Work Placement Day 1: "Making Money and Dining with The Kennedys"

Working hours 11:00am - 5:10pm.
Today was my first day on my work placement at the Arts Educational School in Chiswick. It's a really lovely location to work, especially as the sun was out today. All the staff seem really lovely, and the team I will be working with are accommodating and friendly.
So the morning was mainly spent doing general admin, health and safety procedures, touring round the school, meeting the directors, making prop lists... that sort of thing. In the afternoon Natalie and I made lots and lots of money....
I wish I meant that in the figurative sense rather than the literal. But instead of coming into a sudden cash-flow, we instead spent the afternoon printing and cutting out pretend notes for use on the shows that we will be working on ('13' and 'How to disappear completely and Never be Found'). I was the only one who seemed to be able to get the printer to behave, so I was in charge of formatting all the word documents ready to be printed on two sides. It was fine- although they had been perhaps sized wrong- alas none of us had a £50 note to compare it to.
So that's how we 'made money'. As for 'dining with the Kennedys'? The answer is even less exciting, in that when I went out for dinner that evening Susan Kennedy from Neighbours was there.....
Tragic, but still the highlight of my life.

 

                                                ^ Here is Natalie doing some cutting... ^

                                                ^ Just some of the fruits of our labour ^

New Stimulus!

OH MY GOSH! LOOK AT HOW WONDERFUL THIS IMAGE IS!!!! LOOK AT THE COLOURS!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
Do I DARE do a set this bold?! It would be so wonderful, and it's ambiguity might help with some of the cultural appropriation issues.... BUT how could I do a set like this on such a small budget.... I can't build many structures- partly due to money, partly due to it being 'in the round'... so what exactly would I use to convey this sense of vibrant colour...? Is it too modern? Will it clash with costumes? (nahh).
This has given me a lot to think about.

"a short, stout man, dressed in a loose flannel suit, with a pith hat, the brim of which was so broad, the crown so high, and the shape so suggestive of Bedlam" - C.P.A Oman

As research is still a big part of the design process for m, I thought I'd make some notes as I go on my blog, instead of shoving them in my sketchbook or losing them in the cosmos of files on my computer.
I feel like I need to do some more in depth research before I continue with my initial costume designs for the Princes and the Indian women, because these costumes are a little more complicated- in that (the women's especially) have wider implications. For example, there are so many different ways to wear a Sari, let alone including all the different Salwar Kameezes and other garments, and each colour, each fabric, each way of draping the fabric can have different implications about the character relating to their culture. As I am trying to be careful about my 'cultural appropriation' vs 'cultural appreciation' issue, I want to try and represent issues like this is the most realistic way. I think the harm is done when for example, an English designer might come along and decided to design 'Indian-style' costumes without doing any research, and then is potentially representing another culture in potentially offensive ways that the designer themselves is oblivious to- right down to how to wear a Sari.


NOTES FROM 'Dress Sense: Emotional and Sensory Experiences of the Body and Clothes'

- "a short, stout man, dressed in a loose flannel suit, with a pith hat, the brim of which was so broad, the crown so high, and the shape so suggestive of Bedlam" - C.P.A Oman

-The 1847 guide to Brits moving to India recommended packing the following wardrobe:
*72 pairs of socks (48 cotton, 12 silk, 12 woolen)
*72 shirts
*32 waistcoats (24 fine flannel, 6 holland, 2 dress)
*72 hankerchiefs (48 pocket, 24 fine cambric)
*36 pairs of gloves (24 kid, 12 cotton)
*34 pairs of 'trowsers' (12 white dress, 12 duck for riding, 6 holland, 1 cachmere, 2 coloured, 1 dress)
*15 coats (6 holland, 6 white linen, 1 frock, 1 shooting, 1 dress)

-"In the traditional army manner, the kits you were issued with at home were never suitable for the regiment you were joining. The Khaki was a different shade, your hose wasn't the right colour, the puttees weren't the right shape or size and everything had to be bought afresh, out of your own money"

-During the monsoon season, gloves are shut-up in little glass bottles to prevent the humidity from damaging them- (WHAT A LOVELY IMAGE).

-one of the notable characteristics of the British was dressing for dinner, which they felt defined taste, morals, and, indeed, being British.

-"To protect the liver, natives have the girdle and they bind their clothes in thick folds about the loins;"- 1883

- Julius Jeffreys- a pioneer of the Pith Helmet, was a doctor who recommended covering one's spine with cork to absorb perspiration.

