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When I was little, I didn’t want to grow up. The grown up world looked terribly serious and my instincts told me sub-consciously that there would be a drastic change.
One day when we were kids hanging out in the back shed lighting matches for fun (no we didn’t burn the place down), my little girlfriend told me that she couldn’t wait to get married and have kids. Wow. I thought she was nuts. I felt no rush nor desire for the same. None.
Now, gazillions of years later I know what my childhood instincts were telling me. There was going to be a lot less play in the grown up world and a lot more problems to solve. I just knew.
The other day on my walk, I watched an impish mix of adults and kids playing soccer with abandon. It made me grin and I knew that nothing else could be on their minds. Too busy playing, they were in the elusive “now” where all the great contemporary gurus are telling us to be. (have you read Eckart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now”?) The soccer game was a perfect example.
Silly us adults frolicking for fun.. imagine!
Theatre, stage work offers this opportunity for me and I believe my journey to this world was an honest trek from childhood. I needed to keep playing. It felt like air, a serious necessity. Being a character on a stage, in a situation, with a live audience, if you are sincere with your work, will keep you divinely present.
When we get to witness, as an audience, a truly connected, compelling, and riveting performance in theatre we are privy to the players in the now. There is clarity and presence. And a strange truth.
To get to some of these great moments, I believe play is of the utmost importance. En Francais acting is called “l’art de jeu” – the art of playing. If we allow our grown up tightness to breathe and expand, we have an opportunity to experience extraordinary unexpected times.
We need to have the chance to discover and explore. I guess that is why I turned to Le Bouffon as a tool to get us all to our playful selves, and discover some gems in our work.
Bouffons in their element! Adults gone.
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child” Pablo Picasso
This idea of play translates beyond the theatre, musical and artistic world.
Who isn’t more productive when we have permission to laugh, or play in our working environment? A boss who reprimands employees who dare to enjoy themselves at work risks stymieing the worker and ironically losing productivity.
When I worked as a costumer in the film industry, I had a favourite designer who had a great sense of humour. We developed a wacky reputation as laughter frequently burst out of “that crazy wardrobe truck”! That laughter got us through the immense work and long grueling hours much more easily.
How is play in your grown up life? What do you do to nurture yourself in your working world? I’m curious. Do you have a situation to share where play proved to be the answer?
Despite my strong will to play, I still write to myself as much as to you, when I say that play is imperative. My bouffon students have heard me say, “I wish I could take my workshop!” as I watch them play wholeheartedly, forgetting about their adult masks, and discovering the sacred pleasure of the now. Their results? A freedom of expression that leads them to more.
I dare to wish that for everyone.
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw
The above tweet (twitter term) came to me last night while I was having the privilege of witnessing a conversation about writing between an experienced screenwriter, and a newer one who was asking some pertinent questions. I mostly observed and then offered a couple of my thoughts.
Two things happened: one, it reminded me of how twitter can be such a valuable tool if used correctly (don’t worry… this is not a post about twitter, despite the fact I probably could ramble on for a length…), and secondly, the dialogue gave some valuable story advice.
Especially as I dive further into writing a piece for me to perform.
Last night’s discussion touched on emotion and its usefulness when creating effective scenes that will reach an audience. It reminded us to review the people for whom we’re writing, and in the possible ways they could see themselves in the story.
I was reminded of the importance of empathy, and to feel what someone is feeling, to place myself in their shoes. This is an almost impossible feat to do entirely – but one worth exploring if you are going to deliver something with substance…don’t you think?
And, speaking of feet, I wear a plastic support on my right foot as I have drop foot. The “AFO”(ankle-foot-orthoses) goes under my foot and reaches up my calf in an ugly way becoming my best friend so I can’t trip. (I draw on the plastic in the summer so it at least looks funky).
It looks like I’m digressing but it’s related, I promise.
In a rare moment, I met a man my age, the other day, who was also sporting an AFO. It was an instant empathetic moment. We understood so much without even saying anything. We knew in a flash some of the pain, discomfort, and challenges the other one had.
Empathy.
That was a direct one on one moment.
What about mass empathetic moments as a result from a play or a movie?
In our art, or even just our every day life, isn’t it better to work hard at trying to understand a person, a group, a movement, a tragedy, a joy, in order to reproduce a story, a character, a plight, a reason…
Of course it’s impossible to truly understand, & completely empathize, as we are such individuals with such a variety of experiences. But I think that empathy serves well as a guide to a deeper place of truth whether it is for performance, or just relating to a stranger or a close friend.
“I know how you feel.”
