Young Company Sessions ↓ Leave a comment
Find out what is happening in the weekly young company sessions that involve over 400 young people each week
Find out what is happening in the weekly young company sessions that involve over 400 young people each week
Katie Smart says:
today in yr 8 we went in pairs, one person was the master, the other was a slave. The master made the slave say something, do something and write something and the slave could interprate their orders any way they wanted. Next, we went in to groups of three and did the same thing and a dierector took notes on the performance and produced a piece from their notes. I liked this session because it was fun telling people what to do and be able to see what i dierected be perfomed.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Welcome back to one and all, Check it!
This term we focus on directing, this is your time to be creative, to make the decisions and enjoy your work being perform by other members of your group.
You should all start thinking about what you want to put on the stage, how you can make something out of nothing and the impossible possible.
Also a big Welcome to all those new folk that have joined us. (yep Charlie, Jack, Eamon, Claire, you know)
This term there are many new things: this blog, new leaders, new sessions, and new productions, check out the info below.
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Writing for Theatre
Want to write for the stage, create scenes, monologues and plays? This is your opportunity to work with professional writers and theatre makers and bring your words, characters and dramatic events to life.
When: 6pm – 8pm Thursdays
Leaders: Ian Wainwright and Adam Peck
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Music for Theatre
Play and instrument? Sing? Or want to? Use these skills to bring theatre to life. This group will create song and music for theatrical performance, they will look at how they can use their voices to accompany and create the action on stage, how their instruments can paint pictures for performance and develop their skills of composition, creativity and chorus. You will work with professional composers and musicians creating exciting sound that leads to performance. Join this music filled session and let your voice and instruments do the performing.
When: 6pm – 8pm Wednesdays
Leader: Peter Reynolds
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New Show! Samson and Delilah 9th – 12th July
As you all know you don’t have to audition to be part of the old vic young company, you just need commitment and enthusiasm. So if you are Yr10 and above and you can commit to the rehearsal schedule below and would like to be part of the Samson and Delilah production, then let me know (Tid), either in a session or email education@bristol-old-vic.co.uk or call 0117 9072691.
Rehearsals
Tuesdays 6pm – 10pm & Fridays 6pm – 10pm term time
Half Term Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th 10am – 4pm
Production week Mon 7th – Sat 12th July 4pm – 10pm
This will be a special production as it will be a collaboration between Emily Thompson, Daniel Prosser and myself. They will both be gaining valuable experience as co-directors on the show before they both leave us for university in the autumn.
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Directors, Leaders and Assistants for the Summer Term
Ian Wainwright. Director of Education
Tid. Young Company Director
Miranda Cromwell. Assistant Young Company Director
Rosie Giarratana. Session leader/assistant
Adam Peck. Writing for Theatre Leader
Peter Reynolds. Music for Theatre Leader
Emily Thompson. Session assistant
Daniel Prosser. Session assistant
Terry Tunstall. Session assistant
Anna Garvey. Session assistant
Anisa Mazidian. Session assistant
The Blog
In the near future this is where you will be able to find all Young Company info, from productions to workshops, pics and clips, dates for the new term and special events. It’s also the place where you can interact and keep a track of what’s happening in your sessions and beyond, remember there are now over 450 of you.
Check it!
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 am
Danny Prosser (Sessional Assistant) says:
Session Blog
Group: Year 7 Group 2 Date:22/04/08
Session Goal: Direction
Leader: Emily Thompson Assistant: Danny Prosser
We began by bringing all the groups together onto the Main Stage, where Tid (Young Company Director) introduced the new term, asking how many people had attended the Open Day and the various productions from the last term and to tell them about the new productions for this term, such as Samson and Delilah and the restaging of A Vampire Story for the New Connections Festival at the Bath Theatre Royal and Narcissus and Echo for Big Youth Theatre Festival in Epping Forest. After this he asked the three groups to name what this term was about and finally Orla was able to tell us it was about Directing, and he ask of the company what they thought the role of a Director was.
Some of their answers were:
“A director directs!!”
“A director is the man who organises the actors!”
“A director sees over everything that happens!”
Tid was disappointed by the fact that the three different groups had sat in their respective age groups and didn’t use this introduction to the term to mix and meet other young company members that they won’t for a long time get to meet again. Next time Young People, use such an entertaining introduction to the term to meet the other allusive Young People!!
After they were brought together, the Young People were split into their groups for the rest of their session.
Games:
Sheriff – The company stands in a circle as cowboys of the Wild West, and the Sheriff stands in the centre with his guns. The cowboys wait until the Sheriff chooses his victim and shoots, this victim must duck to the floor and the cowboys on either side of him must shoot each other, the fastest draws wins. This continues until two cowboys are left and must have a shoot out, back to back.
The company use this game to warm up their bodies and focus their brains, its important for the Young People to play with vocal and physical clarity, as well as having fun.
Killer Tick- This is a game of Tag with a difference. When someone is on it, they must tag as many other people in the room as possible, but everyone has two defences from being tagged, one is to run away and the other is to call out someone’s name in the room. Once somebody else’s name has been called, they become it. Once someone is tagged everyone must freeze and hum, as the tagged dies in slow motion to the floor with a loud open mouth note. Everyone must actively freeze, if they move while someone is dieing they must die themselves.
The company use this game as a physical and vocal warm up, making their voices and bodies active for the session. It’s also a test of focus, memory and honesty.
Performance Exercises:
The winners of the games were awarded by being the directors of a group of performers. Four groups were asked to create a piece of theatre, of any kind, thinking about the many theatrical tools they have acquired, while the directors were asked to think about their role and how they should work together with the performers either collaboratively or didactic (what I say goes!!!). Before they got to work on create some theatre they were asked what theatrical tools they knew of and could use.
Some of their answers were:
-Voice
-Script
-Song
-Vocal rhythm
-Soundscapes
-Character
-Movement
-Physicality
-Bodies being objects
Performances:
After 20 minutes of creating the four groups were able to show the work they had created. Some directors chose to also be in the performance, where some chose to stay out of them.
-One group looked at telling a fairytale in 2 minutes, using a narrator, and the use of sticks which acted as props to create such images as flying on a broomstick, or climbing the stairs of a tower. Where the clarity of the narrative was great, sometimes they commitment to the performances wavered.
-One group took the risk by not using any speech and just used movement. I found this performance very interesting, but I did agree with the rest of the Young People that any narrative was unclear. The performers were asked to get up again and perform while one of the young people, Emily and myself fed them direction, looking at adding in speech to create a clear narrative and story.
We ended by asking the Young People what they had learnt in the session.
Some of their answers were:
“We learnt how to direct and organise a group of actors”
“We learnt different ways to direct”
“We learnt a new word….umm…..didactic?”
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Alice Ottley says:
Yesterday was great a cool start to the new term. Playin slaves and masters was really good and funny
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Narcissus and Echo Rehearsal Summer Term.
Yo all! this is the rehearsal schedule for Narcissus and Echo, so we can take it a few places and to the Big Youth Theatre Festival.
We have got to rehearse 2 new peeps to play the tailors, someone to play the doc, we need a new reflection and a musician.
Let me know you can make it, either in a session or email education@bristol-old-vic.co.uk or call 0117 9072691.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Narcissus and Echo Rehearsal Schedule.
May Sat 3rd 10am – 4pm
Sat 17th “
Sat 31st “
June Sat 14th “
Sat 28th “
July 14th 15th 16th 4pm – 10pm
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Rob Delaney says:
To all involved in the young company;
I’m a final year actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and was fortunate enough to see your Narcissus and Echo performance last Sunday. I was blown away by so many things, too many in fact to generalise so here’s a list…..
*Each and every performer was incredibly committed all the way through the piece; the concentration was great to watch and this gave a sense or real support for one another.
*the energy created by this focus was fantastic and, consequently, the audience were riveted from start to finish.
*The use of almost every performance medium was stunning to watch; i don’t think i’ve ever seen a group of young performers stretch themselves like that in one show!
*OVERALL, it was a great team effort. The energy, focus and commitment to the piece was great.
Keep pushing yourselves!
Congradulations to all involved, i look forward to seeing more of your work soon.
Best, Rob Delaney
rob.delaney@hotmail.co.uk
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Nic Abrams says:
After a long holiday break the year 10-11 was welcomed back with open arms. the first event on show was tids ‘questionable’ dancing. Then as the other groups went off, our session leader, Miranda, set us off to play ‘killer tig’ and it was great to see that, even after a long holiday, we had not forgotten all of each others names. After this we proceeded to take part in an activity that required us to split into pairs. Once in pairs the master of the pair would give the slave something to do. Whether it was to lie on the floor or run in circles it didnt matter, the aim of the excercise was to get our imaginations working and our theatrical minds flowing. After swapping pairs a few times we joined with another pair to form a group. From these groups we devised pieces of our own creation with one person directing the piece. Once each group had made their piece they were shown and talked about. The pieces that came from our youthful creative minds ranged hugely, from a marriage proposal to an army of soldiars being created from paper. This activity worked extrememly well and everyone had a good laugh thanks to expert leadership of Miranda and her assistant Danny.
And that was that for another fun week at BOV.
P.S.
Welcome to the new guys Max and Robyn (sorry if i cant spell)
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
will nash says:
sounds good. wish i could have come but i had a GCSE dress.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
charlie haughton says:
had first session back today, was a goodun as usual.
started with some street dancing from tid and then a bit of a intro to the new term. directing it seems, should be good and challenging, look forward to it.
other new things like the writing and music course all sound really good, need to spread the word with people to get it rolling.
also various productions being performed in festivals and stuff, seems like the youth theatre is allowed to be ambitious now, absolutely wicked news and promises good things for the future.
the actual session started with one game of sherriff, and 2 games of killer tic (i won both times!) the winners of all games had to be directors for the session.
the peaces we directed were based around a particular moment, and the three moments chosen by groups were
clocks going back
recieving exam results
a break up.
all pieces were fairly abstract which made them interesting, as Tid says realism can be done better on TV.
i was one of the directors and enjoyed it, although its defonately a challenge. Hardest part is the fact that people are reliant on you, and obviously if its a crap performance then your guna feel bad. All the performances were really good though, and we were all given some good constructive criticism and ideas about how they could have been improved.
finsihed the session talking about the productions coming up, Samson and Delilah - a new production which will no doubt be amazing, and then the re-staging of Narcissus and Echo in the youth theatre festival. Apparntly a few parts up for grab in narcissus which im sure people will be eager to fill after seeing how good it was.
so ye, wicked first session thanks to tidbury, and emily was a flawless assistant though i doubt her blog on the session will be as good as this!
look forward to this term, it promises to be really exciting.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Anisa says:
THE FIRST MUSIC FOR THEATRE SESSION
..was incredible. After a magnificent performance of dancing from Tid and Miranda, and Tid delivering the beginning of term welcome, all five of us marched up to the Rehearsal Room (Becci Griggs, Theo Jamieson, Natasha Sutton-Williams, Peter Reynolds and I – all of whom are great reasons to JOIN MUSIC FOR THEATRE!).
Peter placed a wooden table in the middle of the room with four pieces of paper on it. We took initiative and sat around it.
So we discussed what this term could be. We could do abstract theatre things – picking notes and creating melodies etc.. We will do music for Samson and Delilah (an order box in the corner? They could drop notes in saying “a song about maps please” and we could make a song and send it back up to Coopers!) .. and we will play withhhh
……………..CABARET! :-O
Then Peter did away with any preconceptions we might have had of it being modern cabaret, we’ll be creating “darker cabaret…think Berlin, Paris in the 20s, not cliché cabaret, it has to be authentic it can’t be an imitation. Or it dies.”
So there can be glitz on the surface, but underneath there is another layer that says something about the place that bore the cabaret, maybe something more serious.
Peter will try to dig out some footage of old cabaret’s which we’ll watch.
Peter spoke about the cabaret companies who used to roll out new shows every two weeks, who just became cabaret factories. We’ll aim towards being one of them!! Having a venue where we perform our creations, always with some popular classics (The three headed woman act! And the donkey act!), but introducing new acts every few weeks. Peter told us about some of the cabaret acts around at the moment.
So the pieces of paper on the wooden table. “Write ten words describing cabaret”
So we wrote. Some of us wrote ten separate words, some wrote a few phrases that included ten words in total. We read them out and Peter picked out some of our words and told us to write a few sentences that we would make into a song.
Under Peter’s direction, and using our lyrics, we created three cabaret acts using one person’s lyrics and another person playing the piano and whatever props were around, the rest of us sat in the audience and sometimes went up to be involved in the act. Found a few funnnyy characters! And the acts were great, I definitely learnt a lot. A lot a lot a lot about comedy and appealing to the audience.
Peter said that we won’t do just comedy, we will do a few acts which will just be maybe a few singers doing a really good job of a song or something. Or a trio playing some tune that Peter mentioned which I wouldn’t be able to remember the name of or write down but was basically really famous and difficult sounding.
I laughed loads, so did others, and I think I would say it was a wonderful session enjoyed very much by all!! HIP HIP HOORAYYY
April 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Miranda (Assistant Youth Theatre Director) says:
Dance Theatre, Friday’s 6-8 p.m.
The dance theatre sessions at the Old Vic are a new and exiting route to creating theatre inspired by movement and dance. The sessions use music, are high energy and contain a variety of styles of dance from street and break dance to contemporary, contact work and gesture based movement. The focus of the work created is to use physicality to explore narrative and create non text based performance. The dance theatre sessions enable the young company to learn and employ various choreographic tools to help them devise and develop throughout the workshops, rehearsal and into performance.
The sessions are designed to explore movement and develop skills so no previous dance training is needed.
If you enjoy dance and want to be able to create devised theatre that uses music and choreography then the dance theatre programme will be perfect for you.
The Dance Theatre Programme is currently rehearsing Persephone to be performed on the 12th, 13th and 14th of June.
Persephone.
Snatched from this world and dragged to the next,
Persephone screams for her mother.
Dancing from a frozen winter to a seductive summer,
innocence is stolen by temptation.
This classic Greek myth journeys through the
forbidden and the unrequited, telling tales of loss,
heartache and growing up.
With stunning movement and heart pounding song, the
Young Company present a piece of dance theatre that
will leave you breathless.
Persephone Rehearsal Schedule
May
Saturday 3rd – 4-8p.m.
Saturday 10th – 4-8p.m.
Saturday 17th – 4-8p.m.
Saturday 24th – 4-8p.m.
May Half Term
Monday 26th - 5-10p.m.
Tuesday 27th - 5-10p.m.
Wednesday 28th - 5-10p.m.
June
Saturday 7th - 4-10p.m.
Monday 9th - 6-10p.m.
Tuesday 10th - 6-10p.m.
Wednesday 11th - 6-10p.m.
Performance
Thursday 12th to be confirmed
Friday 13th to be confirmed
Saturday 14th to be confirmed
April 24th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Miranda (Assistant Youth Theatre Director) says:
Just to ammend a typo before Tid kills me, Miranda (Assistant Young COMPANY Director)
April 24th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Joseph Wallace (Ex-Assistant Director) says:
As soon as I take a step back it all kicks off! Typical. It all sounds massively brilliant and exciting. Congratulations. Here’s to a fantastic, diverse term of young people’s theatre – Cheers!
April 24th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Becci Griggs says:
MUSIC FOR THEATRE 23RD APRIL
I couldn’t agree more with everything Anisa said about the laughs we had. It was truly amazing. I didnt realise such simple tasks could turn out to be so funny. Thats just one reason why people should come and join us!
I didnt really know what to expect from the session but decided to go along and then make up my mind. I am definitely going back! It was so much fun, and everyone seemed to be on the same wave length which was really great, as I think we will get to where we want to be.
I didn’t know much about cabaret either! I only had the English misconceptions that Anisa refered to earlier, so I really enjoyed hearing from Peter about the darker European Cabaret, that I had never considered before. In only two hours I learned so much, not just about cabaret but a lot about improvisational singing too. I normally this quite daunting but the atmosphere of the group was very supportive and I wasn’t half as scared as I normally am when put on the spot with some words and an accompaniment. Yet another reason to join! It does wonders for your confidence.
Am really looking forward to writing some songs and other material. I’m also excited about the prospect of watching some old films because I think it will get me thinking about the messages behind the acts, which I would hopefully then be able to use to make my own contributions throughout the course a lot more truthful to Cabaret.
Can’t wait for next week and all the new things that we will discover.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Joey Hickman (Young Company fan) says:
Hi.
Just sitting down, getting ready to type this blog entry gets my adrenaline going, as does every young company and PIT session I ever go to!
On Wednesday 23 April, the first PIT session of the new term, we were welcomed by new faces, new haircuts and new prospects for the BOV Young Company. After being heavily involved with the Young Company last term I was looking forward to a little break but low and behold – I am confronted with tonnes of amazing workshops and activities I can not bring myself to avoid!
This term the title and subject is ‘directing’. Exciting! We were told as a group it was a chance for individuals to push both themselves and others around them - something I am very passionate about so that got my mouth watering to begin with. I felt it was a nice twist on the usual Young Company structure because a lot of the terms have consisted of group based work, which combines the ideas of all of the group members but there is nearly always a prominent figure leading the group and shaping the piece. This new term will allow Young Company members who aren’t usually as out spoken and consciously creative to extend their experience and stretch their ability. Something the Young Company is always doing but this term should accentuate this brilliant quality even further.
We started playing games in the session and the winner of each game was chosen to be a director of a group. Once three directors were found we split off into groups. From the very beginning of the session Tid had told the group to be thinking and conjuring up ideas to play with, keeping in mind ‘moments’. ‘Moments’ being, moments in life and/or situations people or things find themselves in.
The previous day I had thought of an idea about having someone on a train or bus with music on headphones in their ears and someone doing the soundscape of the tinny sound heard by those surrounding that person. It sounds simple and boring but it was an idea i felt I could experiment with if I became a director during the evening.
I did become a director.
So I played with that idea. We were given a good 45 minutes to create a piece of theatre with one or more distinct moments. It was a difficult task - directing people you knew very well, trying to have a good time but at the same time feeling slightly under pressure to create a good piece of theatre. The group I worked with were co-operative and responsive but the task was still challenging, however, being challenged is always a good thing in the long run.
After our time was up we watched all the pieces. It was amazing how different each of the director’s pieces were. I felt each of them displayed a different level of experience and knowledge of how much they had worked with Tid and the Young Company. I, personally, have been greatly influenced in recent months with working in the Young Company and with the directors. It has changed my whole view and approach towards theatre and theatre making – a change which has no doubt been beneficial.
I’m writing tonnes! Sorry.
Each of the director’s pieces was quickly analysed by Tid and then we had 5 minutes to change them, going down a path we may have taken if, for example, another idea hadn’t been put forward. When coming back, some off the pieces greatly changed but some only changed in one area. I felt the more analysis and/or criticism Tid gave about a piece, (before we were sent to go down another path) the more a piece changed.
I came away from the session and felt I hadn’t done my best but that was far from a bad thing. i realised I hadn’t challenged myself enough while directing, which in turn made the piece less exciting and interesting to watch. I came away having learnt something, which is invaluable when it comes to a Young Company. Its about learning and understanding why things work and don’t work.
It was great and I’m not just typing that! I am overwhelmingly privileged to be apart of such an amazing company of talented leaders, directors and young people, we are all so very lucky!
Next week better be good.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Felix talking year 10 and 11 thursday group! says:
On Thursday my group found that the term will be about directing. Our stimulus was creating theatre around ‘a moment’. Our exercises included ‘killer tick’, an exercise similar to ‘tagged’ however when you are ‘tagged’, you die by falling slow motion to the floor, whilst crying a note, whilst everyone else freezes and hums. This is to warm our voices up, learn names and learn how to ‘give focus’ to those who perform.
Specifically we learnt about the fine balance between creating a piece of theatre which is aesthetically interesting, or perhaps abstract in its performance, whilst still keeping a sense of narrative which the audiance can keep up with or relate to.
My group of six tried to express the idea of waking up from a dream and realising that everything has gone wrong. It seemed we wernt clear enough about the ‘waking up’ part. Instead the majority of the action was all of us shouting panic striken noises whilst all physically showing the same movements which can come with panic. What we ended up with was maybe too abstract in its performance, thus the audiance didnt have a clear story told to them from the start. People watch theatre to have stories told to them; sometimes this story telling can become too text based or clear cut. It is importnatnt to find a balance where a clear story is being told, but individuals in the audiance can still ’see’ different things going on within.
One director chose to make his group portray the consequences of one moment in time. They used nice use of their own voices. A person dropped their mobile phone on the street, and this resulted in individuals running into, or over it. There was a sense of a mini-chorus at the beginning, but these people broke off into there individual characters (whose lives become affected by encountering the dropped phone). The morphing out of the mini-chorus and into the characters seemed to happen too quickly, or not sharp enough, until the plot and key moments became unclear because of the increasing complicated story. In this instance the audiance was maybe given too much information.
fee
April 25th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
first SAMSON AND DELILAH session says:
Hi. ‘Samson and Delilah’ performed by the young company, shall be the last show performed in the studio, before any radical changes take shape. For this reason, there should be a bigger marketing scheme for the production, trying to get more people to come and watch. This is great, as it will be the last opportunity for many, seeing the theatre as we know it today, for the last time! And OFCOURSE the show will be a spectacular show for the theatre to go out on….
The production is open to anybody in the company over year 10. I like working with people from different age groups, because I’m always brought to new ways of thinking and acting.
Before arriving i didn’t know much about the story, other than what was written in the blurb on the advertising sheet of paper. The backbone of the story is of a strong, powerful man with extravagantly long hair; Samson. He gets seduced by a woman of great beauty; Delilah. He tells her that his strength is linked to the length of his hair. She or SOMEONE cuts his hair off, leading to his downfall.
The company’s overall style of working means that we can add, take away or invent whichever subplots, characters or themes we feel still feed the story. The plan so far is to begin the show in a setting with a nondescript theatrical climate, where ‘formal business women with bin skirts and tied back hair can act alongside Arabian night like characters’. Also, the idea is for Samson and Delilah not to speak throughout the whole show, only interacting through their journey physically. Chorus work will be key in our performance, with mini-chorus within the main one. One of these mini-choruses hopefully will consist of girls, who sing the story throughout.
We were split into groups and had to come up with a short piece which expressed strength, seduction/beauty and chorus. Then the boys stood on one side, with the girls on the other. We switched genders, with the boys walking forwards as Delilah’s ‘element’ (LIKE earth, water, air) and the girls doing the same for Samson. We interacted with each other when crossing, without using words. We experimented with lifting each other up. Then the Delilah’s became Lionesses as the Samson’s became lions. The (literal) girls seductively purred while the boys did a mixture of aggressively snorting, growling and purring. It was hard to try and take on the physicality of a lioness, while interacting, lifting and purring.
IDEA’S FROM THE END OF THE SESSION:
Each chorus member could have their own partner who they interact with throughout the show.
Chorus could change at points to lions
Samson having ever growing giant dreadlocks, which the chorus help, pulls out as they grow or interact with.
The set consisting of scaffolding going from the theatre floor to second seating level, which we can climb up and down from.
Samson and Delilah being played by more than one person at stages in their lives
Bald chorus members who sprout little shoots of hair?!?
April 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Emily Thompson (Session Assistant) says:
Just to say that I’m sorry I haven’t written something sooner (what a bad example) but this week has just been an absoloute whirlwind of energy and excitement!
After a short break from the brilliance of the Open day; it was so lovely to come back to such a large group of talented and intersting people.
The groups I assisted this week were:
Monday Yr 9 Group 1
Tuesday Yr7 Group 2
Wednesday 16-18 Group 1 and PIT (performers in training)
Thursday Writing for Theatre and 16-18 Group 2
Friday SAMSON AND DELILAH!
All of the sessions included a magnificent (ofcourse) introductory talk by Tid (Young Company Director)welcoming new and old members to the wondeful world of BOVYC (-Bristol Old Vic Young Company-lil’ gehto abbreviation for you there!)
TERM THEME = DIRECTING (GET INVOLVED AND TAKE INITIATIVE)
We played a variety of warm-up games detailed by Danny earlier ‘Sheriff’ ‘Killer Tick’ ‘Tragets’ and then embarked on creating.
The brilliant thing about the Young Company now is that the environment in the room is one of joy, excitement, and mainly a willing to be there, and create the best piece of theatre you can.
For me the highlight this week was seeing new people enter the room and just slot into the vibrance of the older members. Simply Fantastic!- No social politics or dirt from the drudge of day-day life interupts this buzz of creativity.
If any of you guys need detailed notes on the sessions then ask me at the end and I’ll photocopy the notes I write up for you; but I think this is a space to share thoughts, ideas, and opinions.
For any person reading this blog and seeing the sudden flourish of the Young Company-IT DIDN’T JUST HAPPEN OVER NIGHT!
For the past 2 years (of which I’ve been involved in the Company)BOVYC has been daring, challenging, bold, and innovative (and I didn’t just take that from one of Tid’s blurbs!)
Both Ian Wainwright and Tid have shown such a detailed amount of dedication and passion to the Bristol Old Vic that many of it’s most established members/patrons should recognise and be most humble about.
These are the people leading the way in intergrating theatre work with ‘young’ people in Bristol, Nationaly and soon Internationaly.
These are the people who will, and have, shaped so many people’s lives and loves for Theatre and it’s associate Arts.
These are real life and down to earth role models for being (even if they are two Northeners!)- all I can say is Thank you on behalf of so many and keep creating!
Bit of a Gladiator moment there for you!
Keep posting people!
April 26th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Anna Carter says:
Im In Yr 9 and The First term Drama Session was Fab!
This Is Because,, we all went in groups and Made a Once in a life time scene.
In My Group we did a Suicidle Scene.. where Emma The Main acter in my group was about to jump,, when her lover came and stopped her and was like Pleading her to Not go,,But we had to other Characters ( Me and another girl) We were the voices and we old her to Jump and that her life was not worth it at all.
It was really fun to perform and also to share our ideas aswel.
I Think the New Guy (Ginger boy)
Who directed us was Great!
He Knew what he was doing and he wasnt bossy at all,, whats good!
I do Enjoy the Games,, But i think that they take up to much time!
Last session was hard to make a scene up in 5 to 10 minuits and perform accurate.
I think one Game is enough.
I Like My Leader,, Hes funny and can be very serious and he has a BIG attitude wat can be funny,, but scary!
He does bring out good ideas and, i liked how last session he got all of our ideas and changed them to be Better what made us think more.
I think at the end of each month or Term we should put on a Performance to each of the groups and them to perform to us aswell. Each performance would show the groups all the Things we have done in a group and stuff.
I hope My ideas and My comment help you and made you Happy Lol x.
Anna Carter
Loveyooh x.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Georgia Comrie says:
I am in year 9 i really enjoyed the first week back. We did a really fun piece of drama in which someone (in our case it was claire) would direct a piece about love at first sight. It was really amusing and very fun. Claire you were a great director!!
Georgia Comrie
April 26th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Ella Comrie says:
I found this week’s drama session was a really good start to this term. In this yr 9 sessions we had to pick specific moments and the director of our group had to help us create this moment for the audience to understand what was happening .I thought this was a really interesting and creative idea. The group works were all really good and the director all did very well!
We also played 2 really good games: killer tick and sheriff. I love these two games. This has been a great week and I am always looking forwards to the next week and what we will be doing. I think that we will have a very successful term
April 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Naomi Newell says:
Dance theatre session last Friday was hilarious… nice bit of street dance chillout after all the Persephone stuffage. Best bit had to be the dance off between us all… just so funny basically
Can’t wait until next time
xxx
April 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Rosie Giarratana says:
Well hello there guys! Wow, check out all the great comments! This is a bit strange for me because I’m leading the two yr 7 sessions this term - Hi gangs - looking forward to next week. I embarked upon my first BOV summer school when I was 16 which means i’m coming up to my 10 yr anniversary of being involved with this fantastic theatre housing a world famous company. I couldn’t be happier. I’m delighted to be leading sessions and also assisting the junior YT sessions on saturday mornings which keep me feeling young and silly - thanks you guys! Not forgetting persephone which will shortly be rising again to drag everyone down to the underworld!
So, my sessions this term are also focusing on directing. Which is not an easy task, as we are discovering. In my opinion, Directing is all about problem solving and team work. You have to be able to work with your company and technicians to solve the problems that the piece presents. I am challenging the yr 7 groups with one of my favourite plays but perhaps one of the most difficult to bring to life on stage - ‘The Woman in Black’. We will be using extracts from the play to focus on specific problems each week, in particular, creating atmosphere and physical storytelling. There is also the added bonus of playing with a larger cast as the play is usually performed by 2 male actors only.
My groups are subjected to warm-ups too! recently we played ‘king of the jungle’ which is best seen rather than described! I’ll also be using lots of ‘getting to know you’ games to try and remember everyone’s names better! As I’m a sign language interpreter also, we learn a sign each week! This week was RESPECT. It’s good to practice this when people say something you think is particularly good or interesting rather than spending 10 mins discussing the fact that you feel that way. Brecht always said that actors talk too much - I couldn’t agree more!
All in all, looking forward to the summer term! Really lucky to be working with such inspiring ‘young’ people and mentors such as Tid, Ian and Miranda. We wouldn’t be able to create the work we do and inspire each other on a daily basis without the unrelenting support we give each other. Thank you!
Until next time…..
xxxx
April 27th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Molly says:
On Tuesday last week I got chosen to write this blog,so here goes…
Once we all got into the right groups, myg roup, yr 7 went downstairs to our room. We started off playing ’splat!’ or in our teachers words, “sheriff” (she says it sounds cooler but I prefer saying splat because I’m more used to it). I managed to come second and then third on the next round in which Brodie won both rounds. We proceeded on to playing killer tig - which I’m not so good at.
Our focus this term is ‘directing’ , so we got into groups with 1 director, my groups director was called Hannah. She decided to do an interesting dance thing about ’solemn people’. She said adults would like it when some girls said it was a bit pointless. So when it came to performing it, it was much more different from the other groups. And when it came to feed back time we had a fair few criticisms and only one good thing. So the group decided to improve ours and put in speech and a plot. I was a servant at a party and whenever I tried to offer people drinks they had to move away from me (as if I was holding a ball of fire)and make excuses why they couldn’t have my food. So our piece became much better. Well that’s basically what we did. I enjoyed it alot!
April 28th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Becci Griggs says:
I totally forgot that I had voulenteered to write the blog this week!
So, first session back at dance theatre … a huge giggle as Naomi said above. It was great to see some new faces, in particular the boys, as they seemed to be few and far between at dance theatre last term.
This week we warmed up with our normal games of killer tic and targets, followed by some stretching. Then we moved on to learning a routine to the song “low” by flo rida. When we started we danced in about double time, and I was quite content with that speed, so when Miranda put on the much faster track it was a bit of a shock. I think I managed though … but not quite as well as some of the others. The dance had lots of “acrobatics” in which were … interesting to say the least. When we came to the “free-style” bit in the middle we split off into pairs to choreograph four bars of movement. We then ended up showing these in a dance off which was neatly rounded off with a one on one battle between Theia and Miranda! It was all VERY funny, and we found that some members have some … hidden dancing talents shall we call it! We finished the seesion with our good old favourite, dancing (cant remember the name of the step) along the diagonals of the room in pairs to “Joleyne”.
All in all a good energetic way to start the new term, although it was a bit of a shock to the system after the Easter break! Looking forward to next seeion.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
mai thomas says:
I thought that this week was really good. we are doing the woman in black and it is very creepy. we havn’t actually got to the creepy bit yet but there you go. I think soundscapes for theatre is a very good thing to practise as a group. I think that this term will be very good.=]
April 28th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Ellie Roser says:
I’m in the yr 7 Monday group! =]
Today we played loads of games and we also worked on a scene from a play called ‘The Woman in Black’
It was great fun! =]
H e H e Can’t wait for the next session!
Rosie’s a GREAT teacher
Thanks ….
Ellie x
April 28th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Ellie Roser says:
H e H e Mai and me put a comment at EXACTLY the same time =]
April 28th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Rose Reade says:
Ok, Today was great, the year 8s and 9s joined together so we got to meet some new and exiting people. We were told to get into groups with one of this weeks directors and just direct!! You could do whatever you liked with your actors, there were some very interesting ideas that people came up with.
One of the hardest things i found about directing was trying to explain something to your actors and they dont understand, and you get really frustrated trying to tell them your imagination!! I can sympathise with tid now!!
The onnly thing i want to say about youth theatre is that my friends and i feel as if there arent enough performance oppourtunities for the younger groups, its all for year 10 and up.
Apart from that this term has been great, I’m loving all the ABSTRACT ideas floating around, theyre really great
Cant wait till next week!!
April 28th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Katie Hope says:
Monday year 9
ok, hi.
the session this week was really good. Even if Tid was a little high on caffeine. We did a sound thing this week when we used differnet sounds that came in gradually to create a piece of theatre, but also weaving a story into the play.The play I did was based on Big Brother and that the computer had taken over and killed everyone. I playedI thought the whole cast was brilliant but emma was utterly cool.
We also played the game sheriff (well that’s what it’s called according to Tid). I was the first one out because I said “bing” insteaad of “bang” even though their both the same thing kinda of.
just to say hello to Emma, Leonie, flo, Ed (edwina) and Tiddberry
katie xx
April 28th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Anna (Session Assistant) says:
Year 9 group 2 Tuesday 22nd April
So, after a welcome back and an introduction to this term’s theme (Directing) the groups split off and the sessions commenced. The year 9 group had five new members of the Young Company to welcome, who had either not worked with Tid before, or simply, it was their first ever session.
We got under way with two games, the first being “Sheriff” (NOT Splat!), a game which requires a constant awareness of the people around you, and a complete group focus. We played this a couple of times through until everyone got the hang of it.
Next up was “Killer Tic”, a game based on “tag”, but with some exceptions. For many people, it was the first time they had played the game, but we all soon got to grips with it. Killer Tic is really useful for developing many theatre skills. These include: Clear communication, giving energy and focus to a moment, being constantly aware of your surroundings and honesty in theatre. Again, we played a couple of rounds of this and everyone seemed to like it.
Then we got onto the main aim of the lesson, which was to split into five groups and create “a moment”. This could be anything: A Marriage, a death, someone breathing, someone knowing they are about to die. Each of the groups were led by one of the newcomers, not an easy start by any means!
The moments picked were: A suicide, two people falling in love, Someone in an airport carrying a bomb, someone being killed, What appears when someone lights a match. We were impressed by all the groups, and Tid went through and showed each group what he would have done in their scene.
All in all, a great first session, with hopefully more like this to come!
Anna
April 28th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Danny (Sessional Assistant) says:
Wednesday 23rd April 2008
Group: Year 10-11 Group 1
Session Goal: Direction
Leader: Miranda Cromwell
Assistant: Danny Prosser
What is a director?
Some of their answers were:
“Stepping back and having a look!”
“Having the last word!”
“Someone who leads the play!”
“He takes control!!”
Games/Warm up
Killer Tick- This is a game of Tag with a difference. When someone is on it, they must tag as many other people in the room as possible, but everyone has two defences from being tagged, one is to run away and the other is to call out someone’s name in the room. Once somebody else’s name has been called, they become it. Once someone is tagged everyone must freeze and hum, as the tagged dies in slow motion to the floor with a loud open mouth note. Everyone must actively freeze, if they move while someone is dieing they must die themselves. The company use this game as a physical and vocal warm up, making their voices and bodies active for the session. It’s also a test of focus, memory and honesty.
Performance Exercises
Today’s performance exercise was called Slaves and Masters. The company split into pairs and in these pairs one was a Slave and the other a Master. The Masters job is to order the slave to do anything, climb a tree, try your best to get out the white box, pull Danny’s socks down, ANYTHING, with in reason. The Slave though can interpret this order anyway their like. The task challenges were for one to think creatively and response to the performers, the other is to repose to direction and think about interpretation.
The pairs were joint up into groups, each group with a director, directors wanting to direct. In their groups the director watched as the performers directed orders to each other and interpreted them. The director was asked to response to the play, and write down things he/she liked in the performance exercise. With this the group sat and discussed both the directors and the performers’ ideas in response to the exercise, and then the director and the performers created a piece of theatre.
Performance
The performances were diverse, clear and well executed, though not without fault, each performance was strong.
One group looked at the story of a girl and her imaginary friends, using scale, space and symmetry. A group took the rules of the game, passing on orders, and used that to create a piece based around a spoilt girl having a photo taken. Another group used images explored in the exercise, soundscapes and individual physicality to create a surreal piece based around war. In contrast another group set theirs in a coffee shop, and explored the interaction between characters achieving certain gSession Assistantoals, such as ordering a coffee or trying to find a willing husband. The last group brought us into a circle, where the very little or lack of interaction between frustrated silent characters told different stories of different people.
This week’s blogger was Nick, see Nick’s blog for an inside view.
See you next week, Danny xx
April 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Danny (Assistant Director) says:
WATCH OUT, THE VAMPIRES ARE BACK!!
Last night (Monday 28th April), we began rehershing A Vampire Story again, for the National Connections Festival.
All the performers are back again for a one off performance at The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath, and were all buzzing after a speed read through of the play, all without scripts! Well remembered guys!!!
Rehershals all this week:
Tuesday 6-8pm
Wednesday 6-10pm
Thursday 6-10pm
Friday 6-10pm
Saturday 8am, at the Theatre Royal Bath
For everyone interested in seeing A Vampire Story, either again or if you missed it last time the box office number for the Theatre Royal Bath is 01225 448844, or visit thier website http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk.
