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.
