THE BALCONY

For the collaborative project, our group chose “The Balcony” of Jean Genet to work on. We can test the real life, the escapism and the sound on it –which are our individual project subjects. The group have already chosen the script and the space, which will be a brothel – as Genet set there his play.
We want to create transparent walls, as the borders between reality and fantasy are not definite in the play. The cloth it would be a nice idea, but as the walls will cover a lot of meters it will not be affordable.
As my project is on escapism and on fantasy, I trying to find ways to create a set design which will give this impression. How can we show what is going on in the outside world, where the war has decimated the whole society? The heroes are in a protected, but fragile environment. They are hidden there, “performing” their sexual fantasies where they are assuming roles of power, of authority.
Reading the play, you can not understand what is true and what is not. What is happening for real, and what in their minds. I believe that our set design also should be characterized by this ambiguous element: this room is a room where people are protected? Or not? They live there their real life, or just an illusion? What is happening outside? The war is real, or it is a dream? It is maybe a wrong information, as the Golf War, which is said that never existed?
The room we want to create it’s a brothel. And a brothel in a war zone, so in a period that people have animal instincts, they become cruel, they are interested just in themselves. The madame of the brothel insist in the “quality” of her place. She says that after their services men fell well again, they love their family, they can understand mathematics.. This place should be familiar and cold at the same time: they should fell free to do whatever they want, and keep themselves away from the reality of the war, but when their time is over, they have to leave.
It’s a “distorted” place – if we can use this word for a place – but it is healthier than the outside world. It’s getting dirty from it, the out side of the walls are dirty, blood there is on them, it’s trying to get – in a metaphoric way – in the room.
I imagine the walls like an old tapestry, which tries to keep its old lordliness and delicacy, but it’s damaged now. A decadence in planned in the room. At the same time, I imagine it like these houses that people make in war periods, just “carbon” houses, with materials they can find for free, in order to have somewhere to live – or like slum houses. Maybe, we could create these images with several effects. First, different qualities of transparent material. Plastic with bubbles, opaque or scratched plastic. Maybe in some corners (in limited space) we could use other kinds of materials, like carbon, metal or wood.
I was thinking to create masks, which will be hanged behind the wall. Masks of tattered faces, with frozen characteristics. They will be covered by cling film and be placed on the wall, as being part of it. As people who died can see people who are still alive and live in this brothel. They are built in the wall (since death is a situation between reality and hyperreality..)
Finally, another way of representation of the outside world I was thinking of, was to create shadows by carbons, as it is happening in the theatre of shadows, and ropes that will be handed by the roof.

“BIRDS”

This week I m trying to make a mask inspired by the “Birds” of Aristophanes. It is the first time that I’m constructing the shape of a mask by clay, and it is a really interesting process. Following the directions of Val Charlton, I made the shape by clay and then I covered it in cling film. When I assured myself that the clay was airtight, I started putting paper with glue on it, I order to create a papier – maché mask, because as lighter one mask is, the better result we have.
I inspired the mask by birds, but more by the masks of commedia dell’arte, as I wanted to combine the mask of Lazzi, which looks alike a beak, with Aristophanes play.
The main subject of the “Birds” is the decision of two men to leave their society because they cannot stand the problems that it faces, and the behavior of the citizens. They decide to relocate in a society where the birds live. The play has so many subjects, in which I am interested. First of all, the idea of living in a society in clouds, where the citizens are birds, it is something that transfer both the hero of the play, and the audience who watch the performance, in another reality. They achieve to travel with their imagination in an other world, where different rules and laws exist.
I will write down my first approach on the play:
I was thinking of an installation, which will de presented in parts, as I want to show a development on the topic. The first idea was to create this mask and to place it behind a door, which will have on the top a glassy window. So, the audience could see the mask behind this window. In the second stage, the audience see the back of the door and of the mask. With instruction, one by one could wear the mask and look through the window, where they see puppets which are looking towards to the mask.
This I want to achieve is to transfer the audience in position of the heros’ of the play. At first, they are down on the earth, and they are looking towards to the mask. They live a normal life in a regular society, facing the problems that every common people faces. The mask on the window is looking down at them, and at the same time, the audience see a mask. But this mask is a symbol of an other world, in which the audience is called to join it. When the audience wear this mask, and see down, they have transferred in mask’s world.
But what is this world? It is different, but, it is better? And, if it is, how can I show this? I m thinking to make a video where I will show scenes of people who are trying to make their life better. I want to show the effort that people are doing, in order to make a step forward in life.
That was just a first approach in the “Birds”..

