the near dark theatre to create a spectacle of music and light. In another segment, the eight performers are sitting on folding chairs, each calmly reading a news paper, and progressively they create music by shuffling and crumbling papers. In one of my favorite scenes, the eight performers use basket balls and buckets to create a fantastic acrobatic display of dance and music. The musical choreographed percussion is by far the most impressive aspect of this show. Each scene of the show is a multi-sensory, visually and audibly, arresting experience. 

 

Although the show is a collage of extraordinary and diverse street performance threatre, a distinct tribal circle and combat element exists in the dances. Trash can lids are used as shields, brooms as spears, and musical battles frequently occur. Often two performers attack each other with large trash cylinders to create powerful booms in beat to the music. The show is also funny through wordless physical comedy and engaging by drawing in the audience to participate in the noise making. The production has a high amount of audience interaction. Throughout the entire production a dialogue between the actors and the audience is maintained by cued clapping of hands and stomping of feet to the set rhythm. The performance sucks in the audience into its noise and music making production. Overall, the production is very engaging with the audience and results in a unforgettable experience and participation in the production. This production received one of the most amazing standing ovations I have ever witnessed.

The show leaves you with a feeling that music can be found in all objects, from the smallest objects such as newspapers and matchboxes, to the largest car hoods and steal columns. Stomp suggest to us all that music is all around us and all we have to do is pick up seemingly mundane objects (a broom, a mop, a bucket) and fearlessly make some noise, and make some music. 

 

The Veil: A Book with a Nice cover

I entered the Nation Theatre filled with energy and anticipating Conor McPherson’s play, The Veil, which tells us the haunting story of a Irish aristocratic household in crisis. Although I found the play as an interesting metaphor for contemporary social and economic issues I overall was disappointed with the play. I found it drawn out, wordy, and inconsistent. 

 

Because the play dips into various elements of ghost stories, class issues, and love stories I felt it was crowd. The play was also a strange mixture of elements from many genres. The play is a historical metaphor one scene and a ghost story the next.

The play however is a very aesthetic production. They spared no expense on the setting or dress, everything onstage item was marvelous. The house setting itself became a important character in the play, it determined mood and underpinned emotion throughout the show.Thus if this play was based solely on it’s cover it would be a smashing hit.

Further, the Veil is dominated by themes of tense relationships that exist within class and gender. Lady Lambroke, the landowner who’s household is falling into impoverishment and becoming threatened by unrest in the countryside by famished Irish, is a strong character. She is struggling to maintain her estate in order and afloat. However, because she is deeply concerned with maintaining the tradition of her family’s heritage and family home, when faced with the future, a character like her has no idea how to respond. The characters of the play cannot be themselves because of who they must pretend to be.

For example, Lady Lambroke is not willing to consider the estate hand because he is of a lower status. Another example is Hannah’s engagement and the importance of the financial transaction of her marriage.Lady Lambroke repeatedly rejects the affection of the head estate keeper. Hannah is a pond in her mother’s attempt to maintain the appearance of the family estate. Reverend Berkeley is a sly and comic priest who has been excommunicated from his congregation. Together Hannah and Berkeley explore the spirits that haunt the creaky Irish home. But the execution of the roaring winds and the shocking bangs seem like cheap gimmicks. And due to the jumbled story lines, the audience quickly begins to loses interest. At the conclusion of the play, a mild clapping response was given. The Veil is the only London production that has left me unsatisfied.

The Veil was a interesting production that attempted to accomplish much but delivered half of what it sought to give. The characters needed be further developed because they were not convincing. The ending leaves a message of lost love and life due to upholding larger social institutions that are crumbling.

Top Girls

After watching the disappointing Phaedra’s Love, I was almost grateful to return to the more traditional theatre venue of Trafalgar Studios to view Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls.  I wasn’t sure how I would react to this play; again the thematic elements of the play intrigued me but, through experience, I understood how vital performance would be in bringing the plot to life.  I was relieved as I took my seat and noticed the considerable improvements in set design and especially costume in comparison to Phaedra’s Love.  Unfortunately, as acceptable as the performances were this time, I sat in my seat in sheer boredom from the opening act.  Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for a play that night, or maybe I was unprepared for the density of Churchill’s message.  In either case, I found myself to be utterly apathetic and at times considered walking out during both intermissions.