As we write, or give life to characters already written, as the twitter conversation implied, we must put our own tears where we want the audience to feel tears, we must feel our own joy in order to pass on the same emotion, and be in our own excitement in order to take others there.
What is my point of this blog post? I guess it is my attempt to remind others as I was gratefully reminded last night that to give “good art” empathizing with your audience is a good stage from which to dive.
I’d like to thank @JBMovies (John’s site) & @vivspace (Vivienne’s blog) for allowing me to watch your valuable twitter conversation unfold.
Enjoy some good musical art from my favourite album on human nature. “One Giant Leap“
Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary’s meaning of empathy:
The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.
I’ve neglected my poor blog the last few weeks as I threw caution to the wind and accepted a road trip proposal from a good friend of mine who was turning a task into an eleven-day adventure. Once on the road, ensconced in her big black truck, the world of computers took a back seat and had to be content to my, maybe, once a day facebook/twitter updates! I was busy absorbing the world passing by, and, stepping on new grounds.
Our route took us from Vancouver through Washington to the Oregon Coast to the California Coast into Nevada back up through California and eventually back to Vancouver, with stops in Seaside, Grants Pass, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Death Valley & Lone Pine, Alturas, & Crater Lake, with our last night in Portland, Oregon.
I saw fields & fields of olive trees, orange trees, lemon trees, and mysterious unknown trees. I saw steep rocky cliffs, snake & ladder roads, breathtaking ocean vistas, miles & miles of white beaches, rain forests, barren lands, mountains of all shapes & sizes, hills of varying qualities.
I saw the most incredible valley of desert, and felt the intense heat of the environs. I saw many funny looking cactus type trees that turned out to be the famous “Joshua Tree”. Some of these trees sneaked in the photos I was obsessively taking in order to hold onto the “now” that was slipping rapidly into the “then”.
Palm Tree in Death Valley
I also saw villages of various colours: seaside places, myriad of crab shacks & clam chowder shanties, funny little towns, posh expensive towns (Carmel, Malibu CA) and that “out of the blue” Victorian Tea Shop (where I bought my glass ring for 7$) in Tillamook. “Where is the best coffee in town?” we asked what looked like a local gentleman on the street. “I don’t know! They’re all the best!” he exclaimed. That’s when we discovered our first café kiosk where you can drive up and get your latte or plain old coffee. Happily we found them everywhere!
Our Favourite Coffee stops!
I experienced the energy of the cities such as: San Francisco – the Golden Gate Bridge (even right under it!!), the stylish San Fran houses, Fisherman’s Wharf, a view of creepy Alcatraz Island, eating crab & more clam chowder outside, watching the crazy “BushMan” scare innocent passerbys on the street, witnessing the old streetcars billowing with tourists hanging on, tasting (&, okay, buying) fabulous Ghiradelli chocolate, and Boudin’s famous Sourdough bread (yum)…
…cities such as: Los Angeles – crazy busy freeways, apartment sized pancakes on our first morning, regal palm trees lining the streets, warmth, extraordinary bright sunlight, touristy strolls on Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, Rodeo Drive, driving through Beverly Hills, on Mulholland Drive, down to Santa Monica & Venice, seeing the massive beaches, the festive pier (I adamantly refused to go on the ferris wheel because I didn’t want to get sick – guess what happened later anyway? Hmm… Murphy’s law?), meeting with new twitter actor friends at that neat “Urth Café”, meandering around the Venice Canals, marveling at the foliage & the charming houses, seeing the little house where my Dad spent a winter in 1958 (still the original one), celebrating “Cinco de Mayo” at a little Mexican restaurant (no swine flu!)…
Typical tourist!
…cities such as: Las Vegas where the luminosity boldly greeted us when we arrived in the evening, the “main drag” noises of people, cars, outside shows, the “volcano” exploding, pirates climbing their masts, gigantic electronic billboards announcing shows & ads, perfumed air, mountains of hotels impersonating Paris, Venice, New York, promises of luxury, excitement of possible fortune (nope I didn’t win), the slapping of peep show promo cards on the street sales peoples’ hands, the friendly service, those tasty Margaritas to top our walk off, and the strange daylight sensation of Vegas the day after.
Arriving Las Vegas
The last city we visited was Portland. A city that felt creative, certainly abit chillier, but inspiring especially with that crazy gargantuan book store, Powells, and the weekend market where many artisans got our own creative juices flowing, as did the food! Loved that homemade ice cream! (did I mention it did get a bit warmer?)
On the road, we had surprises such as Lone Pine, and “The Beverly & Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History” revealing a super collection of memorabilia from the Western films shot in the area (perfect for two gals who work in the film industry – and for a couple of horse nuts!), Crater Lake to where we detoured spontaneously, the road over to Vegas taking us through a fruit belt (those strawberries & grapefruit were so delicious), and the thousands of sea lions on that Oregon beach.