Complicite “Shun – Kin”

“Shun – Kin” is the last performance of the “Complicite” theatre company, based in the work of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, one of the most important writers in Japan. It’s the story of a blind woman and her always loyal to her husband, who stands her cruelty love and can find the beauty and the intelligence that are hidden behind this behavior.
The performance combine the characteristics of the Japanese theatre and of the “Complicite” identifiable style. 110 mins with no interval was the harmonic result of this combination.
Whereas the performance was really exciting, the mediums that they used were really simple. Sometimes, I was wondering if the video that they projected served the performance, or, if it was not necessary. The previous performance of “Complicite” that I attended was the “A disappearing number”, where the video created every time the set design - actually, it was the set design. I was just thinking if the use of video is finally an easy way to create a more intense atmosphere, or contrary, if it is really difficult to achieve to create this, by combining video in theatrical forms…
All in all, “Shun – Kin” was one of the best performances I have attended in London.

MIME FESTIVAL –Part 1
“Collectif Petit Travers”
“Family Floez”


I felt the London International Mime Festival as a celebration. Large queues out of the theatres, and difficulty to find available tickets for the performances. I was lucky I attended four of the events that took place in this festival. Le Petit Travers, Family Floez, Faulty Optic and Sharmanka was the titles of the performances I will talk about, performances with so many different characteristics, styles and ways of expression.


“Collectif Petit Travers” is a French company which organize many different projects. Cirque, theatre, graphic design, fine arts. The performance I attended had characteristics of circus and mime theatre. Two musicians who live in a room, they are trying to get along together, putting on so much psychological pressure each one to another, till a duct of water breaks and the room fills with water. In my opinion, the most interesting part was the way the two performers created the space during the performance. Having a very simple set design, in 70 mins they achieved to recreate the space, carrying the furniture in different corners in the room, like having different rooms in one empty stage. In the end, the stage full of water, and the two performers in the middle, sit on the pile of furniture, they gave the impression of Noah’s ark. I found this performance clever, with dainty tricks and its set design effective.



“Family Floez” it’s a German company, experts of mask theatre. “Hotel Paradiso” was the performance which presented in Mime Festival. In a hotel strange things are happening and a family story appears to the audience. In my opinion, the masks worked very nice in the play, and that was the stronger characteristic of the performance – whereas, criticizing from an aesthetic point of view I didn’t found the figures quite attractive. The set design was very neutral and realistic, just transferring the audience in a German spa resort.
In general, I was too interested in both two performances, as they are very close to my research field.

Project Proposal
Visual Language of Performance

TITLE: How could a man escape from the routine of his daily life in modern society?
In our contemporary world, where the quickness, the machines, the technology try to rationalize our lives, how a man can find exits in the world of fantasy, of art, of dream?