-"...If the British were to adopt Indian dress [in order to deal with the climate], what, specifically should they wear? Given the large size of the Indian subcintinent and its numerous cultural groups, there was no standard dress used across this vast area. Dress varied greatky, often within particular areas"

NOTES FROM 'Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India'


-Brits arriving in India for the first time were shocked at some of the natives' 'nakedness'. They saw Indian dress in terms of 'graceful' and 'disgraceful. 'Graceful' was applied to the stitched robes worn by the Indian elite, whereas 'disgraceful' described the draped clothing favoured by most of the Indian population in the late 19th century. This denotes respect and awe, but also the effeminate.



-The early British Raj created a paradox, they found the Indian native clothing 'barbaric' but equally disliked Indians taking on European dress and tried to limit it where possible.

MISC:
-Sari= 47 by 216 inches

The Sari, like so many other textiles, gives the lie to the hierarchical distinction made between fine arts and crafts. The approximate size of a sari is 47 by 216 inches. Although it is an untailored length of cloth, the fabric is highly structured and its design vocabulary very sophisticated. The main field of the sari is framed on three sides by a decorative frieze of flowering plants, figurative images or abstract symbols. 

Two of the borders define the edges of the length of the sari and the third comprises the end piece, which is a visible, broader, more complex version of the other two borders. This end piece is the part of the sari that is draped over the shoulder and left to hang over the back or front, known popularly as the Pallav. 

The pallav usually elaborates the theme found in the two borders and the actual field of the sari, a sort of repetition and amplification in the manner of the Indian musical mode, the raga. The raga has a set number of notes and these are intoned in a form of verbal mnemonics, before the song is actually sung. No new notes other than those in the introduction are used, but improvisation is allowed and results in endless permutations and combinations. This beautiful metaphor thus compares the two narrow borders to the introductory recital of the pure notes and the pallav to the song.  (http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/theindiansari/)


http://factsfashion.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/the-sari-meanings-behind-the-cloth/


 

Blog and Set Tutorials

today was very useful in terms of sorting out my jumble of ideas. It's always so good to get feedback, so I really appreciated having the opportunity to do a tutorial before I leave for my work placement. I'm pretty ok with the direction of my costumes- but I really felt my set needed development.
A brief explanation of the outcome of the tutorial for my initial set design (video in previous post) is below:
-Get rid of the gazebo- I don't need it. By putting a structure like that there, it's implying that all the action in the play should centre around this space, which it shouldn't. Remember the space is filled with characters- the set can be subtle.
- Play more with the screens.

For a while I have been playing with the idea of having the audience come through the dock doors on the East wall so that they have to wander through the AUCB gardens before directly entering the theatre... I could have little lights guiding the way and incense burning... Anyway I discussed this with my tutor and he doesn't seem to think that it would be a problem. Hooray!

Also it looks like there will be a balcony level to the theatre- so that is something I will have to consider in my next model.

So much to do ...with Much Ado!

Character Experiments

As a rule, I always work very BIG, not always through choice, but I've forever found it incredibly difficult to work in a small or meticulous way. However, I saw some beautiful initial costume drawings at Pamela Howard's exhibition that really appealed to me. They were small paintings of all the initial ideas for costumes- no larger than a thumb. Working on this scale meant that the paintings included little but the silhouette and the colours- not forcing the designer to work in huge amounts of detail as working on a larger scale might.
At the moment I'm at the point with my costume designs where I know roughly what I want each character to be wearing, but I'm not ready to start thinking about any details properly yet, so adopting this method worked well for me.
So far I have done a selection of choices for Dogberry, Verges, The Watch, Leonato, Benedick, and Claudio. I have not yet done the women or the princes because I feel I need to continue to conduct a bit more in depth research before I play around with any initial designs for them.

I have also been researching a lot about the wider implications of doing a production like this- specifically the offence caused by Cultural Appropriation. I've read a lot of essays etc on this subject and nothing has sent alarm-bells ringing too much for me. There's a book in the library called 'Cultural Appropriation and the Arts' which I hope will guide me through some potentially sticky issues. But personally, I think that as long as I conduct my designing with sensitivity then there shouldn't be any problem at all.

A very productive day!

PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY CHICHESTER

"This is a democratic space... There are no 'best seats', there are no 'worst seats'. All the prices are the same, and everyone must have an EQUAL EXPERIENCE." - Pamela Howard OBE discussing the Chichester Festival Theatre's original manifesto when designing a show.

I feel as if I have had such a productive day today.

Firstly, I went to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester to see Pamela Howard's exhibition: "The Art of Chichester Festival Theatre- A Celebration". This was  a wonderful exhibition which was only enhanced by a personal tour from the intoxicatingly marvelous Pamela Howard herself! (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pamela, she's a certified genius and theatrical big-wig.(See Pamela's website)

 I learnt so much today that it would be impossible to document it all here. There were amny things in the exhibtion that really sparked my imagination, especially some of the Set Designs. Below is the set design for 'The Alchemist' by Carl Toms- 'Master of the Diagonal'. Pamela talked about how the old idea behind the Thrust stage at the Festival theatre, was that all the audience had an equal experience.  an ethos that really appealed to me, especially when thinking about my production of 'Much Ado' in the round. This is something I will strive to achieve with my Much Ado set- as for such a small capacity theatre, I feel it's incredibly important that the entirety of the modest-sized audience gets an optimum view of all the action within the play. HOWEVER, this is incredibly hard to do with a stage 'in the round', and is something I will have to continue thinking about.

 The three things that will really stick with my from Pamela's tour of the exhibition are as follows:

1. Ralph Koltai's set for the 1968 production of 'The Tempest'. Pamela showed us this very modern-looking set model made up of simple shapes and forms, and explained that at the beginning of the show, none of the set was visible- it was all covered with an extremely large sheet of black silk- and as the storm raged, fans blew the sheet to making it look like a tempestuous sea. Yet as the storm began to subside, there was a man under a small hole in the centre of the stage who was gradually pulling the fabric through the hole to eventually reveal the set in full. The circular shapes then appeared to make Prospero's Island move. it all just looked so incredible- how could someone think of such a marvelous idea? It's one of those things that you see or hear about and it makes you think "What on earth am I doing trying to break into this profession?- I will never have something as wonderful as this to offer."

2.  I can't believe that Pamela Howard was not allowed to touch her own work simply because someone without her permission had donated it to the V&A. And to include one of the costumes that she made and designed in the exhibition they had to pay a lot of money to have it on loan from the V&A- that just seems insane.

3. A good way of stopping people getting too close to the exhibits without putting-up a big barrier is to go down to a charity shop and buy some shoes- then line them up infront of the exhibits in question. Obviously.

The costume design above really inspired me. Not only is it a very strong design, but it is also rendered beautifully. It was such a privilege to see this design 'in the flesh' because the light reflected so beautifully off the pieces of gold doily- and you could see how well this material represented the material that would be eventually used to realise the design.

I thought maybe the gold doily route might be an interesting way to go for me, in terms of representing some of the opulent trims of the Saris.

GECKO PRESENT "MISSING" AT THE LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE, POOLE

After I got back from a lovely day at Chichester, I got the bus to Poole to see 'Missing'  with my friend/fellow designer/set assistant for Much Ado, Zoe. We got there about an hour early and accidentally joined a networking event for Theatre Designers spear-headed by the friendly and lovely Lorna Rees- Theatre Producer at Activate Performing Arts. It was such a stroke of luck, we walked into the bar and were approached by Lorna askign us if we were 'here for the Theatre Designer networking event', I assured her that although we had no previous knowledge of this event, as Theatre Design students, this would be something that we would be more than happy to attend. This culminated in us spending the hour before the show hobnobbing with the local-theatre-scene elite! We got given free popcorn and some bussiness cards, and met a lot of the artists working on Battle For the Winds! Lorna was a real star, and we had a little chat with her about our current projects, she was reassuringly enthusiastic about the idea of my 'Much Ado About thebritishraj" (but maybe that was because she thought we had Indian actors...)

Anyway she gave me her card and told us to contact her if we ever wanted to- an offer which I could add to my list following Pamela Howard's offer earlier in the day of me visiting her in her studio at some point! Hooray for networking! 

The performance by Gecko was brilliant! they had such an innovative use of technology that made the show what it was. There was a big 'David Lynch' feeling flowing through-out which obviously appealed to me as a big fan of his work. I can safely say that this is the first contemporary dance piece that I really thoroughly enjoyed, and I think it will be a great kick-start to my pop essay. I especially liked how the metaphysical was made physical- how the malcontente's psychological problems were addressed in a highly medical way. I also loved the use of lit screens to focus and guide the audience's gaze. 