For more information you can also visit http://www.ntconnections.org.uk/home, the website for the National Connections Festival!
Our performance of A Vampire Story is this Saturday 3rd May at 7.00pm!! BE THERE AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS!!!
Cheers, Danny (Assisant Director)
xxx
April 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Bob! says:
Hello everyone,
todays session was gd, we got put with the year 8’s or 7’s, not sure.
we played
Killer Tick! And then
Sherrif!
we then got split into 2 groups and had to work as an onsomble.
we then got into smaller groups and had to make a scene out of the onsomble thing.
x
April 29th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Cherry says:
HIYA, well today in our yr8/9 session we worked on our directing skills, we were put into groups of about 5-6 and chose a director. At first we used our warm up exersise to show the director some improvisation scenes. Then the director took actions, movements, phrases and ideas out of the scenes and put them all together to create the main performance. The performances varied widly from comedy to thriller to symbolic. This has been by far my favourite lesson. I hope it inspires you lot out there to join in and become an actor in the making. BOV!!!!
cherry xxx
April 29th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Cherry says:
omfgg BOB i swear bob is not a real name people just say it to describe nameless peeps?? lmao see yaa’ll. luvvv xxxx as tid says CHECK IT
April 29th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
RACHEL says:
Molly you forgot that i won a game to!!
XXX
April 29th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Stuart says:
Yeah, his name’s Bob…
Anyway, I enjoyed the session today, I didn’t particually like the directors ideas and lines but I went along with it. I had fun and enjoyed watching the more abstract pecies, even if you couldn’t always tell what was happening they were very gripping.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Orla says:
Haha, you mean like our abstract piece?
Yeah, I loved the session too.
We found out some things, like Bob has hairy legs=P
Awww, that was funny…
April 30th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Charlie H says:
Yop
The session yesturday (30/4/8) was v poorly attended. where are you peps. Tid’s group and Maranda’s group had to join together, it was very good. Continued to workk on the director theme, worked on Samson and Delilah to give tid ideas for what to do. (don’t actually know the play but it seemed to work ok lol)
Everyone needs to be there next week, come on, better when there is more people. (hope that that is the same for both groups
)
Open rehursal for Perseffonie (is thqat how you spell that????) yeah the dance theatre show, this Sat 4-8. gotta speak to maranda if u wanna go.
(as tid says)
CHECK IT!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Miranda (Young Company Assistant Director) says:
Open Persephone Rehearsal Saturday 3rd 4-8p.m.
This is an opportunity for anyone year 10 and above to be part of the first Dance Theatre production at the Bristol Old Vic and be last to perform on the main stage before the refurbishment.
Persephone was performed at the open day on the 13th of April, due to public demand it is being performed again on the 12th, 13th and now 15th of June.
The open rehearsal will be a fun devising session to re cast and develop ideas from the show. If you attend the workshop and can commit to the rehearsal schedule (scroll up and see earlier blog) you could be part of this exciting production. Although I make no promises!
Even if you cannot be part of the show it will be a free, fun taster into the world of Dance Theatre.
Go on, why not???
May 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Miranda (Young Company Assistant Director) says:
If you want to attend.
Phone 01179493993 Education @ BOV ask to speak to Emily or Tom and say that you will there. Its that simple.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Max Morris says:
Hello, In case you haven’t met me yet, or have no idea who I am, My name is Max. I’m a newbie to the Wednesday Yr 10 & 11 group.
I don’t have much to compare this session with, and as I hardly know anyone yet, please bear with me.
Yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) session was a frenzy of activity from the start, the Yr10 & 11 group and the 16-18yr old group joined forces this week (because of a pathetic attendance) and Tid took the session for all of us. Before their group arrived we started with a warm up game thing, I have no idea what it was called. But basically, you had to hold one fixed hand behind your back as ‘the target’ and use your other hand as a gun. The aim was to kill other players by nabbing them in ‘their target’ and avoid getting killed yourself. I was pretty rubbish at this game, my reaction time must be useless, and in two games I was knocked out almost immediately and managed to kill absolutely no-one!
The second game was called something like.. um.. ’sheriff’? (someone please tell me if i’m right) For this game we got into a circle, a pretty big circle because of the expanded group. We were centred around Tid (being the ’sheriff’ or whatever). Everyone had a gun/’hand’, and if we got shot at by Tid then we had to duck, and then the players standing to either side had to draw and shoot at one another as quickly as possible, and ofcourse, the slowest shooter died.
Well done to all you ridiculously reactive people who won the games, I’m amazed by your speed. I’m such a looser at those kinds of games, but it was all good fun.
After those initial warm-ups, directors were chosen for individual groups of about 6, we broke up and started to work on our own short creations of something based around Samson and Delilah. Looking at particular parts of the story, and drawing on what little knowledge we each had of the plot. After some discussion and rehearsal the individual groups performed for the rest of us.
There was a huge variety and some really intriguing performances. I was interested in seeing similar themes sometimes cropping up, and similar characterisation of Samson appearing also. It was interseting to find out how little everyone actually knew about the story. Tid’s feedback and analysis of each performance gave us all something to work towards, and think about in a little more depth, the main focus for improvement being to bring more pace and rhythm to the performances.
We then got into new, slightly smaller groups of 4 and worked on a second piece, trying to take on board what we had just seen and heard, and use a completely different scene, or part of the story.
Again, a very engaging and thought-provoking experience. It was good to see how some people had developed ideas, and new groups of people worked together differently.
The session ended with some songs from the Music for Theatre girlies, which I thought was really amazing, and it gave us all a teaser of the songs which they’ve been working on for Samson and Delilah.
I hope this is an ok blog, and not massively boring.
I’d just like to say thankyou to everyone for making me feel very welcome, and helping me to get involved. I’ve so far really enjoyed the sessions and can’t wait until next week.
Thanks xxx
May 1st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Becky T says:
Hey all! I’m writing the blog for Tid’s Year 10/11 Thursday group, so I hope I get this right!
Ok, so we started off with a couple of games to warm us up and prepare us for the session. We had a couple of rounds of “Sheriff” and a couple of rounds of “Killer Tick”.
Then we were told to get into groups of three and were given roughly one minute to create a small piece, with one person directing and the other two performing. All of our pieces we frozen scenes, so our goal for the next minute was for another director to create a piece with movement. These were lacking text, so each of the next one minute pieces had to start with speech.
Having decided which piece we all preferred, we were instructed to get into groups of six. There were three groups, and each group had to nominate a director and decide what type of stimulus we wanted, choosing from text, pictures or both.
The theme of the pieces was Samson and Delilah, the new youth theatre production. I was chosen as the director and went up to collect our picture and text.
We developed our pieces over the next 45 minutes and then performed them to the rest of the class. We went first.
In our piece we performed the first half of the story’s most important scenes, ending on the scene where Samson’s hair is cut. We integrated the narrator as a character and tried to use the actors’ physicality to portray different features, including the fire and the lion.
The next group to perform chose the scene where Samson’s hair is cut, using comedy to move the plot forwards. Their piece was very funny and interesting to watch.
The final group showed Samson’s loss of strength in a different way, first off Samson being invited into the hall to play his nose-guitar(?) and then failing to play it when he was enslaved.
When it came to Tid’s feedback, he seemed to say the same thing to every group; we lacked atmosphere. All of the pieces had good aspects, however the way we showed the story left the audience feeling blank.
I learnt a lot from today’s session. It was a challenge to direct and not participate, but I think I managed it quite well. I’ve taken away that next time I need to use a range of theatrical skills to create an atmospheric piece, with characters the audience can relate to and a more interesting way of creating the situation. Just because I had a stimulus didn’t mean that I didn’t need to inject some creativity!
Thanks for reading, I hope that was useful
Bec
xxxx
May 1st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Peet C says:
Parent of Young company member just flagging up that there are quite a few clashes between GCSEs and Persephone rehearsals & Performances as well as rehearsals for Samson & Delilah.
Will Try and come up with some ideas before writing again but presumably this will be a problem for a lot of Young Company members
May 1st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Tid (You know who i am) Check it! says:
Hey there All
Blogs are great people, love that mad stuff!
Max Morris, a new guy, and what a blog, well written, fun and insightful.
Welcome to all you new guys!
Peet C
Yep, we are looking in to it, but most have been able to commit so far, bad time of year with exams but hopefully there can be time for both.
oh and BOB is a very good name, most of the time short for Robert i think, and of course short for Brilliant On Bongos.
Narcissus and Echo rehearsal on Sat 3rd May is cancelled, I is goin to a party!
Check it
Tid
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 am
Nathan (you will know who I am when I become rich and famous!) says:
So…I volunteered to be this week’s blogger for the 16-18 group…mainly due to the lack of enthusiasm by the rest of the group to do so!!
Anyway, as you will hopefully have gathered from previous blogs, this term’s theme is “Directing”.
But before we started with all the directing tasks, we endured a 20 minute lecture/ramble/rant/inspiring speech by the infamous Mr Tidbury. In between some bad jokes and typical Tid behaviour, we were informed about upcoming events at the old vic. These include the next Young Company production, which is the amazing tale of Samson and Delilah; open auditions for the dance theatre’s production of Persephone this saturday; and the production of The Red Man, performed by Tid’s professional theatre company Fairground Theatre at the Tobacco Factory in June.
After this speech we played a few warm-up games of Sherrif and Killer Tick. Sherrif is a simple enough game…shoot the person shooting at you…too slow and you die. Shoot a hostage, you die. Twitch, you die. In fact you have to do extremely well to survive a game of Sherrif!!! Killer Tick is far too complicated to explain on here…as many of the youth theatre guys can tell you, based on how many people got it wrong last night!! But overall they were both great fun and got us ready for the session ahead.
The first directing task was in groups of three, where each person in the group had to have a turn at directing the other two and creating something that they wished to see on stage. We had 30 seconds to do this!!! There was various interesting, wierd and funny moments created, including a slap aimed in my direction, cavemen having an argument and a barn dance!
The next task was in groups of five or six, and revolved around the upcoming production of Samson and Delilah. Each group had to decide upon a director. The resulting directors were myself, Maisie and a new face in the ever-smiling Jess. Tid then made us choose between either a image or text-based stimulus from a selection revolving around Samson and Delilah that had been put up on the wall. Jess and I both chose images with Maisie deciding upon text.
With my group, we discussed the storyline that we could piece together from what each of us knew, and then decided to concentrate on a stage in the story when Samson, who is an immensely strong man due to his magical hair, has had his hair cut off and has therefore lost his strength, and is being humiliated and tormented by people in the town. I decided to stage this by having another new face Sam playing Samson, and then with a chorus of townsfolk tormenting and hurting him with their touch. A problem I found was that I could not really word what I was trying to do very well to my group, which probably caused some confusion and uncertainty, which I think showed in the final piece. Tid said that there were some good ideas in the piece, by portraying the weak side of Samson - as many people would choose to show his strength - and also the use of a chorus. However, Tid also said that the chorus were not confident or defined enough, and the use of one person being the centre of the piece, then a group coming in on that person and affecting them in some way is clichéd and over-used, so would only have worked if the chorus and performance had been more cleverly done. Jess’ group also had the comment on having the cliché, but performed it better, as they committed more and had more changes in the dynamic and impact of the piece, which made it more effective. The final group, directed by Maisie, created a very original cabaret-style song, based on a poem about the tale of Samson and Delilah. Tid liked the idea, as did the rest of the group, and said that it would have been a really good piece if lines had been learnt and articulation was better….but overall a very good and original piece!
Well I hope I haven’t bored you with this rather long blog, but I’m hoping that seeing as I’ve written so much in this one that I won’t have to write another one for a while!!!
Have fun in your next session if you are already involved with the Old Vic, and if you aren’t then GET INVOLVED!! It’s really worth it and I learnt a lot from my session last night.
Much Love
Nathan
xxx
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
rich hill says:
hey all
It’s time to make a comment based on the perfection which is the young company!
Although i missed the first session of the new term, wednesday was an enjoyable session with plenty to talk about. due to the new performance of Sampson and Deliah, we rightly started devising some theatre to give potential ideas for the show!
After warm-up games, we got on it! creating humour sketches, serious ones and “breathtaking” battle sequences!
My main message for the blog is this: If you are part of it currently, i hope you realise what a wonderful thing we are part of. If your not-GET ON IT! The young company gives you a chance to discover all types of theatre, as well as experience things you dont get the opportunity for-like going camping in a forest for the National Youth Theatre festival. The delights that are available are endless!
Right thats about it, although i would like to say one more thing…me and a good friend of mine let down a very special director for the upcoming play of “Persephone” which is great by the way!! I just like to say we are truly sorry and hope it all goes well, which im positive it will.
Anyways, Rich Hill signing off! Nasher! x
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Tian says: says:
on Tuesday i was picked to write a blog so here goes we had to make sounds of london and go in groups and have directors. Two people in the group had to read the script from a play, The women in black then we performed it in front of the groups.The groups reflected on how well we did.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Twin 2 (Michaela) says:
Hey people!
Just thought I’d say how much I’m loving this blog and youth theatre for that matter! Yes it’s taken me a while to read all these comments but let me tell you it’s been well worth it, similar to being part of the youth theatre itself in a way, as we (being me and Twin 1, Kathleen) only first started attending at the end of last year (due to a delayed realisation of how incredible it is!) and man has it been worth the wait.
The sessions, not only comprising of the best people in the universe, give you the opportunity to obtain and develop skills in drama, performance, team-work, direction, you name it. However, in my opinion, above all these incredible attributes lies one very special youth theatre trait and that my friends is called having FUN!
Every time there is something new to learn. Lasts night sesh involved us experimenting with direction and being directed. We experienced that although working in a group and building on each others ideas is both interesting and exciting, assigning a director enables a clearer more focused pathway for one persons specific ideas to develop and flourish, with adaptations within the group.
Not a single session has gone by where we don’t play a few games. They get us geared up and ready to rumble! A personal fave has got to be Samurai!! The countless times we have desperately refrained from laughing in the deadly silence as we swipe our invisible swords and kneel in front of our opponent awaiting the next move, eager to respond.
The great thing about youth theatre is performing to each other and receiving feed-back. It’s so refreshing to hear constructive criticism and view a piece from one another’s point of view or interpretation.
I don’t think I can thank the group leaders enough for their endless efforts of creating the most amazing environment possible on Earth! And if your not part of this incredible crewage I suggest you do something about it right NOW!
Love you all!!!
xx
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Clarissa aka 'Token black person' says:
On Wednesday night in the 18+ group we still worked with the idea of having a director in the group, but they were also allowed 2 take part in the performance.
Before we got down to the main ’sesh’ we of course played ‘killer tick’ and ‘targets’ which I ever so nearly won
- but never mind there’s always next week!!! 
We came up with quite a few ideas for the upcoming show ‘Samson and Delilah’, I particularly enjoyed trying to tell the story as a chorus but making sure it was clear and interesting for the audience to watch. My group set ours in a bar and used a kind of ‘chinese whispers’ effect which became out of hand and the wrong information was passed on, leaving one person to pick up the pieces and relay the information properly - this made it quite comical but informative.
After writing my 1st blog I have noticed that I use quite a lot of inverted commas hmmmmmmm….
Peace out!!
Clarissa xxxxxx
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Naomi Newell says:
Dance Theatre Friday session…
More fun times, we devised some partner bits and bobs through using the techniques of ‘points of contact’; my favourite being the one where the follower rests upon the leader’s hand whilst the leader takes them around the space before taking their hand away, so the follower falls to the floor somewhere across the space. Haha rubbish description so just… come to the sessions guys!! Haha.
I really liked to see the newer people get more into and excited about the sessions because I can imagine how hard it must be coming into a crazy world where everyone loves touching each other (ha) so fair play to all new people!! We love you!!
The main objective for the next few weeks is to totally master the old ‘low’ routine… Maybe one day we’ll be coming to a session near you to dazzle you with our street styles… Haha… Or not… either way!!
Nighty mcnight, I’m shattered after Persephone rehearsal today… actually I might blog that one now, clog up the old internet some more
xxxxx
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Naomi Newell says:
Oh my life, I just flat out blogged and it didn’t publish it GRRR So here you are again… Dance for Theatre Friday’s session!!
After some warm up games (targets… but instead of just sitting you have to do sit ups and press ups… argh!!)and dancey stuff we started on the devising of some partner pieces based on ‘points of contact’. My favourite one was where the point of contact was the leader’s hand under the follower’s chin, and they had to work together in order to understand where the leader was trying to take them. When the leader took their hand away from the follower’s chin, they would travel across the space before landing on the floor. I really liked this one because it was a very affectionate and I could distinguish clear relationships between the partners. I think that will be really useful to put towards our next show of Persephone… gotta love some affection on a Friday!!
I also really liked to see the newer members of the group getting more into it and becoming more relaxed with performing in front of the others. I have so much respect for the people who come into our groups and sessions without having any previous experience of the Youth Theatre’s craziness… Just remember new people that you’re awesome and we love you!! Don’t be afraid to express yourselves because you’re actually allowed to… It’s why I am so proud to be a member.
Well hopefully that one will submit now… much love!!
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Matt Nolan says:
For the group who performed ‘Vampire Story’ at the National Youth New Connections, It was outstanding…the play had so many great elements with quality acting to enhance them!
My company performed the first Burying Your Brother In The Pathment, and we met some of the cast, they we’re nice guys who are too modest! ha!
May 4th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Emily Thompson (Session Assistant) THE JYC! says:
I’m never going to be able to blog all of my sessions but here is one about the lovely Junior Young Company members that I assisted on Saturday.
Really early get up to be there at nine after leaving the Old Vic having done 10-10 the day before.
The year 3’s were lovely, bright, enthusiastic and absoloutely hilarious!
We learnt what an Image was and even explored the world of Metaphors!
After looking at the pictures in a book we gave them the task of recreating something/someone from the image. Then they placed themselves on stage to fit in with a new scene that they had created.
Gradually we added movement and sound until we got a world of small wonders to enjoy watching!
Then we had the Year 4’s who were introduced to the world of devising in small groups; alone!-recreating the most suprising moments from there lives. This was asked of both year 5 and 6 as well and ranged from:
…’I was eating my sandwhich on the beach, when suddenly a huuuuuuuuge seagull came down and took it out of my hand!’…to
…’Once I went to my freinds house and he told me he’d completed loads of levels on my game for me-was really cool.’
Absoloutely loved the whole experience of these busy little minds and the endless possibilities that lie ahead for them.
One of the highlights was the end of session discussion that took place after the year 6’s had devised pieces based on Samson and Delilah.
The conversation was both insightful and sophisticated; and put most of the discussions held by Senior Young Company members to shame.
Not many people recognise the amount of effort, time, and skill it takes to work with such young people but Miranda (Assistant Young Company Director) does it with absoloute class, and makes it look a breeze!
LOVE THE BEANS GAME!-Think it’ll be appearing in a version adapted for the Senior Young Company- watch out for the French Bean-Oooooo La Laaaa!
Keep chatting!
May 4th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Ruth Newns says:
On Monday the yr8s joined with the yr9s again and we were lead by Tid and Emily.
First we played a couple of games-”Sheriff” and “Killer Tick”, then Tid put us into groups. We decided on a director in each group, and Tid told us that we going to do stuff on “Samson and Dililah” as it’s one of the plays that the Youth Theatre are performing.
We had to work from an image that the director picked from the wall and make a scene in half an hour.
After performing the scenes to each other we reflected on how well we did.
I thought this was fun and interesting, particularly working with the yr9s.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Becci Griggs says:
MUSIC FOR THEATRE SESSION 2
okay so its taken me almost a week to write this blog entry, for which I apologise! This week it was just me and Anisa, as Peter was away, and Theo and Natasha were otherwise engaged. So we set about writing some songs, with the intention of finding some music for Samson and Delilah, but were happy to see where it took us.
We began by writing our thoughts on war, because of the potential for Samson and Delilah to be set in this time. This got us thinking pre 1940’s music, such as Gershwin etc, and we sang some songs from the era to get our creative juices flowing. Anisa wrote some beautiful lyrics, and came up with a tune, to which I fitted chords, and we came up with one of our songs for the evening, it was a very relaxed song, slow and if you listen to the lyrics, really really sad.
Then we wanted something a bit more upbeat, so I gave anisa a rhythm on the piano and she inprovised and found some lyrics around it. We then set it, and experimented with ideas from our previous Cabaret session with peter, and also with building up the music. We then had many ideas of where to take it next, but didnt have the time to explore them.
At the end of the session we performed our two new songs to the years 10 and 11, and 16- 18 groups, which was good as we were able to get their responses.
Overall a great session! But we are still severely lacking people … if all this sorta stuff I’ve been talking about sounds like something you’d be interested in, you really should come along and give it a go! You will learn a lot I guarentee, and its very fun at the same time.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Stuart says:
This week the year 9’s joined the year 7’s. We played some interesting and fun games. After the games, we looked at a play called “The Woman in Black” which the year 7’s will be studying over the next few weeks. We were then challenged with showing a journey on stage. This is harder than it sounds… All the groups enjoyed the challenge but I don’t think any performances worked.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Lucy says:
In the 14-16 session today ( Wednesday )started with a good hearty game of the blob and then sheriff.
Miranda brought in descriptions of four characters, using these we created characters and improvised interactions. Most people choose characters fitting with the style it was written (i.e. posh toffs).
After this we split in to four groups to look at each character more closely , put them in to a context and devise a moment in there life. To keep with the terms theme of directing a director was chosen by Miranda for each group. Our group did “the sponge” who was a slimy socialite out to suck up everything he could and choose the moment in his life where he realised he couldn’t charm his way through everything.
After watching all the performances we chatted about improvements that could be made in them all for 5 minutes till the session ended.
It was a lovely escape from revision.
Lucyx
May 7th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Helena Middleton says:
16-18 year old Thursday group.
In today’s session I took on the role of director. Tid asked us all if we had had any ideas over the week about something to direct and I had been thinking about the idea of an escape. The image of someone climbing over and around a wall of bodies was particularly clear. When we got given our groups Tid lay down our directing task; we had to spend time doing ‘exploration’ in which we would literally play with ideas surrounding the theme we had chosen. After this we had to devise based around what we had discovered during our exploration and then finally rehearse and perform the piece.
Straight away I had the actors up on their feet and explored the different ways in which an escape could be portrayed. I had four of the actors be a wall whilst one person tried to find any possible way through it, I had every actor play a prisoner reacting firstly to a guard entering their cell and then to a visitor who offers to help them escape, I played with the idea of a soundscape, asking the actors to make the noises they would expect to hear in a prison under high alert. I also asked each member of the group to recount a time when they had felt trapped and wanted to escape. Each of them came up with interesting past stories (including being stuck at the bottom of a pile on!) and all of them said that they experienced a moment of absolute fear.
I was keen on making the physicality of the piece quite prominent and so we developed ideas from the exploration to create a physical based escape. Through trial and error, the error being Lily got a nose bleed whilst being lifted over the shoulders of the other actors; we managed to create a series of moments which could tell the story of a prisoner’s escape. The group were really responsive and I was able to feed off their ideas as well as them helping me to develop my own.
When watching the piece I was pleased with how moments of panic contrasted with really still and quiet moments. For example, after the whole cast was screaming as an ensemble the prisoner jumped into their arms and they all went silent, the only thing you could hear was her discordant breathing. In this moment of quiet the prisoner climbs the wall of the prison and stands on top of it, the audience is left questioning if she did finally manage to escape.
The feedback I received was really positive and I felt really thankful towards my group who were brilliant. After all three groups performed we were given a lesson from Tid in giving useful feedback. I don’t think any of us were particularly successful. After a good old chat with Jack about the session we both felt pleased that we’d directed this week and came away feeling like we’d learnt something about directing methods. I feel that starting with exploration is a particularly good way to generate ideas.
And that’s about it. Bit of an essay but hey ho, enjoy!
May 8th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Libby says:
Yesterday four people showed their ideas on what a performance could be about or include. I had to direct for the first time as i had come up with the idea of having a blind person. It was really tricky and I, for a few moments, regretted chosing it. But it turned out well. The four people i had to work with were all really good and helped me out as i was stumped for ideas most of the time. We did a few exercises in being blind and then brain stormed some ideas. In the end, i thought the whole thing turned out okay.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Lily Drewry says:
SO interesting looking over the bloggageness!
No one else volunteered so I did…
At the begin of our session on Thursday 6-8pm with Miranda and Anisa we played blob which a fantastic game. The blob broke apart so the blob lost.
Then we got given a sheet with a old fashioned character on. There were four different sheets one with Model Sponge one with Model….I cant remember what the other ones were but I was Model Sponge. On the sheet was a drawing of the character and a description, how they acted, what they liked ect.
Then Miranda told us to pick out a phrase which we liked and make it into a modern day character. We were then told to move around the stage in character. There was a really wide selection of character some were depressed some were chavs some were young children.
We walked around the space some more in character and then we were told to grab the person nearest you. Miranda told us to talk to your partner for 1 minute in character about our day up until standing in that room, I think? Once that was over our parter asked us questions in character and we had to answer the in character.
We then had to go up to another character in the room that you thought would get on well with your character and start a conversation. If they were already in a conversation you had to deal with it the way you would if you were your character.
Then we did that again but with someone you thought your character would not get on with.
After that Miranda said that the people you were talking to at that moment you had to make a short scene with them. I was with Nemo and Sophie Maxwell (HILARIOUS!) and ours was me walking down a street being a bit of a rud (If you don’t know what that means it like a chav/gangster) and Nemo shouting at me.
Anyways! Cant really be cheesed to go and write anymore because I have to go and help my Mum and Brother move a table.
BOV is amazing! And if you miss session then you’re and idiot (Poppy Hargreaves! Where have you been? And you India Hicks!)
Ok y’all! Bye! X
May 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Daisy Harris says:
Im in the year 5 group on satday
and to day i reaaly injoiyed it because to start with we got given a prop to give us idease for a sort peice but we wernt aloud to use it in what we did we got a bell so we decided to let maya be the plummer who brougtht a bell thinking it was a toilet plunger so she went to a house and as you put it in toilt as bells do it rang and blue light started coming of it so she touched the bit that gos in the middle and got trammsported back in time to aliens and the took one look at her and shot her then the aliens touched the same bit and got transported forwards in time (the present) and a shop assistent askes them if the would like some help but they shoot her but then we got put in difrent groups with another prop which we were allowed to use exsept it hade to be som thin else we decided to mak a pineapple into a slug-tortoise and some grass amd weput the grass on tortoise and then said “Its the mighty slug-tortoise!” in funny voice then turned in to super heros and saved some one who did not need saving.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Catrin says:
hey
Just to say, a big thankyou to Miranda who directed Persephone and who takes dance theatre sessions on a friday. Being in Persephone was AMAZING! I really enjoyed the experience and I am really looking forward to being in the next Persephone production.
It is sad that Rich, Tom and Joe arent going to be in the production
but i am sure that Joey Hickman and Chris Farish are going to make good replacements as the show is looking good already! 
Thanks again to Miranda!
love Catrin xxx
May 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
kateee the W says:
hey ho!
last week was brill,i was chose to write da BloG so…
there wernt many people there coz of may day but i think it came to a good advantage. the 9’s ad 8’s were 2gether which was cool to make new friends. i directed again which was interesting. we had a theme for the piece: samsung and delilah(have i spelt that k?)
any way it was fun to create a piece around a play which i had never heard of it was v cool and i learnt alot! tnx tid!
kateeeeeeeeeeex
May 12th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Jack Drewry says:
16 - 18 year old group, thursday.
I had the oppertunity to be a director last week (this blog entry is a bit late so its last week now) which was AMAZING. Tid asked us if anyone had any ideas for things they would like to explore and then put on stage. I said I wanted to do something to do with time travel, as thats something that i think would be quite hard to show on stage.
Time travel had been of theatrical intrest to me since i wached the film “Memento”. Its one of those films you have to see at least 2 time to understand it fully but basicly the whole film is backwards.
With this backwardsness in mind, for the exploration of the idea of timetravel, I asked my actors to go backwards through everything they had done since the entered coopers loft. I did it as well and you realise that its actually quite hard to rember things in that much detail backwards.
In the end our piece was someone rewinding an old family video showing episoedes from a life, it was unclear who’s life it was, and at the end the video was ejected.
I learnt a lot in the discussion afterwards. Tid said that we didn’t make our ideas clear enough for the audience, we kind of got too inolved in developing them and not thinkin how we could clarify them. Which is a valuable lesson.
I was very impressed with the other groups. Louis makes an epic crouching tiger / hero army sequence and Helenas escape was unbeliveably brilliant!
Thanks Tid yet another quality session
Jack
May 13th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
J Wallace says:
MUSIC FOR THEATRE - SESSION III
Crows, songs and manikin girlfriends
Or ‘The Mysterious World of Peter Reynolds’.
The players stood in the room talking amongst themselves, the smell of summer hung about their youthful persons. Suddenly the door burst open and the charismatic Mr Reynolds swept into the room sandwich in one hand, accordion in the other. “Ok, create a sentence, choose a prop, place it somewhere in the room then move around the space” and so began the session.
After whispering words of intimacy to inanimate objects we created a movement which was echoed with detailed replication by the ensemble. We then turned into a flock of crows and swooped around the rehearsal room, waiting for an action we could all respond to. Prams holding books, ornate rusty lamps, foot ladders, and a trombone lay strewn across the floor and they listened to our lines as we began to sing.
Eventually the family of crows settled on a telephone wire and the song began to form, with all its intricacies and delicacies; Peter at the piano, Anisa by his side, and the crows, squawking and shifting, restless to sing. ‘A song in six parts, for a family of crows’, a story if you like, a story, if you choose to read it.
Opera, sound-scapes, melodies, harmonies, waltzes and dances ensued as the song was set. Then the players were squeezed, along with their bizarre objects, into a tiny cupboard. The show begins… the lights dim. A family of crows shuffles onto the stage. “Face out front; don’t come out of the line. This is cabaret!” The characters sing their pieces as they gaze outward and interact with the other performers…
This wasn’t cabaret as a form; this was cabaret as a way of thinking!
Then, as quickly as it had begun, the session was over. Sleek, chic, see you next week!
May 13th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Miranda (Assistant Young Company Assistant Director) says:
Hello all…
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has left comments, apologies to all you guys who have waited a while to see your blogs appear but I have been reassured it is now fixed. Hurrah! It is great to see some of our youngest members getting involved too. It is really insightfull to be able to hear your thoughts and responses to the sessions and to the challenges of directing.
Good Times people, Keep blogging
May 14th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Yo… I am loving the blog people, get involved!
All you people who like theatre, make sure you check out Mayfest. There are Brochures at Stage Door, loads of eciting theatre to see, including an interesting piece called Where You Can’t Foloow Directed by some guy called Tid.
Go see as much as you can, an can someone explain to me how you do the smiley face bling, i like it.
Tid
May 14th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Lola says:
hiya,
I would just like to say last session was great. We did some more directing work. Last session we had four groups, each with a director. It was really interesting for me cause I have never really been directed by someone of my age, I’ve only been directed by an adult. Ravenhill was our group director, he wanted to put the story of David and Goliath on stage. His version of the story was held in a boxing ring. David was a weedy little boxer, while Goliath was a super strong one. They battled it out in the ring with a running commentry from two reporters.
I thought it was an original idea, I have never performed something quite like it, and I found being directed by Ravenhill an interesting experience.
See you next session!
May 14th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Jade says:
Hey all,
This wednesday.. well to begin with, I was well bummed, because my bus broke down so I was like half an hour late.. But i joined just as the games were ending.. one last round of Killer Tick!!
Then we split off into groups of 5 and were given an object. If i remember rightly there was a pair of Burger flipping things (Yeah, i just asked my mum what they were called and she had no idea either!) a bale of corn which managed to spread all over the floor throughout the session, a bucket, a hobbyhorse, a flask and a bag of toy soldiers. We then had to make three actions that we associated with this and one peice of text. I was in the ‘burger flipping things’ group, and we were pretty baffled at first… all we could think to do was walk around like robots pretending to be burger flippers! But I think our ideas slowly evolved into other ideas in the end, and when it came to watch everyones, they were all pretty wicked: lots of guns/armies/war ideas, and i really liked the corn one where they were all growing or swaying in the wind.
So Miranda then asked us which bits we liked.. and some of us ended up being directors for these groups that we enjoyed watching… because, of course, this term is all about directing.
I was a director and, to be honest, the whole idea of being in charge is abit scary really.. theres so many ideas and you can only choose one!
But we went with Thea’s idea of a workers song and carried it forward from there.
We all spent about half an hour developing these ideas into a peice of theatre.. great fun, and because of the lack of people, we had joined forces with the 14-16s, which meant we were mingling with people we might not have met or actually talked to before. I certainly hadn’t!
So yeah, we all sat down as an audience after half an hour and watched through everyones perfomances.
& They were all pretty good!
We had machine/factory type things, flying soldiers (lol!), dying corn fields, Seductive women, people on fire and a corner shop robbery. some great ideas and some great feedback. I really like the fact that we give each other feed back.. it sort of.. gives us a chance to understand what this peice of drama has meant for other people our age.. i just think its great!
Yeah, it was a really great session, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Big up to BOV =)
See you guys next week yeah. xXx
May 14th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Sophii the Shaw says:
Righteo looks like the website has been fixed. So it’s all good to blog. Safe.
This is for Miranda’s dance theatre session which may I add was rather fabulous. We warmed up with a dance we had recently learnt to a song called ‘Low’ which you are bound to have heard recently and if not WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I think it’s safe to say it’s not a dance we’ve perfected yet, but we WILL all get the freeze position and be able to do the moves backwards.
Most of our session was spent working with a partner and focusing on points of contact and guiding people using those points of contact. They could be from the chin, chest, hips…you name it! We took this idea to get a serious of moves we like and put them together. We each performed them to everyone in the group then Miranda told us to find one moment in our sequence to focus on and create a short dance from it which could have some narrative behind it.
Being able to focus on one bit made you think in the reasoning behind the movement and create a story behind it. We had stories of cheating couples, unrequited love, a sexually frustrated partner with someone who’s too tired and many other scenarios.
As always an uber fabulous session!
Cheerz Miranda
Whatta dude
Sophii x
May 15th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Bryher- yr10s+11s on thurs says:
really good session this week…
in groups, we got given a stimulus object and had to individually create 3 movements related in some way to the object or inspired by the object, and then write either 3 lines or a paragraph inspired by the object.
We then came back together as a group and devised peices from the material we had come up with. i think it was really interesting how the peices we ended up with, if you didnt know what the stimutus’ were then you wouldnt nececarraly have realted them to those objects. but having a stimulus definatly gives the peices more direction because you already have some matirial to work on rather than just having to come up with ideas on the spot. i think it gives the performaces a lot more depth.
just want to say thankyou to Miranda- all the sessions which you’ve lead i have found really interesting and inspiering, so thanks a lot
love to all xxx
May 15th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Lydia Blakemore Phillips says:
year 10 - 11 group thurs 6pm
Hello everyone…
Well today we started off with two games of Sheriff and Targets which was really fun and then we had 3 directors stage pieces based on scenes in novels which we had read.
I was a director for this session and i based my piece on a scene from Catcher in the Rye. After we had preformed our pieces we got feed back, as usual, and as it was my first time directing i learnt what worked and what didn’t.
One of the other groups did a piece in which was based on a scene where a woman was giving birth to twins. One of the twins had downs sindrome so the father gave it to a nurse to take away, telling the mother that she had one child that was a baby boy. The other did a piece where this person had written a letter and sent his two friends to send it to a priest. They read it even though the writer of the letter had warned them against it and they were then murdered by the priest.
The sesh was really fun and i’m sure the last 5 mins was too even if i did miss them as i was sent out with Pollyanna about a Pot noodle joke…sorry it had to be mentioned
see you all next week
xxx
May 15th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
EDIE woolley says:
woah just read daisy Harris’s year 5 group comment! sounds like an abso awesome session they had! i particularly liked the part where they all got transported back in time to aliens!! and then the aliens came back to the present, sounded like an epic adventure! and it was all by a bell….
May 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
samson and delilah pics says:
for all who arent involved in samson and delilah, you should know that we want to give it a ‘world war’ esq feel!
May 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Michelle England says:
ursday 16-18 group
Hey there
Another awesome session - actual feel so privilaged to be part of BOV and Tid is an amazing person to work with. Actual feel like I learn somehing valuable in every session we have.
I was dirrector this week
Loved being dirrector - it’s so much fun and I liked the piece I created with my actors. We were asked to take ‘a moment’ that we thought we could create something theatrical with, from a book we had read. I chose a book that was about a girl that wouldn’t speak. With my actors we explored some ideas and I set them on tasks - such as improvising the meeting of the characters, making gesural moves to represent what the girl was trying to say & creating a physical choreographic section exploring the fathers thoughts.
One challenge the guys found was that they were the only ones who spoke and so they found it difficcult to improvise with their partners. I asked them questions about their character and we talked about how there doesn’t always have to be speach to make the piece interesting and a simple movement such as the quality of touching someone can tell the audience so much more.
After we did about 30 minutes of exploration we started to structure the piece, and played with the pace and rhythm. We used material we had found successful duing the exploration period and then we worked with putting the pieces together. I felt like all the stuff we did before creating the final piece was really valuable and helped develop the ideas for the piece.
I decided to place our piece in a corridor of audience members - so that the audience was standing in two lines looking in at the actors. I felt this was important for both the actors and the audience for various reasons. For one the intrusion of the audience made the speach down the end of the corridor much more naturalistically, intimate and real. Also it made the audience feel the longing much more of the father struggling to get to his daughter at the end of the corridor during the physical section.