By this project a great opportunity appears to me: to describe reality by a not-realistic way. The separation of the performance in two recognizing areas – the daily life on one hand and, the escape tensions from it on the other – would signify the division of the world in two sides, or, after a further analysis in a number of couples of contrary meanings (life in routine - life in an oneiric dimension, life uninterested – life in passion etc)
The topic presents some survey levels, which would be investigated. First, the dramaturgy side must be considered.:
- Why people need to escape from the frames of reality? How could we include aspects of hyperreality in the every day life?
- When this need is intense, and when does it appear less powerful? Which are some of the ways that people choose in order to realize this need they have? How does the use of their fantasy could change the conditions of their life?
- But what is fantasy? Where do we meet it? Is it hidden, or it could be obvious in front of us any single time? Is there enough time to include the dimension of fantasy in our every day life?
- Is there enough space for Art in our life? Can people escape from their routine with the help that the arts could provide them with?
- Which are the ways we can live in a different reality? Does the power of our mind and of our fantasy help? Does our desire for change is powerful enough? Or, we can achieve the change just with exterior elements, like drugs or medicines? Is it possible the mentality problems which are created by some illnesses to enhance life with aspects of hyperreality?
- Where are the limits? Where this confusion could conclude to be useful or danger for our daily life?
- How could we learn living again like children, who live in a world full of illusions?
- Finally, does the denial of the reality make people happier or not?

The second part of research would be the technical one, and this will be the most important. As the subject is offered for further analysis and experimentation, I would desire to try a large variety of means, in order to present my dramaturgic research.
From the simplest methods, to the most developed uses of technology.
For example, I would like to use both daily objects and theatrical figures, such as puppets and masks in a combination of reality and hyppereality in the same performance. The construction of them it will be on of the field I will focus on.
In addition to this, I desire to investigate if videos, projections, and generally the technology serve the theatrical action. I want to try a combination of technology and fine arts. To see how the sound and the lights can give on their own the ambiance I want to create.
All in all, the experimentation on mediums will be my main activity on this term. I am open in every idea concerning the presentation of reality in a not – realistic way.

Visual Language of Performance
2008 – 2009

“How a man can escape from his daily life and arrive in the world of hyperreality? How dream and illusion could be inserted in our life, giving an ambiance of poetry, of art?”
My research field is better completed after the exploration of the image and the form that I want for my final project. I am interested in the presentation of hyperreality and of an illusionary dimension of world. The main goal, the main proposition of my performance will be the domination of fantasy and the end of everyday routine.
I will display all the performers, directors, but also movements that influenced me from the ancient years until today, and that I believe they achieve the result I would like to give in my project.

Aristophanes
In arts generally and especially in theatre there have been a notion in artists trying to present world in a non realistic base since ancient years. It was in 5th century that Aristophanes wrote many comedies that the heroes were transferred in another kind of reality. Theatre in ancient years allowed audience's fantasy free and made them be part of the performance atmosphere.
“We are used to ‘theatre of illusion’ – the three sided box and special effects make us believe that we are there, watching what goes on. But Greek Drama is “theatre of convention,” or, in Taplin’s phrase ‘theatre of mind’”. (Meinek, Peter. ed. (2000) Aristophanes Clouds).
The classical plays of ancient Greece are still investigated by scientists because theses plays present the needs of human beings and this is always current. The exploration of a new life was obvious in plays of Aristophanes. As Nan Dunbar notice “Some scholars have seen Birds as a comedy of pure escape from harsh reality into poetic fantasy”.
The thirst of knowledge and the need of an advanced quality of life, the need of escape bad situations, the doubts and the investigation of world are totally going with human nature.
“People are still in dept, still trying to escape hustle and bustle of everyday life, still looking for their own Cloudcuckoolands”, as Peter Meinek mentions.
For these reasons, Aristophanes and set designers, who have worked on his comedies like Dionisis Fotopoulos, would be one of my research fields.

Commedia dell’arte and artists influenced by it.
As leaving the work of the Greek writer we could find other forms of theatre that response to my research proposal such as commedia dell’ arte. The masks, the costumes and the element of grotesque in the behaviour of the heroes of the plays influenced later many artists through the centuries, such us Moliere, or even later Marx brothers. Even in 20th century we can recognize the figure of doctor or pantaloon or Pierrot.
After a further consideration, these two sources of research and of inspiration are related between them. S. Rhodie notices that K. McLeish in a study of Aristophanes’ Birds concludes for the main heroes of the play that
“Peisistratos and Euelpides are a double clown act of strtaight man and fool. He compares them to the couples Laurel and Hardy and Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont”.

