Yet another WOW

Hey Y'all,

Over halfway thru work experience week at MUTM headquaters and so far so good - I'm having a cool time too!!!

Carmarthenshire Theatres are so cool. Yesterday we got to watch a really good piece of children's theatre by renowned Welsh company Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch form Aberystwyth ALL FOR FREE!!! We even got to interview one of the actors after the show and went right up into the top of the fly tower and Mike the technical guy explained how it all worked.

Unfortunately Tess couldn't make it today but luckily for Lewis that meant there was more room in the car and he could join us in our adventures! And now he's also going to join the team for animation training on Friday so we're adding to the troops each day now...soon to take over the world!!!

Talking of which, had a great Skype with NZ HQ last night and ran through loads of plans and ideas with Mrs Sarah Jones. She has just returned from Australia at the World Conference of Theatre for Children and Young People. I'm sure she'll be on here writing about her experiences soon but just thought I'd give you news hot of the press that global connections with other youth theatres are blossoming and Strangers Two is becoming more than a very eciting idea.....

So, next week is Half term and there's loads going on like dance workshops and trips to TV studios and make up workshops NOT TO MENTION DRAMA ON TUESDAY NIGHT!!! So get in toucgh if you want to get involved...

See Y'all.

;P

MINI FEST-TASTIC and lots more to come!!!

Hey everyone,

"Our Square Mile" fest took place at the Pensioners on Wed and was a great success. Using all the work and ideas you guys came up with over the past month with Sarah was a great way to showcase and highlight your hard work for your parents and local community. Jess from Siop Laria was very impressed with the physical nature and style of your performance as she is a movement performance artist. So huge thanks to her for making the effort to come along and support your work.

In the meantime, the MUTM plans keep on rollig and the next events are

Trip to AMT tomorrow night to watch Hijinx Theatre perform Full Circle - Eloise from Play in a Day will be performing so please come and support the show if you can - tickets £2.50 if you meet Me at the door.

Saturday 17th May is Global Day at Glanamman Resource Centre - Last year Tess, Jacob and Sophie attended and took part in a workshop and mini performance. This year I hope there will be a few more of us so that we can perform bits of strnagers and some of the work from Our Square Mile. We will rehearse for this on the next 2 tuesdays, k?

Monday 19th May is a youth event in Brynaman with hotdogs, climbing wall and DJ workshops at St Catherine's Hall which I'm volunteering at and everyone is welcome to attend.

Also that week Tess, Tash and Jacob will be on work experience with Mess Up the Mess at the community centre and Ammanford Miners Theatre...Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!!!

The following week is May half term and The CFC Music Video Project starts up with trips to Tinopolis Studios and Makeup workshops and dance sessions. This project will continue through the summer and there are loads of ways you can get involved so watch this space...

Also during the summer there will be drama workshops which I will keep you updated on as we go along.

WELL...I think thats enough to be getting on with and I'm bound to have missed something out!

Hope all you strangers out there are cool and you guys in NZ are looking forward to getting Sarah back in a few weeks time when she gets back from the World conference of theatre for children and young people in Adelaide Australia ... WOW!!! Good luck Sars!!!

Peri xxx

Physical theatre in Brynaman is energetic and amazing!

I simply HAD to post about last night's amazing physical theatre workshop at the community centre.

9 young people from the Amman Valley attended and created 2 full hours of incredibly focused and high quality physically devised theatre. The level of concentrationa and standard of work was excellent and Sarah and I are both VERY impressed with the maturity of the group.

Only 6 days now until the mini fest at the pensioners hall and I've no doubt that some of last night's work will be included in some way or another....

Looking forward to putting the structure of work together on Tuesday and planning the stories/images you guys want to tell the audience.

Please remind your parents and friends that we need an audience on Wednesday at 7.30 (only for 30 mins or so) and that tea and biscuits will be provided!

See you Tuesday!!!

