Urashima

We have a new home, at least for 3 months, (thanks to the committee of Thirlmere Road Centre who have kindly agreed to reduce the fees for the room for a three month trial period), a performance coming up at the Expo in London, (http://www.amateurstageexpo.co.uk/) and a full cast for Urashima!


And to think earlier today I thought we were doomed!  Some members of the group haven't got back to me at all about London, and some have said they can't come.   Luckily, with two new members recently having joined, and one member agreeing to act for the first time, We have managed to get enough people for parts, with some left over to do make up costume etc.


Because we have so many new faces, I am taking us back to square one in terms of developing people's awareness of the style we are using for the Japanese Fairy Tales.  Cast members take up sculpts of their character, and think about who they are, one characteristic and something they want.  They work on focus, concentration and body awareness.  Positions must be interesting, but easy to hold for long periods of time.  Movements must be as slow as can be, mesmerising the audience and casting a spell through which the narrator weaves the story. 


We have divided the story into three parts, the seduction, the search and the death scene.  This story is full of symbolism of loss, pain and death.  Several members of the cast have spoken about being excited about the prospect of bringing these themes to life in the performance.  I think that this is importance.  This isn't a story for the faint hearted.

Costume and Makeup:
We need to start thinking about these straight away, and cast should be looking out for interesting cloths and items of clothing that they can make their costumes out of.  We will have at least one session devoted to designing and practicing the makeup.

Extra Rehearsals
I will try to book the community fire station for extra rehearsals on Thursdays.

Warm up: physical jumps and stretches to music.
Improvisation: the group became a machine that made very fabulous magnificent pancakes for a very important queen. Each part of the machine had an individual characteristic, and each movement was done to the 10 drum beats, which was quite ridiculous and made people laugh in places.  At the end I was reminded of a scene in Alice in Wonderland.