Overall I felt the piece had depth to it and everything we had in the piece was important and showed something significant to ‘the moment’. And my actors did a great job - well done peeps
I would have liked to explore further and develop this piece, as I feel there was alot of interesting parts we could have pulled up and played with. I’m finding 2 hour sessions are too short these days - I get too excited and into the task & the session seems to go soo quickly. hehe.
Overall it was another amaz session
I enjoyed being able to watch my idea physicalise through the process, and it’s intersting watching everybody else’s pieces form too 
That’s all for now.
Much love to all
Michelle xxx
May 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Emily Greenslade says:
14-16 year old group thursday
Seeing as i have been so unbelieveably crap with attendance these past few weeks (exams and the like-honest)i was immediately,and rightly,assigned with the bloggage review-and what a funky idea it is too!
15th may
After about 15mins of intense persuasion by Tid to go see ‘Where you cant follow’(see it or die-unfortunately i missed the show, so not looking forward to the next session…)
Once all hyped up we were assigned the always fresh and exiting task of the evening. Today it was the exploration of particular novels and using sections from them that were appropriate to stage.
At first it was difficult to come up with a unique idea that wasnt just a replica of the book, but as the process went on we seemed to forget about the novel and focus on the creation of the piece.
We ended up with an interesting and complex piece about pressure, babies and distress accompanied with the all important soundscape-representing the babies heart beats, i liked the attention to detail. definately my favourite piece.
Which was followed by mine about awkwardness through two people’s conversation, with someone behind acting as a mouthpiece to the real feelings through words. However there were 2 people acting as the inner feelings through actions, which could have been used more effectively.
Finally a piece in a church and about a letter ‘that could not be opened’, which caused a healthy discussion,about it being clear but the ‘easy route’;the main focus for the rest of the evening.
funky session as ever! emx
May 17th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Jon Pascoe says:
Thursday 16-18 Group….
Right, well basically we continued with the theme of “Directing” this session.
After the initial games, Tid had asked people who were reading novels to think of a section that they wanted to portray on the stage.
After about 5 minutes of discovering that there was only one person in the room that was actually reading one…to Tid’s horror….two other people were chosen as they had thought of sections from books that they had read.
I was put into a group that was going to act out a book about a girl that, due to a fire related incident in her past, couldn’t talk.
We started by seperating into two little groups within our group consisting of one boy and one girl. We were told that the boy was the Father who had started the fire and so was in a mental institution, and the girl was (obviously) the girl…We were then given a minute to improvise trying to plead and talk to the girl about how sorry we were and find out things about them, while they were not allowed to speak. This proved very difficult and Kane and I struggled to keep the conversation flowing as there was a certain point where the limit of what we could say without recieving a response was reached.
After this, the two girls in the group were set aside in their own group and were told to improvise gestures in order to show how they were feeling.
Kane and I were told to come up with 4 or 5 questions to ask the girls, overlapping each other as we spoke, increasing in tempo. When we had done this we set up a line with the girls sat side by side at one end and Kane and I stood at the other. We then asked these questions while the girls responded with their movements.
After this we came up with the idea of Kane and I being the split personality of the Father and I was the pleading, kind and regretful one, while Kane was the angry and confussed one (as his daughter won’t talk to him). We then used physical theatre to get to where the girls were sat, climbing over each other and shouting our lines. The girls then moved to where Kane and I had begun and then we began the scene of one of the daughter coming to visit her father. This then ended with the daughter leaving and the father being left with nothing.
The session taught me a lot and I had fun taking part in it.
Cheers Big Dogs
x x
May 17th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Rachael Evans says:
14th May.
Wednesday sesh…14-16 (and some older people)
The session began as per usual with a classic game of KILLER TICK, proving tricky for the modestly numbered 16+ group.
Oh yeah and before this we all gathered round to listen to Tid advertising where you cant follow, and when you cry in your tears go everywhere.
Continuing the director theme we started off gathering into random groups and creating movement and script inspired by an object.All of them mostly related to war…ours was a petrol can thing .. which we though was a water bottle well anyway it stank as if someone had died in it.
People who made comments after viewing everyones piece was assigned to be director for that particular group.
The most memorable pieces were the hilarious “army man” piece, “Jo’s passionate kiss” piece and “the random wheat” piece.
^ i would say the best one was “army man”.. intense music, dramatic movements & script then one tiny army man chucked in the air
Rakayyel
May 18th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
will nash says:
“WHERE YOU CAN’T FOLLOW”, INSTEAD OF SAMSON AND DELILAH REHEARSALS.
so instead of going to to samson and delilah rehearsals and dance theater on friday we were told to (i think ordered is the best word) to go and see “where you can’t follow” at the bristol tobaco factory with god reasons.
it’s a profesional piece done by Tid’s theater company, fairground theater, for the Mayfest 2008. It follows Liz and Jack in what begins as an allmost comic love story but it soon become more aparent there is more to Jack then we first think. he skips between past and present not even knowing what is going on. it was performed with live music from peter reynolds and with only two other actors and therefore was forced to follow only liz and jacks lives while they were around eachother.
while this limited the charecters somewhat it meant that thier love was truly believable which is very rarly seen in modern theater. we are often simply presented with two charecters how are in love however you could see the personal click between these two.
talking to people after, everyone seemed to love it. there were even some tears shed by some of the older members who went. some people didn’t fully understand and some missed bits but no one failed to be impressed by how daring and breath-taking the physical work and music was.
definatly worth going to and a real shame it wasn’t sold out.
great youth theater session, allways important and enjoyable to see profesional theater.
(lets just hope this thing goes up)
May 19th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Power and Whitey says:
YOOOOOO!!! Screamin’ out to the homies at the BOV! (Kane)
We Just think it is time for us to say…………………………………………………
NASHER!!!
May 19th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Ellie =D says:
this week we picked a word and then made sentences with the inspiration that eminated from this magical word!!!
We had the word
BAG and our sentences were…
*drum roll*
EXTRACT YOUR SCARF FROM YOUR BAG, YOUNG KNIGHT!
and umm a really scary one
would you like some chocolate from my bag *Evil smile*
ours was kinda a random jack in the box =]
so yeah
that was our session
oh oh oh i forgot the games at the beginning
bye!!!
May 20th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Jon Pascoe says:
16-18 Thursday
We continued with the theme of “Directing” this week.
After starting off with the usual games to warm up and a bit of banter from the Tidbury we were all split up into 3 groups. The directors of the groups were told to stage an extract of a book that they had read.
We were doing a story about a girl that couldn’t speak due to a fire related incident in her past. At first we were split up into 2 groups within our group of boys and girls, Kane and I were then told to speak to the girls as if we hadn’t seen them in a long time and try to find out how things are going, school etc, while the girls weren’t allowed to speak. We found this quite hard as there was a certain point where you couldn’t say much more without getting a response.
After this the girls were told to make up a sequence of reactions to questions while we were told to think of 4 questions to ask them. The girls were then sat down and Kane and I stood up opposite them. We then asked them the questions over and over, getting quicker and overlapping each other as we spoke, while we did this the girls did their reactions.
Kane and I came up with the idea of using physical theatre to portray the struggle between the sad and appologetic side of the father’s character and the angry and confused side. We clambered over each other shouting and pleading at where the girls had been sat. I then pushed Kane slowly into one of the chairs and moved round and stood behind him.
We then started a scene where the daughter walks in and sits down next to her dad as he asks her questions. She then leaves with someone and hasn’t said anything, so the dad is distraught as he doesn’t realise that she has the condition of not being able to speak.
I found what we did helpful and the term so far has been a good laugh.
If anyone was bored by how much I’ve just realised I’ve written then….sorry.
Anyways…Cheers big dogs
x
May 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Miranda (Assistant Young Company Assistant Director) says:
Revised Persephone Rehearsal Schedule
Please could all the cast spread the word that the schedule is on the blog!
24th May- 4-8 Whole Cast
26th May- 10-12 Farish and Naomi
12-6 Whole Cast
27th May- 3-5 Farish and Emma
5-10 Whole Cast
28th May- 5-10 Whole Cast
30th May- 10-6 Whole Cast
7th June- 4-10 Whole Cast
9th June- 6-10 Whole Cast
10th June- 6-10 Whole Cast
11th, 12th and 13th PERFORMANCES!
not long now guys…
Also Persephone, Narcissus and Echo, Vampire Story and Frankenstein photographs are available to look at and buy on Toby Farrows website at this address
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/tobyfarrow
May 21st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Isobel Y4 says:
Last week in theatre we did this thing where we were lying on the ground in koopers loft and listening to music with our eyes closed and we needed to think of something in our mind then we told Miranda and then acted it out,we did this a couple of times and then we did freestyle dancing which instead of dancing was running around in a circle cause no one new what to do and alot of the boys were doing like fake falls which was weird so then we played zip,zap,boing and I got out about 3/4’s through the game overall it was really fun so its brilliant!
*!%$isobel$%!*
May 21st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Sophie M (y'know, the weird one...) says:
Thursday Year 10/11 group
This week there was a severe shortage of folk, so Miranda and Tid’s groups got together, which was cool, it created a different Atmosphere..
We did the usual thing, started off with games, sheriff and killer tic, and had some great dance-offs from the winners! (with some funke moves from Tid too…xD) all thanks to the scary giant CD player beast in the corner.
Then we were in groups and Tid made a person from each group say a random word; (we had ‘africa’, ’shell’, ‘lamb’, etc) and then the person who said the word was the director and had 45 mins to come up with a piece inspired by sentences people came up with, based on the word.
Although some of the pieces didn’t get a lot of rehearsal time, interesting stuff happened and we learnt the hard (but fun) way that Simple Is Best. I’m really enjoying this whole directing thingy, even if it is more than a tad nerve wracking at times
cool times people, well done y’all, see you next week! (y)
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Alex.T says:
HELLO!This is my first blog thingymabob and i have had a session TODAY(by the way go see PERSEPHONIE(i think thats how to spell it!)).I love chickens :).City just lost :(.But
I dont mind really.Anyway this seesion was great….but there is none next week:(.Well bye bye…………….bye.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Alex.T says:
……….Our session………we played great games……..
……did a performance…….with a giant flying hamster
thing……..thanks Lewis,Katie,Pipa ……..Blog 2 .
May 24th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Becci Griggs says:
Hey all … just to prepare you this is going to be a HUGE blog entry as I have ended up volunteering to write several entries (or got landed with the duty when nobody else would do it) and haven’t got round to it yet.
So here goes ….
MUSIC FOR THEATRE SESSION 4
We began by warming up our voices with a song called “Life” and practised swapping parts and adding harmonies, before moving on to our first activity. We were each given a topic to write 16 lines about. This exercise was about coping with the unknown. Peter gave us some suggestions of how he would recommend us singing our lines, and then gave us a piano accompaniment, and away we went… It was very scary just improvising without any idea of where the music would take you! Following this we looked at some text which Peter had brought in for us, and he gave us some samples, just to start thinking about, and to potentially replicate at some point. We then did some work on one of the songs that me and Anisa wrote during our second session. It was previously accompanied by piano, but we changed this to accapella, with different people providing rhythmic backing. I really enjoyed it, and it was good to hear the different things we could do with a song. It was also a challenge to all try and sing in the same key! We finished the session by hearing some other peoples songs that they had written, and we were all really impressed! And then finally, a demonstration of Joey Hickman playing very authentic aeroplane noises on his trombone!
MUSIC FOR THEATRE SEESION 5
Our plan for the session was to write Tid a birthday song (hence I couldn’t write this blog before now) and so that’s exactly what we did. Anisa gathered some classic Tid quotes from amongst the youth theatre and with Peter’s help, me, Emily, Anisa and Theo turned it into a song. We then played this song to Tid on his birthday during the Samson and Delilah rehearsal. For those of you who weren’t lucky enough to be there it was a combination of songs from Tid’s shows, but with the words changed … I can’t really explain it better, it was a “had to be there” kind of thing! Hope you liked the song Tid! (And everyone who heard it)
DANCE THEATRE FRIDAY 23RD MAY
CONDITIONING! Ouch! There was very very very poor attendance this week, just 7 of us in the session! We began by doing our normal warm ups, when it became apparent to Miranda that we were all feeble at press-ups, sit-ups etc. So Miranda decided we had to do something about it, and so taught us (well as much as one is able to) how to do these things, and we practised. We then did some super stretching … and although it was really really hard at the time and I ached in the morning … long term I totally see where Miranda is coming from … we all need to practise etc. because the core conditioning that we did is the key to a lot of the physical movement we do. We then worked on leading and moving through the joints in partners to create sequences, which we performed, and then Miranda gave us suggestions on how to make our work that more dynamic. I really learnt a lot from the session, mainly about how weak I really am and how I have been deluding myself! I learnt about pushing myself, with ideas in our piece, but also in the warm ups!
PERSEPHONE REHEARSAL 24TH MAY
I didn’t have to blog for this but thought I would comment anyway! It’s looking fantastic guys, and I love all the new ideas. Miranda is doing such a good job on this! It’s going to be fantastic! Therefore to all cast - we’ve got to pull this out of the bag, try so so so hard, and make Miranda proud, and we are only gunna do that by giving 100% in rehearsals! And to non-cast: get buying tickets yeah? I’m expecting to see you all there! And for those of you who saw it before … come again, because there is so much new stuff!
AND FINALLY…
I watched a Samson and Delilah rehearsal on the 23rd, and I just wanted to say how impressed I am. I can’t wait to see the rest of it, but I love it already. Just the whole concept, and of course that first song! Wow! So yeah keep it up guys.
Anyway … hope I haven’t bored you all too much. See you all soon.
Griggo xxx
May 25th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
eleanor d says:
year 6 saturdays
all the seesions this term have been really fun and interesting.
am looking foward to hopefully seeing persephone looking foward to the next session
eleanor x
May 26th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
eleanor d says:
thought i’d rewrite that comment as it doesn’t make much sense! all sessions this term hav been GREAT!!!!!!! really fun and interesting
am looking foward to hopefully seeing persephone and next session. oh and year 6 sessions r the BEST!
eleanor
i am the 1st year 6 to write on the blog YAY!:}
May 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
eleanor b says:
BOTHER, U BEAT ME 2 IT ELEANOR! ME SAD NOW. SESSION WAS GOOD THIS WEEK WE MADE ROLE PLAYS BASED ON WORDS. OURS (CHOSEN BY ME) WAS FLUBBER. LEWIS’S GROUP WAS BEST THOUGH FLYING HAMSTERS!? PLUS ALEX ALWAYS CRACKS ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH, AND HA HA TERRI I DID WRITE A COMMENT AND ITS MONDAY. SO YA-BOO-SUCKS TO U!!
ELEANOR B
P.S , ELEANOR YOU MAKE A FAB COCKNY WAITRESS!!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Ella says:
Hey,, I can’t believe I have not wrote on her yet :O!
Anyways… just to say that this term is set out to be an awsum one! Everybody should get involved with everything they are offered to do within their age groups, as believe me you will feel you have missed out soo much if you dont take part!
‘Where You Can’t Follow’ Well what can i say about that???’ AMAZING!! It was completly different to anything I have seen directed by Tid, but it still had his trade mark of the abstract moves in ;)! A truly fab show!
Samson and Delilah! It actually feels like we are getting somewhere now! We have had some fab ideas, the only thing I feel the group needs to work on are mixing together a little more. Everyone seems to just stay in their ’social circles’. We NEED to bond guys to make this play as good as we know it can be.
Ella xx
May 26th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Louis says:
Did you really think the flying hamster sketch was good?
Thanks for the idea’s Alex, Pippa and Katie!!!!!
Drama sessions have been great this term can’t wait for the next session! Shame it doesn’t run through school holidays, Back to the point anybody not going to the Bristol old Vic youth theatre school is missing out on loads (Including flubber yes lots of flubber!), getting together on Saturday with all your friends to create drama is great fun!! Doing this drama group every Saturday has inspired me to make:
Austin flowers
Austin flowers-From Heartcliff with Love
Indiana James and the rookies of the lost scarf!!!!
Southenders
Doctor Worm!
This Terms topic is about “Directing!”-It’s nice to say “CUT! CUT! CUT! What are you doing?” or “And ACTION!” So Bristol Old Vic theatre school must be great after what I’ve just told you!
From Louis
PS: We talk about chickens, Don’t Eat Chicken sandwiches!
ALL HAIL THE CHICKEN!
PPS: You don’t have to hail the chicken.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Katie says:
I think bristol old vic youth theatre is really cool.You have lots of things to do and the fun never ends.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Louis says:
Blog 2
Countdown till next drama session:
4 days,4 hours and 53 minutes
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Tilly :) says:
never been on the blog before but it’s actually really cool
lol, anyways, see you guys on thursday!
xx
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Emma, a rare goat ( X assistant director & PIT member) says:
Wooooo! Hello all, it sounds like you are all having so much fun! Good luck with Samson and Delilah, hope it goes well.
Peace
Emma
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Miranda (Assistant Young Company Director) says:
Good times ahead…
Just a reminder that Persephone is next week! Wednesday 11th June & Thursday 12th June @7.30pm. Show you’re support, spread the word and get buying tickets!!!
This classic Greek myth journeys through the forbidden and the unrequited, telling tales of loss, heartache and growing up.
With stunning movement and heart-pounding song, the Young Company presents a piece of dance theatre that will leave you breathless.
Bristol Old Vic, Theatre Royal
Tickets: £7
Box Office: 0845 40 24 001
Book Online: http://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk
June 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
kathryn says:
Heya! its kathryn from the yr 8 tuesday group. In our last session we had a yr 8/9 group. we all had to think of an idea of a piece of drama we’d like to direct. we then had to sell our idea in a few sentences to the rest of the group. we all had to vote for the idea we liked the best, and the winners had to create their piece with however many actors as they thought they could cope with. My group did Sweeny todd and molly directed it. This was a really fun session and i would like to do more like it
cya next week
June 5th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Red Man says:
Everyone in the young company should go see Red man!
The set was absolutely amazing; it was performed in the round, and in the centre of the space was a rectangle of mud and compost stuff. When we walked in, all the performers were lying down in it, peter the music man in the centre of the clump sprawled on a wheelbarrow, clutching his accordion. The way they were all set was so dramatic, and they hadn’t even moved yet! Also, a red (!) light was over all of them, which looked great. This was such a cool formation, partly because they ended the whole piece by returning to these positions in the mud. I love plays with a ’spherical structure’
In the dirt were these sleeping bags like mattresses which you pulled up, and which the old lady’s onions/ children went into, to grow or something. The mud and the dirt, and the ragged clothes added to the fairytale genre, and really made you believe that parts were happening outside and stuff…
Oh! i also love the princess and her child’s play, resorted to because of her loneliness (an old woman has locked her in a tower). She drew with chalk on the tobacco factory pillars, her ‘children’. As each one had its smiley face drew on, the 3 onion things (Emily T, Jo hellier and danny p) swung round and became a sort of caricature of these kids (all with really funny pretentious names like jemima, Rupert and felicity).. This made me laugh.
*~*
tid persuaded me to be critical so….(those of you who haven’t seen it won’t understand, so you should go!)
Perhaps we didn’t need so much translation from the 3 onions/nymph people, when the French slave gets her baby taken. Obviously its kind of necessary to have some, just so the gist of what she’s feeling gets told. Still, when it was all happening, i wondered whether it would have been clear enough anyway, from her amazing performance, to understand her desperation, even if it’s in another language.
Secondly, um…. i guess the two slave people frequently ended up in dramatic scenario’s with BUTCHER (who was so creepy but sympathetic)… when they did, and when stuff happened with the knife and the threat that he could kill any of them, i think the red man and the 3 nymph people made a few soundscapes of breathing and stuff. Sometimes this took away the actual threat, and made it seemed choreographed, so the idea of them properly getting butchered went. Still, this may just be my weird mind.
I enjoyed the second half more than the first, because there was more breathing space between the, don’t get me wrong, beautifully edgy physical abstract stuff, and the poignant scenes. In some ways it was subtler than the first act. The part where the old woman encounters the blind king in the woods was magical! The silence left some things unsaid, which is always nice.
LAsTLy, the music was incredibly effective when the old woman gives her king back his sight; It felt really exiting, and a sense of ritual maybe.
O.k, i don’t want to write for too long, else boredom will proceed,
Go see it people!
Felix
June 6th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Danny Sessional Assistant says:
Well said Felix!!
I urge you all to come to the v ery last showing of The Red Man, you do not want to miss out!! It got a 5 star review in the Metro, so you mustn’t miss it!!
Be there, support Tid and your fellow Young Company members!
Love Danny!!
June 7th, 2008 at 11:32 am
charlie haughton says:
ye i went to see redman and really enjoyed it also, good to see some young company people goin pro!
but ye it was all really amazing, although i did feel that i was less shocked by seeing a peice done by tid in his sort of style when its done by adults (i know some were in the young company but are pretty much adults, especially in that environment), as supposed to a youth theatre piece where your like, arnt those kids doing good mature stuff for their age etcetc.
but still an amazing show, good characters aswell.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Tid says:
Hi all
Nice to be back in Young company mode, after doing The Red Man. Thanks for all your feedback and nice to see some people looking at it with a critical eye, never be scared of criticising what The Young Company make or any of my professional work. It’s nice to have your Feedback.
Felix your feedback was very useful, the last two nights I cut the translation completely and the show was so much better and gave room for the performers to tell the story more effectively, so thanks for that.
The 5 star review we got from Metro was great, you should try and read it and compare it to your thoughts.
And a big thank you to all who came to see it.
…………………………………………….
Now…Young Company make sure you come and see Persephone this WED and THURS 730pm its looking great after it has been reworked. So support it!
……………………………………………..
Narcissus and Echo rehearsal this Saturday 14th June you all need to be there
June Sat 14th “
Sat 28th “
July 14th 15th 16th 4pm – 10pm
………………………………………………
Samson and Delilah 9th – 12th July
Rehearsals
Tuesdays 6pm – 10pm & Fridays 6pm – 10pm term time
Half Term Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th 10am – 4pm
Production week Mon 7th – Sat 12th July 4pm – 10pm
This will be a special production as it will be a collaboration between Emily Thompson, Daniel Prosser and myself. They will both be gaining valuable experience as co-directors on the show before they both leave us for university in the autumn.
Make sure you are keeping days free to see the show!
June 10th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
catrinnnn :) says:
heyaa
just to say… yay persephone went well
i am chuffed that everyone was so enthusiastic about it and i really enjoyed working with everyone 
also thanku peter for making all the fab music 
i had so much fun working on it.. and it looks like all the hard work payed off!
thanku soooooooooooo sooooooooooo much miranda for directing such an amazing show
also … thanku to farish and joey for stepping into such big parts in the show :)… i hope that u think it payed off 2!
thanku again miranda :):)
luv catrin
xxxxxxxxxxxx
June 13th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Ruby B says:
I thought persephone was good cos you didn’t use speaking that much and instead they used movement,singing , facial expressions and shadows. Well done Miranda
June 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Stuart says:
Tuesday was great! We had the whole theatre to choose from. We had to pick a specific place and perform a peice that suits. Our group had the Auditorium, we dimmed the lights and created a spooky peice including a nursery rhyme, chairs that move by themselves and lots of other ghostly goings-on. The peice concluded with a grim-reaper-like figure walking through the middle of the room.
However, we messed up… And it didn’t work…
But I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Ella Comrie says:
today was SO AMAZING it was the best one yet!!!!
today all years joined together. we were put in to 4 groups and i was in group 3 we had to watch group 2. we went to a part of the theatre we had never been too before, the horse shoe. it was Really spooky and really dark! it was a long corridor in the shape of a horse shoe and it was not that wide. as a group we decided to do a kind of ghost walk but with a twist… we would be forgotten fairy tale characters or newly created ones.
we had a vast amound of ideas and in the end it came to a great success from one boy throwing books at anyone who came near him, a girl in chains, a boy with out a mum, a clapping girl, 2 singing children a pirate 2 scared/scary girls and the 2 ugly stepsisters and their mother,
we were setting it out like a tour and according to all the screams that i could hear it was very succesfully scary! i loved this session especially as we were discovering a new part of the theatre none of us had seen. i hope that we do more days like this!!
June 19th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Miranda (Assistant Young Company Director) says:
Hello all,
Just wanted to comment on an eventfull week of sessions and share some of my highlights.
This week in groups the task was to devise performance for different spaces in the theatre also known as site specific performance.
One of the groups directed by Anisa on Tuesday night created a narrative tour through the horshoe under the theatre royal. There was some fascinating characters and I thought the performace moments worked really well in the space, especially the creature scuttling under stage and trapping the audience in a room with only the sound of a slow clap for company.
Wednesday night had loads of bizzare and briliant moments I particuarly enjoyed sitting in on Peters session and his take on audience participation. It was great to watch everyone within the improvisation that happened really responding to each other. It also raised the question how do you make the audience participate without asking them to?
In the 18+ session Joesph Wallace directed a group in a macabre fairytale esque performance in the corridor leading to the studio, great use of light and shadow, eerie and hilarious use of music with each disturbing character having there own theme.
Last but not least last night I was treated to one of the most terrifying experiences I have chosen to experience courtesy of the 16-18 group and a piece directed by Sophie Shaw. In a very uncertain but friendly manner sophie asked the audience to wait for a knock on the door from inside the corridor count to ten seconds and then for one person to enter. Inside the pitch black corridor greeted by a whisper the sound of running water alone Emily (who went first) walked keeping to the right as instructed, from outside the waiting aduience could hear a low thudding and Emily screaming. None of us waiting were particuarlly keen on going next! Ive run out of time to finish the description, I think you guys should set it up for Tid next week though.
For those of you Missing In Action this week, you missed out
June 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Ana Hoghton says:
Thursday was TERRIFYING. Running down a bubble wrap floored corridor sounds like rain a showers on and there a drum thudding somewhere, bare hands banging against closed doors, screaming screeching coming up behind you… Miranda and I pelt down the corridor. Keep to the right. laughing turns to screaming, stumbling down steps YOU WERE MEANT TO COME ALONE blindfolded shoved down pushed onto the floor, in a corner there are other people there screaming names SHUT UP KEEP YOUR BLIDFOLDS ON footsteps away blindfold off Emily’s been sat there too scared to take her blindfold off in case Walter’s face is in front of her (..fair enough) Jess and Ruby haven’t come down.. Screaming upstairs Kane and Nathan go to find them, they don’t come back shouting Nathans been shoved in a pitch-black cupboard that only opens from the outside its our turn to go look quick steps quick heart WHAT ARE YOU DOING. BLINDFOLDS ON hands dig into eye sockets pulled upstairs bare feet painfully scrapping the floor shoved forward pelt down corridor never ran so fast in my life don’t look back light at the end.. And theirs Kane laughing hysterically at us… out!
AMAZING.
though i’m now petrified of ryan
June 21st, 2008 at 11:39 am
Remi says:
Best old vic session ever last wednesday!
The scariest thing ever.. especially when Alice was crawling after us!
So spooky! But loved it
Loads of fun making and watching!
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Ryan 'Keep Your Blindfold On' Lovett says:
OK first blog on here and i thought id have a go because of the amazing two weeks ive, and my group have just had!
We were basically told we could do anything we wanted in any space in the Old Vic site so it really was an opportunity to be creative!
Last week we created a greatly received piece of theatre by giving an audience participation journey of fear! WOW sounds scary! LOL! We used many techniques like the basics of sound, sight and touch to create a real sense of fear along a corridor including an uneven surface below their feet, a radio playing white noise, a flickering light at the end of the corridor, and a tall figure at the end of the corridor! All in almost complete darkness!
It was so fun to create and really interesting to perform as with audience participation you cannot plan how the audience will react as some ran away, or just started talking which as performers we had to deal with with our improv skills!!!
Finally last night we performed it again because everyone enjoyed it the week before, we made a few changes to add surprises for the people who did it the week before and took the people blindfolded (once they reached the end of the corridor) to the dimly lit auditorium! Where many of them tried to escape and ran around trying to find their way back but not the way they came! This gave our group no choice but to improvise and follow them in silence and scare te, when they least expected it. This was obviously lots of fun and gave the whole piece a sense of fear to start and adrniline action (if you like) at the end!
‘Twas a super two weeks, and i realise that ive rambled on for aaaaaaaages! But it will make up for the times where i haven’t posted any blogs! Good work guys! See you all in september!
PS Ana im realli not that scary in real life! Although you should get back to your seat!
June 27th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Miranda (Assistant Young Company Director) says:
Just a message to let all the cast of Persephone know that the most recent photos of the show are available online at
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/tobyfarrow
and a reminder to all the young company that Samson and Delilah is on this week Wednesday to Saturday at 7.30, had a sneaky peak at rehearsals on Friday and it looks fantastic! spread the word and I will see you all there!
Miranda
July 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Jo Townsend + Amy Leighton says:
Right, so, we saw Samson and Delilah last night, and we were blown away.
When we came in - and we were at the very front of the queue - the atmosphere was an immediate contrast from the one we had just left. The music of the 1940’s lead by Anisa and Natasha and supported by the rest of the cast was beautiful. Plus we loved the costumes - nice job Liesl (sorry if spelt wrong)!
The use of the beds as a setting throughtout the play was well done, from planes in diamond formation, to hospital beds, to prison cells and finally steps.
When George Evans stepped onto the balcony we could barely recognise him as Minister Adam, but the stiff upper lip and tiny glasses made him look so much older.
Tom England plays a cake obsessed sweet toothed Lucifer and watching him made us laugh so much, especially with his minions parroting his lines - played by Daniel Prosser and Mark Fox.
We loved the fight scene between Samson - played by Joey Hickman - and Lucifer and his minions as we were able to see the way that the physical theatre we have learnt in youth theatre sessions was developed into a professional standard giving us some indication of what is possible. Plus it was fricking scary with those massive metal beds being chucked around so close to us!
Kerry Lovell was made for the part of Delilah giving a slight sex appeal to a demure character. The way that she was forced to change costume on stage by Lucifer was amazing and completely unexpected.
The large ensemble of nurses created the sense of a busy hospital giving a sense of repressed emotion leading to comedy for example. Plus the morse code dance was funny.
We also liked the way that the scene between Cain - played by Will Nash - and Abel - played by Felix Pilgrim - comes to a climax (we would say more but we don’t want to spoil it).
The way that the cast dealt with the incident of the cricket ball flying into the audience really made everyone laugh, especially Phil Baker momentarily coming out of character (naughty naughty) to laugh and improvise the scene until the ball came back on stage! We also want to see the missing scene with Jesse Jones as the candle wouldn’t light.
Tid says we should always be critical of each others work so this is our turn. We thought the transition and tuning of the radio didn’t fit or add anything to the performance. It wasn’t completely clear when the first act finished as it seemed as though the performers were waiting for a missed cue as it just went to blackout. Finally we also didn’t understand why one of the nurses went back to one of the beds during the bombing - we feel it didn’t make sense or maybe it wasn’t clear what was happening.
Having said all that you should DEFINATELY go see Samson and Delilah! Hope it goes well for the rest of the week guys! Amy and Jo xxx
July 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Felix... says:
its really good to get feedback-thankyou! I think the hospital being bombed was too loud for you to hear what was being said. The nurse who wouldnt leave is sarah, and shes wanting to get her letters. In the old testement sarah is told not to look back at her burning village (or something like that), she does and then turns to stone (i think*^*)
July 10th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Phoebe says:
Just Wow. Saw Sampson & Delilah last night and it was amazing. It was a great mixture of exciting, atmospheric and funny and really well performed by everyone. I loved the beds used as different types of set/props and the illusion of separate spaces by use of spot lighting and spaced-out scenes was clever (eg. when the two guys were in prison it looked like a totally different place to the rest of the stage.) Lucifer and his comrades were hilarious but very sinister; really made me laugh. The singing was beautiful and always well-timed within the play, although the radio tuning effect didn’t really add anything and didn’t work so well in some places I thought. I found the shock of when the bombing started then the slow-motion action& noise that followed really atmospheric.
The script itself was flawless. (Probably had something to do with the fantastic delivery, but..) the words really struck me as being really powerful and interesting. I particularly found the prime minister’s words really well-chosen, though again this was probably also to do with the delivery of the lines.
I could go on for ages but I won’t, you all know how good it was, and those who haven’t seen it have missed out majorly! Well done to everyone involved, I think this along with Narcissus & Echo was the best Young Company one I’ve seen… And that’s saying quite a lot.
(: x
July 11th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Daniel Prosser (technically ex-sessional assistant!) says:
HELLO!!
So the comments about Samson and Delilah are wonderful, really lovely to hear back from you guys and hear about what you loved and what you didn’t think worked, and so as the comments suggests we urge everybody to come and see it, it has become an incredable show and you would miss out loads, book tickets now because we will be sold out!!
See you there hopfully!!!
Danny xxx
July 12th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Jess says:
Its the end of term and i’ve finally worked out how to do this!
Just wanted to say its been amazing doing dance theatre these last two terms, I’ve loved the lessons and loved doing Persephone, so thanks Miranda, Im really going to miss the sessions in the summer!
Also really enjoyed the 3 drama sessions i went to and looking forward to starting properly next year!
I saw Sampson and Delilah on wednesday and it was amazing! There was a really nice atmosphere when we came in and I loved the music and how it fitted so well with the radio and in the show generally. I thought you didn’t really need the tuning into the radio noises, but they worked well anyway.
The beds as so many different props was brilliant, and the whole show was so clever and perfectly done! I thought the best bit was the bombing just before the interval, it was so sudden and breath-taking and set a really good atmosphere to come back to.
I thought it was an amazing show and im really annoyed i cant go see it again!
Looking forward to next year:)
Jessxxx
July 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Stuart says:
I went to see Sampson & Delilah last night, it was amazing. I’d never seen theatre-in-the-round before and wasn’t that keen on it, until I saw the show. I now see that it offers the audience closeness with the actors and the whole play. Everything about it was flawless, the script, the lighting, the use of props and space, the delivery, the costume and the interaction at the begining. I thought Lucifer was great and the choreography that went into the fighting looked dangerous and helped to shock the audience and keep them gripped.
The last show performed by a youth theatre I saw was West Side Story (By CMYT) and I thought it was good. But Sampson and Delilah made it look like a pantomime. It was FANTASTIC!
July 13th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Tid says:
Yo Check IT!
Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the show. And a big thankyou to all involved in making Samson and Delilah. Thanks Emily and Danny as co directors, and Emily for really taking control of the story and the writing. All those members of the cast who did some excellent writing, you should think about joining writing for theatre in the new term. Thanks to Miranda for helping us improve the fight at the end and Liesel for an incredible design job, it looked perfect. Finally to everyone who came to see it, we were practically sold out every night thanks.
see you at summer school, or in the new term, there will be letters coming your way soon.
Tid
July 15th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Peter Leppard says:
Well done - Samson and Delilah was really impressive! I loved all the historical references and the little homages to films which added just the right touch of familiarity to what was a pretty bleak topic. Strangely, although set in the 40’s, I kept getting echoes of the First World War which I suppose is not surprising. I appreciated the greater use of dialogue from the outset which made it much easier to follow the story line and the diction and balance was pretty good throughout so I didn’t miss much despite it being in the round. Bit invidious to comment on the acting which was of a high standard by all but it was a neat touch casting Lucifer as an American officer and Tom England is really scary and well served by his henchmen; I thought a besuited George Evans excelled as Prime Minister (looking like Asquith, using Churchillian text and reminding me of Anthony Eden - not bad a range that!) and both Kerry Lovell as Delilah and Ella Nyakuedzwa-Smith as Apple came over strongly. Might give an extra bite to the prison scenes and the relationship between Cain and Abel if William Nash swapped roles with Felix Pilgrim and whilst I got the “Ice Cold in Alex” reference I didn’t feel it added anything to the ending. Minor criticsm that. I hope the rest of the audience has recovered from the fight scenes and I shall look at hospital beds in a completely new way. The themes and issues came over well, so well that I didn’t feel much empathy with most of the characters which given the lies and deceits shows the strenght of the story line and the acting. So, congratulations young company on putting together a well researched, tightly scripted, imaginative, highly absorbing and strongly acted play. And good luck with Narcissus and Echo at Epping!
July 15th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
william nash says:
just wanted to give a bit of a comment on summer school 08. it was just great fun and the shows were amazing without even taking int account that we did them in just two weeks. one of them was actually devised, written and created in about three days.
a big thanks to all the directors for helping us really get on with it. people really come together like that and you really get to know people in just the first week.
the first show (Miranda’s group) started as a tour around an old museum of science fiction then told the story of the classic hero, evil genius and damsel in distress. the thriller dance at the end was defiantly the climax and a true testament to Miranda.
The middle group was lead by Tidbury and I’m not sure it’s possible to try and describe what it was about and what went on but if you watched then you will know what i mean. Even if people didn’t think they understood “Let Me Hear You Dance” we really hope people came away with a strong feel and sense of it.
the oldest group was much smaller but the play was in no way any less spectacular. it’s the story if a future were the human race is confined to underground bunkers and has to resort to stealing people from the past and drinking there blood. really cool story and very well done. also i special note on Baker who managed to play Nostradamus with his eyes and elbow down from a large crate.
the photos will be up soon on http://www.photoboxgallery.com/tobyfarrow so take a look.
well done everyone again and thanks
can’t wait for the session in September!
August 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Patti says:
The open day is SAT 13th Sept I think not 12th Sept as stated on web site
September 8th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
OH MY! Soon to start!
The new term…rumours are…its all about performing and there will be a special guest director…mmm interesting…
Yr7 - Yr9 will be making an exciting new show with Miranda, so keep you eyes peeled if you want to get involved.