Peri ;)

Morning Wales and Slough, Good evening Nelson

It is now Tuesday morning here beneath Y Mynydd Du and the sun is just rising. Three days after our performacnces in Wales, the land of song, and I am still excited by the buzz in the air around our achievements. Today I head west to the sea in Pembroke, where my actual roots really really are and take part in a Global Youth Networking Event where I have been specially invited to do a presentation on our project - Strangers across the Globe.

How cool are we?!? Very.

Tonight, however I shall return and meet with Criw Cymru for an evaluative debriefing session at the Pensioners Hall and I'm really excited about that too!

What have we really learnt from this project? We know how much fun it has been over the last 6 months but what will we actually take away with us? One thing I've learnt, asna I'm sure many others, is to simply write on a blog for the fist time in my life! I remember asking the Wales group in September whether anyone had ever used a webcam for a conversation with someone elsewhere and noboday in the room ever had. Now that seems strange as its so normal to us to get up at 8 in the morning and roll out of bed for tea and toast with Strangers Nelson!

I have also learnt that in Brynaman people really are "kind" like Stranger tells Gwen on the Mountain. So many volunteers pulled together on Friday and Saturday night - not to mention all the staff who had no choice!!! People were packing folders full with info on the project and selling programmes and collecting feedback forms and stopping some audience members from leaving at the interval when they thought it was the end! Jess from Siop Laria (the shop used in the Miming film!) was there and loved the line about the tic tac! Staff from the centre loved the show and all the local references, epecially "This is Brynaman Public Hall" - thank you Brian for allowing us to use the cinema for the film and supporting our ideas.

The whole of our play was founded on the cinema in Brynaman still being used today as in 1926 and I think that we should arrange an group outing to celebrate it soon! Even though some people have already started this trend with Elmo in Grouchland! ;)

Anyway, I think I should probably be getting ready to drive now and preparing my thoughts for the presentation but I really just wanted to say - Thank you to everyone and I'm really looking forward to seeing Criw Cymru tonight and Slough Massive on Thursday. Nelson, perhaps we can catch up on the webcam when Sarah's back in Wales - I'm sure we'll all be missing each other by then, won't we?!

Wish me presentation luck! xxx

Wales CAST the net

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to announce that Criw Cymru (the Wales Crew) has now been cast into our wonderful bank of international Strangers characters.

Last night in our regular rehearsal space at the pensioners' hall, we read through the scripts, discussed ideas for linking common themes and characters and by the end of the evening all performers were cast into their roles for the performance.

WOW! Things are moving sooo quickly now. Next week we shall start work on some ensemble and a handful of key scenes, amalgamation ideas and planning before breaking up (no tears now!) for a two week Christmas Hol.

When we return we shall be meeting so often that no one will ever tear us apart again!

Anyway, last night was also very exciting because we were "observed" by Gemma from Cyfanfyd (whaich means "whole world" in Welsh) It is a Global Youth Work Organisation and Gemma is very interested in using our very own Strangers Project as a Case Study for their handbook...WOOOOAAAAH - how cool are we?!?!?

I received an email from Gemma today telling me how much she enjoyed being part of our rehearsal and to congratulate us on the amazingness of our project across the world...watch this space... ;)

We also have the opportunity to spread the word of Strangers in a community Christmas Experience next week on the 20th in our local rugby club, and Peter has already started work on a powerful and poigniant power point presentation. Well done Pete!

Right, just looked back at this very long post and hope you're as excited as I am when you read about all the amazing things that are happening because of all you amazing young people around the world.

If anyone in Slough or NZ is able to post up a few photos of your work on the blog or email them to me at messupthemess@hotmail.co.uk before Tuesday we can fit them into the presentation... and that would be SOOO cool....

Get in touch if you need help with that...

Merry, Merry Christmas and holidays to you all!!! (and that's surely not the last time you'll hear those words on this blog!)