For me, the greatest problem with the play was it felt like I was watching a glorified soap opera.  Though I understood why the first act, the dream sequence in which famous women from history dine with Marlene to celebrate her promotion, was appropriate, it dragged on considerably.  I appreciated the animated conversation between the cast and respected the intricacies of the overlapping dialogue but it was the actual script that pulled me away from the play.  Simply put, I felt it was dull, tedious, and ultimately preachy.  I could hear the sighs of fatigue in the audience and my patience was quickly dwindling.

After the first intermission, my disinterest was slightly alleviated as the second act takes place in reality.  I decided to give the play another chance and it redeemed itself to a certain extent.  The character Angie was well played and her exchanges with her younger friend, Kit, were slightly amusing.  Most impressive was how organic the interviews conducted by Marlene and the potential employees were; they seemed to reflect quite accurately the economic and social climate of the time and the ruthlessness of it all felt very real.  It is through these interviews that the various obstacles women face is portrayed, and I enjoyed the realism of it all.  Though I felt it was overly political at times, I realized I had a sense of appreciation for Churchill’s desire to put this on stage so clearly.  I began to let go and immerse myself in the play but I felt myself quickly pull away as scenes continued to drag on.  It felt like every scene was collapsing on itself as it tried too hard emphasizing the ideals of the playwright.

I thought the end of the play, the encounter between Marlene and her sister Joyce summarized Churchill’s purpose sufficiently.  The scene was intense and incredibly dramatic, but this time there was credibility.  Unlike the actors and characters of Phaedra’s Love, there was absolutely chemistry between the sisters.  What made this scene the most successful above all others is the tension between the sisters was justifiably built up throughout the play.  Overall, this tedious play was saved by great performances and my admiration for its aspirations and influence.

Phaedra's Love

Admittedly, I was genuinely hyped up for this play; the purported rawness of in-yer-face theatre actually had me excited for what this rendition of Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love had to offer.  I hadn’t learned of Sarah Kane until class that day, but her reputation as a dauntless playwright who explored unconventional and often controversial themes provoked my curiosity.  This was definitely heightened by the idea that these themes wouldn’t be expressed timidly on stage; I was prepared to be shocked and mesmerized by this gritty theatre style that was entirely inconsistent with my presumed notions of traditional theatre.

Performed at the Arcola Theatre, I was honestly in slight disbelief at how unimpressive and bare the entrance was, but my relatively high expectations for the play didn’t wane yet.  The actual theatre and stage setup seemed unrefined and scant; albeit appropriate I suppose to accentuate a dreary atmosphere to prepare the audience for the crude material that would soon follow.  I took my seat, top center, giving me what I assumed would be a great view of everything that would transpire on stage.  The ritualistic use of curtains to signal the beginning and end of plays was replaced by Nicholas Shaw, who plays Hippolytus, already in character sitting amongst piles of garbage, eating McDonalds and watching what sounded like Scarface, which I found amusing.  It reminded me that this was going to be an unorthodox theatre-going experience and I was ready to give it my undivided attention.  Unfortunately, what followed was a profoundly bland and tedious performance.

Essentially, the greatest problem with this version of Phaedra’s Love lies in the actor’s performances.  There was a sense of total lack of chemistry between the actors and I couldn’t get past the fact.  Particularly in the exchanges between Hippolytus and Phaedra; every line felt forced and lifeless.  Kane’s plays, as I understood, are supposed to be bold and confident but these actors invoke none of that.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see through the monotony in which every line was delivered.  As the play continued, I became progressively less convinced of the purpose behind any of the interactions and reactions of the characters and the plot became increasingly nonsensical and almost laughable.  I couldn’t feel or even comprehend this supposed passion and irresistible lust Phaedra had for her step-son.  Many scenes felt unnecessary, as if they were added in simply for shock value, such as the scene when the priest gives Hippolytus a blowjob.  Not even the end mob/riot scene was convincing.  Undoubtedly dark and pretty graphic, it still looked like a bunch of confused teenagers making noise as they ran in circles.  It felt too systematic instead of chaotic.  Is this what was supposed to disturb and intimidate me?  Random, unconvincing blowjobs, semi-graphic violence, and curse words in poetic dialogue?

What made director Bronwenn Carr’s interpretation of this play inferior was it lacked any meaning and this undermines the purpose of Kane’s work.  My last thoughts walking out were simply, “That’s it?”