Samson and Delilah will be returning after its sell out run to dazzle audiences again and rehearsals will be Fridays 6 - 10pm from the first week of term. There are a few parts that need filling…
Get ready…new year, new shows, and exciting times ahead…
Check it people!
September 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Felix says says:
run to a cinema and see ‘the duchess’! Its the film keira Knightley (pouting waaaay too much) and ralph fiennes filmed at the old vic. The ‘royal’ looks effortlessly Georgian and authentic for the setting. Twas amazing seeing period clad extras sitting in the seats and everything. There sa special thanks at the end of the credits too. jours doux.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
kizzy says:
kiera knightley annoys me , she cant act!!!
i re watched juno over the summer,i didnt like it that much the first time i saw it, but re watch it cos u pick more things up and it gets better, they CAN act, and dont “pout”
heehee
last nights session was great btw! it was a bit different to what we had done before so i was v interesting, wooperdooper!
September 18th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Peter Leppard says:
Thought you would want to see, even though it is a bit long, my article (almost untouched by the editor!) which appeared as the lead item in the BOV Theatre Club’s newsletter this month. The Club which actively supports the work of the BOV and the BOV Theatre School sends the newsletter out to its 400+ members and to over 100 other people including all Bristol City Councillors. Many thanks to Kane for the invitation, to the BOV Education team and to members of the summer school for a great experience. Cheers Guys!
During the holidays, Theatre Club Vice-Chairman Peter Leppard was invited by a member of Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre (or Young Company, as it now styles itself) to take a look at the Summer School run by the Education Department. He also decided to see what has been happening with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s Activ8 Summer School programme and assess what impact these groups might have on the work and future of theatre.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Young people’s theatre - as practised by the Bristol Old Vic Education Department - is challenging, sometimes daunting but invariably stimulating. Devising, writing, rehearsing and performing three thirty minute pieces all in two weeks seems ambitious but it has been happening every year for some years now. This year there were 60 participants including six on the technical side. Co-incidentally about the same number was involved in the Theatre School’s programme. A comparatively new venture the School only started their young people’s Activ8 group and its associated summer school some four years ago.
You might think the two organizations were in competition with each other but far from it! The age range of 11 – 18+ might be the same and both are about theatre but there the similarity ends. Each concentrate on its traditional strengths and in doing so complement each other. With the planned closer cooperation between the School and the Company, this bodes well for potential collaboration in the future, expanding perhaps on the technical back stage support.
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School does what it does best – teaching the skills any actor needs to achieve their best performance. The first week for under 16s and the second week for the older group. They were led by three Theatre School graduates and current students, Philip Sarson and James Rastall throughout with Nick Chambers and Eoin Slattery engaging a week each. Using Theatre School students clearly made for a rather special relationship between those being taught and those teaching; the age gap was not all that great and what was being passed on had a freshness and vitality which all combined to create a strong group ethos. No polished end production but each week family and friends crowded into the school’s studio space for an hour’s presentation on what had been learned. So we were treated to short examples of “Trawler”, “Dragon” “Fairground” War Machine” “Hey Dude” “Greek Chorus” “Big Chief” amongst others as well as some short interpretations quickly put together . These exercises and “games” bring out skills and techniques such as voice and movement, exploration of motivation, development of characterization - all of which can be taken into performance. It was an impressive demonstration of what can be done with a few “tools”, imagination and talent. It was clear that the weeks had been enormous fun and it all ended with group hugs, photos and lots of joy.
Making Theatre is what Bristol Old Vic’s Summer School is all about. This year the school had “Sci-Fi” as its theme and within the fortnight each of the three age groups (11-14, 15-16 and 17+) were challenged to create a thirty minute piece under the guidance of the Education Department team of Miranda Cromwell, Tid and Ian Wainwright, assisted by several of the older members of the Bristol Old Vic Young Company and supported by Bristol Old Vic technical staff.
Knowing our young company productions I knew we were not going to be allowed to be passive. We had to enter into each of the performing spaces and become as much a part of the production as our summer school participants. The pieces were performed on the last Friday and Saturday, sequentially in the paint shop, on the Theatre Royal stage and in the Studio where, thankfully, we were allowed just to sit and watch.
Utilizing the Paint Shop as a performing space seemed a bit odd and I was curious to see how well it would work. . In fact it was so effective that it clearly makes sense to use it, as is planned post-refurbishment, as a regular performing space. Its potential was well exploited by the younger age group who converted this cavernous space into a Museum of Science Fiction, as well as a graveyard where we, the audience, sat amongst the gravestones. Clearly our hosts had been watching horror films for the basis of the exhibits. I recognised King Kong, Night of the Living Dead, Frankenstein, Dracula, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Island of Dr Moreau, Invaders from Mars and every Hammer horror; in fact probably any film which had as its story the classic hero, evil genius and damsel in distress. Our cloned robotic maiden guides invited us in to look around and all went well until the exhibits started to tell a story when it all came rather more real than one would ever wish. A rather terrifying thriller dance at the end meant our only escape was to rush out on to the Theatre Royal stage.
However if what was going on in the Paint Shop was - on reflection - quirky, the action on stage was deeply worrying. Individuals and small groups were all involved in repetitive, obsessive behaviour and we were given vignettes - momentary insights -into why each person was acting so irrationally. Witnessing this unsettling inversion of normality, our slow realization that we had perhaps wandered into a psychiatric ward was counter-balanced by the obvious belief that there was a way out. This hope and a faith in the future which was exposed by a “Close Encounters” experience with the cast leading the audience out of the theatre singing a haunting melody. At least I think that is what it was all about: Tid seemed to agree!
After all this close physical involvement it was rather a relief to get back into the familiar surroundings of the Studio, with proper seating and a more “traditional” experience. It was hoped that the older 16 plus group would provide something a little soothing to rather frayed nerves. Instead we were taken forward to the year 2525, by which time all the earth’s bees had been eradicated by some mysterious disease resulting in an ecological disaster. Scientists had come up with a solution – with an unforeseen and disastrous consequence.
We found ourselves in a facility which housed, or rather imprisoned, three sets of humans, rescued by time travellers from a Soviet nuclear submarine, a Pan Am aeroplane crash and the Titanic disaster. The rescuers were not benign however; they were harvesters, as all of the rescued survivors had a vital ingredient – a life-saving rare blood group. Our descendents had turned into human vampires!
Eventually, through the self-sacrificing bravery of Nostradamus and a Soviet sailor, all our heroes were restored to their own time and their originally fated deaths. My blood ran rather cold and my emotions were somewhat ragged – as was meant to be.
So two quite different summer school experiences, one about developing acting skills and the other sheer, inventive Theatre-Making. Both shared the pleasure of being involved in theatre and demonstrating the enormous range of talent and creativity to be found among Bristol’s young people. To those of us with memories of the annual school play – invariably Shakespeare or some other classic being studied for exams - it can come as a surprise to learn of the many opportunities available in Bristol for young people to be engaged in all forms of theatre and creative expression. While there are inevitable adjustments arising from developments at the Bristol Old Vic, the Bristol Old Vic Education Department continues to provide one of the principal opportunities for those young people to work in a stimulating professional environment.
A relative newcomer to youth activities the Theatre School has recently taken the opportunity to review its mission.. Toby Hulse, well known to many Club members, has produced a report for the School that recommends it develops its role as lead provider of theatrical skills in Bristol and beyond. Investing more in Activ8 and increasing the number of Summer and Easter courses would enable many more talented young people take advantage of professional training and so acquire skills and extend themselves to a higher level than is available in their own schools, colleges and groups. If the proposal for final year Theatre School students to be based at the Bristol Old Vic is realized, in two or three years time, the possibilities for further expansion is obvious – and that will be of enormous benefit to theatre in Bristol.
PL
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 am
Red says:
Okay for Tid
Today’s sesh was really helpful. I think I speak for most people when I say that trying to believable is really difficult! For me personally, I’m going to make it my aim to lose this vampire temptress/16th century posh snob accent. I’m really glad Tid pointed it out, cause it’s something that I notice I do and dude, I’m gonna sort it. I got a grilling, but I’m glad I did!
Cheerz Tid
October 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Harriet says:
So..the first problem is how to introduce myself because I am new so most of you will have no idea who I am. My name is Harriet, and I am 16, but Tid has re-written my personal history so now I am Grace, 40-something year old mother of two, and proud chairperson of the Parents-Teacher Association. The Grace thing started in the summer so I have got used to that, but I turned 40 in our thursday session. We all arrived and for some reason decided we would all sit in a semi-circle around Tid and Tom on chairs…cue some ridicule for that. But it got worse…imagine the pages in Heat magazine where they put red circles around the faults in celebrities dress sense and then blow up the part in the circle…so like that but it was actually happening. To me and a few lucky others. So after the group had appreciated my pearls and beige twinset, we started a game of Killer Tick, and as always it was either the frigteningly agile or people who have been playing this forever who were left..so well done to them. We then worked on some pieces of script in pairs for half an hour, all of us using the same piece. It was familiar to some of us from Summer School; it was from the play Far Away by Carol Churchill. It was so interesting to see how everyone chose to interpret the same lines, same ideas, same words. We each performed what we had done and then started again and either Tid or someone from the group said stop when it became unbelievable. I was amazed how fast I was to see the fault in others peoples work, and at how hard it was to see it in your own, and even when you have seen it, how to sort it out and make it better!! I felt it was really helpful to do this, even if it did get slightly embarassing when you were on your tenth rendition of ‘How could you see there were children?’. We finished the session with Eva (who was beautiful and incredible) and Leigh Ann (sorry if it sounds like I am just adding you on to the end of a comment about Eva..it wasn’t supposed to sound like that!!) So yeah..that was the session and I really enjoyed it and learnt alot from it, so thanks! And now I will stop boring everyone and go and watch Brief Encounter…and practice talking like that!! xxxx
October 10th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Leigh-Ann says:
It was interesting being the lesser half of a performance, I would have expected myself to be jealous about Eva getting such brilliant feedback, but I was just incredibly happy for her. Its then that you realise THAT is the essence of being in a theatre company - learning from one another, being supportive and encouraging, wanting others to do well and feeling safe to take risks.
I suppose the last one, taking risks, is the thing I have trouble with. It’s difficult when you know you are going to be brutally criticised after (or often halfway through!) a performance and I am struggling. It feels safer to hold back. But I know thats wrong…how can I expect to get anywhere like that!?
But even when there are bits of sessions I don’t enjoy I learn something every week…about acting and other people at least…and when I eventually feel ready to take a risk then I can learn about myself too. Good times!
And I did win Targets:) Awesome!!!
October 11th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Charlie says:
Well to be honest, Harriet and Leigh-Ann and ‘Red’ (guess who came up with that name) seem to have said all there is to say about our thursday session. I’ll just add that I found the exercise with the scripts very good and constructive. That was where we learnt a short set of lines, and were told to start again when we did something that was not believable. Some of us were given this task to do for each other, and some were either too nice (Fred - who got the expected earful), or just incredibly harsh. Tid pointed out that when you say exactly what was unbelievable, it becomes very difficult for the actor to do much, and they become EXTREMELY self concious of that body-part (in my case moving my head).
Tid also pointed out the difference between trying to be believable and truthful, and trying to perform. The best example was that mime (when you only have 30mins) is a bad bet for being believable.
I think that’s pretty much it!
Until next week!
(Oh and of course everyone needs to buybuybuy tickets!)
October 12th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Josie says:
Heyy! Just a note to say that im lurrrvin being back at youth theatre! Finally! Loving Wednesday sessions and shall be watching samson for the 3rd time!
Ciao
xxx
October 13th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Yo peeps, oh yeah I am street! check it.
Nice to see people using the blog again, it’s so interesting to read peoples experiences and get a sense of what you go through.
The last few sessions for the Yr 10/11 and 16+ have been intense, looking at being believable is always hard work, and very personal.
I have really enjoyed your work and willingness to be pushed in these sessions, it’s great to see people improve.
So basically well done one an all, and remeber the truth is out there.
Tidbury
and check the new website http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk
October 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
amelia allen says:
Today we played a game which was to help on our attention to detail just to get us warmed up , then we were put witha partner and we had to act out but at the same time be as natural and dealistic as possible a general convosation you would have with a friend or someone you have just met ! Year 7,8’s and 9’s were joined today so there were quite a few of us but we had fun and showed what we had come up with towards the end of the session and we were marked out of ten for being realistic and how we performed it and the pupils put their hands up to help tell you what you need to work on or what was good then we were given a final score ! I really enjoyed today because there was alot of fun but also focus !
amelia xx
October 14th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
levi miles says:
w’ell bristol old vic’s young company’s sessions for year 7,8 and 9 is ATTENTION TO DETAIL and to start it off we play a game to brighten up the mood to warm us up,then our mentor Tid(who ROCKS!) made randomley put in two’s.
In our two’s we had to make a short scene which looks belivable,realistic,and genuine and to make it a teeny-weeny complicated we had only 4 lines each,then we got rated about how good we were in my two we scored 3 but i must admit everyone is briliant in our group and i also learn from everyone 2.
from Levi
BRISTOL OLD VIC RUUUUUUUUULLLLEEEES!!!!!!!
October 15th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Suzie Spence says:
Hey all!
After not being at the past two sessions, it was exciting and refreshing to get back to the lively atmosphere at BOV. We focused on physical theatre, and creating “beautiful human moments” (quote from Tid). The great thing about physical theatre is that you can interpret it any way you want, and then put it into context, and also it’s something you have to do without corpsing (even if there is someone lying on top of you - ooer).
We developed lots of surprising new pieces and I can’t wait for the next session!
Lots of love for everyone in the Young Company.
Suzie
xoxo
October 15th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Jenny Finamore says:
Hello people!
Although I didn’t say I’d leave something on the blog, I though I would anyway.
Session was veery interesting today. It’s great when we do work where we’re not actually trying to make a piece of ‘interesting theatre’ because it always means it will be so much more interesting.
We did a lot of physical movement, and although there was music on in the background, it never became a dance but nor was it a complete piece of drama. It was very interesting and it meant lots of beauuutiful pieces were created
It was also nice that the audience chose what the context was, because so often in pieces of theatre, the performers try to tell you and it just comes across as ungenuine. Because so often people reveal relationships naturally through who they are anyway. Like Tid said, the pieces you do reflect who are and reflect the group we have in the Young Company.
I especially enjoyed the piece Tid and Rich did, I felt Tid revealed a lot about himself.
Thanks!
Jenny
October 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Charly Riddett says:
Hello =]
i was asked to come on here and write about my first day,
it was very brilliant
and i regret being as shy as i was,
but soon hope to open up and make some new friends
thanks for a brilliant 2 hours,
xx
October 15th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Ryan 'Keep Your Blindfold On' Lovett says:
Wow what a sesh it was today, something for everyone to enjoy from superhero boxers, to great performances by everybody!
Starting with the basics and following that through with more detail and precise rehearsed improvisation today we created performances of ‘physical theatre’ with everyone having an interesting and original piece to show. It was a great session with some real positive pieces and comments where we all managed to pick up stories within the pieces, with some opinions differing but all the same great and interesting to watch!
Just look forward to watching the ones we missed out today, next week!
October 15th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Ryan Lovett says:
Ok that name was from ages ago, didn’t change it its just ryan now!
October 15th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
George Evans says:
Brilliant session tonite! Some stuff created that was brilliant, mad and sensitive, as we were introduced to the working process for April’s big show: “Brave”. We worked in pairs developing sequences of movement that were then accompanied by music and made to mean something very specific. Was great!!
October 15th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Charlie Haughton says:
Another really good session, got me excited about stuff to come, especially ‘Brave’. Love the idea of the show and it osunds like it will be full of energy and generally a good laugh.
We started with small physical stuff then built it up adding lifts and things, then went in pairs and made a short piece and did it too music. Then Tid showed us how easy it is to work on these pieces around a particular idea. Some brilliant stuff came out of it.
going to get on to booking the various shows coming up, hopefully a school trip aswell.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Naomi Newell says:
Last night’s session was brilliant!! I love doing all the physical stuff and it was fun just playing around with movements before setting them into fixed choreographed pieces. Finding the ‘human moments’ amongst all the crazy physicality really brought the snippets back down to earth and I found as an audience member for the rest of the group that I was touched, I found meaning in every single piece.
I’m well excited about the April show ‘Brave’… would be awesome to bring together as many members of the young company as possible and see what other people have been up to in their sessions.
Can’t believe only half the people out of a group turn up in any one session though!!!! What’s going on?! With awesome stuff like this happening every week, it’s really not cool.
Haughton!! School trip well safe idea…
October 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Miranda (Deputy Young Company Director) says:
Hello guys.
So great to read all your comments on the blog, It’s so insightful to hear your responses and see that your clearly challenging yourselves and getting load’s from this term.
I personally am really excited about ‘Brave’ The new highly ambitous young company production. Those of you who dont know anything about it yet, you better get to know!
Start coming to the sessions and ask your fellow company members, this show will rely heavily on every member of the young company getting involved.
‘Beast’ Only 4 weeks to go… make sure you get buying tickets on the website and over the phone. I think its going to be a shocker! (In the best possible way)
Keep up the great work, Miranda
October 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Georgia says:
alreet?
looks like everyone’s written quite a bit about the physical sessions but i thought i would just say how much i enjoyed it anyway
The end pieces were really interesting and told quite emotional story’s at times.
especially the first piece which we used the idea of a father and sons relationship with.
The new production brave should be amazing with everyone involved at some point.
Brilliant session, just going to get some tickets for beast (Y)
xox
October 16th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Tom Leighton says:
Reet then
tonights session was kindve weird but also good at the same time. as georgia says above it was physical stuff. pretty much dance but not quite. my partner emma r (i think, soz if not) was great!!!
love the idea of brave and hope to be in it if exams arent getting in the way!
see ya
October 16th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Tom Leighton says:
emma. you know who you are
October 16th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Richard Voaden says:
Hello everyone
man this blog gets loads bigger everytime i check it
and i check it alot. Brup.
Yesturdays session was brilliant, we were creating pieces of theatre by applying physical techniques which we looked at at the beginning of the session. some really interesting stuff came out of it, i cant believe how high the standard was. Each piece had its own moments which made it fantastic to watch. Even if only a few moments like these make it into Brave, the show will be great.
Aw lets face it the show will be great anyway. Cant wait to get involved. xxxxxxx
October 16th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Leigh-Ann says:
This evening was sheer beauty. We were working at a pace that was challenging but not unmanageable and it really pushed our development.
Really enjoyed it…
I was with Louena (sorry if its spelt wrong) and I love the way a different connection is established with every person you work with. I personally think what we created was fresh and intense.
It was difficult to make Louena believe this when we were watching other people’s performances and she was getting nervous! But I’ve been there and I understand how she feels. The only way she could be convinced otherwise was to get up and do uit - hearing the positive response and then being asked to explore it further.
I really felt I upped my game this week - that expression makes it sound like it was very competitive but it wasn’t at all. In fact it’s do do with me feeling relaxed and comfortable and working with a partner where ideas are bounced back and forth from one another and played around with.
I was amazed at how beautiful the other’s work was. Of course the standard is always good but today it was just enthralling and displayed how immensly talented everyone is. This show has so much potential.
I think it’s really important that two of our key were about sexuality and gay interactions ( i dunno if u coyuld call them relationships) because that is something that is so significant today and isnt always approached in the right way.
Will and Lewis were interesting because of the conflict between them and finally resulting in just touching each other - left us all wanting more
I just think today was sheer brilliance and we are all fantastic
Lei xxxx
October 16th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Charlie (Kenber) says:
Just to add on to Leigh-Ann’s comment (again), we were making these things for Brave, and as she said Tid kept adding something (travelling, lifts, staccato then flow etc.) that we had to put into our pieces. We worked in twos, and after what was probably 30 mins (but felt much shorter) showed them in turn. Tid then ‘worked his magic’, on some of them, for some reason turning them all into homosexual scenarios. But no they looked amazing and I can’t wait for Brave.
I felt that the pieces were better when they had music to them - sometimes provided by us, or just some kind of bacground noises. Eg during Willa nd Lewis’ one, all the guys had to stand at the back and copy some of their actions, whilst shouting gay hate words at them - which was a laugh.
Anyway I think that’s pretty much all.
See you next thurs!
Charlie
October 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
will nash says:
just adding again on charlie and liegh ann. i just thought the session was awesome (again) because it was the hardest people had worked and the most people had commited in performance. people didn’t question it. when the piece between harriet and sophie was being worked on people just did everything. they just got on. i thought by far and away the best piece of the session was jamie and luke’s ( i really hope that’s ur name and im so sorry if it isn’t). every other piece was so serious and heavy and so of them were amazing but there’s was sooooo funny. just unbelieveably funny. perfect.
anyway, see you all next thursday. can’t wait
will
October 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Molly Prentice :) says:
Last Monday’s session was veeeeery cool.
We had to make a believable, natural scene whilst still keeping the audience’s interest. Urm, basically most of us were pretty crap at this (me & Rachel scored -1 out of 10 on Tid’s reality scale!) and we all learnt it’s reeeeeeeeeeeally hard to act naturally on stage!
So yeah it was really funny basically.
See you all Monday
xx
October 18th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
emma marlborough says:
haa i hate dance bt this was different because we focused on human interactions, something everyone can relate to. we did not have to focus on any style or have any boundaries, every week we are encorged to be brave and create new styles etc. it’s the best atmosphere i have ever been around and i reccomend it. Also helps my partner was imaginative and easy to work with so it wasnt awkward or anything.
October 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
nel bailey says:
beast is soooooooooooo much fun. were always doing something interesting. some of us got fitted for costumes. there not ready yet but whats done lookes great! see you all tuesday.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Megan Farrow says:
Hi there, I am doing some work with Theatre Bristol at the moment promoting a fantastic new play by acclaimed company Theatre Absolute. The new show ZERO is being performed at Lawrence Hill Church, Barton Hill on Saturday 1 November.
It is a pretty hard-hitting play but well worth a look.
Internationally acclaimed Theatre Absolute return to Bristol with another inspiring, hard-edged, and compelling production. Written by Chris O’Connell (Frantic Assembly, Paines Plough, RSC), ZERO is chaotic, fast, and furious; an explosive insight into the ethics of torture, and the curse of censorship.
Set twenty years from now, hundreds of torture camps have been created to extract information, at any cost, from those who aim to blow apart a world wealthy beyond its dreams.
Alex, a translator at Camp Zero, wants to tell the world of the brutal regime within the camp, but as a consequence his life is suddenly in danger. Survival is paramount, death may be inevitable, but the truth has to be told.
“A fine example of gutsy theatre” Metro
Tickets are only a fiver! - Details for booking are below, I hope some of you can make it, cheers Meg
Lawrence Hill Church, Barton Hill, Bristol
Saturday 1 November, 7.30pm
Tickets: £5/£3
Box Office: 0117 955 6971
Visit http://www.theatrebristol.co.uk for further information about Lighting the Touchpaper’s exciting Autumn ’08 Season.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
katie white says:
ha ha, oooops, i forgot to write the blog last week so i will write something random now.
omg! i am excited about brave, its gonna be dudified!
yeh,
i am a cripple on crutches at the mo so its interesting bcause u get to try different ways of moving around, lol, like flinging yourself across the room, woop!
am trying to persiuade my folks to let me do full time theatre worker, they worried i might get too tired, i say, wat the heck! any who
chat sooooooooooon
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Harriet says:
Very quickly before I die of exhaustion to the tune of Bang, Bang, sung like ‘a choirgirl waiting for a kidney transplant’….not such a nice thought!!
So we arrived today and Tid immidiately got on the phone to the Genius Police, alerting them to the fact that many people were missing the Genius of Tid, and they should be punished…the way this apparently works is that you don’t realise you were even on the hit list until you turn 30, when your heart will slowly shatter, and you will wish you could turn back time so you could go to more bristol old vic sessions, and perhaps scariest of all, you will have visions of Tid in his most genius moments, so you know just what you missed out on….
After that, we split into two groups and both tried to develop two of the best pieces that were devised last week into something bigger. However, this never really happened, we seemed to manage to make things that happened in the same space but never really connected. In the end I think we probably took two very beautiful and interesting pieces and turned them into things that they weren’t and in doing so made them very obvious and took away the life and imagination that had made them so good in the first place. Both groups had the original piece performed in the middle of the space, and then added other things around them…perhaps that was part of the problem; the different parts of the pieces didnt work together because there was no physical connection between them; it was kept very much as the original idea then the new parts added on to the edges. Tid commented on the way we made them being quite passive and wishy-washy, so that meant that whilst we made things that were nice, they weren’t that interesting and didn’t really seem to have any purpose, whereas if the directing style had been more frantic and dynamic, that would probably have resulted in very different things being made. But even though what was actually created in the session wasn’t that great, I did feel I learnt alot more about how things can develop, and about the way in which that process can happen.
The session ended with a quick call from the Talent Squad, who had been alerted by the Genius Police (they apparently work together on issues like this), that there was a distinct lack of talent in the rehersal room and to start making arrests immidiately.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
So I have just read the blog above, and even though I made those jokes and know what I said in the session, it still has made me laugh out loud.
I’m either really funny, or just really sad.
OH! and Get on The Beast and Samson and Delilah ticket buying trail, or I is gonna kick some butt.
October 25th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Ruby B says:
i go to yoth thearter i love it
October 25th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Nathan Cherokoff (Beast assistant director) says:
Beast is only 2 weeks away!
The cast and everyone else involved are working extremely hard to make this a magnificent show, and it will be!
So hurry up and buy some tickets!
x
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Pollyanna Shaw says:
Well…… in my latest session in the Yr9 class, it was pretty much a disaster!!!!!!!!!!! Tid told us all our performences were a load of crap and we all looked at each other wondering, WHY???? Well basically our spacing, voices and… well.. effort all sucked!
So Tid made us do a little scene on SECRETS! Me and my group buddies all came up of an idea of me and friend talking about how i did something!!!! Then suddenly people came walking around me and telling me i did it! OH NO! So at the end Tid told us that our spacing, voices and acting was 10 times better. WAHOO
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Anna Jordan says:
Hey.
I have just finished an extremely tiring and exciting week rehearsing for beast.
We have now played targets and killer tic too many times to count. Of course we also got lots of work done.
We started blocking and devising lots of the scenes, and all of the scenes that are set in the ‘fairytale world’ were looking amazing, but then Miranda decided that the scenes set in the super market were lacking something. So about half way through the week we went back and recreated lots of the super market scenes!!
Some of us have got costumes and they look great!
On Thursday Toby Farrow come and took pictures of them in costume.
There have also been some sound put in.
So now the whole thing is coming together and we have had a chance to get a picture of what it will be like.
So I hope you all come and see it because it is gunna be brilliant!
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Rose Reade says:
last nights session was actually really fum, even though at first we all made what tid called peices of poo!!!
He got us to go into groups of 4 but with people that we dont normally work with. As a result I made lots of new friends and had a huge laugh. We also ended up in a group with boys and girls and that was good too.
We had to create a piece of theatre in which we had to let the audience find out one thing about each character in the space of one minute. It was quite hard working with only that and all of the pieces turned out to be really boring and dire (which will says is an abbreviation for diabolical!!!)
After tid had expressed his opinion about this he gave us something more to work on. We had to consider space, staging, script and it had to have a dramatic outcome. The topic was secrets.
In the end we all made pieces of theatre that were 10 times better than the ones before and were a lot more interesting.
I am looking forward to brave and have my fingers crossed that I am free in the easter hols.
Good luck to everyone in beast. I cant wait to come and see it. It sounds amazing!
Rose
November 4th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Rose Reade says:
Sorry I forgot to add what tid said!!!
He said that one of the pieces of theatre in the session was so full of cliches that you could have made a braclet out of them!!!!
What???!!!!!!!
November 4th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Lily-Rae Smailes says:
Hey!
This past week i have been involved in an extremely tiering, but extremely fun rehearsal schedule for our new young company production ‘BEAST’. This is the first one i have done with BOV and so far its been crazy, i love it. It has been tight, with long hours and a lot of commitment, but i tell you we are getting there. Most of the production has been made and choreographed by ourselfs and then put neatly together by lovely Miranda who has helped us all the way. If you would like to come and see BEAST you are welcome to! 19th - 22nd, Tickets are £10/ £5 cons, feel free to pick up a leaflet if you are wondering past the Old Vic. x
November 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am
martha hayes says:
hey!
last nights session was brill except first of all we all made pieces of theatre which tid said were pieces of poo! Then he told us that we all went up there and all went for the comedy option which was pretty dull, also he said that every groups spacing, script, and general effort was pretty poor. Then we had to make apiece of theatre about a secret and our little box to work with was script, spacing, dramatic outcome and our relationship with others on the stage. After each small group had gone up tid said that all those performances were 10 times better than the ones before. Phew!!!!!
xxx
November 4th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
kathryn Stokes says:
heyya.
before I talk about the Tuesday yr 9 session, I wanted to say that everyone should buy tickets for beast and samson and delilah. We all need to support eachother and I saw samson and delilah in the studio a while ago and it was AMAZING. 9.9 stars out of 10. And now apparently it’s even better on the main stage. But hurry, tickets might sell out before you get a chance to buy them.
Anyway, a bit our session. Well first we played killer tick but Tid made us keep restarting ’cause we wern’t giving enough energy. I survived until down to the last 5. We then had to make a minute piece of theatre that told you something about all the characters, but Tid said that most of them were boring. Then we had to do a piece about a secret. But Tid didn’t really like any of them, he said that he’d rather be in a coma. He also said that there was no effort, rubbish spacing, not interesting and stupid over the top story lines. Now we have to learn a bit from a poem or script for next week and preform it so that we develop the character behind it. But it was still an auesome 2 hours.
Keep writing on the blog guys!
it rockz!!!
November 4th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
What the heck are some of you guys doing up so late…sleep people.
Nice to see some honest blogs going up, nice to know that even when we dont make brilliant theatre, we can still have a good time.
I do have to stop using the word poo though, doesn’t look so good in print.
Always keep in mind, that we must be honest about our work, that way the great stuff you guys create we know will be top notch, and remember there is always more good work made than there is bad, but when it’s there we cant hide from it, we have to face it and battle it, and when we win, we win for real.
I’m so proud of you people…(tears)
See you soon.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:27 am
will nash says:
riiight, hard act to follow there.
just blogging the tuesday dance group as i failed to be it last night at one oclock.
great session again after a week off if the group was a little small. people need to turn up and just do. it’s ust deeply upsetting otherwise for everyone involved.
we played a round of targets and stretched and went into by moved on from last half term and were using the ideas of grabbing or pushing, stroking or brushing, tapping and pulling. we used these to move and travel accross the space on levels and with different limbs. then we worked with different partners with the same teachniques and started to make sequences with them. we then used passive reactions and human reactions with them. each person ended with two sets of movement and then mirander produced a seeminly (but clearly not) random order for them to be performered in.
they all looked great and characters and stories came through strong in them. there were interesting moments between people in particular jo and tasha as it slowed but this contrasted against faster paced ones like the one between india and george
all in all very good fun even if certainly people who we know don’t even want didn’t come.
will
November 5th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Chris Holmes says:
Hey.
Weds Night 16-18 session. For once tonight wasn’t one of those sessions where i came home on a buzz (similar to RedBull, that kind of ‘i can now rule the world feeling’) that i have in previous weeks. But that said, tonight was still good, and really interesting.
Firstly, Tid read us short extract from ‘Before I Die’ by Jenny Downham and ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy (both by the way are worth a read, apparently). Both were fairly ambiguous, which in this instance was kind of a good thing. The extract from ‘Before I Die’ telling us about a teenage girl, in need of a boyfriend, who’s having trouble communicating her feelings with her brother and seemingly single father. Where as the extract from ‘The Road’ merely made reference to a boy and a man travelling ‘down south’ for unknown reasons, with quirky dialogue.
We made notes while Tid read, chose which we wanted to work on, then made groups within those groups. Some of the stuff we produced seemed almost too vague which, to an uninformed audience, would have lost them. But some of the groups took a really interesting take on the material they were given, re-inventing it completely. It was interesting to see how far people read into the extracts. It became a real effort to not form cliches within our pieces, coreographing and stereotyping etc. But actually, pretty much everyone succeeded.
Good work guys
November 6th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Hey All
Here is BRAVE info below, if you didnt get a letter, copy and paste this and sign the slip at the bottom and bring it in to your next session if you want to be involved…
Tid
November 6th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
BRAVE
The Big April show BRAVE – with performance dates: Thurs 16th April to Sun19th April and Mon 20th April to Sun 26th April, dates TBC.
This is a BIG SHOW, we want all of the young company to be involved…
So how can you get involved?
Usually our shows take a lot of rehearsal which means some of our Young Company don’t get to perform, so we have come up with a way you can be involved no matter how much time you have. There are 3 levels to suit you.
Creator
Commitment: Just your regular 2 hour session per week
If you can only make your two hour young company session each week you can still be involved in creating the production. Your spring term sessions, running from January onwards will focus on creating performance, song, music, acting and dance material to be included in the show. Even if you’re not available to perform you can still see your creations brought to life, and the work you make will be shown and shared each week.
Ensemble Performer
Commitment: Regular 2 hour session, production week rehearsals, and performance dates
You will be a creator and a performer, the performance material you create you will be able to perform in the show, you will also work closely with the creators to bring their work to life and perform it on the theatre royal stage. As an ensemble performer you will also create the big visual image moments of the show, the chorus singing sections and be responsible for supporting everything else that is created and performed.
Full Time Theatre Maker
Commitment: All rehearsals! Regular 2 hour Young Company Session, Sunday Sessions, Play Around Rehearsals in December, February Half Term Rehearsals, Easter Rehearsals, and Production week and Performance sessions
You will be a creator, performer, director, theatre maker. You will be the people who are at the core of activity for creating the show, you will work closely with the professional directors and artists working on the production and also take responsibility for shaping the work the ensemble performers and creators generate. You will generate lots of material yourselves and be heavily involved in performing the material. There will also be the possibility of people from this becoming assistant directors/writers/choreographers.
The options above we hope will enable you to get involved in the most ambitious, spectacular and exciting Young Company production so far.
So what’s BRAVE all about?
It’s about you! It’s about being your age, and thinking your thoughts, it’s about your view on the world, what you create and how you all grow up, it’s about your childhood, your teenage years and your adulthood. It’s about us all experiencing the same things at some point and feeling we are still completely unique.
Dates
Play around rehearsals in December – Mon 15th Dec to Thurs 18th Dec – 6pm to 8pm (for Years 7 to 9), 6pm to 10pm (for Years 10 and over)
Your Regular Young Company Session – term dates – Mon 5th Jan to Fri 13th Feb 09 and Mon 23rd Feb to Fri 3rd April 09
Sunday Sessions – 11th, 18th, 25th Jan, 1st, 8th, 15th Feb, 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th March
February Half Term – Mon 16th to Fri 20th Feb 2009 10am to 5pm each day
Easter Holidays – Mon 6th to Fri 10th April 2009 10am to 5pm each day
Production Week – Week commencing Mon 13th April 2009
Performance Dates - Thurs 16th April to Sun 19th April & Mon 20th April to Sun 26th April (dates to be confirmed)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Full time theatre maker - you need to be able to make all of the rehearsals detailed above so please make sure you can and ask your parents to sign the slip at the bottom of this sheet to confirm that they are happy with the commitment that this will involve.
Ensemble Performer – you need to be able to make your regular 2 hour session, production week rehearsals, and performance dates as detailed above so please make sure you can and ask your parents to sign the slip at the bottom of this sheet to confirm that they are happy with the commitment that this will involve.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬————————————————————————————————————
I confirm that …………………………………………… (please write name in block capitals) is able to attend all of the specified rehearsals and performances for the production of BRAVE.
Please indicate whether you would like to be a Full time theatre maker or Ensemble Performer by circling your choice (if you would like to be a Creator you do not need to complete and return this slip)
Signed ……………………………………………………………………………………………..
(Parent / Guardian)
November 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Alice Price says:
Rooight think im guna have a shot at blogging.
Realy enjoyed wednesdays sesh, thought working from book extracts was pertty good and wrighting it down too cos you could pick out bits that where most interesting to you. end result was ausom too realy liked lucy and macailas peice was ausome, loveing BOV atm may have to try out music4theator
oh an can anyone tell me WHARE the info stuff is for brave on this sight? would be much apreciated. iv looked everyyyware!!
blind is me
seeyawed
x
November 6th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Lola says:
hiya all,
we didn’t play any games this session, but that was good cause it meant we had more time to explore and create. Tid read out and extract from a book he is reading called THE ROAD. We (being the group obs) had to write down anything from what we heard from the story that meant anything to us. Then we got ourselves into groups, two of them were really big. Each group interpreted the extract differently and concentrated on different aspects of the extract. One group focussed on the atmosphere another on the man’s thoughts another on the narrative. At the end of the session we all gathered round to talk about the performances, the good and the not so good. But I would say overall it was a fab session.
lova lola
November 6th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
casey (chav as tid called me :S) says:
hey all
today in yr10/11 with tid , we listened to him read out a descriptive piece of writing in which we had to go off and make a piece of theatre based on that story.
i enjoyed it because the story aloud us to explore our ideas of where we thaught it was and what was around.
there were some really great pieces produced so … well done everybody!
and it was an awsome session in which i had great fun trying to find different ways to perform and learning from others
ginge
November 6th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Harriet says:
Blind is you indeed Alice, its in the blog just above where you posted!!
November 6th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Alistair says:
Ha!