Fellini
Laurel and Hardy had influenced Fellini, who will be the third field of research. Sam Rohdie writes about him:
“The dreams ...took the place of the maternal real. It was a happier place than the real. It was a liberation from it.” And, he adds “The real in Fellini’s films is a version of unreality. The illusions are illusions admitted as an aspect of the true of imaginary and of images. No reality is proposed as original. There are only instead different multiple levels of unreality”.
Fellini was a director who permitted his fantasy to lead his work and his way of thinking, as a consequence he manipulated and reformed anew the real facts giving to them an oneiric dimension. The clowns, the caricatures, the illusions and the dreams are Fellini’s world, a world that looks to me so attractive.

Parade - Picasso
Another reference that I will use is “Parade” of Picasso. This ballet was inspired by commedia dell’arte and events influenced by this, like circus and travelling fair. As L. Massine noticed
“It’s true we utilized certain element’s of contemporary show business – rag time music, jazz, the cinema billboard advertising, circus and music hall techniques – but we took only their salient futures, adapting them to our own needs”.
J. Cocteau admitted that
“We had combined the accidental art of the circus with the happy remembrances of childhood”.
The element of fantasy that this ballet had, created an illusionary situation with a mood of play, something that existed also in the works I referred above. All of them aimed to achieve a non realistic atmosphere, a poetic presentation of life made by hypperealistic images and situations...

Marc Chagall
One other artist the work of whom I would like to explore is Chagall. The figures in his paintings, and the ambiance he creates could be one of the sources of my inspiration.

Contemporary companies
“Improbable” is a company that I want to investigate more, as its aesthetics seems to me so close to what I have on mind for my final project. In an interview, Lee Simpson, member of the company said about the role of fantasy in theatre “The only thing that makes theatre work is the audience imagining that it works. So you have to give them time to imagine… You’ve got to give them time to believe and to decide for themselves what it is. If you tell them they might not see that, there’s nothing worse than being told what to think.”
Other companies that seem to me interesting are “Le theatre du soleil”, “Le cirque du soleil” and “The tiger lilies” band, each one for its particular, visual characteristics.

All the artists I mentioned, have dealt with the illusionary side of life and realized it on their work. My research will be on them, as I believe that they would be great sources of inspiration.



Bibliography

-Argan, C. Giulio, (1970), L’Arte Moderna, Dall ‘Illuminismo ai movimenti contemporanei, RCS Sansoni Editore S.p.A., Firenze.

-Arnheim, Rudolf (London 1970), Visual Thinking, ed. Faber and Faber Limited

- Belli, Gabriella/ Boschiero, Nicoletta/ Passamani, Bruno (1989), Depero, Magic Theatre, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto

- Blume, Horst – Dieter, (1978), Einfuhrung in das antike Theaterwesen, ed. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Darmstadt.

-Burian, Jarka (1971), The scenography of Josef Svoboda, ed. Wesleyan University Press

- Carter, Huntly (1914), The Theatre of Max Reinhardt, ed. Benjamin Blom New York

- Cocteau, Jean (Complied and edited by Andre Bernand and Claude Gauteur, 1992), The art of cinema, ed. Marion Boyars Publishers

- Dover, K. J (1972), The aristophanic comedy, ed.University of California press. Berkeley and Los Angeles

- Drake, G.T (1946), The English circus and fair ground

- Dunbar, Nan (1998), Birds: With Introduction and Commentary, ed. Oxford University Press.

