Category: The Truth About Bedtime

As previously mentioned we as a group have a lot of inspirations. Most of the theatre we have seen, especially in the last few months has inspired us. And I just thought I’d quickly go into detail about how exactly we’ve been inspired by these other Theatre Companies.

Firstly, Partus (2017), by Third Angel. The first show of the year and the one which has stuck with us for the longest. Partus, used verbatim theatre to tell women’s stories about pregnancy and birth. Those of us who saw it were hugely inspired by it in particular the way it managed to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We’ve decided to incorporate this welcoming feel by greeting our audience members at the door and welcoming them into the space with a cup of hot chocolate or herbal tea. We also decided to take Partus as an inspiration when deciding to cap our audience. This was an important decision for us as a group and made us truly question which was more important: the money we could potentially make, or our artistic vision? In the end we decided to go for artistic vision. Meaning that we’ve chosen to cap our audience at 80 allowing for an intimate and homely feel within the performance.

The Audit (2018). It’s a fantastic thing to be able to see the work of our lecturers. Proto-type are a company with very different artistic aims and visions to Sherbet Lemon theatre, however, we have still managed to find inspiration in their work. Particularly when placing a narrative into our story. Much like in The Audit we wanted our narrative to seem like a natural addition to frame our piece, rather than something which was shoehorned in at the final minute just to make the piece seem a bit more coherent. As The Truth Bedtime… is not a strictly narrative driven piece of work, we still felt that we needed a narrative in order for the audience to sympathise and feel invested in our performance.

Finally, Education, Education, Education (2018) was a show we all saw when we were feeling a tad deflated, we were at the part of the process where everything was beginning to feel like a bit of a struggle and this was exactly what we needed to perk ourselves up! Out of all the shows we have seen Education, Education, Education is easily the production which is most similar to ours with a blend of humour and serious moments, it was really important to show us that what we wanted to achieve was actually attainable. Particularly their use of pop culture references and how seamlessly they blended into the production without feeling forced. Their branding as a company, namely their spotify playlist is another idea which we decided we wanted to use within our performance.

 

E.H.

 

Works Cited.

Proto-Type (2018) The Audit [live performance]. Performed by Proto-Type. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 13 March.

Third Angel (2017) Partus [live performance]. Performed by Third Angel. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 18 October.

Wardrobe Ensemble (2018) Education, Education, Education [live performance]. Performed by The Wardrobe Ensemble. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 16 March.

 

 

As a company, we have been inspired by a lot of things. Pretty much every performance we have seen this year has sparked a discussion and ultimately influenced something within the rehearsal room. Whether this is the layout of our stage space, or the addition of a narrative, or how to make bike wheels, as a grassroots theatre company we are taking inspiration from anything we can!

Every so often one of these ideas leads us to ask ourselves whether or not we are copying. In order to combat these questions I came up with a nifty little answer. Sampling. I first came across sampling at the beginning of my second year at university when I was reading Post production: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World by Nicholas Bourriaud. Bourriaud’s key thesis is based around the idea that there is no longer any such thing as an original idea. This got my brain whirring and a couple of weeks later I came across a TED talk by music producer Mark Ronson, all about sampling and of course although Ronson is talking about the music industry and I’m talking about the theatre industry, parallels can still be drawn.

Sampling is where a musician takes a line, lyric or riff of one song and places it in there own, in an entirely difference context. Ronson suggests that sampling in the music industry can be traced back to the advent of sampling machines in the 1980s but in the theatre the idea of sampling can be traced back even further to the time of Shakespeare and his contemporaries who regularly adapted stories from their own times to suit their means, right the way up to Tom Stoppard who effectively ‘sampled’ two of Shakespeare’s characters for his play Rosencrantz and Guildestern are Dead (1967).

 

So, as we proudly twirl our glow sticks in the style of Police Cops in Space and set out our auditorium in a fashion rather similar to Third Angel’s Partus I remind everyone that we’re not  copying, we’re merely sampling.

 

E.H.

 

 

Another video for you if the topic of sampling tickles your fancy.

 

Works cited.

 

Bourriaud, N (2005) Post production: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World. Berlin: Sternberg Press.

Parkinson, N., Hunt, Z. and Roe, T. (2018) Police Cops in Space [live performance]. Performed by The Pretend Men. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 22 February.

Stoppard, T. (1967) Rosencrantz and Guildestern are dead. New York: Grove Press.

Third Angel (2017) Partus [live performance]. Performed by Third Angel. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 18 October.

TED. (2014) How sampling transformed music | Mark Ronson

. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3TF-hI7zKc [accessed 18 Sept 2016]

vlogbrothers. (2108) 5 Songs You’ve Never Heard That You’ve Heard 1000 Times

. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNH7qzyuT4M [accessed 12 Jan 2018]

 

 

There are hundreds of ways to direct theatre. It is an art form everybody has a different view of. Katie Mitchell describes it as ‘micromanagement’ stating that ‘Directing means you have to be on top of at least 10 amazingly complex tools – the use of sound, of light, of design, of costume… whatever’ (2016). It is this sense of micromanagement which I have felt throughout my first few weeks as director of Sherbet Lemon theatre. As a group we decided very early on that we would follow a model similar to the Lincoln Drill Hall,where each and every person knows exactly whats going on in all areas of the performance and production. Of course, initially this came with a small amount of teething problems but now that everyone has settled into their roles the whole process is running smoothly.

In my mind a director is a facilitator for creativity who allows performers the freedom to create characters of their own within the world of the show. Although we are not doing a naturalistic piece my role as director has largely revolved around giving the cast the space and time to create. I often set research tasks, asking cast members to bring in as much research on a certain topic as possible so we can go through it as a group and pick out what sparks creative interest within us. I then often divide the room into two with Lauren our choreographer taking one side for a rather more physical rehearsal whilst I work on the speech.

By far the greatest challenge I face as a director is making sure that everyone’s opinion is listened to.In the world of Sherbet Lemon theatre, compromise is key although ultimately the buck stops with me. As an extremely large company it is important to me that everyone’s opinions are listened to and that company members feel that their ideas have been valued. I ensure this by making sure that each suggestion is at least discussed. I feel that we’re already making good headway with the performance and I’m increasingly excited to see the final product!

 

E.H.

 

Works Cited.

Trueman, M. (2016). Katie Mitchell: ‘I was uncomfortable coming back to work in the UK’. The Stage. [online] Available at: https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2016/katie-mitchell-i-was-uncomfortable-coming-back-to-work-in-the-uk/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2018].

 

Well, it’s been an interesting week here at Sherby Lem HQ. After seeing The Duke (2017) on the 9th of February we have decided to take a cleaner, more streamlined approach to our storytelling. Instead of making work which was beginning to feel gimmicky and a tad juvenile we have decided that, although we want to keep our playful energy and comedic style, we are very keen that this comes across in a natural way, rather than forcing the comedy we have decided that we will create scenes which use the situations for comedic purposes. This change in direction has given us all a massive burst of creative energy and we are so excited for you all to see the final product!

 

E.H.

 

Works Cited

Dale-Jones, S. (2017) The Duke [live performance]. Performed by Shon Dale-Jones. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 9 February 2018.