Peri ;)

Day 2 in the Pensioners Hall...

Woah, What a day we had in Wales today!

Only day 2 of rehearsals and so much to think about! Criw Cymru (Wales Criw) were all ready to Skype NZ before 8 am this morning and the film crew were making a documentary of us at the same time. (FOR DETAILS SEE COMMENT BOX ON LAST POST) We all had tea and toast (some with honey..!) and then made our way down to rehearsal for 10am.

After singing with the NZ team we were all in the mood for more songs during warmup and were very pleased when Alex the designer and Roger and Elin joined in the funky chicken, penguin AND banana songs!!! Then we did a cool memory focus game using place names and Welsh surnames in the circle (Sars- the fruit/country game) We managed to get into a really good two beat rhythmn by the ned and I think its something we can come back to as it really evoked the patterns and sing song nature of the Welsh language and accents.

We then discussed film ideas in the circle and John told the filmmakers about the narration style hitchhiker guide to brynaman. During our creative conversations we've developed some cracking ideas around surrealism, monty python-esque randomness and lots of fun I feel!

Loads of food for thought to mull over till Friday when we develop the ideas futher with Roger.

In the afternoon Alex ran a design workshop and showed us loads of really cool masks and puppets to give us a sense of where we really can take our ideas especially regarding the themes of journeys, masks as strangers and loads of other things! We discussed what NZ had told us about their play in the morning and thought about Slough's ideas too and looked at places we could set our play - how to create "Brynaman" and ensure we tell the audience our really important story and share it. Ideas for the screen varied greatly - which is always best at the start - from laundry on a washing line to a pathway leading upstage and splitting the screen in two. So many variations on this and other ideas that there's just not enough time to share them all...Aaaargh!

So there's a taster for those who weren't there and a reminder for those who were ;)

To complete the session we listened to the intro of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood" and relaxed and lulled with a cup of tea ready for a day of devising, acting and creative writing tomorrow....SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!! I've got to choose a new smiley...

Peri xxx Cool.

BRYNAMAN ROCKS!!

Hi All!

Peri here :) Just had to blog after our first day of intensive rehearsal week in half term in Wales.

Alex, Jacob, Haddy, Tess, Cadi and Sophie - you did some amazing research today and it will all be so worth it when we come to our creative writing this week.

Think about all the descriptive words we can try out to really evoke the atmosphere of the Amman Valley and be bold! Think of all that anthracite rock/coal (hard to light, then never goes out;)) which is very unique in the world and we are lucky enough to have some!

I learnt loads this morning, especially when you guys were all being fount-of-all-knowledge professors and also by watching Jon's video of the reality tv show "CoalHouse". It really made me think about life in 1920s Wales.

I've just been talking to the writer and director Jamie and Sarah in NZ and they're really interested in all the ideas we've come up with today. Looking forward to the early morning skype with NZ YPs. I'll pack the honey and toast now ;)

See Y'all

Hear me talk!

P.S. - click this little ghost of Brynaman!

RECAP...it gets you in the swing!

Hey everyone!

I've just spent the last 20 mins going through all the comments boxes and recapping over September posts as well. Its really good to recap as it reminds you how things are developing...and so far so good! The only way is up! And with the Slough half term next week and Wales half term the following week there's gonna be loads more stuff to blog soon!

Keep those comments going as well - its really cool when someone answers your post! lol

Hope everyone's having a funky weekend - Wales criw - get posting!!!! ;D

Peri

OUR CINEMA

Sitting in the balacony
Friday night the seats are busy
Or its Orange Wednesdays
81 years of films and people
Young and old, boys and girls
Courting, romance, weddings, families
Miners saving all their pennies
We remember days gone by
And thank them for the memories

PLEASE ADD MORE VERSES THROUGH THE COMMENT BOX

Interviewing the ladies of Brynaman about the cinema in days gone by

On Friday night, 4 of the Wales Strangers, along with Peri and Julianna, went to meet with a local Welsh language ladies group called Merched y Wawr (ladies of the dawn). They are really like the WI (Women's Institute) and bake cakes and make lots of tea and come together socially on trips and events.

