We opened this session by sitting in a circle and having a chat about our thoughts about the project. Nini's older wedding dress idea received a great deal of attention as Myf had modified it so that now Nini would be riding a bicycle onstage in a wedding gown. Nini loved this idea! We also discussed the performance's structure, and we decided on a rough design of song order to run an accord with the 'three bells' structure.
I have noticed that often when someone in the class presents an idea, a couple of people repeatedly run their own in-joked spin on it. This is frustrating for the person presenting their idea; I can often see the look of confusion and awareness of an uninvited-interruption on their face. It's good to have fun, but not at the expense of having a genuinely intelligent or interesting idea being trampled over by in-jokes which only about five people are privy to. This happened a few times during this session.
I am also concerned that this performances effectively-simple structure might be spoiled by miscellanea. We have to stick to a key structure! Also, we should start to focus on MEANING rather than aesthetic.
Anna and I are now in charge of the Edith Piaf section of the performance. Anna suggested an image of the Hunchback Of Notre Dame- which I think is wonderful. We also talked about a carnival freak show setting to emphasise the darker sides of relationships, sexuality, normalcy and explore themes of death in a sensory and theatrical manner. This correlates a great deal with the life of Edith Piaf who grew up in a brothel and traveled with the circus. We decided to stick to a colour palette of red, black and white to accentuate a film-noir atmosphere. We also cast June as a prostitute!
We once again explored the motif of water by playing a game where we approached a river made of blankets and represented our proudest moments and engaged in relationships with other characters etc.
We also did a few run throughs Brian's song and rehearsed the choreography. I'm still not comfortable with choreographed dancing, but it's getting there!
Anna B. played us a song she had written for the project about a woman's first kiss which she envisions should fall under the 'relationships' section of the production. I think it would be quite funny if Nini sang this song while riding her bike in the wedding dress, which would contrast with the sweetness of the lyrics.
I think that this performance is heading in the right direction, and Anna and I are already discussing references and images for our section of the piece.
KISSES!
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