Seasons greetings (not really)

HELLLOOOO!!!! I'm Tammie, I'm from the NZ Strangers group, haven't used this before so just thought I'd see what happened if I went "post blog" like you mean it.. and ja ;) blieb giel und so klingt des kamine kerars glux melodie! keep your nose on the joy trail x Tam

Hey from the USA

Hey guys its Melissa.

Im originally from Slough and thats where I started with the Strangers project - and where I met Peri :D She rocks! But she had to go back to Wales no matter how much of our persuasion techniques we used to try and get her to stay. lol

Anyway, I moved to California just over a week ago and its all a bit weird at the moment - I've started school and Ive been making friends and going to wrestling matches, but Im still missing my friends back home and I cant wait to see them again.

ALSO - this is the big one! They dont do drama on our school curriculum!! How weird and unusually cruel is that?! A school isnt a school without a drama class! If it wasnt for the strangers project I would have gone totally crazy!!!! lol

Anyhoo, people to see, places to go :D
Missing everyone from the Ghetto Slough!
Missing Piece of the Pie theatre group and SYPC :D

Keep it real
Mel
xx

Hey Hey Hey!!!

I Finally got it to work...at last!!! WEHEY!! It's been great fun doing the strangers project so far...Peris the BEST!!! It's a shame though that i cant be in the performance as im in Awstria Skiing at the time! :[ !! Skwl was boring as ever 2day..ive had lds of hmework!! Bummer!! Well cnt think what else to say lol..

speak soon

Owain

x

Well hello!

hello to all of you who are reading this! whether you're in Newzeland, Slough or lovely South Wales.
I'm Peter by the way! 14 years old, moved to wales from England in 2004! I live in Gwaun Cae Gurwen aka GCG.
I hope you're all well! Hows Newzeland or Slough? Wales is good! the weather isn't too bad! There's actually NO RAIN yet.
School was pretty boring! No drama! ahhh i felt so empty :(
Thank goodness for Strangers! without this project i would not have gotten my drama hit!
We've just finished a meeting down here in Brynaman! it was really good! thanks to Peri and everyone that made it so fabulous! We had some really good ideas after doing the clay sculpting exercise which oddly enough involves no clay! But it really makes you think about your own movement. The idea is you have a person stood in front of you, your clay, then you mold them into the word you've been given. I.e if Peri said sadness, you'd have to make your clay look like what you think sadness looks like. This is a REALLY good exercise!
And thanks to Peri we're off to the theatre in Pontadawe to watch a play! it sounds pretty interesting! its a comedy about welsh roots and welsh folk law. I'll get back to you about what it was like!
Have a good night sorry i went on for so long! bye for now!

Pete x

Hey

Hey Dudes...=)
my name is charlotte but i like to be called charlie im 15 and live in glanaman in wales..i stareted the strangers project at the start of september...i realy like the project beacause you get to meet new people and i love drama. i also love dancing and gymnastics and i think it would be awsome that we could do a dance in the play. i was realy inspired that thelma in slaw read to us a poem when we skyped them...(well done)...and all the people in slaw are amazing love you =) cant wait to speak to you agen....and also i cant wait to meet u people out in new zealand=) sorry i was'nt ther when we skyped you =(....well i hope every one is ok and il speak soon love you miss you...xxxx

YAY

Hey lol we have a meeting tonight and im soo excited lol we finally in the idea stage woop and from what i have heard all 3 groups ideas are soooo cool So yeah COME ON ..... and good luck to the rugby teams lol now the welsh are out..... grrrr


Lexx

Introducing Krissie....Enthusiastic Slough Blogger

Hi guys!

Well, I'm Krissie. I work at Slough Young People's Centre which is one of the organisations involved in the Strangers project. We're doing an Afterhours Arts Academy course called Strangers Drama run by the lovely Lizzie - which I'm sure some of you might even be going to at the moment. I've heard great things about the work which is being done and I'm sure I'll come down from the office upstairs one night and see some awesome performances.





Here's a bit about me. I love Drama and studied it at University and these days I prefer acting to directing though it changes quite often! I love the theme of Strangers for the project as I come from a very diverse family: my parents are Finnish and German, my brothers are American and I am the first English person in my family for four generations. I think we stretch back as far as France six generations ago as well so I'm pretty international and I love that. I really enjoy looking back at my family's roots and seeing how it makes me into the person I am today.





Anyway, loving the photos and blogs that have gone up so far and looking forward to meeting everyone via Skype at some point!

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 Nelson Project Manager-Sarah Jones

Hi Everyone,

I'm Sarah and I'm the project manager and Strangers Director in New Zealand. I've met quite a lot of you when I was back in the UK in the summer. Hows Strangers going with you? Here in New Zealand we're finishing our scripts ready for a rehearsed reading in the Nelson Arts Festival! Time is short but pressure can bring great rewards. I'll post some script examples up soon.

Anyway I'll need to think about getting some shut eye as we are skyping with you lot in Slough at 7.30am our time tomoz!

Get blogging soon and tell us what your up to with Strangers. Don't be a Stranger now!

Talk soon

Sarah

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...