It was very very good. I wonder what the budget was?

What a productive and culturally-rich day of networking and fun.

Hiatus Postponed!

Hooray! We are back on track. After a very long, interesting and useful discussion with the Director- we have decided to continue with the British Raj context- but perhaps with a  sense of mild trepidation.
Anyway, I think it would take a very cantankerous cynic to take any sort of offence at this production- I really can't see how something like this would offend anyone- but we talked through a lot of valid issues, and We are both happy to go ahead with it, despite some fairly abject criticism from others (eek!)
In celebration of starting to work again (I had a few days break as I felt there was no need to carry on if I was just going to start from scratch anyway), I have made a very rough first set design on Google Sketch-up.
Sketch-up wasn't behaving itself so there are some bits missing- a screened door at the entrance to the theatre, the indian cut-out cladding for the balcony, and the tiled floor in a geometric pattern. However, I think it was just about time I had something solid to show from my thoughts.
A walk-through tour is featured below:

To be or not to be... that is the question.

I know it's the wrong play, but something IS rotten in the state of Denmark... or at least in the county of Dorset.... or in the world of the AUCB School of Performance productions.

I spoke to my tutor yesterday who informed me that the director was having second-thoughts about setting it in India as he is worried it may come across offensive and racist... I do not think this will be the case as I have taken a lot of time and care in making sure nothing could be construed as offensive: blind casting (people are selected for the roles purely on their acting ability- nationality has nothing to do with it and under no circumstances should any of the cast put-on 'Indian accents' or attempt to change their skin colour- the costumes alone should speak for their nationality), also when designating the nationalities to each character I made sure that the dynamic could not be constued as offensive in anyway: nearly all the 'baddies' are British as are all the 'stupid' characters, so that no-one could turn round and go "you are misrepresenting Indians in a negative light and I find this offensive".

Furthermore, I think that shying away from any play with a context from another culture purely because the acting course doesn't have the 'correct' nationalities to fit it, is much worse and more offensive, as by doing that you are ruling out so many foreign plays and playwrights and are actually IGNORING the existence of other cultures. I don't think it would be a problem if there was a 'Much Ado' production in India and they were setting it in England- or even taking it out of its original context and setting it in America- no-one would take offense to that. Speaking of which, where exactly do you draw the line? So you say that you wouldn't want to set the production in India because you wouldn't want English students posing as Indians in case it caused offense... what about Cementville? That's set in America, and no doubt the actors will be encouraged to put on accents, yet is there a taboo around it? Do people worry about offending any Americans in the audience? No, despite he fact that the play is much more potentially offensive and racy.

One could argue that Cementville was written as a play set in the USA whereas I have chosen to take 'Much Ado' out of its original context and set it in India for no reason other than for window-dressing. However, that is not the case, I have always had strong and just reason for wanting to set it in India at this particular time. It's not like I just thought 'ooh, India= pretty fabrics, that'll be nice for costumes'- there was a lot of careful thought about why not to set it in it's original context, why not bring it completely up to date, and why set it in the British Raj- why set it in India. And I think if anything, the fact that the RSC have also decided to do a production set in India, shows that I have just cause to thik this as an appropriate setting.

ANYWAY, the director was so excited initially about this context, that when I meet with him today I'm really hoping it might just be a case of talking through his concerns and showing him that I've addressed them, hopefully putting him at ease and making him fall in love with the concept all over again. However, the bottom line is that he is the director and if he really doesn't want to set it in India anymore, then I shall have to be flexible and agree to start all over again... even if it does mean having wasted 5 weeks of my life!

So fingers-crossed. He seemed perfectly nice and reasonable when we last met, so I'm hoping we can come to some sort of compromise.

Trip to the Russell-Cotes Museum

Today I went on an outing to the Russell-Cotes Museum, for the first time, to see if there was anything here that could help me with my project. Alas, it was primarily of Japanese, Russian, and Turkish/Morroccan influence and I was forbidden from taking photos anyway- which is a pitty.
However, it was such a wonderful museum with so many nice things to do for children that I felt no resentment whatsoever in paying the newly inroduced entrance fee of £4- it was brilliant. There were free Pith Helmets and magnifying glasses so that children could go round the museum under some bizarre guise of a sort of safari detective- and needless to say, I did not hesitate in doing the same: immediately donning a hat and magnifying glass to 'help me with my studies'.
There were a few beautiful domes and carvings dotted about the place that could have been Indian in influence- I think I need to have a think about creating atmosphere through colours and lights....