Miranda speaks the truth! Nobody comments on our sessions but tid’s group isn’t the ONLY one on a thursday. We are actually amazing too.
Yesterday we did our solo performances after everbody had varying amounts of creative and rehearsal time and feed back last half term. It was interesting to watch everyone’s peices and to recieve feedback on both our ideas and our performance.
Then the fun began (well to be fair it had begun an hour ago but hey). We were put into groups with people through a mixture of suggestions by Miranda, Anna, guest star Danny, and all the young company members, the idea being that we would combine ideas from our solo peices and explode them into ensemble ones.
It was fun times and an interesting experience…
At the end we voted on all the performances saying what worked and what didnt, and for each saying if it was the idea or the performance that made it interesting or uninteresting. This was helpful as we learnt that no matter how you feel about a peice you have to perform it as if it were the best thing in the world, or nobody will believe it
Brap
November 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Charlie Kenber says:
WRITING FOR THEATRE!
Hope that got your attention. I thought i’d be different and make he first ever post for writing for theatre (if this isn’t the first im sorry for wasting your time). Anyway, we have the legend that is Adam Peck, and the plan at the moment is that we each write about a 10min script, and then we have half a day with up to 6 professional paid actors and 1 director (Tid, Adam, Iain, or Miranda) and rehearse it! Then we will have an evening when all 9 are performed!
So yeh that’s very exciting and scary - I’m surprised so few people do it!
I’ve only recently joined the group, so I’m not sure what happened for the first half of term, but we have been doing exercises, and then anaylising each other’s work. The feedback is (usually) constructive, and this week we even got a look at a new play Adam is writing. needless to say it was rly gd.
Also, we discover that quite a few of Tid’s ’sayings’ were originally made by Adam, but Tid has STOLEN THEM, and made them his own. so yeh.
I also did Tid’s 16+ session straight after on Thurs, which was gr8. He read us all 2 small bits of story, and we had to make theatre out of them. Some of them turned out good, others (like mine) terrible. All I’ll say is it invovled a duvet, and someone being a hill underneath it - i guess you can imagine the rest…
I think where people went wrong was we tried to over-complicate things, and perhaps take the stories too literally. The best pieces tended to be the simpler ones, but some of these only made sense if you already knew the story. We had the usual 30 mins of ripping it out of 1 group (this time will nash’s).
That’s all I guess. ’till next week!
November 9th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Jess Hellens says:
Hi guys thought I would put the press release for Beast up on here so you can all have a read! We will be filming parts of the rehearsal this week so keep an eye out on facebook for that one (there are already some photos up).
You can find a downloadable version of this on the website, also let me know if you you know of any bloggers who might be interested in writing about the show.
bristol old vic young company presents
Beast
Writer Ira Brand
Director Miranda Cromwell
19-22 November
Press night Wednesday 19 Nov 7.30pm
young company provide a beast of a night.
Throughout the last 14 months of Bristol Old Vic’s uncertain future the Young Company have been continuously creating work both at the theatre and beyond. They continue to forge ahead with their bold and inventive work with their latest production, Beast.
With a cast of 24 aged 11-14, Bristol Old Vic Young Company* bring this adaptation of the classic tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to the Studio. Fusing daring choreography, new contemporary writing, comedic characters and an unwilling twist of tragedy, Beast is directed by the newly appointed Young Company Deputy Director Miranda Cromwell. This new heart-wrenching script by Ira Brand tests the love and loyalty of one family as their mundane reality clashes with fantasy.
Miranda Cromwell, Young Company Deputy Director said:
“This is a classic tale being given a new skin, told through music and movement, it’s physical theatre that uses choreography to communicate an idea and will be a Beast of show.”
Bristol Old Vic Young Company is one of the leading Young Companies in the UK. Their previous sell-out shows include Samson and Delilah, back by popular demand in the Theatre Royal in January 2009, and Narcissus and Echo.
With a proven track record the Young Company have a legacy that Bristol Old Vic is proud to support and nurture. Taught by practicing professionals, the students get to experience acting as a future career as well as an extra curricular activity. Beast reflects the dedication and commitment that these young people have for their future in theatre.
ends.
date of issue: Wednesday 5th November 2008
For more information, for interviews, images or to book press tickets please contact Jessica Hellens on 0117 949 3993 or jhellens@bristol-old-vic.co.uk
Notes to Editors
*previously Youth Theatre. BOV Young Company is led by a team of professional directors, musicians, designers and writers who work with over 450 young people between the ages of 7-21 every week and are based at Bristol Old Vic.
Beast
Listings Information:
Bristol Old Vic, King Street, Bristol, BS1 4ED
runs from: 19 – 22 November 2008 in the Studio
box office: 0117 987 7877
Open from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday
Online booking: http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk
press night: Wednesday 19 November 7.30pm
performance
times: 7.30pm Wednesday - Saturday
seat prices: £10 (£5 concessions)
groups: Groups of 10 or more save 10% off all seats
Telephone 0117 907 4907.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Tilly Banilly says:
hello
:D
just writing to the blog because tid & miranda keep asking everyone to.
last session was hillarious because one of the groups did a talk show on pregnancy & tid hated it so much.
ha ha ha
yeh
there you go Tid
there you go Miranda
yeh…
November 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Orla says:
Hello
Ahh performance week is looming & Beast is looking brilliant. We’ve pretty much got the whole play now! It’s been so much hard work but it’s all going to pay off in the end.
We’ve all gained a lot from doing Beast, and we’re all looking forward to next week.
Oh, and I reccommend bringing some tissues, tis’ very sad.
If you haven’t got tickets yet, then I suggest you buy some NOW because Saturday is already sold out, and the other nights are also going to sell out this week!
I’m not sure when the tickets will go on sale for the matinee performance on the saturday, but just keep checking the site, t’will be up very soon I believe.
Peace out
X
November 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
luke (skywalker) says:
BEAST wo0Oo0Oo0Oo0Oo0O!!!
good job every 1 with rehearsals for BEAST
November 10th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
luke (skywalker) says:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
tickets are selling fast which is grreat
but keep persuading people to buy them!!
th man.. he say.. H’OKAY
November 10th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Jess Hellens says:
We’ve now sold out on the Saturday AND the Friday…well done people
J
November 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Georgina Elliott says:
This is my first time on the blog, so here goes….
I went to the 16+ session last Thursday and i really enjoyed it. Tid read out parts of two stories and we had to choose which one we liked. We then got into groups and created a piece of theatre based around those texts! I really liked the group i worked with because i felt that we all listened to each others ideas and there was not one person dominating the whole piece. So i think that was why our piece was successful! But i enjoyed watching all the other groups and i liked idea of the bird migrating and how that group placed themselves on the stage!
Untill next time bye!
Georgina
November 11th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Can we all please big up the fact that if you buy a ticket for beast, you can have your nails done!
Be a beauty before Beast, I is getting a makeover!
Oh and Charlie, Adam is lying, he actually steals my saying’s and claims them as his own, and because he is a writer everyone believes him, like he has some magic power with words! Sad times.
Tid
November 11th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Ed (Barry) says:
Hi guys, beast rehearsels going well!!
i dont know about u but im certainly starting to feel the pressure!
COME AND SEE BEAST, IT WILL BE GREAT!
November 11th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Katie Smart says:
Heyye today was fun but rather hard i know understand that being beliveable dosent mean you have to do something BORING but you have to stay with your performance for anything slightly out of the oridinary to work (LIKE ME BEING PREGNANT teehee)
~With love Smartie~
November 11th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Charlie Kenber says:
Oh ok. (Who do I believe!!!)
I’ll challenge Adam about it on Thurs…
Looking forward to brave..
November 11th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Miranda (Deputy Young Company Director) says:
Hello people, Congratulations to all who have bought tickets for BEAST it is now sold out on all nights. If you havent got a ticket yet there are still some tickets available on the saturday matinee at 4.00.p.m which should be on sale on the website soon. Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Woop Woop!
November 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Jenny Finamore says:
Helloo.
Wednesday 16+ 6-8pm, big it upp
Well today we were all told to write on the blog and I did not need encouragement.
Today, in pairs, we were given a fairly specific task of making a piece of theatre concentrated on the performance. One person had to be a child and one had to be an adult, their had to be 15 lines each and it had to include a moment of vulnerability/exposure/drama.
My friend had told me a story about how when he’d been invited to a primary school he didn’t know what to do, so he’d brought in a ouija board! For anyone who doesn’t know, that’s when you have to clear your mind and get spirits to enter you so they can control your hand movement…., not really appropriate for kids!
I found it really funny and I thought it would be interesting to try and create a piece of theatre about adults trying to help children but kind of going the wrong way about it, as they don’t really know what’s appropriate and don’t see that children can’t do the same things as adults. Tid said he wanted the piece to be in Brave which should be interesting!
There were lots of really nice pieces created - it’s very hard to act as a child without exagerrating but some people managed to do it very genuinley(not sure how you spell that!) and it meant the pieces turned out very beautifully (e.g. Liam & Josie’s)
Anyway - enough rambling
Good sess guys! xx
November 12th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Emily Moultrie says:
Heyo,
So today (Wed yr 10+11, 6-8pm) we were asked to make a piece of theatre which showed the relationship between two people, one of which had to be a child and we had to focus on our performances.
In my pair we showed how a teenager and their dad were having an argument about curfues and the piece turned into an argument about how the step dad cant’ controll her cus hes not her real dad. Kinda Cliche, but it was fun to do and we got to shout a bit
Anyways, it was a really good session and Tid made the best pieces perform again which made me realize that some people did reeeally good pieces, like Jenny i thought Liam and Josies was wicked and reeally believable, well they were all really good! Well done guys
Seeya next week xxx
November 12th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Ellie says:
Well this is my first blog i’ve done and i was sort of unsure if this was the right page but i got here in the end…
Ok i absolutely loved the group of three tonight, it was so funny! At first it looked like it was all about Annie and her problems in the playground, but then her bully seemed like the victim and it was all up to the adult/teacher to sort it out. I loved how you could never tell what the next person was going to react with or where it was going. At one point i thought one of them might stab the other one!
anyway see you all next week
Ellie
November 12th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Dance sesh says:
Last night in dance theatre we did some cool stuff…
The first ‘cool’ thig of the evening was walking into the studio! It’s like narnia, only miranda is a ‘red witch’. The funky techno coloured door (like a jellyfish) is incredible, i want one in my room. Myself and eedie found to our astonishment that it can turn you from man to woman, ladie to man, beast to beauty and catterpillar to butterfly on going through it.
AnYhOw…. the actual session.
we started off continuing what we had been working on last week; pushing through our joints, seeing how far we could pivot from a particular point until loosing balance, but trying to keep ourselves at that point for as long as possible (before falling over). We continued doing this, baring in mind the idea’s of ‘brushing, tapping and grabing’, whilst also using a ‘push’. For example one could make a brush forceful using a brush, but not continuous. With brushing, using our bodies, every motion had to not be a new one on the floor, but a continuous meandering through the body, whilst also pushing through each joint. We were told to vary the levels in which we practised ‘tapping, brushing ect..’ One down on the ground, 2 sort of, slightly above the floor’s level, and three on you’re feet, i do believe. Once we did this we started travelling, and in so doing began interacting with people. I would grab, say, rich’s knee, and he would see where he could move, having this tension at the centre of his point (that really doesnt make sense, but it works!) whilst brushing or tapping. Or, one could have an interaction of tapping over someone else, or pulling at someones back, making them change direction. Onnce you start, it’s quite easy to forget the specifics of the rules, and we end up just sort of rolling over each other (in a good way), making stuff look beautiful from the outside… this is what we did later..
Before this however, Miranda took us briefly back to a certain street (?:) Dance, accompanied to some ‘bad’ music. haha . I really can’t do this dance, but it’s really fun, and the very very small moments where i am in time with everyone else, it is very satisfying. Its important not to care too much, only trying to get the dance moves right within you’re self, so listen up other people, and come do some dancing! Here, it seems neccessary to say how petite our group was (but this is also nice, don’t feel too rushed to come!)..
So, continuing our exercise from before, we took some of the rules from the exercise and adopted them into a long, experimental thing in the middle of the space. At any point we could take an object into the space. This was first mirandaa wheeling a shopping trolly in. It was nice seeing who reacted to this stuff, and who didn’t. People brushed themselves against this, grabbed it into them and got inside! I bought a big glass vodka bottle, using it to brush over people with (although i’m not sure this was very effective). Other objects which found themselves inside where an actual Brush, a black coat and chair. On the edges of the space where pens and paper. On viewing the stuff going on inside the space we wrote down what we saw on paper… here are some of mine..
” roots of trees getting burnt”
“tiger gnawing on antelopes leg” ” heart just about to have a heart attack” “witchcraft” “a plague of yellow fleas”
“you’re pushing only draws me nearer”
” i was so embarrased that i didn’t make the jump. I had been preparing for this moment for 10 seconds”
This last one came from my favourite moment, when India used the actual brush as a pole, ran along the floor tapping forcefully the floor with her running feet, pressed the end of the pole into the floor, and sort of swung. It reminded me of that amazing looking sport at the olympics where they flie into the air, and the pole bends, and then they fall into the blue matt. However, it looked like she had failed. It also reminded me of jade goody’s running the london marithon, and collapsing something like 5 mins in, and she was suprised, even though she had done one hour of training beforehand.
LASTLY, (yes, the end is in sight) we took stuff from this experimental piece, into groups of three. We had to give ourselves rules first though, and could work with the words we had written down. We also had to somewhere in our individual performance find a ’second choice/descision’… basically we had to let our bodies suprise ourselves, in choosing to go in a different or opposite direction to our initial one. Me Jess and Hannah’s, in my eye when performing, consisited of us flying through the clouds and sky, having a ‘first one to the pair of shoes is the looser race’. I’m not sure if this fulfilled Miranda’s idea of the ’second choice’ but mine was to curl up into a ball, and plummet back down to earth. Hannah however got me back up, and i shot up past her… yes, jess lost as she got to gthe shoes first…
we were joined by Mme Natarsha, who enjoyed Will, Helen’s and India’s. She saw different waves breaking on a sea. I agrred with miranda, that they needednt have ended by collapsing on the floor.
Eedie, Rich and lucy all crammed themselves into the shopping trolley. I saw them growing like flowers in a big metal vase, then the flowers fell. Eedie fell and managed to get life again; lucy was unfertalised, and rich was just a big decaying petal.. do i hear ‘pretensious interpratation?’.. ha, aah well, i don’t care, because it was a hugely enjoyable session.
Felix
November 12th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Josie♥ says:
Hey!
Firstly just wanted to say that i really really really really really really loved todays session (y10-11 and 16+ on wednesday)!
I think Jenny and Emily have said a lot about what we had to do so i wont repeat. Also thanks to people who said they liked our peice :D. I really liked the one in the supermarket (it’s quite bad that even though Tid went through our names for hours that i can’t remember them!) Oh! Ruby and John! Yeah i liked theirs. I liked all of them actually! I think Tid is right, when we were asked to focus on the performance everyone produced some quality stuff!
So yeah, just bagged my tickets for beast and samson, looking forward to seeing it again. Cant wait for next weeks session, haha!
Love♥
November 12th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Suzie Spence says:
LOVED this week’s session, guys!
The piece of theatre I enjoyed the most had to be Annie’s group, I mean christ, I laughed so much!
We really did achieve a lot of creative gold just by focusing on the performances, which will be something I definitely carry on to my GCSE and eventual A-Level work. Just by coming to these weekly sessions I’ve learnt so many new acting techniques, and today really showed what great theatre we can produce when we have criteria and pay attention to detail. Fantastic.
See ya next week
Suzie
.x
November 12th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Sam says:
Todays session was pretty cool, even though i had to leave three quarters of the way through it!!
In pairs we had to create a piece of theatre which showed the relationship between a child and another person, And we had to focus on the performance.
Mine and Jess’s piece was about a child in her early teens and how she is coping with growing up and who she turns to, which is her older sister who is 18 and has already been through the things she is now experiencing.
I enjoyed creating this a lot
x
November 12th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Lily says:
Today was intersting and very funny i think it was because people were using their own memories like arguements with siblings and how you would tease your little sisters or brothers like jenny’s nd kate’s loved it. we were told to really focus on our performance which really came across so everyones true acting potential came through well done guys Beast next week got my tickets
xx
November 12th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Rachel Q says:
Lat nights session (wed y10-11 and 16+)was great!soo interesting. As people have said above; focusing on the performances made people produce some really high quality work. Everyone’s piece was good but i really liked Jenny’s piece and charlie’s and lily’s too. (both really funny)
Not much else part from i’m looking forward to seeing Beast!
See you all next week. X
November 13th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Felix thinks says:
that the stuff above is all peachey, and true, there were some really nice things made..
but lets get a bit critical!
Jess C and Dominics piece, i thought was nice and awkward, but i hated the last line being ‘changes’.. it was so obvious, and too meaningful. I think if it was supposed to be naturalistic, maybe Jess would have actually said what was wrong, rather than stating a corny metaphore for puberty… still, maybe that was the point?
Lily and Charles’s had moments of believableness, especially when the teacher got angry, and the power struggle seemed authentic. But, i really didnt like it.. it wasnt convincing.. the child (?- charles’s character) was swearing about the wind in the willows as if he was hearing us laugh. The swearing was painfully needless, and it seemed like it came from nothing, and had no actual belief. Although maybe, this was good if the character was supposed to playing for laughs..
I had no idea about the relationship between Sam and Jess’ characters. Ruby and Jp’s could have been really good, if you hadn’t laughed. I liked Jp’s first reaction when the child said she was lost, it was that awkward ‘what do i say/do?’..
I really liked suzy and taijon’s ‘adoption’ thing. The end was really really nice. I cant remember what you said, but it sort of resolved the sad conflict which you had made throughout the scene, and showed how you really loved each other as brother and sister. I couldnt hear a lot of the speech though. Maybe it would have been nice if you took the head phones out to say whatever you said at the end, or somehow made it more theatrically interresting. Still, i quite liked the static stuff, and keeping it on the floor.
um, yes, just some thoughts on what i didnt like…
November 13th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Jess Hellens says:
Hello everyone,
Make sure you get your copy of the Evening Post today, Crackerjack have included Beast and there is a lovely picture of Emma as the Beast leaning over the gallery.
All sold out apart from Saturdays matinee but we sold half of that last night on the internet, going pretty quickly so if your friends and family haven’t booked their tickets yet, get them to give us a call! 0117 987 7877
Cheers peeps!
J
November 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
roisin says:
haa
ijust caled up and realized that beast is next thursday not this thursdy
ha ha ha
loved jungal game ha camp tiger
:]
November 13th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Louis says:
“BEAST”- is going to be great!
We’re all sold out and I’m sure the matinee will be soon as well!!!!
Good Luck to all those that are in it!
-Louis-
November 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
bob says:
2day’s lesson was gd, enjoyed games,
also enjoyed emma’s and soz can’t remember ur name’s performance was a goodann.
and tid was vry funny
chrs
x
November 13th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Bryher Bloor says:
Hey!
im from thursday group, year 10s and 11s.
this weeks session was really interesting, we were in pairs and had to create a peice of theatre in which one of the characters was a child and the other wasnt.
i think our final peices could have been better- most of us went for cliche themems and some of use chose to work on themes which we didnt know enough about, this made our performances slightly less strong as it is much more difficult to act things that you have no experience in.
although overall we didnt produce the best work we could have, i think that some of the scenes could have been developed into really good peices of drama with more time effort and maybe a bit more direction.
i enjoyed todays session even though it maybe wasnt our best… at least we learn something
seeing beast next week- looking forward to that…
thanks to tid for the session. v good
November 13th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Geraldine says:
Firstly hahahaha…
cos I’m smoooooooth baby.
Still in near hysterics from today’s session…was jOOOKE!
Tid forgot my name…mortally offended…
Then we had to get into pairs and make a scene about a child and another thing (person, whatever). We spent aaaaaages making ours good and then when it came to performing them everything went a bit shit for everyone really, though I really enjoyed Lola and Alice’s, and aso Jess and Lily’s.
Tid as usual ripped everyone’s performances to shreds but it was just too funny…
When it came to performing ours, we got up, said the first line…(which admitedly was a bit crap, me yelling “ALEEEEEEEX IVE CUT MYSELF”, and Tid leaps up and stops us by which time I’m on my knees in hysterics
Yeah. good session. Thanks everyone.
x
November 13th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Tom Newman says:
Hey
not really sure wat to write? Fun session. I thought every1s was good, although tid didn’t lol. Whoes doing Brave btw? as i don’t want to be on my larry.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Becky T says:
Hey,
lol
interesting session today, i thought some of the performances were good, others weren’t quite convincing
but a lot of them paid attention to detail
my name was forgotten too
and i’m sorry, but i feel here is probably the best place to say it as i didn’t have time today. We were all told that we were putting too many issues behind the performances and trying to say too much
but i personally think that a piece with no issues or anything interesting to convey is boring and pointless,
and though i do see the point about people not understanding what they are trying to perform, the issue i was performing i fully understood and I was pretty much using the method
in fact, a few weeks ago i was told that what i did didn’t have enough behind it…
Again, sorry to get all negative!
anyways, it was a great session, i feel i’ve taken quite a lot away
really looking forward to working on brave, it looks awesome!
xxxx
November 13th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Tilly says:
thought today’s session was alright, I personally thought last week was much better.
although alot to take away from today…
Anyways, fun times as per usual
byebye xxx
November 13th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Dave S says:
Hey,
From Thursday 16+ Group. We had the same session as the yr10s and 11s before us, and it made a really interesting session. The plan was a bit daunting, but I think we all managed it pretty well, especially after Tid gave us the revised rules: 5) No cliches & 6) ABSOLUTELY NO MIME. EVER. Some groups were understandably better than others, Fred & Becky did a very nice scene, where as the line “Would I lie to you?” was my downfall. Felt sorry for Chris though, what with it being his first session and all.
Still, a very good session all round. xx
November 13th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Alex Hooper says:
Hi, thought todays session was an eye opener. it kind of made me realise what to do to be truthful in a performance. was really good!
c u next week
November 13th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Griggs says:
I assume most of you people who have already written on here tonight, or are planning to, are doing so because you signed a verbal contract with Tid (although technically you cannot sign a verbal contract as was pointed out by Tid himself). I am writing on here so that a) I am not sued by Tid and b) because I haven’t in ages and being at BOV so often I really feel like I should write more. So ….
I really enjoyed today’s session. We had a few new people join our group tonight. So welcome to Chris, Paul and Sophie (I hope we haven’t scared you away!) We began with a game of killer tic, and then promptly moved into our main task for the evening. It’s the same as what several other groups have done this week so I apologise for saying it again…
Our pieces were once again concentrating on attention to detail. We got into pairs and Tid gave us 5 things we had to have in our piece:
1: 20 lines minimum per actor
2: One character under 18, one over
3: vulnerable or dramatic
4: focus on the performance
5: no cliches, no mime
I was so worried about it and found it really hard to start off with as I initially had no ideas. I was in a pair with Fred and luckily he came up with an idea. He was thinking about his relationship with his sister (and one I’m sure many people have found themselves in - I know I have) where one person is trying to make a conversation, but the other just isn’t trying, giving simple one word answers. So this is what we based our piece on.
I was so worried that Tid was going to hate ours! I know its stupid to worry about it, because Youth Theatre is a place where its okay to be wrong, because we learn from it, but I still worry. But as it turned out there was no need to because Tid liked our piece and even asked us to write it down and send it to him so that made me more confident about it. There were some other good pieces tonight, and none were awful, so that was good, although I personally didn’t like some of them.
So yeah great session guys, although not quite as funny as normal, don’t quite know why, but yeah I didn’t come away with stomach ache from laughing so hard which I usually do, but ah well….
Although I am likely to be boring you by now I also feel I should put in a word for music and writing for theatre as I have yet to do so this year I think. Music has been good since September, my confidence has grown, we’ve written and learnt some great songs, and there are some fantastic new voices appearing, so thats great. But there really aren’t enough people, so come on guys, head on down yeah?
Writing is a laugh, and I’ve learnt loads. Some great new talented writers have joined our group this term taking our total up to nine, its a nice size, and means we get a good length of time to discuss work. We are currently working on 10 minute pieces which will be performed by professional actors in a reading in the early spring, so that’s really exciting.
And really looking forward to Brave, although still trying to decide how much i can commit to. Many of you guys know me, and know how I try to be involved in EVERYTHING but despite wanting to be a full time theatre maker, i am having to think whether its sensible for me.
Anyway, enough rambling on about me! I like that people are writing a lot more on the blog these days, and having some opinions and conversations, instead of just describing the events of their session.
AND PLEASE BUY SAMSON AND DELILAH TICKETS! I am sure Tid has already asked you all a million times, but please? It’d be great to sell out!
Right i should probably stop talking now. See you all soon at various sessions.
Griggs x
November 14th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Harriet says:
‘WHAT are you wearing?!’ is always a nice conversation opener, and Tid seems to have that particular opening down to a fine art. I waited for the inevitable ‘Is this the 40 year old woman attempting to be ‘down with the kids” …though luckily today it didn’t come. (I was wearing a sort of sparkly top which came out of a dressing up box)
I think people have already said basically what we did, so I won’t bore you with that, but just a few thoughts on what I came away from the session with..I think a good point was made about being so good at the character, if its a self conscious or nervous character this can seem like you, as an actor, are self conscious or nervous on the stage. Though sadly most of us will never be that good, it’s an interesting thought, and also makes you wonder what you do!! Because I suppose either you change the character or you just hope the audience will assume its your amazing acting thats making it so believable… I don’t know. Also, how you turn something from a conversation into a performance, without it seeming a performance.. its hard because when you do a gesture, or say a line a certain way, or hold your body a certain way, you think thats what you would do when really its the opposite. I think thats partly what Tid was getting at with the physicality stuff. Also, something that came out of trying to write a script, was how hard it is to find the right words, and we found the best way was to improvise until we found something that worked, then write that down and eventually, 2 minutes before the time was up, we had a script!! Its strange though, how some words will jump out at you as being wrong, and even though you know they are the wrong words, you have no idea what to change it to. Anyway, this has become a ramble and will just carry on going nowhere if I dont stop. So I really enjoyed the session, and thought there were moments in everyones where something worked and I was convinced. See you next week!! xx
November 14th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Hey All
Nice blogs ya’ll.
Oi Geraldine, nice blog, but careful with the language, although in our sessions we don’t want to censor our devising, just keep in mind this is a public blog and anyone of any age can read it.
Really enjoyed the sessions this week, good work, laughs, and fun times. A mention has to go to Phil Baker and Harriet “bad clothes” Grace and Griggs and Fred, really good work, lovely naturalistic believable characters and good text.
New Peeps welcome, Paul, Sophie and Chris, and Chris well held on the feedback, hope it hasn’t put you off.
Take it easy ya’ll and remember chocolate always tastes good but is bad for your teeth…
November 14th, 2008 at 5:24 am
mieke Gadd says:
all i can say about yesterday is JOKE!!!
i am from the Thursday year 10 ++ 11 group
this week our group (Miranda) joined with Tid’s group.
i wouldn’t say it was the most fun i have ever had at drama but it was okay…
it was good that Tid took over the session and it wasn’t Miranda as i haven’t had a session with him in a while even though i enjoy her sessions more..
i did a piece with tom and after we were finished Tid said he could believe me having the conversation that i had in the piece with him and so basically i didn’t play a character i just played my self.. which is fair and i highly respect Tid and i know he is right…but
i have begun to feel that every piece of work i do now in drama is not good enough for Tid and i feel as if he just doesn’t like my work or just me as a performer which is a bit disappointing…i really enjoyed Emma’s piece with Layton, i think she is a fantastic performer and they both came up with an interesting scene.. also i thought Allister’s and phoebe’s was good but in a serial way but some performances i found slightly painful to watch…:S
All in all i found Thursday a real eye opener about my choice of characters that i should portray.<— maybe i am to articulate :S lol
i loved the first bit of the session though with the names and the slight bullying lol lucky he didn’t do it to me
MIEKE<—– what an easy target lol
i am lucky lol
:):)
November 14th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Michaela F-Milton says:
Yo yo,
just wanna mention how good wednesdays session was at 8-10pm with Tid. Every group had something interesting and worth watching. I particularly enjoyed Edie’s performance, which was really well performed and left the whole rehearsal room slightly disturbed.
We basically had to create a two charactered performance containing a child and a non-child with roughly 25 lines each. We had 40 minutes and (with Tid singing above his ipod throughout) it wasn’t the easiest of tasks. We had to highlight exposure of the characters. The scene had to be dramatic but focus on the characters and what they revealed about themselves rather than on the performance. We (Me and Phoebe) based ours around a child being forced to go to confession at church by his mother.
It was challenging trying to fit a certain number of lines into such a specific piece of drama but the whole group (that’s at least 8 pairs + a 3) pulled it off surprisingly well, considering we had to realistically portray child characters.
So yeah just wanted to say awesome stuff guys! I really enjoyed it.
Michaela x
November 14th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
will nash says:
just felt like i should fullfill my contract from thursday. another great session. thursday 8-10 that is. some really nice pieces and most of them really seemed very real. it was really hard to stick to the five rules and live up to some of the expectations set by the groups before us. i think thats the wednesday 6-8 group.
also, samson is going well. buy tickets guys. theres new scenes and new cast members and we’re obviously in the royal now so even if you have seen it once then you should come again. twice.
will
November 15th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Helena says:
Hey,
Just a quick one to say what I thought about the performances in Wednesday’s 8-10pm sesh.
For the most part I was surprised at how convincing everyone was at playing child characters but the performances i particularly enjoyed were Nathan and Alana’s: I thought the story Nathan used to expain parent’s splitting up was very convincing and when all Alana did was move her head- no words- it felt very real. I also thought Phoebe and Michaela’s piece was very clever and I liked the fact that the Priest’s character was left unexplored, it made me question that character’s secrets.
I also thought George gave a brilliant performance as the badly behaved school boy and i thought the moments of slow motion were great.
Helena
November 15th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Charlie Kenber says:
Fulfilling verbal contract here for thursday 16+ group. Erm I think it’s pretty much all been said really - including Chris (just joined) getting an earful.
Writing for theatre was great, we were just talling each other about our ideas and discussing them as a group, which was good. I think it’s going well, and for next week we have to write a scene/ character list/ descirption etc. basically we have to write something.
Ciao for now
November 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Eilis says:
hello all,
lol]. i think tid is strange but very funny; and also scary :L. anyway love BOV tis great. x x x
i havent been at old vic that long but i have to say i think its amazing ;]. i really recommend it to anyone who is considering joining us! each session is a great experience; and you take away alot of new skills/ideas/ knowledge [i’m not quite sure how to describe it]. although some sessions are better than others, in every one we have fun - well when i say we i hope everyone agree’s. its a great way of meeting new people [like lily
November 16th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Lily-Rae Smailes says:
Yes Eilis i agree, tid is . . . funny :S;) (He knows hes funny so i dont have to prove tht he is) Right tid?
Anyway, yeah we have finished BEAST, well improved it anyway and its a lot better, i am looking forward to wednesday - our first show, hope you guys are coming ;). Points west will also be joining us, OhYes fun,fun. Bristol old vic is very nice and i like it. So if you wanna come then please do, it would be good, and i hope you will have as much of a good time as me.
Lily x
November 16th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Kane Risteard Leo Power says:
Hello..
I have said on numerous occasions that I would do the honourable thing and display my views on this exciting and refreshing blog. But whenever I get to this stage I never do. And for that I apologise.
I have been apart of the youth theatre for a mind-blowing 9 years. And for the past 2 and bit years I feel that I have really found a connection with the people and the passion that is constantly flowing through the doors of the Young Company.
I have been most fortunate in having the opportunity of being involved in several productions within the young company, which has given me a sense of direction and a focus which has kept me a grounded and some-what determined person; Sorry for blowing my own trumpet :D.
I like to consistnatly fling my way into the weekly sessions in the aim of expanding my mind and being blown away by some of the talent that is constantly displayed in such a compact amount of time.
New Year (9).
New Term (1):
Pin-point as I vividly remember it being called, but attention to detail is the real meaning behind it. At the begining of the term I found myself in a very difficult sitation as I am nearing the end of my education and am neededing to find a way forward in life. This term and its focal point meant that if this is something i want to focus on I had to ensure that I do ‘pay attention to detail,’ and break away form awful habits you invariably get into as a young performer in training. I have found my self becoming a more concentrated performer and have begun to see things in a wider perspective; where theatre isnt just about being creative and ambiguous, but where it is about being real. Becasue as I have recenlty found in a variety of shows I have seen. Theatre is at its potent best when it is real. Physical or not.
And for that I am Thankful.
I have thankfully got in there early and bought tikets for BEAST on Thursday and Sat eve. And I’m highly looking forward to it. I have heard good things regarding the rehearsal process and wish all of you guys the best of luck!
Regarding 12/11/08 session, which has been previously described excellently by ‘Griggo’ we were given a task of creating a piece of 40 lines in dialogue, where drama or vulnerability had to be expressed etc etc. I worked with the lovely Christabel Holmes. We came up with the idea of a young (vulnerable) 10 year old girl and her visit to a childrens psychiatrist; regarding her struggle to maintain focusin school, after witnessing a traumatic event which led to the loss of a loved one. Tough right?
But Fun. I enjoyed the pin-point challenge of 100% concentration of the text and its performance. The overall standard of the pieces blew me away. Being such a demanding task in such a small space of time - with-out sounding completely cliche which is does, and which I have done through-out this post - everyone “rose the the challenge” PPPAHHH!! Cant believe I said that.
From George and Hannah’s Direct and fun peice about a naughty school boy in detention. To Laura and Edie’s piece of filth and delight…. A highly enjoyable session and worth the £5 a week…
So for all you, who have had the coutesy to read my awaited blog. Thank you. And I hope you benifit as much as i do from the fantastic resources within the Old Vic Young Company and Thank You to all the phenominal people who help make it happen…
PEACE x
November 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Kane Risteard Leo Power says:
I do apologise i have posted before, sorry for the incorrect info. refer to post 83. HA!
November 16th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
gasp says:
gosh- kane risteard leo power- WHAT a name!
November 17th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
EllieRoser says:
Today we had fun with Tid.
Well… Sort of Fun.
Um, We had to do an exercise where
we had to leave someone behind and
have mirroring and reflection and stuff like that.
It was funny because only two groups succeeded.
And both of them were about supermarkets
Lol
Ellie x
November 17th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
meh says:
Thursday 16+ group.
Another great session as you have probably already read.
Thanks Tid. Peace.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
cherry says:
Today in our session Tid forced us ito agreeing to a verbal contract to write on the blog, so here I am… we worked on evolving our peices, and incorperation symertry and stuff, we worked through a series of stages when creating our final performnces;
play, play, reaplay, play, replay, play, replay, rehersal. Basically he gave us a set amount of time to play around with ideas and the ones we liked we replayed untill we finally created our pieces, then he gave us time to reherse ( I cant spell )
In this session we all gave 100% effort and all of the groups performed intresting and good pieces of theatre!
I enjoyed this session and working with new people:)
over and out team x
November 18th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
charis says:
today we were doing drama, we all had to learn lines and then we were making a perfomance using them!
they were all really good!!!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Jack says:
Today we played off what other people did. It was hard but fun. (Yay 4th comment!)
November 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
levi miles! says:
yay im the latest comment! woohoo!!!
…..well for now anyway umm this is my 2nd comment
and as from now you shall be hearing from me A LOT MORE
ummm. anyway we had homework from two weeks ago (we would of done it last week but loads of people didnt do it.)
as we had to learn,recite and act out four lines (if you could remember more than that you would be on tid’s GOOD good side ((unlike Oscar lol))) then group up with three other people and then make it up along the way!
remember i said it last time the main topic is ATTENTION TO DETAIL!!!!!!!!!!
big up to the teachers TID AND MIRANDA!!!!
(and everyone else oh and Rich for making a fool of himself) GO BRISTOL OLD VIC YOUNG COMPANY!!!! IT RULES!!!
oh yeah and your wanting to go and the brilliant Beast im so sorry it has sold out(you are missing out on alot it is fantasctic!!) but samson and dellilah(please say i spelt it right im not good at spelling lol) is still free!
……..im going now………bye!!!!!
November 19th, 2008 at 9:05 am
ruby says:
BEAST!!
just came back from beast and i was blown away, one of the best young company productions ever! at the very start we weren’t clear about what was going on and how the 2 worlds conected, the story unfolded beautifully and kept me wanting more. the costume design was fantastic! well done Liesel! the contrast of the 2 worlds worked perfectly with the bright lighing when it was the supermarket scenes.
everyone perfomed beatifully, everyone was beautiful and i have fallen instantly in love with this production. really want to see it again! there MUST be another run because i dont know if i can see it again.
(:(:
November 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Red says:
Fulfilling the contract:
Finally understood whether it was ‘Killer Tig’ or ‘Killer Tick’. It’s been bugging me for ages!
…oh yeah session was pretty good too. Saw some uber work. I realised I’ve got to match my actions with my words without making them seem false. Ah practise practise practise.
Can’t wait to see Beast!
For Miranda:
LOVING DANCE THEATRE! Miranda is a legendary teacher! We have come up with pretty awesome pieces of choreography. Not only that but we’re working those thighs. Yeah burn those calories baby. The whole dance theatre group are a pretty strong group and can’t wait till we can use some of our choreography for ‘Brave’ business.
Yum Yum
=]
November 20th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
November 20th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Georgia says:
had a great session this week, felt like i really got something out of it this week. I really enjoyed the fact that we could just play with “random” bits of text and put them together. There were some great outcomes top!