Death Valley
As I write this I confirm my original thought that these 11 days were very theatrical in their movements, in their silences, in their surprises, in their suspense, in their joy, in their noise, in their different colours, temperatures, lighting, in their textures, in their excitement, in their histories, and in their thought provoking moments. Isn’t that good theatre?
We can turn to our everyday rhythms and experiences to inspire our creative ventures whether they be writing, painting, acting, performing, composing. We just need to listen to our own reactions and translate that graph to our work. Ha… easier said than done, but definitely doable.
The vastness & strength of the desert, and the busyness & overabundance of the bold “sin city” are contrasts I find compelling. Hopefully these elements will show up in some form in my creative writing.
What sounds, smells, sights, and tastes in your day informs your work?
Near StovePipe Wells
Lately I’ve been thinking about the power of music and it’s presence in the creative process. Do you use it any way to help you with your work? Or do you need silence in order to create?
When I designed my bouffon workshop I tapped into a line up of music that supported each step of the way. At the beginning, I chose music to put participants at ease, to enhance creating an early safe place. I then slowly sneaked in primal sounds to inspire each bouffon to emerge. Eventually, faster pace music helped playfulness release, and then soft music brought everyone back to his or her humans. This, of course, is the readers digest version!!
At the end of most workshops, people request the CD titles as they have enjoyed the atmosphere, and their reaction to the music.
Another place where I have consistently used music is before performing on stage. Again, I listen to my instincts and choose a piece of music that suits what I, as an actor, need to hear prior to making my entrance. I have to say that some of my choices have been most surprising considering the type of role I was playing. I think the most extreme example was when I was playing a demure French woman (Agnes in L’Astronome) who loved to knit (and opened the play knitting on stage) and who was in love with her psychiatrist. The music that came to me was the song “Shine” by “Collective Soul”. I needed to dance and “rock out” before I became that character! Crazy but it worked for me!
I am a social media enthusiast (this term I adopted from Kevin Knebl who is a musician & warm & effective LinkedIn coach) and you can find me scrolling around on twitter, looking for inspirational gems. I find them. I would like to share one with you now that relates to our discussion on music.
Vivian Nesbitt and John Dillon have a unique place online with their radio station: Art of the Song Creativity Radio. Their mission speaks clearly of their goals and desires for all of us creative types….everyone! I will let their words lead you to their website and their individual blogs. Explore, listen and get inspired for your mode of creation whether it is a play, a poem, a story, a song, a dance piece, a painting, an invention, or a great marketing plan.
“Art of the Song is a one-hour independently produced radio show with music and interviews exploring inspiration and creativity through song writing and other art forms. The program is heard on over 190 stations worldwide. Learn why songwriters and artists create, how they become inspired, and how you can tap into that creative source in every aspect of your life.
Art of the Song is not just for songwriters and musicians, as it explores universal truths common to all creative expression. We talk with writers of folk and roots music as well as novelists and visual artists.
Our mission is to inspire listeners to find and express their unique creative voices, and to connect and grow the worldwide community of creative people.”
I would like to thank all musicians, songwriters, and singers for bringing your sounds to me. I have always dreamed of being one of you but will have to settle for being an actor/writer/teacher for the moment. Maybe one day I will collaborate with a musician to put music to my words. (I can fantasize, can’t I?)
Thanks for reading!
(Here’s a little Collective Soul for nostalgia sake!)
Some of the roles I’ve played onstage are waitresses, a Welsh woman, pregnant hired help, Italian brothel lady, lost “can’t have baby” southern “old maid”, unfaithful preacher’s wife, uptight British wife, drunken British wife, free, flirty British wife, a French widow, a French suicidal punk, a mother trapped between her daughter & her mother, a mentally challenged comedic princess, a serious author, a new kid on the block, a bisexual Goth, a Jacobean lover, Booboo the clown, Madame Rouge the bouffon, Matriarch of a large family, a whip wielding trainer, an incestuous mother…
Some of the roles I’ve had offstage are waitresses, daughter, lover of many types, supportive partner, mistress, heart breaker, horse lover, mentor, guide, surrogate aunt, friend, drunken friend, actress, ESL teacher, drama teacher, businessperson, costume designer, costume set supervisor, driver, cook, milliner, scarf maker, poet, writer, student, groupie, photographer, painter, clown, bouffon, driver, listener, patient, woman, surrogate sister, partyer, dancer, traveler…
On stage, my role is clear, defined, if I have done my homework. I feel good, focussed- present. I figure out my objectives for each scene, for each line, and for the whole play. I listen, respond, and remain open to possibilities. I look after myself, warm up my voice and my body, and give trust to the team of people around me. In the wings, I breathe deeply, listen to my music, and prepare to plunge forward leaving the critical voice behind. Out there, I feel the presence of my whole being, and the audience. I feel alive, strangely truthful, and, myself as I consciously play my role. Of course, there are those times when I just feel “off” and the flow isn’t there. You re-group, try not to beat yourself up, and you try again in the next performance.