We went to film an interview with the ladies about their experiences of Brynaman Cinema as research for writing our Wales script and found out about some interesting characters and what went on in the back seats! ;D

The biggest change for young people of the village from the old days to today was that there was youth club every night of the week with different chapels where the young people of the town between 14 ad 25 years would gather in groups of over 100! There was no need out hang about on the streets as there was always something to do. These days the youth club is only open on Monday nights and is currently closed for refurbishment until the new year :(

People would queue for the cinema for hours and whilst one audience came out of the doors after "first house" the queuers for "second house" would be in their way!

Two very interesting characters were Betty Ben Tips the usherette and a man who worked there called Phil who was big and could neither speak nor hear and all the young people would behave when he was around...Peter is going to look at writing a scene about them over the weekend ;) Nice one Pete!

The ladies also confirmed that there used to be operas at the Public Hall and Owain's nan used to play the piano at those events.

Another interesting thing was that if you were over 15 you had to pay more to come in so the girls would spend ages trying to "dress young" to look 14 or under to save money. These days young people tend to dress up older to try to get into 15 certificate films! Very ironic don't you think?!

There was loads more info we discovered but this is just a taster to give you an idea.

Diolch i pawb yn y Merched y Wawr am yr atgofion a diolch i'r pobl ifanc sy wedi neud y cyfweliad yn digwydd.

Martyn and Charlie's Interviews . . . Look closely - they are there!

Alex and Peter's Interviews after watching the Welsh play "Vortigern's Kingdom"

A cool moment Peri simply had to share...

Hey everyone,

Just got back from a most excellent Strangers Wales 3rd Tues night rehearsal and just invited some more of team Wales to join the blog!

While I was on here I suddenly had a thought that Strangers NZ may still be online through the webcam so I gave them a call and although the team had left I still got to chat with Sarah the director and Chris the Filmmaker as they packed things away.

Their skype with Slough sounds really cool and I hope as more people sign up to this blog we can all meet each other here as the project continues. I'm so glad we can use all these means to communicate - its opening up a whole new world!

Thank you team Wales for an awesome rehearsal - you are all stars! If you want to post some of your monologue/scripted scenes straight on here, thats cool.

Bye for now! Peri x

Introducing Strangers Wales Project Manager...

I'm Peri, the Wales Project manager for strangers and I thought I'd just write a little bit about myself to start the ball rolling, and maybe others would like to do the same...

I live in Brynaman, where the strangers project takes place in Wales. My first language is English but I have learnt Welsh as second language and I am passionate about keeping the language alive. My grandfather was from North Wales and he spoke Welsh as his mother tongue, but all the rest of my family speak English.

Through this project I have already learnt a lot about the local history of this area and think its really cool that our village cinema which was opened in 1924 is still very much alive today, even though it burnt down and had to be rebuilt. The idea that all the local industrial workers clubbed together to raise the money to build the place and now we all attend it at the weekends and on "Orange Wednesdays" is just awsome!

Looking forward to finding out so much more to develop our script in Wales and can't wait to hear about the progress of the NZ and Slough projects...

Looking forwrd to meeting you guys!

The final shot

Here is the Final shot of the rehearsal in Brynaman on Tuesday night.



"Very serious in the olden days.
All we need is the black and white.

Mae pawb yn edrych hen fashiwn iawn.
Du a gwyn a bydd en perffaith."

Old fashioned Photo shoot

In Brynaman we explored the idea of what takes place in the moments before a photgraph is taken and we're interested in using this in the performance since being inspired by Alex's family photos from the 1940s.

Masks

Found these and thought of us! Just kidding I think some of us met these characters in the Aelwyd in August though...