November 20th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
james says:
today was really good, starting with a quick game of killer tic… Then went on to do some interesting exercise which wasto begin with difficult to get the hang of.
Eventually some good results came out and it was really amusing… Had a good laugh devising and the end results were brilliant…
Can’t wait for next session!!!
November 20th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
BEAST BEAST BEAST says:
Dear people who read this,
after i got home from watching ‘Beast’ this evening, i turned on my T.V, and ‘i’m a celebrity get me out of here’ was on. Kilroy silk had his head stuck in a tank full of eels and rats and bugs, trying to fish out gold stars. I thought ‘oh dear; so this is entertainment’… and i thought how sad it was that all these people across britain sitting in their living rooms were being entertained by this, when i had just been entertained on such a better level watching Beast.
I think it is the best show i have ever seen at the old vic, very possibly ever. I wish i could record everything my eyes had seen, and store it away, so that when i’m bored at various points in life, i can take it out, and re-live bits. In fact, this would be very useful (although indeed impossible) seeing as i could try and disect in more detail the story. Although it doesnt really matter in the slightest, i found i understood around 50 % of the plot. Maybe it was just too complicated, or wasnt told clearly enough, or maybe i wasnt paying enough attention, and i was preoccupied with being dazzled by the imagary. It was like one of those spherical glass balls had been turned upside down and shaken, and the duration of the shown was these two different world setteling, with snow and roses falling down.
I loved; the little twin children with the amelie background music.. they reminded me of Gemini things; tres belle. I loved The checkout girls
‘oh my days’, everything about the checkout scenes. Beast, played by emma. I jumped fairly high out of my skin, when she appeared beside me and shouted something.
The language was beautifully poetic.
when claire was stumbling around during cher’s ‘do you believe…?’- that was possibly the best, saddest bit..
or the petals at the end.
It was so clear, just because of the way claire positioned her hand in opening the door, that the pink door was a freezer door. I could see that shape of the handle you get in the supermarket freezer doors.
The wolves, and their spindly hunch back, back leg thing. I liked the way they circled their prey, like the hiyeeners in the lion king.
I loved Simone and polly (?).. i’m badly referencing all these characters, i should have taken a programme. I would like to have seen more of simone and polly.
Bon soir
Felix.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Griggs says:
Once again, I signed a verbal contract with Tid that I would write on the blog. I’ll try not to write quite so much this time.
So tonight I watched Beast, and I would describe all the bits I liked, but I see Felix has pointed out most of them already. The imagery was stunning, the script was beautiful, the whole concept was amazing. The costume was exceptional (I absolutely loved the wolves!) and the choreography and acting was once again top notch. Everything was of a very high quality. A huge congratulations to the cast for such a good performance, which really drew me into your world, and a huge congratulations to those people we didn’t get to see, but who we know have been slaving away over the show behind the scenes, writing, directing, designing and producing the show. I must just add in that I loved how the choreography / physical work fitted in perfectly, as sometimes you find it sticks out and you find yourself thinking they’ve put it in just for the sake of it. I am glad this wasn’t the case, it was beautiful!
After Beast I briefly went to my session. This week we had exactly the same brief as last week (see my previous blog) and we had our same characters, but this week we were meeting people from the other scenes from last week. Because I came in late I worked with Harriet and Edie, who I had just been at the show with. My character was a teenager who communicated very little and deliberately made things hard for her Mother. Edie’s character was a young girl who was trying to be grown up and like her sister, and so she copied me. Harriet was our Mother. We linked our characters together, and caused an argument, which resulted in Harriet leaving to get some fresh air, which we saw in her scene last week. I really enjoyed this exercise tonight, as I hadn’t thought of it before. I enjoyed being able to re-use my character, rather than her only appearing once.
Enough about my group! There we some beautiful pieces tonight, lots and lots of which Tid has asked to be written up for future use! Good work guys! The scene I most remember, and would say was probably my favourite of the evening, was the one about the little girl who wanted to play with the boys and didn’t want to wear a dress. I personally got from the story, that the little girl lived in care, and the Mother had come to visit, but the little girl didn’t know who she was. The Mother wanted to disclose her secret, but the little girl didn’t want to know. I found this very moving, I don’t know if anyone else saw a different story, but that was my take on things. Or, just remembering Elliot and Charlie’s piece, maybe that one was my favourite? Theirs was a conversation between two boys, one of whom hadn’t been at school because his mum was ill. I really liked this one, because it reflected that awkward thing we all experience where you aren’t sure what to say incase you stick your foot in something!
I think thats enough rambling for one night! I said I wouldn’t write much, but I have . . . again! So yeah, brilliant week guys! Lets keep up the good work, and lets keep on selling those samson and delilah tickets yeah guys?
Griggs x
November 21st, 2008 at 12:18 am
miranda (director of Beast) says:
Wow! so thanks guys for your interesting and articulate responses. I was really happy with the show last night and am super proud of all the cast and team who put Beast together. in putting it together it has been really challenging to fit all the various pieces of story and language together. Moments of choreography, text, music have been lost and re-found, shuffled about and sometimes chucked away forever.
One of the most difficult things to know as im so familiar with it is how clear the story is? and how clear does it need to be? We still have time to find the perfect balance and it would be great to have some more critical feedback from people who have watched the Beast.
Massive thanks again to all who have bought tickets and left feedback on the blog, just want to echo some other peoples sentiments and say that i love being a part of the BOV young company!
November 21st, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Natalie says:
i know its late to write about beast cos i saw it on wednesday but i thought it was really good!
Every1 who was in it were AMAZING and i think they all must of put a lot of effort in.
it was great.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Christian says:
Last tuesdays session was good fun,and before we left Tid forced us all into signing a verbal contract promising to go on the blog so here goes…
Basicly we started the session with Tid walking around trying to remeber all our names before spitting us up into groups of 4 and getting us to play with ides like listining with our eyes and reacting to what the other people in the group did. After a while we moved onto developing small scenes based around four lines of text we had brought with us. Ours ended up being about a monster called anger that hangs over doors of oppertunity and got suprisingly good feedback.
Anyway I hope I’ve written enough and I’ll see you all next tuesday!
November 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Georgia (Goldilocks) says:
I have just come back from watching Beast and I have one thing to say about it: AMAZING!!:)
The storyline was beautiful and the choreography was great. I loved the whole atmosphere of the piece. I felt that the characters were all really developed well and they showed great dedication to the piece. You could tell that the cast really believed in what they were doing which helped the audience believe what they were seeing. If I were to try and list my favourite bits, it would be a hopeless task as I would probably just end up writing everything about the play.
I felt that the storyline was generally clear, the way that two worlds seemed to liese
Really well done to everyone who performed tonight. I think that this has been the best production I have seen in a while. please put this production out again cos i would definately be one of the first to get tickets.
Great work everyone, very much enjoyed and hope to see it some time in the near future!!???
November 21st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Lily Drewry says:
Hey hey!
Couple of things.
Had the year 10 and 11 session on thursday 6-8pm. Just saying that Tid and Toms demo was really funny. About bear hunting. Really enjoyed the session. Twas hard doing all the talking at the same time as three other people thing but was still really fun. Pitty me Bryher, Lola and Gee had to leave early because it would have been really interesting to see what everyone else came up with
BUT…
We left early to see Beast which i thought was mind blowing! It was so good! I thought the girl who played the mother was so good and everyone else was too! The robot dancing was hilarious and i thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done y’all!
Much love!
November 21st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Harriet says:
So this is verbal-contract-fullfillment time and also time to say how much I loved Beast!! I saw it on Thursday and was just blown away by the creativity, emotion and beauty you managed to convey in just over an hour!! Visually it was perfect, especially the wolves legs and the rose petal blood. I felt the lighting was really effective too: the way the really harsh white light almost blocked you out from the supermaket, the world we know and can relate to, and then the candles bobbing around the gallery and softer lights which drew us into the forest, just like the characters had been, pulling us furthur into the dream than the reality. Of course the acting was also fantastic: so convincing…. funny moments, happy moments, sad moments… lust, anger, fright… it was all there in just the right places. Also I was so impressed with how well the dancing fitted in to the piece, like Becci says it can so often feel added in for the sake of it but this really seemed to have just grown out of the piece itself. ‘OH MY DAYS’… IT WAS JUST SO GOOD…and there is so much more I could say… but not now. Though one last thing…massive congratulations to everyone involved!! X
November 21st, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Eva says:
Hullooo!!
Just wanted to add to the praise of Beast…
To all yee who haven’t yet seen it, THIS IS A SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED! An INCREDIBLE production from the youth company and I especially enjoyed the fact that although it was performed by young people, and was based on a classic children’s tale, I was frightened by the darkness it had.
I loved it that entering the theatre was immediately like entering the world of “Beast”, and the two young actors’ sequence of movements with the kind of harrowing music at the very beginning was just great.
The performances some of the actors gave were stunning – I thought that Claire’s final scene was just so brilliant (I will admit to having a tear in my eye – sob!) and though of course the narrative could never be true, her performance seemed to be naturalistic, which meant I could believe in her emotions, and consequently these emotions were provoked in myself (does that make sense? Not sure…) Of course, “Beast” wasn’t all about darkness and the more comic characters seemed to provide a kind of relief for the audience from the sinister plot – though it’s been said before, I feel the need to say it again, “Oh My Days!” you check-out girls were fab! Thought that the scenes with the flashing disco lights were just hilarious, and the two security guards played their parts perfectly by flinging themselves into their roles and just going for it (was v. impressed by the dance sequences!)
Also thought the use of shopping trolleys was genius – could have turned out to be clumsy and awkward, but no! The sequences were smooth and so imaginative and the sound effects produced from them worked so well!
Okay, last (but in no way least), the Beast and her wolves. Terrifyingly inhuman, I thought that the combination of their physicality, amazing costumes (I can’t get over JUST HOW WONDERFUL they were!), and their voices with the threatening whispers were awesome (and the red-headed wolf – I’m sorry I don’t know your name! – was just IMMENSE; there was a part where she was right next to me in the audience and throughout the whole scene NOT ONCE did she stop being the cruel wolf’s character with its malevolent and sneering expressions). The Beast herself gave a startling performance – especially loved the strong, fearless voice and also the physical theatre sturff with the sort of entwining between her and the father.
Right! Enough said about this beast of a show (“nice one Eva!”) just make sure YOU (yes you!) go see it!!
Ps. please forgive the occasional rambling of a B.B (blog beginner) such as myself!
Pps. And the overuse of the wonderful exclamation mark!
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Jess says:
Last session was pretty cool.
We had to ‘play’ with acting or something. we ddi this for about half an hour, then we got given 5 minuted to edit what we’d done to show to the rest of the group.
Most of them were quite funny, but some I thought were a bit pants.
My favoraite was the one with the pot of tea, i can’t remeber who’s group that was… maybe Bob’s.
Ours was the one with the people in the nightclub dancing that got into a fight, we ended up kind of rushing it, and it could have been better I guess.
Well, anyhoo, I had fun…
November 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Ella Comrie says:
yesterday i went to see beast. this is one of the best porductions i have EVER seen. it is not to be missed. the choreography was AMAZING and the quiality of the actors were so good. Emma who played beast was perfect for the role and i loved all the costumes,the wolf costumes were brilliant and i loved the security guards. the shopping assistances were really good and loved it when they went in to their dream worlds and all the dances especially the security guards doing the dance off and the dance when clair was drunk.
i loved the way the trolleys were used in different ways and i was never once bored
well done to Miranda, the actors/actresses and all the people who helped towards the play.
i hope more productions are created like these
WELL DONE!
from Ella
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Georgia says:
Beast
just come back from seeing it. Was really wonderful, all so inventive and unexpected. The family with a boring life suddenly all messed up and dramatic. Parts of that really got to me, and other people i think. I spose it’s because we can all like relate to family and problems and stuff. The girl who played Claire achieved a believable mother character without a sort of cliched take on it. Everyone performed so well, especially when playing older convincing characters. The physical theatre fitted in seamlessly with the acting, the sequence by the wolves and the one with the relationship between Emma and Stuart were so interesting and well performed. I loved physicality of the wolves, Emma playing a evil enticing beast and the whispers. It was very comedy tragedy with contrasting atmospheres. The supermarket checkout ladies, security guards and demanding manager gave a relief from the dark fairy-tale. everyone got a lot of laughs and the dance-off a round of applause.
The use lighting and stuff really added to it all i liked the rose petals used through the play. The beauty and the beast story was entwined within it all and maybe aspects of little red riding hood and other in there too
it was quite an intense ending. The whole thing was fascinating
Obviously everyone put a lot into it and were admirably committed.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Tilly Banilly says:
BEAST IS THE BEASTEST!
THANKYOU IF YOU CAME TO SEE IT!
By the way, this is Dog rose (wolf) writing this comment (Tilly’s sister) not Tilly.
It is full of emotion and loads of people were crying in the end.
It took ages to make this but it finally pulled off.
I can’t believe it ended today!
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Stuart (Fred) says:
The last performance of Beast was tonight, and as I left the studio looking at the petals and snow still left on the floor, I felt a tear in my eye. Beast has been amazing and I’ve really enjoyed working with you guys. I must say a special thanks to Miranda, Leisel, John, Nathan, Ira, Natasha, Chris, Tim and the whole cast. I feel empty now, there is no show to work towards, and I’m eagerly awaiting Brave (I hope it’s not too late to hand my form in). Thanks once again for this wonderful opportunity.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
miranda (director of Beast) says:
thank you x
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 am
miranda (director of Beast) says:
Just wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone who has commented on Beast your responses are inspiring. I am also feeling a little hollow but am really excited about Brave and full of possibility..
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:28 am
william nash says:
saw beast first night. awesome guys. i won’t repeat what people have been saying but it was really great. i totally loved the dance off. best thing. and the wolf costumes were great aswell. ok, so i have repeated some stuff but it had to be said again. well done all.
the session on thrusday was great as well. loads of really nice moments there for brave. some really funny ones and some really insightful ones too. can’t wait for brave!
will
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Leigh-Ann says:
Yeah Thursdays session wass nice
Tid didnt say a bad word which really helped the atmosphere. Come on guys, you know it gets you down just a little bit!!
Charlie was so funny in his piece! he does awkward acting very well.
I was with the lovely Leah. I think we did pretty well, felt I had achieved something.
Generally very productive. And it was nice to go back to having a warm up game. killer Tig all the way
xxxxx
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Ruby From Beast (: says:
Wow!
Beast has been the most amazing experience and you won’t believe how sad I am that it has all come to an end.
I’ve learnt so much from it, polishing my drama skills and creating abstract choreography.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these past few months and I can’t be more thankfull to the whole cast and everyone else who helped perfect our show. It has become such a huge part of my life and a tough process but it has so been worth it!
I’ve given up a few things for a while so I could commit to Beast but that hasn’t mattered one bit. What am I going to do after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays?
All together it has has been super fantastic and I am awaiting Brave with much excitment and creativity.
I have faith in everbody who will be involved that it will be yet another outstanding performance created by Bristol Old Vic.
Thankyou so much guys!
Ruby ( I played Hollie! )
Ox.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Ruby From Beast (: says:
Just to say I accidently said on my last comment
“What am I going to do after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays?” as apposed to “What am I going to do after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?”
Sorry about that!
Ruby
AKA
Ruber Duber
Ox.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Ed the security guard from BEAST says:
Hey guys well done on beast, i dont no what im going to do with my time now.
Miranda i think we are going to have to do Beast again!!!
miss u all.
Ted
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Josie says:
Saw Beast last yesterday afternoon, was really really great. Don’t want to repeat what people have said but I loved all the supermarket scenes and the crazy dancing bits, completely hilarious! Very well done everyone who was involved, i loved it.
huuuuuge smiley face.
Last wednesdays 6-8 session seems like ages ago but i think i remember it was great as usual.
Cant wait for brave
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Ruth From Beast says:
Everyone’s comments about Beast are really great! I didn’t know people liked it that much:) I feel all empty now it’s over, I don’t have anything to work towards.
I really hope we do Beast again like people have been saying.
Ruth-Betty!
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Orla says:
Wow, I’m totally blown away with all of this lovely stuff people have written about Beast. I’m going to miss it so much but I really do hope it will come back! I think Stuart summed up how I feel in a previous comment.
I just want to say a special thanks to Miranda also, without you, the show wouldn’t have been the same.
I dont think I could have handled saying good bye to everyone last night, I just would have started to cry. So, I’m sorry I just left so abruptly, I couldn’t stay any longer. I’m sad it’s over now.
I cannot wait for Brave though, so hopefully I’ll see everyone there!
Much Love,
Orla
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Ruby (: says:
Oh my dayss! As the check out girls say in Beast!
I didnt know everbody enjoyed it so much!
Thankyou so much to all the people who have bothered to comment.
Keep the appreciation coming!
And thankyou again to Miranda, Leisel, Ira etc..
Couldnt have done it without you guys!
X
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Lily-Rae Smailes says:
Wow,
BEAST was amazing, words cant describe how i felt when performing, i am completely blow away buy the comments everyone has left about the production and i feel honored to have been a part of it. Thankyou So much to Miranda especially for being such an amazing inspiration, as many people have stated we couldnt of done it without you. Also Great thanks to Liesel,Ira,John & of course Natasha&Nathan we love you guys!
Anyway i am utterly determined that BEAST must return, it has been such a hit and i feel the people who were unable to see it :O should definitely have the chance to as it was so BRILLIANT, if i do say so myself.
Aw anyway thanks to the whole cast, you guys are even more amazing than the show itself and i am so looking forward to BRAVE, OHYES bring on BRAVE.
love to all,
Lily (Claire from BEAST) Raw.
(OhYeah & thanks Tid Aswell for suggesting changes)
x
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Joanne says:
Oh my days….! What a fantastic performance.
Such young people with so much talent, each of them took me on a roller coaster of emotions through a visual feast for the eyes.
Thanks to all who contributed to my spectacular evening- special thanks to Ira, Miranda, Nathan, Natasha, John whose gifts mean I will never look at the freezer section of Sainsburys in the same way again.
With productions of this calibre there can only be a VERY successful future ahead for the BOV
Can’t wait for Brave!
(Louis’s Mum)
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Louis-Hansel from beast says:
Well done!
The show was brilliant and Im proud that this was my first production i’ve been in at the old vic and also that every one put 100% effort in as everyone i’ve spoke to has said that it was great!!
Thanks to Miranda, Nathan, Ira, John, Natasha, Chris, Tim, Leisel, the show was brilliant!!
With violence and romance and jeopardy and an endi… (yeah the script is still in my head) without everyone in the cast this wouldn’t be made possible
Can’t wait for Brave!!
Til next time….
Louis
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Katie says:
I thought Beast was the best performance i’ve seen in bristol old vic and it was very entertaining!!!!
My brother was in it and will be in Brave,i can’t wait because i know it will be just as good!
Thankyou to everyone that helped or took part to make that a brilliant performace.
… O MY DAYS!
Katie
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
beckky:) says:
wowee
Beast was pretty cool.
im so proud of it and i loved it soo much
im gunna miss you guy very muchly.
im gunna be board brainless now
thankyou so much everyone who came to see it
We have to bring it back.
i really hope so
x
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Hannah Marke-Crooke from Beast says:
Beast was amazing and im so sad its over.
Im missing everyone so much! Im so glad i was a part of it all, it was such a great experience.
Thankyou to Miranda we could not of done it with out you, thanks to Ira an amazing writer,thanks to Liesel such amazing costumes, Thanks to John great music, Thanks to Tim,thanks to Natasha and Nathan you did a great job!
ALSO to all the cast, love you guys lots.
BEAST must return!
I nearly cryed when saying bye to everyone on the last night.
looking forward to BRAVE!
Hannah xxx
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Danny (ex-assistant) says:
Hello everyone!!!
I was lucky enough to see Beast yesterday and was sooo proud of you all!! Having come back from being away from the Young Company to see you have all stepped up so much as performers, everyone gave a strong performance, the commitment and focus of you all was amazing…you should be very proud of yourselves!! I am very glad that the future of the young company is in such good hands and that you will all become stronger theatre makers as you move up the company!!
Well done Miranda, Lisel and the rest of the production team for making such a great show and supporting the company by showing the potential and talent of the young performers!!!
Miss you all and see you very soon!! Keep it all up!!
Love Danny xxx
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Elliot says:
Thursday 8-10
Slightly late but I’m keeping my word. The session was an interesting one, it followed on from last week’s session. We kept our original characters but they met different characters this time. I enjoyed all pieces, looking forward to next week.
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Nathan Cherokoff says:
Hey guys,
Thankyou all so much for your amazing feedback about Beast. It was an absolute pleasure working with everyone on this fantastic production. Miranda your are a genius and I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to help create this beastly hour of magic!
All the kids worked so hard, and although we had some hard times and I’m sure some of you hated me at one point or another in the two months we were working together, I had a fantastic time, you are a great bunch of kids, and you all have the potential to go far in life!
Today has been odd…I am having withdrawal symptoms and felt like hopping on my moped and riding down to the old vic, just to keep me going. Just reading the comments above has made me pretty emotional, and if I wasn’t so manly then I would be in tears right now!
Thanks again to everyone who I have worked with in the last two months, I have had an amazing experience and I will miss you all greatly! I look forward to working with you all in the future and can’t wait for Beast’s hopeful return!
Yours dramatically,
Nathan
xxx
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
kathryn Stokes says:
heyya. Beast was AMAZING!!! if you didnt see it then you missed out.
anyway, our tuesday session last week was fun, we had to use four lines that we learnt for homework to make a piece of drama with 3 over people each with a completly different set of lines. Tid said dat the drama every1 made was way better then what we made in past sessions. Apperently ours was really good although it was random and some people also said it was moving.
keep writing on the blog people!
Kathryn
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
joanne says:
Liesel created superb costumes for the show and the supermarket costumes were so realistic!
Once again the show was amazing and I can’t wait for beast’s hopeful return!
Joanne
November 24th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
BRAVE
The Big April show BRAVE – with performance dates: Thurs 16th April to Sun19th April and Mon 20th April to Sun 26th April, dates TBC.
This is a BIG SHOW, we want all of the young company to be involved…
So how can you get involved?
Usually our shows take a lot of rehearsal which means some of our Young Company don’t get to perform, so we have come up with a way you can be involved no matter how much time you have. There are 3 levels to suit you.
Creator
Commitment: Just your regular 2 hour session per week
If you can only make your two hour young company session each week you can still be involved in creating the production. Your spring term sessions, running from January onwards will focus on creating performance, song, music, acting and dance material to be included in the show. Even if you’re not available to perform you can still see your creations brought to life, and the work you make will be shown and shared each week.
Ensemble Performer
Commitment: Regular 2 hour session, production week rehearsals, and performance dates
You will be a creator and a performer, the performance material you create you will be able to perform in the show, you will also work closely with the creators to bring their work to life and perform it on the theatre royal stage. As an ensemble performer you will also create the big visual image moments of the show, the chorus singing sections and be responsible for supporting everything else that is created and performed.
Full Time Theatre Maker
Commitment: All rehearsals! Regular 2 hour Young Company Session, Sunday Sessions, Play Around Rehearsals in December, February Half Term Rehearsals, Easter Rehearsals, and Production week and Performance sessions
You will be a creator, performer, director, theatre maker. You will be the people who are at the core of activity for creating the show, you will work closely with the professional directors and artists working on the production and also take responsibility for shaping the work the ensemble performers and creators generate. You will generate lots of material yourselves and be heavily involved in performing the material. There will also be the possibility of people from this becoming assistant directors/writers/choreographers.
The options above we hope will enable you to get involved in the most ambitious, spectacular and exciting Young Company production so far.
So what’s BRAVE all about?
It’s about you! It’s about being your age, and thinking your thoughts, it’s about your view on the world, what you create and how you all grow up, it’s about your childhood, your teenage years and your adulthood. It’s about us all experiencing the same things at some point and feeling we are still completely unique.
Dates
Play around rehearsals in December – Mon 15th Dec to Thurs 18th Dec – 6pm to 8pm (for Years 7 to 9), 6pm to 10pm (for Years 10 and over)
Your Regular Young Company Session – term dates – Mon 5th Jan to Fri 13th Feb 09 and Mon 23rd Feb to Fri 3rd April 09
Sunday Sessions – 11th, 18th, 25th Jan, 1st, 8th, 15th Feb, 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th March
February Half Term – Mon 16th to Fri 20th Feb 2009 10am to 5pm each day
Easter Holidays – Mon 6th to Fri 10th April 2009 10am to 5pm each day
Production Week – Week commencing Mon 13th April 2009
Performance Dates - Thurs 16th April to Sun 19th April & Mon 20th April to Sun 26th April (dates to be confirmed)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Full time theatre maker - you need to be able to make all of the rehearsals detailed above so please make sure you can and ask your parents to sign the slip at the bottom of this sheet to confirm that they are happy with the commitment that this will involve.
Ensemble Performer – you need to be able to make your regular 2 hour session, production week rehearsals, and performance dates as detailed above so please make sure you can and ask your parents to sign the slip at the bottom of this sheet to confirm that they are happy with the commitment that this will involve.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬————————————————————————————————————
I confirm that …………………………………………… (please write name in block capitals) is able to attend all of the specified rehearsals and performances for the production of BRAVE.
Please indicate whether you would like to be a Full time theatre maker or Ensemble Performer by circling your choice (if you would like to be a Creator you do not need to complete and return this slip)
Signed ……………………………………………………………………………………………..
(Parent / Guardian)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
felix says:
Hello. I see a mammoth amount of people have spilled, like I, their personal responses out as to their feelings on the extravaganza that was beast, but alas, nobody (bar Josie in passing) has talked Wednesday 6-8 sesh.
The crux of the session was learning how to apply ‘complicity’, I do believe, into our performances. A broad definition of complicity is ‘the state of being an accomplice; partnership or involvement in wrongdoing’. However, in theatrical terms it has something to do with listening with our bodies, ears and voice, to something another performer does and adapting that into our own movement, words etc… If that makes any sense?
We got into groups of four, with a 2 pairs standing opposite each other. The first pair had to start a conversation. After a short amount of time the second pair had to start up another conversation, so that there were two going on at once, but this conversation had to incorporate a topic or theme from the first conversation. For example the first convo could be about how heart breaking the loss of a pet has just been, the second about a militia group in hospitals going round breaking and cutting up human hearts ready for transplantation.
… Perhaps.
Then we played with the same exercise using our bodies, and text. I scraped away at my teeth, commenting on how ‘I bit someone tonight’. This evoked others into complaining on how hungry they were, accompanied by gesture. We had to ‘play’, and then discuss, keeping what we liked and didn’t like, then go back to ‘playing’. In my group we didn’t understand the concept of playing. We should have just experimented without thinking whether it would feature in the end product when playing. We shouldn’t have directed ourselves as much as we did. Still, what we produced I liked. In my head we were a sort of unit of vampires, and I was sitting on a cloud, and had just bitten someone, and wanted to bite another, the other three reflecting on my thoughts before ‘the bite’.. ‘I was bored, hungry..’. I would have liked somehow to have flied through broadmead, passing the windows of Cabot circus, spying out other victims. This seems ridiculous when written down.
Anyhow. I really liked Ruby and Josie’s group’s piece about girls forging notes getting themselves out of P.E lessons. It had some really beautiful moments, like the simple and effective using each other for hopping down the mats. I also really liked the bit where two of you went back to back with the other two and you leaned backwards. It would have looked nice and benefited with music. I think you stayed too much on the ‘P.E’ track, and could have allowed the topics to get more surreal. Like when Ruby said ‘I don’t care’, you could have gone off saying ‘I don’t care my mum’s an elephant.. or something going off on a tangent’. As you did stick closely to the p.e theme, you may have wanted to go into more detail. It sounds cheesy, but with you’re bodies, like in the leaning back bit, you could have made it feel and look painful, reflecting the pain and anxiety felt by loads of girls who skip p.e, because they feel uncomfortable with their bodies, in their sports kit, or hate sport.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Charlie Kenber says:
Thurs 16+ session was really good this week. We had to take our characters from last week, and using the same boundaries as before, make them meet. I think it was a brilliant week, as all of the work produced was really excellent - and sometimes hilarious!
Also writing for theatre was great, we were talking about exposition (the information the audience can glean from the shortest of scripts) and we looked at a few scripts to analyse for this.
Cya next week!
November 24th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Anna jordan says:
i am sooo sad that beast is over gunna miss everyone sooooooooooo much!!!!
cant wait till brave starts we did some stuff on brave tonight and it was really good!!!
XXXXXXXXX
November 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
mai thomas says:
tid said our acting was quality. yay!. it was really interesting concentrating on the actual acting rather than the scenes and we came up with some really good stuff. me and georgias was coooool.^ . ^
November 24th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hannah John says:
we had to memorise pieces of script then make them into a piece of drama and try to copy other peoples movements out of the corner of our eyes
November 25th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
will nash says:
first up. where is the rest of the dance group?? guys. come on. your missing out.
ultimate session today. lots of conditioning. good fun and(although i hate to admit it) needed. but everyone is so fit and i felt like a proper malco when we were balencing cos i had to put my foot down like twice. we did this “walking on clouds” thing. like the whole group carrying one person accross the space but not moving there feet when they had the persons wieght. really good fun to do and a great work out to be part of.
we then went on to work on choreography. mirander said she wants to work on stuff we’ve done before and have a chance to make it really good and polished. good prep for BRAVE people. the pieces were awesome and the stuff that mirander and richard taught us all was really good fun and i loved the way the each group had a slightly different take on it by the end. i couldn’t tell if it was delibrate or just cos it was natural. i think for me and jo is just happened as we went through it a few times.
anyway, more people need to come every week (sorry for missing last one mirander) so we can repeat and learn choreography. see you next tuesday lads and lasses.
will.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:18 am
levi miles! says:
all right!
once again i am back and a hell lot better woohoo!
well yesterday we wer split up from our regluar groups (year 7,8 and 9)and then had to do imagine questions like imagine if you were beyonce (which was so funny we had a beyonce dance off) which wasnt the main thing we were going to do today we doing a dramatic adult child scene which had to be within 8-15 lines each which is about 30 lines together.
ummm…..
…..
im going now.
i have nothing else to say (probley is but my brain pushes old stuff out when new stuff comes in really)
LEVI MILLLESSS!!!!!!!
November 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Liesel (Young Company Designer) says:
I’d just like to say a few words to the cast of ‘BEAST’ that have had me in stitches over the last few weeks.
Every time I work with the young company I’m always amazed at just how dedicated, disciplined and eager to learn you all are. I think during the performance of Beast everybody in the audience was blown away at just how good the cast actually were. I myself at the start of rehearsals in September would never have predicted such outstanding performances. At such a young age I’m sure the process has been invaluable to you all and now as budding young actors you better have all handed in your forms for Brave!!
It’s been a pleasure costuming you all.
Big love
Liesel
November 27th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Bryher says:
another great session today!
we were working more on the physical theatre side of things today, but still looking at the idea of playing rather than devising. im really liking this concept- a lot of the time we are given a theme or told what to do and we will just sit down and divise it, this way, by just launching yourself into it, often the things producd can be a lot more interesting and different.
i think we got some really good peices of choriography (spelt wong :)) out of todays session.
im really enjoying it!
thanks miranda!
PS: looking forward to brave! who else is doing it full time? xxx
November 27th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Josie says:
Hi all
Just a comment on wednesday’s 6-8 session which was super duper as per usual. We started off with Tid’s weekly attempt to try and remember all our names and i have to say, a fine attempt it was! Even though he forgot my name but hey! Then a couple of rounds of killer tick, thats “t-i-c-k”, to get warmed up and the dreaded Crab game, i forgot the proper name. A game you reaaally can’t play in skinny jeans.
Then we were set off into pairs to do some more adult and child work like we did 2 weeks ago. It was really intresting to see that the first time we did it, almost everybody produced really quality stuff, and how it differed from this week. Thats not to say that the peices werent good, they just werent AS good.If you get me.
I really enjoyed watching everyones performances and listening to the intresting feed back.
Hurray for next week and the next sesh!
And for Brave.
November 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Ella Comrie says:
Today was a really interesing one. in mirandas group we cam in to music. i was a bit worried as i thiugh Oh god were dancing and I can’t dance!
well it wasn’t what i expected. it was really fun. we started experementing with if someone touched or pushed a part of your body how you would react to it so would you spin or bend etc.
then we got in to partners and did the same thing but adding something different in eachtime, one time we had to choeograph a jump in to our piece, then movement, vunrability and we could use any thing but our arms. i was amazing to see what people came up with,
we watched everyones 3 times. onece to music and twice without. on the twice without we had to dictace what we thoght they were saying.
we all then got our what people had written and started expeimenting with the words
i loved this session and as always can’t wait for the next session!
November 27th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Georgia (goldilocks) says:
Miranda’s session was great fun today. We started off by experimentimg what happened if people pushed or touched you in a certain way, and then got into pairs and used the elemnent of play to see what kind of movements we thought were effective using hands as contact. We moved on to contact without the use of arms, lifting and including moments of dramatic effects and a sense of vulnerability. All these moves were choreographed into a scene without text.
Whwn we performed our piece, we performed it three times; once with music and twice without. whilst there was no music playing the audience had to create text on what they thought that the characters were saying.
Great session, even if dancing and movement have never been my forte.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Bryher says:
i just wanted to say well done to everyone who was involved in ‘Beast’.
xxx
i really enjoyed the production and thought it was really well done!
so thanks to all of you guys!!
November 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Mike and Rowan says:
“Why”
“I don’t know”
“What made you stop”
“I don’t know”
“Do you know how much effort we have put into this?”
“I don’t know”
“I don’t know, are you a parrot?”
“No”
“No, what?”
“No, I’m not a parrot.”
“Why don’t you just go for it?”
“I don’t know”
“Be something”
“No”
“What happened to you”
“Nothing”
“You used to be such a pleasent boy”
“I don’t know”
“One question. Yes or No?”
“No”
“Piss off then”
By and peformed Rowan and Mike
In Bristol Old Vic session
November 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Kane Risteard Leo Power says:
I like that text… good stuff!
November 28th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
Oi I said dont put your script work on the Blog, email it me yeah!
tid@bristol-old-vic.co.uk
an watch the language, it’s a public blog!
but good work in session guys, it was a nice scene well performed.
Tid
November 28th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Holly says:
helloo;
hard to believe that 1 week ago Beast was still on the stage, it seems longer. I only just got round to looking on the blog, and seeing all the comments left about it, I didn’t realise people liked it so much!
I still miss it, even now, I feel like I have nothing to do after school on Wednesdays and Tuesdays! It was soo much fun, I’m so glad I took part. Well done everyone!
Looking forward to Brave
x
November 29th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
yeah you are
December 1st, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Jess says:
Yeah,
basically, did the same thing we ddi the other week. But this time we got lots better results.
It wasn’t as boring as I’d thought, which was cool.
Me and Geraldine did a thing about two sisters, one of which has going to university, and is having a rubbish time.
I liked Ruby’s and Alice’s. Thought it was really cool and interesting.
Thinking of maybe doing beast full time. hmmm…..
December 1st, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Jess says:
Hey:D
Just to say dance theatre this term’s been amazing, especially last week when we did balance and flying and then made pieces from our favourite things we’ve done this term. All the pieces were amazing and adding Rich and Miranda’s choreography in to all of them gave them a really interesting twist.
Can’t make the next two sessions so that was the last week for me (missing sessions-awful, I know!) so just wanted to say its been an amazing term, and anyone who hasn’t given it a try should deffinately come next term.
xxx
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
felix says:
WHAT ARE PEOPLE DOING WITH THEIR LIVES that COULD POSSIBLY be better than dance theatre on a tuesday night?? Come along people; beatiful things are being created, plus we need you to progress and play with things we have done in the past.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
levi miles!!!! says:
last night we had kinda had 2 do the same thing last week but this time it wasnt a adult child scene 1.you had be your age 2.all together there needed 2 be 30 lines
3.if it was good enough we had 2 type it up and send 2 Iid.
*sigh* that was quite a mouthfull!
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
levi miles!!!! says:
oh yeah!
snap! how could i forget that!?
if our 30 line scene was good we sent 2 Tid and may be in BRAVE WOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Josie says:
I’m fulfulling my part of the promise and writing on the blog about tonights session. We started by playing two games of killer tick. congrats to miranda and kerry who won both rounds. Then that crab game which i think miranda won aswell. Afterwards we got into pairs and did some more of those scene thingys where you focus on the acting. This week we had to have a conversation about something that is either difficult to talk about or out of the ordinary. We were told not to make it cliche though, for example …. well i cant think of one now but there are lots :). Many things came up, including moving away, being gay, mystery epic something happening tomorrow, astronauts and rockets and someone forgetting their exams. All of them were very different which made them really intresting to watch and hear Tid’s feedback which we can take on board. Some of them worked more than others, my favourite one was Liam and TJ’s (sorry i dont want to attempt to spell your name :()where one person had forgotten about all their exams. I thought the humor in this was really good, especially when TJ got his priorities wrong when talking about dont being able to miss drama. Was defo my fav. GREAAAT work from everyone tonight happy days
and Tid remembered my name! :D:D
Final sesh next week, :’( xxx
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Ed Tonkin says:
Yeh todays session with Tid was good, we started off by talking about brave and then talked about session timeings and how many peeps need to come. We played 2 games of killer tick then were set a task which we had prety much done the week before which was to have a conversation about something but not actualy mention the subject. We had to act our own age aswell. We had about 20 mins to make it. During this Tid got out his iphone and stopped us to show us a virtual musical intrument lol. We performed our pieces, Tid made comments on all of them. Was a good session and Tid I think Suzie sent u the script.