What about all the roles we play in life? What about the different masks we wear for each of these roles, and our own judgement of how well we play each role? Which of the roles is most truthfully “me”, and which ones take more effort than the others? Where do you feel YOU?
The topic of “role” comes up frequently during a therapeutic sales course I take (oxymoron, I know, but true). The instructor always asks us from 1-10 where do we see ourselves? I know the answer is supposed to always be 10, but our judgment of ourselves on any given role, on a given day tends to alter the number. I may have given myself a 10 as a businessperson one day, but a 3 as a lover or friend the same day. The trick is to know you are a 10 no matter what. I’m still working on that.
Is our truth, our personal truth only true when we are alone? Or does it exist only in our art – our creative ventures? Maybe my answer for successful role-playing in life is in my theatre rituals.
Again, this isn’t a new topic, but maybe just another version. What are your roles? How do you view yourself within these roles? After all, isn’t “all the world a stage”?
Have a listen to Verve’s song where the lyrics include the line “.. I’m a million different people from one day to the next..I can’t change my mold, oh no…” Plus, it’s just a great tune!
Well, it’s official! It’s here… Happy World Theatre Day! How wonderful that we have a day that we can pronounce proudly to all and celebrate in the name of the arts.
Thursday was a World Theatre Day preview in my world with my morning class of Bouffons honouring the World Theatre Day International Speech by Augusto Boal (see post), in their bouffon way.
World Theatre Day Bouffons!
Bouffon reading thee speech!
Thursday evening consisted of an intimate gathering of people at The Heritage Grill BackRoom Theatre Club for story telling, legend reading, scene reading, and of course the International Speech, which I was lucky to read to the group. The response to Augusto Boal’s words was full & spontaneous. “Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!”
My secret pleasure also last night was reading with my favourite thespian, Dan Weber, a scene from Talley’s Folly by Landford Wilson. This was the first play I had ever performed in my life so my nostalgia was flared up – in a good way! We had fun!
Trilby & Dan reading Talley's Folly
My new blog is not just a “theatre blog” unlike some of the esteemed people in my online circle, so I would like to acknowledge those who might feel “theatre” is not for them. Well, as Augusto Boal has stated in his speech, “All human societies are “spectacular” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments.” To you, the one who may not consider your life theatrical… you are!
Have a great day, and keep an eye out for those diamond moments today in your life that carry their own little performance and setting. Enjoy!
(and don’t forget to peek at some other theatrical adventures around the world on the World Theatre Day Blog )
Today, March 23rd, begins a full theatre week in Vancouver, Canada, culminating with World Theatre Day Celebrations of all sorts on Friday, March 27. This year is becoming truly global as the Internet is enabling many theatre people to connect, and mutually plan & share. To learn more please visit the global blog: http://www.worldtheatreday.org and The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance online: http://www.gvpta.ca .
Today also marks a day that I would like to acknowledge – the final farewell to Natasha Richardson.
Ms. Richardson was part of the most incredible thespian families stemming from Sir Michael Redgrave & his wife Rachel Kempson, to their offspring, Vanessa Redgrave, the mother of Natasha Richardson, Lynn Redgrave, and Corin Redgrave. The line continues into the grandchildren. Natasha Richardson was also the wife of Liam Neeson who we know as a stellar actor, the mother of Michael and Daniel, and the sister of Joely Richardson.
I have the incredible pleasure to have worked with Lynn Redgrave in Canada, and pass time with her as a friend in New York. At that time I also had the pleasure to meet more members of her family, and also Liam Neeson. It is because of that special time I feel the need and desire to honour their loss, and express my condolences.
I would like to dedicate, in my humble manner, World Theatre Day to both sides of the family. May you find peace.
All human societies are “spectacular*” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments. They are “spectacular” as a form of social organization and produce “spectacles” like the one you have come to see.
Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre!
Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting–all is theatre.
One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life.
Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote and wild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader’s hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all and neither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theatre, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they found some magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony. Twenty years ago, I staged Racine’s Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before each presentation, I used to say to my actors: “The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theatre is the Hidden Truth.”When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we know it is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life.Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it.
Augusto Boal
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