 

^ The exotic garden with arches ^

 

^ The stained glass domed ceiling of 'the Moorish Alcove' ^

                         ^ An Aerial view of the indoor water feature inside the Main Hall ^...
                                                          if only I had the budget....

Architecture VS Nature...

Following my week doing primary research in Brighton, I have since been focusing on my Set Designs. As aforementioned in previous posts, one of the main things I took from my research at the Royal Pavilion was the juxtaposition between the natural greenery and flowers of the decorative gardens and the Indian-style architecture of the Pavilion itself. There are a lot of forms reflected from one to the other, the domes reminiscent of bulbs, and the filigree patterns adorning every wall are often floral in quality.

As I have always planned to set 'Much Ado' in an outdoorsy setting, yet the October weather is too temperamental to actually stage it outdoors (not to mention that it would be a logistical nightmare), one of the main issues I have had to address when looking at the set, is how to make the dark, black studio theatre feel like being outside in India in the sunshine. Obviously a lot will rely on lighting, but the set will also have to reflect that. 

Originally I wanted to steer well away from using any sort of trees or foliage in my set as I always think it looks so tacky and fake when used in theatre. However, this was before I had my tutorial on Wednesday, when it was explained to me that there are (believe it or not) specialist companies that hire out REAL trees purely for the purpose of stage and screen. I would love to get a big orange tree, with thick over-hanging branches, whose boughs creep onto the above of the centre stage.... however, I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be a bit out of my budget..... what a shame... I'm sure there's something we can do.

Anyway,

I was getting a bit ahead of myself, so I went back to the drawings and photos I took in Brighton and decided to do some collaging using my own photos and photos from my research (mainly of Indian architecture or Indian flora). I thought that experimenting with compositions and different ways of combining nature with architecture would inspire me as to how to incorporate it into my set- even without the use of actual plants.

Here are the collages, they have been a useful tool, and I actually quite like them (although they scanned a bit funny):

Brighton-based Research

Over the Easter break I have limited access to the internet, so I will do what I can with this post.

For the last 2 days I have been visiting the gardens of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton to do some observational drawings to help my set design development. I cannot believe how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, beautiful, and above all RELEVANT place that I can return to over Easter. Not only does the Royal Pavilion possess quintessentially Indian qualities that I would like to inspire my set designs, but furthermore (as aforementioned)  it was used as a hospital for the wounded Indian soldiers during the Great War, and so fits my context perfectly. I managed to purchase a very very useful leaflet from the Pavilion gift shop about Brighton's role as the 'greatest centre for hospitals' during WWI , there were many dotted about town, one even in the building where I used to work!
The booklet was incredibly useful and contains some wonderful photos and the bare basics on India's role in the war. Incidentally, the old books that I found in the AUCB library were perhaps not as useful as I first thought. Having started to read through my photocopied pages on the train home, I discover that all the 'historical information' contained within the books is incredibly biased- truly written with rose-tinted glasses on. It's strange because one would assume naturally that the nearer that the date of the source is to the date of the event it's documenting, the more accurate the account will be. However, I realize now that perhaps you need a sense of distance from the original event in order to write a truly balanced account. Because as it is, these books seem to have been written before the Second World War, and therefore BEFORE India's Independence... and you can tell. It's still interesting to see the attitudes of people to the Indian Army at the time, and this sort of biased information will definitely help me with my character development, but as it is, I think I need to stick to more recent accounts when wanting historical accuracy. Either way, having a variety of sources is nice...

Back to the present...

Drawing in the Pavilion gardens was lovely today (and yesterday) as it really helped to give me a sense of, not only the architectural side of things, but also how the environment feels when Indian architecture is melded with the natural world... the juxtaposition of all the beautiful cream domes and lattices with the bright flowers and greenery was really inspiring, especially as the set for 'Much Ado' really should mimic an 'outdoor' space....
I also visited the very Indian-esque bandstand on the seafront, as it's visual qualities are something that I really want to harness for use in my set- perhaps manifested in a  gazebo- or atleast a form representing a gazebo....
Here are a selection of the many photos and drawings of the past few days...

 Some pretty ropey drawings of the Pavilion......