Eccentric Ed
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Suzie Spence says:
Heyyy all,
I pledge allegiance to the young company blog.
There, I recited it.
Anyway, tonight’s efforts produced some really superb pieces of theatre, from the 5 specification criteria: 15 lines each, no miming, ordinary conversation yet extraordinary, economic lines and acting our own ages.
I think my favourite performance was definitely the piece about a girl admitting to her best friend that she has feelings for her - it’s really hard to perform something like that without corpsing!
Have sent the script for Ed and I’s piece to the education department.
See you all on the flip side
Silly Suzie
.x
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Kane Risteard Leo Power says:
Honestly now… LOVING the sessions of the moment.. It appears we have all turned into teatre genius’… Glad to say im creator in BRAVE.. and that my creativity has already contributed into the show!! Just thought id update my current enthusiasm for this space….
ALSO… S&D tickets must be bought; my count is up to 16!!
CRACK ON!!
December 4th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Jo Townsend says:
Last week in Thursdays 16+ group we had to make a scene like the weeks before but this time about something without actually talking about it. Tid gave us an example with Eva where she had to respond to what he said but still be vague and ambiguous. After showing us how it was done he put us into pairs and he put me with Dave. First we tried to just do what Eva and Tid had just done and we ended up talking about a failed relationship. It was weird because Dave and I used to date and so it was truly awkward. But it meant I was able to say some things I’ve been too scared to say to him since we broke up. I think that even if everyone didn’t like it, for me, it was truthful which was - at least at the beginning of term - part of the focus this term, and a part that I have struggled with. The text is the most honest I’ve ever been able to be on stage. So I guess in a strange way I’m thankful to Tid for putting me in that situation. (Thanks Tid)
I agree with Felix what is everyone doing with their lives on a tuesday night? There really isn’t much on TV.. So get down to Dance with Miranda! This week we learnt a bit of choreography for the first half. Then we paired off to work on new material. Will and I were partners last week and Miranda videoed our sequence - check out the technology - and we watched it on the laptop and decided what we liked and what looked just awful. I found it really helpful but also horrible watching myself, I then couldn’t really create any new material because of the way that I had seen myself move. Having said this I’ve thought for a couple of days and Miranda says I need to try to be more like myself when I am dancing so that is what I’m going to try. We had better see you all at dance next week guys! XX
December 4th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Bob says:
as per usual today’s session was a good’an, had a lot laughs and saw some good performances. enjoyed killer tick although i did crap in it and liked the performance where the couple thought there friend knew they were goin out but actually didn’t.
x
December 4th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Stuart says:
Today’s session with Tid was really good. We had to perform a natural converasation that is somehow extraordinary. Tid pointed out that I seem to make proclamations instead of talking naturally, and I completely agree it’s something I need to be aware of. But that’s why the sessions are great, not only are they fun but you notice things about your performace that need to be worked on. So I’m really enjoying BOV at the moment and can’t wait until Brave!
December 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Sarah says:
Tuesdays session was fun! After our natural conversation performances, some of which were wery entertaing, we got to do some dancing which was a great laugh! I love the bristol old vic sessions, they’re far better than an old drama club that I used to go to which was on for 3 hours!
December 5th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Kaya says:
tuesday’s session was cool and we had miranda instead of tid. It was really good fun but the best bit was the dancing at the end!
December 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
william nash says:
alright all. thursdays sessuion was really good fun but the pieces were amazing.
we played a few games to warm up with killer tick and then phil baker slayed Tid in crabs in the “olympic final”. a momentous moment for all present.
we did a similer thing to the last few weeks. making scenes with a basic set of rules but this week it was ceryainly more complictaed. we had to play our own age, which really made things easier to say the least, and we had to have an extraordinary conversation but ones that go on every day in the world. we found it really hard to get started on ideas but as a group came up with a few like, breaking up, asking someone out and saying small things that end up meaning a lot.
in the end none of these were done but the ideas were really great. we had deaths, uneasy friendships, domestic abuse, first times, (not so subtle) advances and all sorts. they were all really powerfull. there were small parts a bit off in almost all of them but that was to be expected. it seems i can’t swear convincingly and jimmie may have been a little to nervous at the time if people remember.
anyway. sorry about the spelling. see ou next week guys.
oh and BUY SAMSON TICKETS NOW.
will
December 6th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Emma Marlborough says:
2 hours just isnt enough for these thursday sessions any more, im really looking forwards to the 6-10 sessions, will be very tiring though! BRAVE is starting to take form and i think that the end result will be very powerfull because so many people will be able to relate to alot of the secnes, like your favorite stand up.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Ruby (: says:
Todays session was cool
Good good times guys
Good times !
Merry Christmas everyone, have a great time
Love you all !
X
December 8th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Nearly the end of term…mmm…sad times.
So all those who are interested in BRAVE, remember even if you are not FULL TIME THEATRE MAKERS, you can still attend the extra sessions when you can, which is a nice bonus. And remember full timers 15th - 18th Dec 6pm - 10pm.
Samson and Delilah, we made an incredible fight, could be the best one yet, just needs rehearsal so that nobody dies.
Christmas Time, mistletoe and wine, Children singing christian rhyme…oh yeah Cliff Ritchard classic, I is down wid da youtd
December 9th, 2008 at 3:52 am
Ellie says:
this weeks session was fun. :)We all had to do a piece with around 15 lines each and make it believable but still interesting. everyone was good and so many people had to write the scripts up
i just need to learn how not to interrupt properly :p
December 9th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
eva says:
todays sesion was really fun (:
good singing tbh
8/10 for this term was good
++
HappyChristmas + AHapppyNewYear
December 9th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Eva says:
What a great name.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
*levi miles*! says:
HEY!
mwahaha!im back!
……..anyway we had to group up in 2’s, and do what we did last week(although i was a lot worse than usual lol)
and be your age but this time it had 2 be about a event what happens 1nce every year (birthdays,halloween xmas((woohoo its gettin cloase))) and after we all showd are little productions. Tid gave us two gifts (oooOOOoooo!)
1.we got a play another game 2.the person who won got to pick a xmas song what Tid would sing yes you heard me right SING! and surprisingly i won!
12 days of xmas……(that was FUN NAY!)
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 10th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Katie Smart says:
Hey this term was fun
and i loved preforming mine and Sancha’s (sorry if i spelt ur name wrong)scetch about the creepiness of Santa and so on ily you all have a great christmas lots of love smartie xoxox
December 10th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Josie says:
Heyyyyyyy last session of the term tonight, cue the violins.
See you in 2009! (Oh and next week for Brave seshs)xxxxx
Ive lurrved this whole attention to detail term, Tid made a point about the journey we have been on from being really rather rubbish at being intresting to creating some really quality stuff which has just been super fun.
At the begining of the term, when Peter took our first few sessions, he asked us to create an “Attention to Detail Diary” where we would write and draw anything that stuck in our mind from the session that evening or just something that intrested us through the day. I have to be honest and say that i’ve kind of neglected mine for the past few weeks, but i have got about 5 weeks worth of weird quotes and scratchy drawings showing what we did during the session. I dunno if i’m the only one who did that but…yeh coolio.
Just a couple of things that have really stuck out for me this term; firstly the physical stuff we did backstage showing relationships with people. Its really intresting how a few sharp or smooth movements can show different situations, characters and relationships and how people can interperate these movements in diffrent ways.
Also this partner work we have been doing that really focuses on the text and the performance. Some of the best stuff ive seen like EVER in my time at youth theatre has been created in the past few weeks which is awesome.
Also we learn’t never to start our peices with “so”. <—just thought i would add that in…
I think i have fulfilled my pledge for this week, apart from the christmas part, so hope everyone has an amazing christmas and new year and i hope you all eat loads of roast dinner, chocolates and the like and generally have a merry merry time.
(What a long post^)
December 10th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Mary-Rose says:
:)Just leaving a short comment to say how much i have enjoyed my first term at BOV, its been awesome, iv leant soo much and am super excited about helping create Brave!
Todays session was fun, i think we really developed the best scenes from this term.
The icing on the cake was defently tids beautiful version of ’silent night’, it made me feel all christmasy :):)
hope everyone has a great holiday (cross fingers for snow!) and il see ya next term (or sooner if your in brave)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
December 10th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Suzie Spence says:
Hey all,
OHMYGIDDYGODSPYJAMAS…It’s the end of the term
Well, to be quite honest, the progress we’ve made is flipping mindblowing. To come from drama lessons at school where everything has to be really overdramatic and there isn’t much attention paid to the detail to a session where there’s no stress, and the entire session is spent focusing on particular assets…It’s amazing.
We started off with Peter, who, although slightly strange and eccentric (that was his first impression on me - don’t know about other people?)stripped everything down to the core, and focused on litte moments, and little details that could be added in to a scene, with minimal dialogue. He also told us to keep a diary of little details that interested us in everyday life. (I must admit I actually completely forgot all about it…:S)
Our group and the 16+ group then merged to work with Tid, who started us off with different ways of travelling and making contact with eachother, and then setting our individual creations to music.
We then moved on to pieces that could possibly be used for BRAVE, and started off with interpretations of two extracts that Tid read to us from two entirely different books, and kept on focusing on a child and adult situation, adding in attention to text and performance, and setting particular amounts of lines. We also had points we had to include in our performances, such as dramatic, vulnerable, extraordinary moments etc and a base rule of NO MIMING!
Then, last week, we had to be our own age in our pieces, and have an ordinary conversation that was, in some way, extraordinary, and we exploded some of these and past performances or made the characters meet characters from other pieces. I felt that there were some really fantastic results from this last session, and it was a huge leap from the dark, brooding sessions and strange soundscapes with Peter to the polished, exploded and beautifully unique final pieces.
Love and Christmas cheer to everyone!
Suzie
xoxo
December 10th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Rachel (Quaife) says:
In true christmas spirit (my christmas message):
End of term; boo hoo hoo.
]
ho ho ho, not much to do [unless u have mock GCSE’s
Crimbo is coming
but before it’s here,
I’ll see you in Brave,
full of christmas cheer.
Oh and this term has been super fantastic. Learnt so much, (Thanks Tid and everyone who has come to the sessions)ummm… don’t want to be repeating but i have really enjoyed working towards Brave so far and the conversation pieces have been really good. So excited about Brave. Hope everyone is coming to the sessions next week.
Merry x-mas
xxxxxx
December 10th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Vicky Curtain says:
Awesome term Tid. Really, really enjoyed myself as did everyone else. There is so much talent in the young company that sometimes I just think we should all quit our jobs/school/future plans and just start a professional company there and then. Pretty sure we’d ace it.
Anyway thanks again - my return to The Old Vic was well worth it
Bit worried that everybody now thinks I’m some ginger paedophile who turns up for the odd term but hey. (Those who weren’t in that session please DO NOT read into this!!!)
Will keep you updated with my New York travels.
Merry, merry Christmas everyone - eat, drink and be merry!
Fairwell people and best of luck with Brave. xxxx
December 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
Thanks Vicky,
Good luck with your course in New York and please write on our blog to let us know what your acting training is like in the Big Apple.
(please no one misunderstand Vicky’s ginger comment, it was a scene in a play)
Good luck with all you do, you have been a pleasure to direct and teach.
Take Care
Tid x
December 11th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Geraldine says:
todays session was great
loving tid’s musical xmas performance…truly sensational stuff. He nearly forgot my name…again…I think i’m just going to change it to something more managable.
YEsh we had to say a previous piece we’d enjoyed and Then make spin-offs ‘inspired’ by it, we tried to re-enact ours but it didnt work as well as the first time.
Simon Ciaran and James made a really good inspired piece from ours, and Tid made it really amazing by askin Simon to sing and Ciaran to sit on James’ lap….
and yeah it was all good stuff they made tonight a really different range of pieces
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
&NEW YEAR
EVERYONE.
love x
December 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Georgia (Goldilocks) says:
today, our group (miranda’s) merged with tid’s group to discuss the highlights and the best performances of the term. We all reinacted the performaces that we thought were best. The highlight of the evening must have een when Tid sang. It was a great laugh.
I have to say that my fave part of the term was when we each took four pieces of text and four movements, and them merged them together to make a random bit of theatre, it was excellent how some text tthat seems to have no compatability turns into something really cool.
anyway, merry christmas to everyone in the young company, have a great time catching uo on sleep (and revising for mocks :S)
looking forwards to Brave soo much
x
December 11th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Bryher says:
nice session today..
recaping on the good points of the term, so most of them.
thanks for a great term guys.. have a nice christmas/new year and i will see you all next yer
love you all xxxxx
December 11th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Charly (girl with boys name) says:
good session, i love being all one big group,
its more ‘cosy’
anyway merry christmas all,
and have a great holiday
xx
December 11th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Ella Comrie (Teddy Bear!) says:
today was a really fun session. Tids group joined up with our group and we had a huge christmas session!
it was Amazing. we chose our fave pieces of the term and renacted some of them. i was brilliant as some were inproved and some were changed in a tiny way or a huge way. our group redid the performance where there were four people in a tiny boat trying to see eveything with out falling in the water. in the end it was 8 people on an iceberge and we were looking at polar bears and penguins! i was hard as we were continously moving and knocking in to people but it was a Great laugh..
i have to say that i loved the ending of the session when tid stood up and sang last christmas followed by silent night! well done tid !!!!!
can WAIT for next term and for BRAVE it is going to be AMAZING!!!
i hope everyone has a good christmas and a happy new year!!
LUCKY YOU ALEX GOING TO AUSTRALIA!!! i want to go too!!
See ya next term! xxxxxxxxxx :):):D:D:D;)
December 11th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
charlie haughton says:
Was a really good session yeterday, had laods of fun making a scene about what its like being male, ended up with some banging beatboxing by alex jack nd myself.
term in general was really good, learnt loads from it, and also like how the term moved on. started off at looking at what sort of thing is interesting to an audience and then looked at exploding scenes and generally playing around with ideas for Brave - looking forward to more of this in the future.
have fun in New york Vicky! and happy crismas to everyone else, make sure everyone gets drunk and merry.
see some people next week for brave play time and everyne else next term.
charlie
December 11th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Helena says:
At the start of the term I was really quite scared. Who knew being ‘interesting’ was so hard?
But as the weeks progressed everything just seemed to work and my favourite session by a long way was when we made our first ‘Brave’ pieces. Using physical theatre was just brilliant, every single piece, without exception just seemed to capture something magical. When i think of my childhood i connect it with feelings more than specific events and i think this is what those pieces conveyed.
I can’t wait to start work on Brave, if the work the young company is producing at the moment is anything to go by then it is going to be amazing.
Merry christmas everyone- I hope you’re all very excited about the new Wallace and Gromit episode which is going to show on Christmas day, I certainly am
Helena xx
December 12th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Naomi says:
I don’t think I have found any other term at BOV this difficult… I always thought I could be ‘interesting’ but in front of an audience I seemed to think that the same conventions that go when you’re with people seem to change… Turns out toning down and being natural is the only thing to it. I have learnt so much this term and I’m really sad to not be doing drama sessions anymore but I’m joining Tuesday Dance Theatre and I am SOOO excited
Hopefully see you all there!!
Happy Christmas!! xxx
December 12th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Steph says:
Heya:D!
i really enjoyed last nights session, looking at back all the things we really like about the term, i fouond this term the most diffcult out of all the other ones i have done, especially with the detail part, as i always forget to make the pieces much more detialed. But this has been one of the most diffcult but fun terms yet!
MERRY CRIMBO! and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!:D
laterss xxxx
December 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Chris says:
Hey!
This term has been amazing!! It’s been fantastic to learn to act in a way which is believable for the audience. It has also been sooooo helpful to drama GCSE as we have to act as natural characters so often.
My favourite part of the term was when we made pieces between a child and adult that could have had lots of different meanings. It was really fun watching the plays and guessing what the characters were talking about. It was also interesting to see lots of different peoples’ views on what relationships between adults and children are like.
It has been such a fun term and i feel like i have learnt heaps! Soooooooo excited about BRAVE!!!!!! Hope everyone has a good christmas!!
December 13th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Angelina says:
hay
this termhas been amazing cant wait till the next term. and i cant wait till brave its gonna be awesome.
merry x-mass and a happy new year
December 14th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Peter Leppard says:
many thanks Tid, Peter Reynolds, Liesel Corp, Kerry Lovell, George Evans, James Newton and Natasha Sutton-Williams for coming to the BOV Theatre Club coffee morning and giving us all such a great insight into how the young company makes theatre. It was magic guys and all best wishes on translating S&D to the TR in January!
From what I saw at the rehearsal Saturday its looking good!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
December 14th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Peter Leppard says:
woops - and Tom England. Sorry Tom - how did I forget you?
December 14th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE
Tonight 6 - 10pm
Anyone can come along and play, even if your a creator, or ensemble performer, this week is for EVERYONE!
BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE
Nice feedback on the term guys, nice to have Alex Oliver back from the mean streets of BRIZZLE
December 15th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Eilis McEwen; says:
Brave needs a blog!
Tonight was good, i like the fact brave has such a varied age range. I like doing all the traveling, lifting and what have you; but i prefer script.
See you tomorrow.
x
December 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Charlie Kenber says:
Yeh WRITING FOR THEATRE was amazing again. You other writers need to GET ON THE BLOG!! It turns out that once we get back in the New Year we only have 5/6 weeks until our scripts are performed (AAARRRGGHH!!!) So we pretty much need to finish them over this Christmas. Scary. The first 5 mins was taken up with us being in awe of Adam’s crazy shaped Apple Juice bottle - yeh you have to be there. He gave us some hand-outs and then we looked at some scenes people had written. Erm, everyone’s plays seem to be coming along well, wih Will on his 51st idea. [i saw you roll your eyebrows].
Andthen Tid’s sesh has been pretty much entirely described by people earlier. [This was thursday] I’m sure you’ve all been able to “enjoy” Tid’s Christmas themed singing at the end, along with the raucous laughter that followed.
[Tid will probably abuse me horribly for that] Oh yeh and the last half hour was spent with Tid telling us how he was on facebook - as I’m sure you all know by now.
Anyway I think that’s all for the term, apart from the Brave things this week. Couldn’t make it last night cos I had a concert, but will be there tonight!
Cya then!
Charlie
December 16th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Leigh-Ann Clarke says:
So put it this way, I had other plans this night, but I’ve ditched them for another Brave ‘play-around.’
Last night was really very good. Once we got started that was. Two words - Tid & microphone. Say no more.
However, it was lush getting 2 know others amd especially the younger ones. There was none of that horrible sense of competition you get in some drama companies.
People Power Rocks!
And i liked the group work and travelling, it’s cool seeing the different ways people can move.
Also got some awesome work done after the younger ones had left. Nearly every scene was interesting. Really enjoyed it. Kerry and Joey(?)’s scene was beautiful!
Yeah…good stuff!!
AND managed to get my bus in time cos Tid let us go 5 mins early!! Nice one
xxx
December 16th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Rose Reade says:
We had a really amazing session last night. We did loads of physical stuff. Tid made us do some weird dance moves as a warm up. I kept getting confused!:) We then went through loads of things really fast, like finding holes, human gestures and lifts. Then we got into pairs and I was with a really tall person called charlie Kember!!:) We has to do short shap movements followed by flow and we had to include all the things we were working on earlier. We made some amazing pieces. They all seemed to tell stories even though they diddnt mean to. It was Mad school!:) Tid made people film it.They had to film it once and then sometimes again “up close and personal”. He left out the “and personal” bit after a while. It was really fun and amazing!! Wahoo! We <3 brave!:)
I want to make a complaint about being called younger ones. Some of us are less than a year younger than some of the year tens!:):):):):):):)
Cant wait for next term and all the sundays!
Rose Reade
XXXX
December 18th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Rose Reade says:
How come my smiley faces diddnt turn into smiley faces and everyone elses did?!!
December 18th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Rose Reade says:
Oh They just did!! Oops!
December 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Emma Marlborough says:
the physical theatre stuff was really great. especially the performers are very energetic. its great when two performers are onstage doing a routine but sometimes when we add other performers it isnt as amazing visually. i prefer the tricky routins that are sort of violent like the one with jesse. i think the sound to it was along the right lines too.
i think it would look great when we actually perform BRAVE if we do a routine that tells the story of two people, and the routine only has two sides to it, but we make it much bigger using props and effects and people. like if you have a camera and you zoom in, the people look bigger.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
miranda (deputy young company director) says:
Hey, Hey
Just wanted to comment on how much im enjoying BRAVE and big up peoples enthusiasm and the quality of the work made. Want to remind people to write, sketch, film moments they like so we don’t lose them and so we can start to make connections between the different pieces of work being made.
Also wanted to wish all the young company a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Rest, eat too much and if you get bored, get on some research for BRAVE. Have loved this term Beast was amazing, I have learnt so much and look forward to seeing you all in the new year.
P.S. If you’re over 15 I recommend a film called Eagle Vs Shark its one of the funniest films ever.
Miranda x x x
December 18th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Kathryn Stokes says:
heyya.Brave is gunna be wicked. The idea sessions went well. tonight we were using scripts, pictures, items and movement to make a piece of theatre with a partner. Not many people got to show their work but its ok because we had more time to work on devising.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Ed says:
Today was brilliant! We started with an exercise which warmed up our voices and our body. We then did some pieces where we had to either look at a script, picture or use movement. We did 2 pieces and then the junoirs left. We then showed a couple more and there was 1 funny one which was Eva and i can’t remember the other persons name. “BUBBLES”. We then got into groups of around 6 or 7 and made a piece of drama which was aiming at younger children but still was pretty rude. After we had to work on working out where the platform would be and doing a short devised piece. Yeah it was a good day.
Have a good Christmas and a HAppy New year everybodyand see you next year.
Ed
December 19th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Josie says:
HIYA EVERYONE - 6 DAYS ‘TILL CHRISTMAS
Just wanted to comment quickly on the Brave “play” sessions this week. Firstly I’d just like to say how much i have enjoyed the sessions and working with people of all different ages. It’s been really great fun just watching little drops of heaven being created out of only a few lines or some movements.
After it took me a long…very long time to understand how the new bit of stage was going to work, i think its’ going to be awesooommmmmeeee, especially if we have been bags and beds and stuff like we discussed :D.
I’ve loved all the scripted stuff, the movement and physical stuff, the dream stuff and the journey things we did with Miranda in coopers.
Brave is gonna be absolutely amazing, i’ve met so many new people in the last 4 evenings so hurrah and hurray!
Lastly to wish everyone at youth theatre a very merry christmas and happy new year! EAT LOTS OF TURKEY PLEASE. Unless your vegetarian…in which case…don’t. Be nice to santa and leave him some cookies and wine so that he brings you lots of lovely presents!
And a carrot for rudolph…
WHO WILL BE CHRISTMAS NUMBER 1 I JUST DONT KNOW!
xxxxxxx
December 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Charlie Kenber says:
Hey’all.
As everyone has said, brave is great, although numbers seemed to dwindle a bit towards the end of the play-around sessions. Last nite we had 3 actors in who worked with us for 2 hours. We were just devising scenes and movement sequences, from bits of text, or images, or just our imagination. I worked with one of the Actors (Natalie?) on one scene which was good - she was repsonsive to my ideas, and wasn’t patronising or anything like that.
At the end we had to make a few ideas around the new walkways that will be built around the stalls, exploring how we could use that space to create theatre. There were mixed results with this, and the main thing that stood out for me was how to use the space behind the audience, as those in the ‘pit’ wouldn’t be able to turn around. We did suggest either bean bags, or one MASSIVE BED in the middle, and we could charge people extra to sit on the bed, and perhaps participate in the show.
So yeh. Happy Christmas all. And ermm.. good New Year. Not the whole year, just the beginning…
Charlie KeNber.
P.S. Miranda I’ve seen Eagle Vs. Shark, and it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Jermaine Clement was great, but his Flight of The Concords TV Show is way better.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Miranda says:
as if Charlie Kenber, watch it again!
December 21st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Valentine says:
Hi, i know this is for writting blogs…but i’m hoping its ok to leave a Question?
basically that week of play around rehersals for “Brave” I was ill so i couldn’t make it (sad times) and i don’t actually attend any Youth Theatre sessions… But i have been asked by people to be in this production. Just i am slightly confused to where and when i should come to BOV. And which sessions i should be going to…?
replys will be greatly apprisiated (:
December 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Leigh-Ann Clarke says:
Rose - Sorry!! Its just Im 18 and that makes me feel old
Charlie - You’re still a legend. And Flight of the conchords is hilarious
Valentine - You dont need to have come to the play around sessions to be part of it. however you probably (but im not sure) need to be part of BOV youth theatre. I would say either ring the BOV and ask or facebook Tid. Hope this helps
And its really cool 2 c how looking forward to Brave everyone is. It will be awesome
xxxxxxxx
December 30th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Bryher says:
hey guys..
just wandered if theres a brave blog gonig on yet?
hope everyone has had a brilliant christmas and a lovely new year.
love you all xxxx
January 1st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Leigh-Ann says:
Tid,
is it possible to put a link to the young company blog on the main web page?
January 8th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Jack says:
Well I felt bad not commenting on the blog for ages so here I am…
January 9th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Hannah (assistant) says:
HI guys,
just wanted tp put up a guick note to tell all those who havent yet bought their smason and delilah tickets to BUY THEM NOW!
the show is looking really good and this saturday we recored the CD for it and it sounds absolutly amazing!
so sont risk missing out and book your tickets!
Hannah
x
January 11th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Charly&Katie says:
nice session today good game of killer tick
enjoyed the group work,
-Charly
It was my first session today, i thought it was brilliant and i enjoyed the group work, and i would love to come back.
-Katie
January 15th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Leigh-Ann says:
Definitely an enjoyable session last night.
The theme was to create a piece in which two people were affected in some way by a group of individuals.
We were lucky to just have me, louis and Eva. It can be much nicer in a small, intense group I find. We worked really well together and all contributed loads of different, interesting ideas and built upon each others. This may not have been so easy with 5 people!
Reflecting upon the other’s performances there were certain aspects I particularly liked.
Will and Jo’s group I felt got a family argument situation spot on in fact maybe too much! The different characters were great. I liked the way Tilly gave orders at the start and it would have worked really well to add other people into that, keeping the pace and crescendo the volume.
Charlie Kenber’s group was so fun to watch! Although he did hit me when rehearsing
lol, not so fun. The using of repetition with the swearing was effective as the intention changed slightly each time. I think they got such a good balance between physicalisation and dialogue. Particularly liked the last bit where Emma went off into the sunset with them!!
At first I really didn’t like the humming in Jimmy’s group, but once they got into it, it complemented what they were doing more. My favourite things about this piece were the sense of childish playground rumours, the words said by the two on either end and the way the sound then went to silence.
The infectious laughter in India’s group was great. Definitely captured the cruelty of children. Fred was a bit scary though, i din’t really get that bit, but maybe I wasn’t supposed to.
And I guess it’s hard to evaluate your own performance but I think it was pretty realistic. good feedback too
Sorry to over-analyse, but it can only be a agood sign
I think everyone did so well and we have progressed so much over the last term!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
January 16th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Rose says:
BRAVE IS AMAZING!!!!!!
We have done some really cool stuff on the Sunday rehearsals. I really loved the window train idea. On our session on Monday we did a really interesting whispering technique!! It would be really cool to do it with loads of people.
See you all soon
love
Rose
January 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
mieke ;) says:
hi guys
first one to coment on thursday 6-> 8 session (get in)
i really enjoyed today, i foun d th whole stages of life very enjoyable and fun
the list writing was reaaly interesting, and it was particulary interesting listenig to other peoples list especiall when you hear somthing you really remeber and wonder why you didnt write it
e.g “fake wedding
(inside my head) -> OH YEAH!!!
lol
the only list that wasnt iteresting was james’ group’s because it was shit
then the 10 minute pieces were fun as i got to suk my toe mmm lol
i really enjoyed lillys group with the spasticated and shy boy askign out the girl LOVE IT!!!
so yeah all in all fun session!
see you guys on sunday or maybe next wek
xo
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Rachel (6-8 wed) says:
Hey people
Brave is really fun and during it i’ve met loads of new people who are really kind and had fun making my ideas into theater. You have to come see the show if your not in it because its gonna be AMAZING!
see you guys later this week…
bye
January 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Old Aunty Em says:
Hello BOVYC!
Just a quick note to say how sorry for not thanking you for my joyous yet brief return at christmas-helping with BRAVE. I know it’s a month late but hey, time flies, wicked times always fly.
Masive good luck to all you Samson and Delilah cast! I missed out for growing up, but can’t wait to see what you’ve done with it. Doubtless it will be lovely.
P.S. Miss Lovell and Mr England don’t seem to have done blogs? Get on it yeah, you’re the extreme in Team extreme!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Old Aunty Em says:
‘how sorry I am’ obviously English dergrees aren’t what they used to be.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Leigh-Ann says:
Samson and Delilah was spectacular!!!
WELL DONE TO EVERYONE!!
Loved it:) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
January 29th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Peter Leppard says:
Having seen one of the rehearsals and knowing how hard you had all been working, transforming S&D from the studio to the Royal, I was confident it would work and would be at least as good as the studio. But WOW! On the TR stage the play works even better and the storyline has new meanings and depth! Really amazing guys - well done!
January 29th, 2009 at 11:45 am
richard hill says:
hey i saw samson and deliah- a very weird and wonderful occasion- on wednesday. i was in a slight daze of how involved i felt in watching the piece throughout and i wanted to say how amazing the show itself was. well done to everyone who took part in the play!! i will miss the old vic for the next 5 months i am away as over the past 2 years i have performed for and been employed by the Old Vic and have always cherised its ability to create new talent. it will be sad to not be a part of Brave. good luck everybody!!
January 30th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Jess says:
Just saw Samson and Delilah, it was stunning. Im speachless. I might just have to see it again tomorrow!
January 30th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Ed Tonkin says:
WOW guys! Saw Sampson and Delilah last night. it was amazing! i was interseted how the beds would come into the show, but it looked really goood. but all in all a brilliant play, loved the singers and actors.
WELL DONE!
January 31st, 2009 at 9:27 am
Eilis McEwen; says:
Sampson and Delilah. What an amazing show, i really enjoyed it. Even after the third time you see it, it just doesnt get boring. It gets better. Loved it. Eilis McEwen.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Eve McBeeve says:
heleiadsljeigjnajhkasnldt!!!!!!! Sam and Dell. No words, no words. Only, i weep for those who have not seen it yet. In fact, if you are indeed one of those unfortunate persons, you will never be able to see it because RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT the cast of talented and beautiful young actors are preparing for their last performance. I saw the show twice. I am now kicking myself for not having bought tickets for a third evening, like the cunning Ms McEwen did.
Oh, but having said all that, just want to say that really, I don’t see why I should be surprised. I mean, as if Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre doesn’t always produce the highest quality of theatre? Come ON.
Eva x
ps. Good luck for ten minutes time
January 31st, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Simon Camp says:
Some really nice work made today
It’ll be so interesting to see BRAVE starting to take structure and watch all the amazing pieces of material that’ve been churned out come together into another masterpiece.
Speaking of masterpieces, I suppose Samson and Delilah wasn’t too bad
February 1st, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Charlotte says:
Tonight’s young company sessions have been cancelled because of the snow, we’ll see you next week
February 5th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Thank you to all those who came to see Samson and Delilah, and thanks for all the fantastic feedback.
I am happy, very happy. Thank you to all involved.
Big Love
Tid
February 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Maisie says:
I just wanted to say a huuuge thankyou to everyone in S&D and to everyone who came and saw it, it’s been a part of my life for nearly a year and now it’s all over!
I shall miss it terribly, maybe Edinburgh fringe I’m thinking?
Anyway I’ll be glad to fiiinally return to weekly sessions, and I’m not sure what use I could be in it but I plan to jump on the brave bandwagon too, it looks/sounds too amazing to not be a part of in some way.
Love love
Maisie
February 8th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Josh says:
My name is Josh and I’m a student at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. I was at the Theatre Royal today and walked past the BRAVE wall. I realised that that wall is the most exciting and honest thing i’ve seen whilst i have been here. That wall is beautiful.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) BRAVE BRAVE says:
Thanks Josh,
for more info on BRAVE join the group on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=640055562&ref=name
or become a fan
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Bristol/Bristol-Old-Vic-Young-Company/44908338300
BRAVE is going to be a huge show and we are trying to keep it as honest as possible
Tid
February 24th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Eva says:
Hullo hullo!
Just to say thought last thursday’s sesh was good, with us working on more material for Brave. We started off immediately with groups or pairs looking at “table choreography”, or writing and performing scripts about table scenes, or simply performing already written scripts. Just loved Lowenna and James’s piece with all its imagination and different rhymthms (does that sound pretentious? probably, although i don’t mean it to be!) And also really liked Megan and Nick’s performance with the delivery of their lines. Oh and tid, about mine and fred’s “it’s dangerous/ things happen” script? i think.. you are probably right. ah hayve learnt to truust!! Amen to that!
Eva
February 28th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
anna jordan says:
hey
just to say how much fun brave has been and that people should join the brave face book cuz i have just spent the past hour looking at videos of the sesions and it is really interesting watching what the sesions look like to an ‘outsider’ also if you are still confussed about what brave is about then it is really helpfull.
cant wait till sunday
X
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
peggy edwards says:
hi
i loved the last session because we playd a really good acting game
in youth theatre. peggy year3 group 07. 03. 09
March 8th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Ed Tonkin says:
Hi
Todays session all the drama lot joined dance with Miranda and we sorted out the bus scene, it went really well. Miranda can we put the videos of the bus onto Facebook, i’d really like to see them!
p.s. Tid, i can’t come on sunday sorry.
Ed
March 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Tilly Webb says:
helloooo
Tilly Here
thought i would post a comment on the blog & tell evryone how fun the sunday sessions are!
WE HAVE NOW FINISHED THE STRUCTURE!
I just wonder what scenes we will be doing now on the monday sessions, beacuse we still need to put some scenes in…
fun fun fun!
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 am
Mary-Rose Clarke says:
hey, sorry i missed sunday and my wednesday session last week iv been really ill, had a chest infection, temperature and all that jazz. feeling alot better now. see ya sunday
xxxx
March 25th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
jess lloyd-evans says:
cool sesh last night. that filming for the little brave film was really cool.
But the rolling off the stage weas really painful!
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
cassie allis says:
HI !!!!!!
yipiee
BRAVE is amazing
the lights are making the play look incredible
i cant belive the invisible man song is being cut !!!!
its tragic / but for the best i guess
the clips on you tube are fantastic cabot circus is really funny LOL…..
if you havent seen any i suggest you watch them
April 18th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Ella Comrie (Teddy Bear!) says:
Well done everyone in Brave
it was fantastic and really enjoyed it!
xxx
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Miranda says:
Miranda Cromwell Hello people…
New term, new exciting things happening at the Bristol Old Vic and some free spaces in sessions. So ‘Get Involved’ especially those of you who enjoyed creating and performing choreography in Brave, Dance theatre sessions are Thursday 6-8 (Begginers) Tuesday 8-10 (Intermediate). There are also free spaces in Writing Thursday 6-8 and Music with the genius that is Peter Reynolds Monday’s 8-10.
If your interested or know anyone who is, come along and try a session!
May 14th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Leigh-Ann says:
Has the blog died an untimely death??
June 15th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Rose Reade says:
I am loving the new term especially as it’s on music, Movement and mime. It’s nice and relaxing after brave to just pop along once a week(although brave continues to remain in my heart). Funtimes!
Rose
xx
June 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Charlie Kenber says:
R.I.P. BOV Young Company Blog
July 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Ellie Roser (: says:
hey there guys, we enjoyed yet again another ‘interesting’ session with tid.
for example it would become the old fat man sat on the smelly creaky chair.
we used a technique called colouring in. we took simple sentences like the man sat on the chair then evolved them to more complex things adding adjectives and other clever stuffs
we then took the same technique and instead of words we used actions adding more character and detail as we went along! another great session from the genius which is Tid
Ellie xx
September 7th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
So new term, new start, Whhhoooooppaaahhhhhh
Nice to see someone already getting Involved on the blog. Nice one Eliie. Thanks for the comments.
So a cool session indeed, we looked at “colouring” essential bringing something to life through describtive/action words, or actions.
If you are in my groups this term, stat thinking about the next show, what kinda show do you want to make for the spring? any ideas? stories? concepts? Every session we will working with a fresh technique/approach to working with stimuli for the next Young Company poduction.
So nice to see so many of you back, fun times.
Connect with us on your group page e.g Yr9 Mon 6 -8 http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/601.html
or on facebook http://www.facebook.com/bovyc (profile)
Oh!!!!!!!!!!!! The Facebook Fan Challenge 500
So we need to get 500 fans by this Friday! so get on the invite! send all your friends this link,
http://www.facebook.com/bristolyc (our page)
Whhhhoooopppppppahhhhhh
Tidbury
September 7th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Your group pages, what are they for?
You can use your group pages to dowload session notes, view images and video from your specific sessions and just get an insight to what others do in their own groups.
Links to groups
Mondays
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/yr9mon.html
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/yr7-8mon.html
September 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
jesse says:
whhhhooooopppppppppahhhhhhh.
So the new term has started!!!! exciting!
Ive assisted 3 sessions so far and the stantard is as high as ever. Its good to see you all havent lost it over the summer.
The session logs are on there way and should be up hear in the next day or two, so get involved, have a look through and get on the blog!!!!!
It truly is great to be back and good to see all the familiar faces and all of those fresh new ones.
Whhhhoooopppppahhhhh
and 1 LOVE
Jesse
September 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Holly says:
So i have been away for a year and it is SO good to be getting involved with the young company once again! It never fails to astound me the excitment and creativity that everyone seems to bring to the sessions!
It is so good to see familar faces but the number of new ones is very very cool…So tonights session was the first of term and was great just to jump back in there looking at colouring text and movement as pairs and bigger ensembles. Am looking forward to the term ahead a lot! Also think i am going to have to get myself in other sessions that are going down this year…
Anyway i am so so so very pleased to be back!
mucho love
Holly xxx
September 9th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Miranda (Deputy Young Company Director) says:
Hello, so good to be back…
Sessions this week have been great and the 1st rehearsal of Our Country’s Good happened last night, exciting times!
When in the building check out the Our Country’s Good board and makesome comments on the images that are up there.
If your doing my sessions this term get on the think about what scripts or stories you wanna look at, or write your own and bring it in.
Boom Boom Pow!
September 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
luke scholefield says:
well..
what can I say!!!
fantabulously majilliant as always, loved starting the new term with a bit of choreography and then some imaginative movement and interaction using playing cards, looking very much forward to next week already!&)
luke x
whhhhhooooopaaaaa!!!!!!
September 10th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
James Kent says:
Not going to lie, a great start to the new term after such a long time off.
The abuse was as thick and as strong as ever which was class! more importantly I liked the idea of the sess, even though it wasn’t as jokey as the usual. the whole colouring idea is really clever and simple but soooooo effective as shown by wallflower’s (elliot) dog impression and the otheres sticky feet.
Can’t wait for next week!
whhhhhooooopaaaaa??!!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Whhhoooppppaaaahhhhh!
The new one for the new term.
Check out your group page.
Thursdays
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/16-18.html
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/yr10-11thu6.html
So nice to have new people and to have old favorites back. You know who you are…no not you Kent pipe down!
Tidbury
September 10th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Becky T says:
Wow. Great session guys
Learnt all about “colouring” (ie adding detail) and now know to always elaborate on the subject. Plus we know to roll with and expand upon the examples, else we just get what Tid’s already shown us. Great to be directed by Tid actually, got more of a sense of um… direction i guess, haha. I don’t know if I’m meant to comment about writing on here, but that was pretty awesome too, just read through some plays, did some exercises and talked as much as usual!
See you guys soon… x
September 10th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Kerry says:
Welcome back people!
Assisted two great sessions last night, so many fresh faces and some excellent work made. Whats so exciting is I know it will only get better!
Some little reminders for everyone;
- THE FACEBOOK 500 FAN CHALLENGE is on!! 80 by the end of the day and we’ve done it, get ON people!
- Check out the NEW WEBSITE, familiarise yourself with your GROUP PAGE, session leaders and assistants. Session notes will be available shortly.
- Get on this BLOG! Tell us what you thought of your session, what you liked, what you didn’t like,and more importantly what you learnt. Then check out what everyone else has been up to as well. This blog is for you, so use it!
- There are a few SPACES still available in some groups. If you know of someone who is interested tell them to hurry up and get in contact. Those spaces won’t be avaialable for long!
Lastly, just wanted to say how exciting this term is shaping up to be. We are all so lucky to be a part of something so successful and inspiring.
Bring on next week!
WHOOOPA!
September 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Bob says:
Last nights sesh was quality!! great to be back, learn’t bout a technique called “colouring” which can be used for just about anything.
like i said great to be back, looking forward to the rest of the term!
September 11th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Nashville says:
Very nice to be back with everyone. loving the new people there on Thursday. How many new people where there?? very nice
bit of colouring in that session, very nice and a lovely simple way to get something natural and quite complicated in a very short amount of time.
lookin’ forward to next week, see ya later guys.
September 12th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Ruth says:
It was great to see everyone again after the summer. The technique we learn about was really interesting (colouring) - how you can keep on adding details to make it better and better.
Looking foreward to next week!
September 12th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
"Parsons" Dave says:
Amazing first session.
Felt really welcome on my first night there, thanks for that.
The colouring ensemble work was cool, nice to do something new and creative.
Looking forward to next weeks activities.
x
September 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Clare Gosling says:
It’s good to be back at bov again, gutted have to miss next week :/
It was soooo nice to see everyone again, I missed you all! Especially after not doing summer school… and yay with all the newbies?!
Colouring ended up being quite funny, it was cool seeing how things can turn from plain 3 worded sentences like “the man coughed” into creating an entire character, with such a simple method.
So yeah, it was coooool.
September 13th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Hey All
The first session notes are no available online.
Kerry has done an amazing job on her first notes. respect!
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/16-18.html
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/yr10-11thu6.html
More will come soon
Tid
September 14th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Orla says:
So yeah, I was told if I don’t write on this blog, I will not be allowed entry to the Old Vic for my next session. Brilliant.
T’was lovely to be back & be able to play killer tick(I own at that game) and of course, learning & working with new people.
I’m thoroughly looking forward to the coming sessions, and seeing Our Country’s Good in November.
cheerio x
September 14th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Georgia says:
Right, blogging to avoid being disowned by BOV, and because i love to blog?
did the whole colouring sentences ting, which at the start did feel a bit like an English lesson but has interesting results. our group was directed by tid, which i think is a really good new way of doing things. lovely to be back. whupaa? i don’t think i can pull it off
September 14th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Mai says:
Hiya, just got back from This weeks session, thought i’d do the blog before i forget. it was lovely to see everyone again and new people! improvising’s alot harder than it looks,it was interesting cutting down ten minutes to one. Looking forward to the rest of the sessions
Whoopah.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Amy says:
Today was challenging because the session was based around improvising. We improvised for 10mins from an idea like a story or film and some of the final 1 minute pieces of theatre turned out to be really interesting and crazy. On the whole loved the session
September 14th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Ed Tonkin says:
On thursday the session was really good, it was quite a difficult exercise. The idea of colouring is quite hard to grasp hold of. The piece that was done in the end was ok.
and Tid i can come in next week, i wrote on the blog. Whoopah.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Sophie says:
Whoopah indeed Ed. Writing before school (not a good idea) because i just remembered and will have no time later. Mondays session was a really challenging idea and was even harder to do. After a lot of improvising games (difficult stuff) we got into groups and got a brief of a part of a story from someone. Then we had 10 mins of impro, it was hard to not stop and tell people to do stuff differently but was a great laugh!
Tid worked in our group which was good otherwise we’d of never got it down to a minute.
it ended up as 56 seconds, oh yes!
What a great session
September 15th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Meg says:
I’ve seen a lot of awesome comments from everyone who’s done this times before!
and everyone was sooo friendly, and very welcoming! I was amazed how much we learnt and did in just two hours!
As a newcomer, I have to say I had a brilliant time!
Tid was an inspiration
I can’t wait for more!
Bring it on!
See you guys tomorrow!
xXx
September 15th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Charlotte says:
Wow, that was really fun! I always get really nervous when I meet new people, but everyone was really nice, especially Angelina, Pippa, Alicia and Shauna, and a couple of other girls in my group (so sorry, I don’t know your names)
The activities were great, even though I didn’t understand the first running around/dying one, and I really felt I learned something about working together as one.
I can’t wait for next week- that was better than my school drama club any day!!! : )
September 15th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Eva says:
Wahey!! First entry for the Wonderful Wednesday that was on this week (16th)! What can I say? From a cat swinger to Three Little Pigs, from an AWEsome game of Killer Tic (those winners, whoever they were, deserved their triumph unarguably) to Hansel and Gretel, and lastly, from Little Red Riding Hood to the uber fantasticle Pied Pied (rats, crying kiddies, parents, the Brennan galore). Yes. Utterly brilliant session. Just loved it - thank you tid! Eva
September 17th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Bob says:
Tonight session was really fun, we learnt about improvisation. We learnt that improvisation is hard, but very fun, can help come up with some interesting thing, and that it is better to push yourself to a different character rather that just playing yourself, and other things but i’ll let you other bloggers do them
looking forward to next week where we are gonna learn some other improv techniques (i think)
BYE! x
September 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
hannah mari bevan says:
so wednesdays sesson was extremly fun. we did a some impro exercises in groups of varying size.the thing i found most interesting was how much more disiplined the improvisations in front of an audience felt. when wwe were doing the exercise in our groups,it got really manic and was great fun, but probly wouldnt have been as enjoyable to watch as to be in. when we improvised in front of an audience though, it calmed down and produced some clear, interesting characters and bits of action. i think having an audience just added a bit of focus and somewhere to kind of aim the storey at.THought that was pretty cool.
really enjoyed it all and came out feeling completly nackerd which is always good
thank you x
September 17th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Rose Reade says:
Every session it seems that we always laugh. About everything. We did some awesomely mental improvisation and Tid’s “the 3 little pigs” had us all in stiches. It was really hard work but really fun and we ended up creating some really origional pieces with ideas we wouldn’t of thought of normally but came out through improvisation. Although the highlight of the evening was Tid’s best insult yet:
“You look like a lemon, a sliced lemon, chopped up by a man without a knife”
Looking forward to next week.
Rose or Reade or Rose Reade or Readey
September 18th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Miranda Cromwell (Deputy Young Compnay Director) says:
Well hello…
Great reading all the blogs, articulate, insightful and sounds like the new term has started with a bang! Bit dissapointed at the lack of bloggage from my sessions. Tut Tut, sort it out people.
So good though to see all the new faces getting involved. Was so good to come back and see all the summer school peeps and the rabble of year 6 move up from Junior Young Company.
Our Country’s Good is selling fast so If you haven’t already bought tickets better get them quick. Really enjoying rehearsals for it at the minute, loads of exciting ideas being thrown around.
What an amazing thing to be part of!
Miranda
September 18th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Jules says:
Have to agree with Hannah and Rosie. I think each group came up with some interesting characters. I found the explanation of creating not just sound and movement within the story but atmosphere and feelings very useful- Tids ‘Breaking Heart’ was also a great example.
The larger groups impro for the Pied Piper came together really well and became quite dark in places - good times!
I think its a great group of people to be working with.
Looking forward to next week
Jules
P.S see, im not above it y’all!
September 18th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Kate says:
Wednesday night’s session was really interesting. It was amazing to see what can be created through improvisation. I leant from the exercises that being focused and aware of the ensemble and committing fully to the improvisation is what makes for great theatre. The Pied Piper group demonstrated this perfectly; they worked really well together and created a moving piece of story telling. Nice work guys.
September 18th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Josie says:
really enjoyed last night’s session! started with killer tic as always then played what are you doing. harder than it looks!!
the improvisation games were also fun but i especially enjoyed watching tid sending groups up to improvise bible stories and stuff
LOVE dave parsons “I am Jesus of Jazareth!” was brilliant
looking forward to next sesh x
September 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
ruby (: says:
I know its a bit late but mondays yr 9 session was whoopaaa (:
improvisation is just as hard and embarrassing as I expected!!
really liked playing with ideas for the next young company performance, fingers crossed it will involve year nines
cant wait for next monday
September 18th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
sally :p xxx says:
i know it’s sunday and i’m a bit late with the blog but i love bristol old vic! the poeple, the laughs, the theatre, so much fun!!! improvisation is so hard as you have to think, act,talk and make it interesting all at the same time but when you get it right it feels so good!when you get it wrong everyone laughs and you feel silly but when other people get it wrong you can’t help laughing too, it all part of the fun! can’t wait for the fun tomorrow xxxx:)
September 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Matt Lockett says:
yo, i know it’s sunday too but i was just reading up on kerry’s amazingly detailed session notes and just relived the magic.
Regretfully I just had my first look at all the new idvidual session pages and am well impressed. my peers are almost overqualified to be hanging round these ends.. hollywood is calling!
the first couple of sessions have been really fun, 34 were in the session and i swear like 25 are new faces.
i loves it i do. word! XXX
September 20th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Cassie says:
hiya!
Session was good….
we improvised in groups then made up a piece based on that it was really fun….
we did this piece about a book where two characters go on a adventure on this random island…
September 21st, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Cassie says:
Yeah that was last session this is this session we had a verse from the pied piper and made a piece based on it…
It was really Good..
September 21st, 2009 at 8:48 pm
kenzo says:
today we did master & slave.
we also had to do a piece based on something we picked out of a hat i got ‘find a purple cloud’
anyways my faves line was ‘mr. Penguin u r under suspition off sellin purple cloud shoes on ebay what do u hafe to say!?’
hehe lolz…..
gecko (call me this)
September 21st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
listen to the music, the sound of the pipe, will you follow…or have you left your coat behind?
September 21st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
florence says:
hello!
i think i was meant to write this after the session but hehe im doing it know !!
the session i had was really different. a group of people where rehearsing a play called the story of little loopin and to rehearse the play they said they need an audience so are group went to coopers loft were they where rehearsing and we became there audience.
when we came in we got given a cardthat we had to write are name on and on the back it had a word on it eg sniff or yelp then we carried on with the task we all stood in a circlec and they pulled out a weoird ropec coverd in hair they got us to hold it in the circle so the rope made a circle .after that they showd us a weired doll in a pra that they seemed very protected of after that we played game sthis was part of the play and you won treats if you did well but the treats where not all so great a snail was given to some people it wasnt a bad thing but most peope i think would rather of had a sweet well i did any way.the last game was to do with are cards we had to go around doing the thing on your card eg go around sniffing and find every one else doing it then once you found yiur whole group you would howl like wollves after that we watched an animation of little lopin that was awesome then we talked about diffrent things to make it better or worse and we reapeted and changed things tid was watchoing but are assistant edie joined in it was really fun and cool to dol because it was so differnt !!!!!!!!!!
xox
September 21st, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
nice one Flo
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Alicia Winield says:
Hi
This is the first time i have been on the blog! It seems pretty cool! Today we did stuff about masters and slaves and we had to tell each other what to do. Then we had to work in groups and write things for people to do. Then we put all the pieces of paper in the hat and each took one. We had to act it out and then join with someone else and put are ideas together or choose one of them to work on then we paired up with another pair and did the same thing again! Then we watched them all! They were all great!Alicia x x x P.S.How do you put ssmileys on the blog?????
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Sophie simmonds says:
Heyy. Im sophie and i go to the tuesday sessions.
don’t ask) instructions. Then kane handed around paper which had printed on them things like ‘make a’ and ‘explain why’. We then finished the scentance with an instruction. I think i wrote something like ‘make a one-person romance movie’. We put all the paper into a hat, spread out round the room and then all ran for the hat to get an instruction. I got ‘explain why you forgot your home work’ after a few minutes ( this mainly involved talking to yourself!) we joined up in a pair, gave them a taster of our instruction and then saw whos idea was stronger or if there was anyway the were joined. We put 2 peices together then joined with another pair and did the same thing. My group ended up with a jeremy kyle stylee ‘why i forgot my homework’ thing. We only had ten minutes to do this so it wasn’t exacly the best :L
Today, we looked at instructions. At the end of our session we joined into groups; thought about what made good thearitical (?, i cant spell. But has just gone eleven
Thats what happened in year 7-9 session.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Shona Wall says:
The BOV is a good way to get great exersize and to learn new things, i can not name them because there are so many but if u dont go there u should ever see the shows to see what they do and go to the BOV because its AMAZING!!!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
katie says:
Year 7 and 8 session on monday was really fun, we were looking at instructions. We made up random insturctions and put them in a hat, we then had to pick a random one and act it out. I got to destroy a peice of rubbish and to pretend my shoes are made of lead. We then got into pairs and tried to link our two instructions together and make a peice of theatre, we then joined up with another pair. It was really cool and i loved the game of killer tick
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Sophie says:
Hiya guys! It’s Sophie from the tuesday 8 - 10 sessions here. So, last night we had a very weird but very cool experience. Some people came in to show us their new show their doing, i’m not sure how much we’re allowed to say about it but i’m just say that it was awsome and it was like nothing i’d really seen before. Two people from our group then did their own version of the show and ended up with the whole class up and making loads of diffrent sounds with diffrent parts of the body, very funny. We ended with some games of corse, not zip zap boing (is that the right spelling?) sadly, i really miss that game. Anyway, another fab session, can’t wait for next week and the session notes. . . .
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Natalie says:
Hi
Tuesday sessions was really fun. I liked the bit where we had to make up instructions. I think Sophie has said most of what happened. Her groups piece was really gd. Can’t wait for next time!
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Becky says:
On the monday session we had lots of fun with the set tasks. Firstly we wrote instructions and put them in a hat. Then we played a game to use them. If Miranda tapped you, you had to go up take an instruction out of the hat and perform it in front of the other members. That was pretty fun and amusing!
Then we all took an instruction and used that to create our final sketch to show at the end. You had to pair up with somebody and then another group and use your instructions to write s story. I had a great time and also loved killer tick at the beggining!
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Ella (Sessional Assistant) says:
Year 7 & 8 Monday 6-8
Leader- Miranda
Assistant- Ella
Woooow Mondays session was crazy guys, if you wernt there you missed out BIG time!
We split Split into groups of five and give slips of paper with phrases such as (i.e. Discover/Sing/Act as if/Look for/Create/Tell us). The groups had to think of things that would look good theatrically and write down the end of the sentence. The slips were then folded back up and put into a hat which was out in the middle of the room. One person went up and picked a slip and improvised what the paper told them and then other people would join in. We then sat and talked about what did and didn’t work when in an improvisation such as (i.e. too many people talking/too much happening etc).
They then got split into groups and combine/ linked all the individual improvisation, not necessarily taking everything from all of them but creating the best possible piece of theatre with what they already had.
All I can say is I hope you all stay so imaginative throughout the rest of the term!
x
September 24th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
cherry says:
firm & sticky just how i like it- quote of the session!
bov is awsome ;D
and i’d also like to add, miranda make with the bov hoddies! seriously who wouldnt buy one? :O
roger that
cherry (: x
September 24th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Stuart says:
Started off with a game of Killer Tic and a superfast round of Zip Zap Boing :O. Loved the Master And Slave exercise today, some people came up with some really interesting stuff. We then used a similar idea to make pieces of varying success. “Firm and sticky” - An orange/hoover that grew…
And I like the idea of BOVYC hoodies
September 24th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Tom L says:
WOOP WOOP
“Firm and sticky” all the way. Go us Rob, Stu and Mike
Good sesh today. Good to see zip zap boing back, haven’t played that in aaaages.
GO GO GO YC HOODIES
September 24th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Josie Pearsonnnn says:
Just got back from thursday 16-18 sesh this week, DELICIOUS CLOWN-ALISHIOUS!!!
LOVED the performance by cantrememberhisnamethingymabob! Although i was a little confused and possibly a bit “what the hell” to start with, mr man’s brilliant mime and characterisation lead me to really really REALLY enjoy it. I will DEFINITELY be awatching the performance!
second part of the sesh was a different story :p we learnt both how to not be rubbish, and what a working class citizen is really like… it sounds charming
next weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek x
September 24th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
katiee w says:
cry little nun cry and whilst you do it stab a teddy bear to death. i loved doing instructions in todays session it was really funny to see all the stuff people came up with. the way u can interperet 3 or 4 instructions and turn it into a piece of pretty insane theatre, e.g the orange firm and sticky piece. nice stuff.
cant wait till next week bov!
oh yeh and i vote hoodies please!:D
xxxxx
September 25th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Jess says:
ORANGE FIRM AND STICKY !!! GREAT ..Liked doing instructions in the last lesson, loved how some of the pieces linked really well..
HOODIES HAVE MY VOTE
.X.X.X
September 25th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Michael Guthrie says:
Our session was all about improvisation at the start. We had to pick a slip of paper from a hat and whatever it told us to do we did it. then we went on to do our own instructions for the hat. After we did that we improvised our instructions and then with another person to see if we could use both the instuctions or cut one. Then we went with another pair and secided on a piece of theatre after watching there and them watching ours. I can really explain our piece well, but lets just say it involved an Orange, a fake Baby and a ball.
Really enjoyed the session!!!!!!!!
September 25th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Lilith Wozniak says:
I really enjoyed the session where we did the instructions, though when we picked things out of the hat I kept getting ones telling me to tell stories
September 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Katherine Cusack says:
Just quickly wanted to say thanks to everyone in the 16-18’s for making me feel really welcome and that the sessions so far seem really interesting and useful.
Found myself the other day suggesting to my theatre group at college that we use the colouring technique from a couple of sessions ago to help create some aspects of our devised performance.
Xx.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Christian says:
Hey, I know it’s a bit late but now I’ve finally got round to saying I thought tuesdays session was great, espically the bit where we had to pull instructions out of a hat and Julien nearly knocked himself out headbutting a piller! See you all on tuesday!
September 27th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Rowan Newman says:
really enjyed last thursday
September 28th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Eleanor Dunlop says:
last monday was really good-nice to be back :)see you tonight!
September 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
molly highmore says:
last monday was so funny end kind of embarasing…
I loved the instructions out of hats thing!
nice to b back!
September 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Jo Hill ;P says:
last mon session was really fab!!
i liked maddies bear song to the tune of “amazing grace” …i think??//? gd to be back = ]
see you guys tonight!
September 28th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Sophie says:
just had session, fun times, actually got h/w though
have to ‘redo’ a final piece from the session. so here goes.
I’ve chosen Tilly and Ruby’s piece on the gingerbread man, although i liked the first conversation, i didn’t like the next ‘baking’ part. I would keep the conversation, but instead of saying “remember when we didn’t have to make these decisions” i’d just shift into when the gingerbread man was made - when he came to life.
You could easily have a person being the gingerbread man, using perspective and physical theatre for the ensemble and individual part.
Then for the last convo have it either between the gingerbread man and the girl he ran off with, or between the gingerbread man and his creator the baker, before he ran off.
September 28th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
holly says:
i really enjoy when we work in grops xx i think we should do some more dance like stuff because me and mill like dance xx i have loads of fun xx =)
September 29th, 2009 at 9:23 am
millie x says:
i really enjoy the old vic im glad i joined x
i would be fun to do some dance and movement stuff but its drama not dance lol xx its fun doing games xx
September 29th, 2009 at 9:26 am
holly says:
hey millz xxxx
September 29th, 2009 at 9:26 am
millie x says:
hey holly xx =D xx
September 29th, 2009 at 9:27 am
holly says:
millz have u managed to change the day of your horse and chearleading?? xx
September 29th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
millie x says:
yer luckly its so fun wacthing lizzy trying to do a cartwell im there doing it perfictly and lizzy……………. well its lizzy xxx lol x
September 29th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
holly says:
yer lol welll what can you expect lol xx
September 29th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
millie x says:
xxx =D xxx bye holl see u l8er xx
September 29th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
holly says:
bye xxx =)
September 29th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
holly says:
ohh millie x
September 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
millie x says:
yer
September 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
holly says:
hope you get better soon xx =] x
September 29th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
millie x says:
lol thanks (me 2) xx =D
September 29th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Ladies please can we keep general chat for another place and space,
But thank you for your comments on the sessions
Tidbury
September 29th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Holly says:
hello, had a great time yesterday at the year 9 session.
looking forward to next session
we had to do a piece of dialogue between two people that showed a different side to a well-known story, then we split off into different, bigger groups and do a piece that had two scenes with a conversation between two people, and one scene with an individual and an ensemble. Tid said we should write on the blog about how we would improve one of the pieces:
I have chosen James and Ellie’s group, set in the classroom. I liked the idea of the three little pigs and red riding hood’s story intertwining, and red riding hood’s character was good, but the three pigs didn’t seem to have much character, as only one of them spoke. I think the three pigs should have sat together, with maybe Red sitting a bit apart from them. This would have brought out more of the pigs characters as the “trouble-makers.”
Also, I got confused as there was a big pause in the middle. I would have made the piece perhaps a little shorter so it could have been rehearsed more, as the ending needed more practice and tightening up.
lots of good work this week
September 29th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Cassie says:
Monday Sessions
We were meant to do structure but went on to do dialogue in stead, so we ended up playing around with fairy tales and trying to see them from a diffrent POV. so our group did the three little pigs. we did a dialogue scene. then a ensemble thing. i think it went ok if i had to improve it i would do a lot more work on ensemble stuff in it. All the others were good too.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Jack says:
Year 9 - Mondays
I would redo Tilly and Riby’s peice as well. I would extend it and add in a second conversation. I would also change some of the stuff form the first conversation and generate new material to replace it. I would also get a person to be The Gingerbread Man.
Jack
September 29th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Jimmy says:
Really nice to be back, seeing all the old peeps, meeting some new ones, learning cool stuff and stuff. Last week’s session was another goodun, amazing to see what could be done with the ensemble technique compared to what we squezed out.
On an unrelated note, Our Country’s Good is shaping up to be a bit tasty. Its definitely gonna be worth a view or 2 and I hear tickets are selling out fast so I would urge everyone here to book ASAP. You wouldn’t want to miss out now would you?
September 29th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Alex says:
Tuesday Yr10/11
In this week’s session we used text or movement to convey a well known story.
I picked Oscar and Natalie’s story of the three little pigs because I liked the simplicity of it. I would improve it by continuing the conversation between the first two pigs as they decide whether or not to go to their brother’s house. Then I’d having them visit their brother (so add another person) and tell him what happened. They hear the wolf coming and it ends with a cliffhanger.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Sophie says:
Hello guys!!
So we had a fab session this week where we could choose to do either physical based or text based and then we made a short piece in twos about whatever we’d chosen based around a well known story. Everyones was totaly amazin and we now have to write on the blog about how we would improve one of them.
I chose Emma, Bonnie & Joseph’s. It was a physical piece so it had no words which makes it harder for them to show what story they were doing, but I think they they could have improved it by each of them becoming their character more, because they were all doing similar dance moves they couldn’t show who each of them was meant to be through that, but if they danced in the way their characters would have it would have been clearer.
But I still thought it was amazing that they came up with a dance that complicated in such a short time. Very awsome.
xxx
September 30th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Maddy says:
Tuesday 10/11
We split the session in two and some people did a dialogue based piece and some people did a movement based piece. Both had to be based on a well known story. I chose Kat and Katie’s piece which was dialouge one. They did Snow White and it was very good the way they showed the relationship between the mirror and the witch. i thought it could be improved by making the witch’s character and physicality clearer. But it was really cool!!!
September 30th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
lorenzo says:
it was a fun lesson today. we went into partners and had to do a 10 line thing bout a well known story and then add anoher 10 lines that twists the story in an interesting way. i think, no offfence or anyting to the group, but i think maybe flo’s group could have maybe improved their twist to make it more interesting,but it was good. and i thought a good group was alecs coz i liked the idea of their piece but maybe they could of maybe added to their staging. um sooo yeh… thats me done
seeyall
oh yeh this is the yr 7/8 group
September 30th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Annie says:
In our session we could chose if we wanted to do a Movement/dancey or a dialogue based piece. I did movement with Katie and we based ours on The Cat in the Hat! We had to base our movements around two characters and I was the fish and Katie was the cat in the hat. We had lots of fun making up the movements. We started by improvising and then went from there. We could have joined the movements together better sometimes instead of just walking from one to the next. And no one guessed what it was based on…but everyone else did fairly tales. But we had lots of fun
September 30th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Rachel says:
I’m from the 16-25 group on a weds night. i’ve only just come back from the 4th session of the term but i already feel like ive learnt alot. each week we do games and exercises that revolve around focus, awareness of each other, responsibility for your own and each other’s creativity and basically, over all, the more you put into the sessions the more you get out of it.
i just mainly wanted to say that in the first two weeks i was assuming that i knew the stuff that i stated above because of all the theatre experience that i had in the past. However, in the beginning, i can truthfully say i wasn’t committing to it and throwing myself into the work, but rather assessing the situation before i got involved.
Therefore, by focusing and maintaining a part of an ensemble rather than worrying about myself as an individual i am getting more out of the sessions. Tonight we experimented with the use of individual components; song and movement where we fused them together in an improvised performance. From this improvisation i learnt how you can create a context after experiment with voice and movement, rather than before.
looking forward to next week!
September 30th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Nice one Rachel
October 1st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Bob says:
Tonights session was amazing, haven’t done much phsyical theatre before so this was great for me.
Enjoyed every performance done!
October 1st, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Kila says:
I have never wrote on here before, so thought it was about time.
x
Tid said we had to write on the blog about improvements for one of the peices we saw on tuesdays session and i picked Katie and Catherines i think they had a really good peice and i liked how catherine became the mirror, but i think that maybe katie shouldnt of walked around as much and maybe just had a few places on stage where she was going to go rather then going around the whole performance area and aswell i think that when it was near the end and katie was talking to the mirror catherine should of stayed in the position she had been the whole time rather then moving round to face her, or maybe they should of showed katie actually moving catherine to face her , but overall i think it was a really good peice
October 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Ed Tonkin says:
6:00-8:00
Today’s session was great fun, we started off with a few games and then we were put into groups of two and we had to come up with a physical sequence. (the dance group and drama were together) we were shown by Tid and Lily different pieces to put in such as sharp and quick physical moments and then having to display them in our own. when we had finished preparing the pieces we showed them to the group. if Tid wanted to he would change the pieces by adding an extra person or doing the physical performance split up. we then commented on the pieces and filmed some, hopefully they should be on the web at some point.
Ed Whooooopa
October 1st, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Tom L says:
8-10 session tonight. watched ‘The Nothing Show’ was…interesting. bt then went to see what the 16+ group had been up to. some of the pieces were amazing. james and clare (i think??) i loved yours and dave and partner’s (soz i dont know your name) i liked yours too
Tid what is that music? I love it
October 1st, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Joseph says:
Okay lets do this.
We were told by Tid we had to put feedback on the blog for one of the pieces.
So with Kat’s and and Katie’s I really liked the way they did the whole relationship with the mirror(like an old married couple) but I think the staging of the piece didn’t work. For instance because Katie was behind Kat, all the time, It seemed like Katie was separated from the audience. I also didn’t get an idea of the environment.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Nice one all. A great week of work,
remember you can dowload the session sheets from your group page and there should be some video up soon of some of the sesssions.
Tom the Music was either Fat Freddy’s Drop or the Soundtrack to little miss Sunshine. Both wicked.
All those who want to be involved in our Dressing Room Jam Impro night email me tid@bristol-old-vic.co.uk
Involved!
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Nel says:
hi guy’s nel here.
seession on thursday was amazing. ment to be doin dance but was in with 10&11. we were doing physical/dance theatre. really good fun. everyone made something good and the direction from tid was v. useful.
i was working with Emma and felt like a right spaz when we were making it as got every thing entierly WRONG!!! loved Ella’s and Becky’s though. Great session.
seee all soon,
Nel
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
becky says:
Tuesday night 10 &11 session
we spilt the group in two, and half of us did diologe and the other half did movement/dance. we based it on a well known story, eg . cinderella. we all all had to chose a piece that we would comment on and help inprove. i chose to do anna and levis. i thought that they’re characterisation was really good, but that maybe they could add in some contact movement/ more lifts?
i also went to thursday nights dance session , but this one was with tids 10&11 group, we all did movemen and pysical theatre. We used different techniques to create a short dance in pairs. i thought emma and nells was really beautifull.
some goood sessions
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Anna Jordan says:
i was in the year 10-11 tuesday 8-10pm group doing the movement/ dialogue stuff everyone else has posted about and tid tells us all to write on the blog which i can never find. so we all say we will, then we are walking down the stairs to leave and i say to hannah ‘i havnt got a clue what to write i am not going to do it’ unfortunatley tid is standing just round the corner and hears me so i leg it out of the theatre and into the street with tid chasing after me. so i thought after that i am kinda going to have to write something but i dont know what to write so i am writting this ^
but i tid i did make the effort to go on the blog
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Nel says:
good one anna.
October 3rd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
holly and millie says:
hey xx
year 9 tusedays the best have loads of fun xx woop woop
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Molly says:
Hey guys!!
I loved yr7&8 wednesdays last week was awesome but in the improvisaton part we forgot our lines… OOOPPPPSSSS
October 4th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Anya (: says:
Hey it’s anya from the year 10-11 session on thursdays ;D
Yup, was a good session
The nothing show was awesome.
love the bov !
btw what’s bristol jam?
October 4th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Anya (: says:
BTW MAKE A HOODIE !
October 4th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
shona wall says:
ITS COOL!!!!! IM LOVIN IT! LOLAGE!
October 4th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Ettie says:
So angry at self for not going to Old Vic last week.
Nel said it was lots of fun.
I’m so going next week.
BOV HERE I COME!
October 4th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
charis says:
thursady sesion 8-10,
It was really fun
basically we were split up into 2 groups , 1 that wanted to do movement and another that wanted to do dialog. both groups had to pick a well known story and the dialog people had to come up with ten lines of dialog ( 5 for each person) and then use space to work out how to peform it. The movement group had to make some movement to repesent the story.
all the groups were really good , but one of my favourites were Kat and Katy (smartie
) who did snowhite , I think they could have inproved it by Katy having more power over Kat , I think Kat could have been a bit more intimidated. I thought they used there space really well and the new twisted story was really good. 
October 4th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Polly says:
I have been forced to do this so now i finally will!! Last tuesday Tid wanted 2 seperate groups of people that did text and another that did dance. I was text :).
So i watched the dance groups do their stuff and so I wanted to improve Will and Sancha’s piece. They did ‘little red riding hood’ with little red and wolf dude scene… in my opinion it was alright but they could have made it SOO much cooler if Sancha had over dramatically reacted when sancha explored the grandmas interesting new facial features?!?. Dun dun dunnn. When the wolf shows of his facial features, Will could have made that alot clearer and really big.
They could have made really cool fluent movements when they started to fight by picking each other up and spinning one another round. It would have been one funky fight scene.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Tian says:
I enjoyed the session last week , and im looking forward to tomorrow.last week we had to get into groups and do fable stories but not the atually storyline, how it starts from the beginning,why goldielocks wanted to go in this strangers house in the frist place.I really liked the three little pigs group,next time they should try and have the three little pigs as well.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Levitikas says:
Thats my real name, makes me sound like a African G!!!
Anyway back 2 business,
(read Pollys post bcuz im soo tired 2 type on a Wii and no computers……. }:( )
Katie Hopes piece was quite stupendous with her groups piece but there were some parts which seemed a bit cliche and repetitive, the other parts were quite fresh and gives you the thought ”why didnt we think of that!?”.
Try to make parts a bit more unique and different.
*sigh* that was very intellectual but thats not for me!
October 4th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Levitikas says:
Levitikas = Levi
GOT THAT!?
October 4th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
zef says:
hi guys zef here tid told us to write on the blog so i am he asked us to comment on last session (monday last week) it was great however i and mant others found the tasks and requirements very difficult but over thought i realised some of the tasks that i failed to complet correctly i now have a sort of idea of a way i could of acumplished the tasks that were set see you all tonight zef xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
October 5th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
zef says:
whooooooooooopppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 5th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
George says:
I’m from the year 7-8 session. Last Wednesday we chose a famous fairy tales and had to make up lines for them and then perform them. we had to do 5 lines each. We then had to do another 5 lines. I picked to ‘review’ Lorenzo and Rosin’s. I thought that their play was hilarious and I think they thought up really good words
their facial expressions were also really good but I think that they could’ve faced the audience a bit more. Otherwise it was great 
good job 
October 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
florence says:
hello again,
last week we did fairytales like the tree little pigs !
i worked with matt griggs and i liked are performance but felt that there were a few things that could be improved and we got a bit muddled with one task of changing the story !!
i am going to pick alec and harrys play because t was really well done and i felt they reallly worked hard on it the staging was good the speaking was good and the whole thing was very funny! i think it would of been a good piece to develop and i cant find any bad things about it tehe ! thats a good thing:-)
xox
bye bye =-)
October 5th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Cassie says:
Monday session its the 5th
We did two
And the Pied Piper
Our group did a music thing to do with the pied piper and joined with another group to make a piece..
All the two dialouge and movement pieces were amazing I think two could be a really fab show.
Great session
October 5th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Maddie C.R says:
Monday Year 7&8 Group….
My favourite moment was when Jonte was in the car and Lewis has just been run over and he says;
‘I have just run over a man, I am ashamed’.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Ella- Sessional Assistant says:
Well where to start…
yesterdays year 7 and 8 group was all go! We worked on Roald Dalh poemes, and looked at the rehearsal process as well as the importance of working quickly.
My fav piece has to be Nel and Rachel’s adaptation of Cinderella, I though Nels chacterisation of Cinderella was amazing, and the use of space with the piece being performed where the audience would normally sit was very clever!
Great session guys
See you all next week
October 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Tid (Young Company Director) says:
Nice blogs you guys.
If you are in a session assisted by Kane Power, sort him out as he still hasn’t sent me all his training sheets, so I can’t put them up. Sorry about that.
Congrats to Ellah, Edie and Kerry for their very useful session notes. The guys seem to be failing bad style.
Anna Jordan…nice blog lol.
Luke and Amy nice piece last night in Yr 9 Mon, Lilly and James too, and all the others.
Emma and Nell’s piece last week, was very strong and tender.
Hoodies? Really?
Jam…http://bristoljam.ning.com/
October 6th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
natalie says:
I’ve only just remembered to do this :S but i remembered just in time
Last week we were split into text groups and movement groups. We had to base our text/movement pieces on a well known story. One that stood out for me was Will and Sancha’s. I loved how their movement was quite abrupt but i think that they could have made it clearer that they were doing little red riding hood by over-emphasising their movements on well known parts, such as ‘what big eyes you have’ etc. Other than that i thought it was really good!
cool beans