-Εκπαιδευτικη ελληνικη εγκυκλοπαιδεια ΘΕΑΤΡΟ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ – ΧΟΡΟΣ. 1999, Ekdotike Athenon S.A {Educational Greek Encyclopaedia THEATRE CINEMA MUSIC – DANCE (1999), ed. Ekdotike Athenon S.A}

- Evans, A.B (1977), JEAN COCTEAU and His Films of Orphic Identity, ed. London: Associated University Presses

- Green, Martin Burgess and Swan, C. John (1993), The Triumph of Pierrot: The Commedia Dell'arte and the Modern Imagination, ed. Penn State Press


- Kearney, Richard (1988), The wake of imagination, ed. Routlege

- Meineck, Peter (2000), Clouds, ed. Hackett Publishing.

- Moretti, Charles (2001), Theatre et societe dans la grece antique, ed. Librairie Generale Francaise, Paris.

- Philips, Adams (1998), The beast in the nursery, ed. Faber and Faber Limited

- Russell, Douglas. A ((1976), THEATRICAL STYLE, A Visual Approach to the Theatre, Mayfield Publishing Company

- Zimmermann, Bernhard (1998), Die griechische Komodie, Patmos Verlag GmbH &Co.KG. Artemis &Winkler Verlag, Dusseldorf und Zurich.


RESEARCH PROPOSAL

SECOND TERM: STUDY PLAN

The tasks and the responsibilities I will assume at this term are divided in two projects: a collaborative and a solo performance. Both of them should advance my research on escapism and, in general, on conditions of hyperreality. As concern as the practical issues of this term I will explain below my aims and my thoughts about the two projects:

Project 1: Ambient sound

“The Balcony” of Jean Genet was chosen to be the text our performance will be based on. Having our project and research proposals combined, we conclude in this play, as it contains all the areas and the fields which we are interested in.
As my previous studies are in theatre theory and history, I would like to approach first the dramaturgy and the history of the text. In my opinion, every answer in our questions is hidden in the text, and the more we have solved our questions and we have understood the meanings of the play, the better inspiration we will have.
As the performance will last around 20 min, we should make an adaptation of “The Balcony” and keep just the elements we need and we think they go forward our collaboration project.
Parallel, as we have already taken special responsibilities and I will work on the set and the lighting design, I will research the image, the aesthetic view of the performance, the materials we will use, the colors and the props the performance should have. Apart from the design, I will deal with the construction of them, or with the research of them in markets and in internet. As in my project proposal puppets are included as a medium of images of hyperreality, I will try at this term to get information about masks and puppets and how they can function in a theatrical space. Moreover, as I have never dealt professionally with the lighting design, I want to investigate this field, and learn to transform the spaces with light.
The work of the company will be both collaborative and individual. Which means that except for the set and lighting design, I will contribute in the other responsibilities of the performance.
My personal goal in this project, as concern as the collaborative point of view is to learn how to find solutions between different opinions and to recreate a new form, a new idea.
Concerning my project and research proposal, I would like to find ways of how I can represent the need of escapism, and conditions and figures of hyperreality.

Project 2: Solo performance
My ambition for the solo project is to make maybe an installation, or if I find an actor to create a performance. But the most important for me is the scenography, the space that I will create and not the direction of a performance. So, I will try to create a theatrical space in which I will test the mediums that can result in an unrealistic representation of the world.
As I have mentioned before, masks and puppets would be a medium of how I can reach the world of illusion and of fantasy. I m doing now a research on Aristophanes piece of work “The Birds”, a play written in the 5th century B. C in ancient Greece. I chose it as its main subject is the escapism. Two men disappointed from the institutions of their society, they chose to leave it and live in a society of birds in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land. I have started making a mask inspired by these birds, but my goal is not to create a mask for the play, but just to get inspiration from this. In this mask, I was wondering how the elements of commedia dell’ arte, which is a field of my research proposal, could fit in a mask inspired form an ancient Greek play.
Apart from the mask, the construction of puppets will be one of my aims in this term. Moreover, as it will be a project where I will be the only one responsible for, I want to learn all the basic technical issues, which are necessary for a performance (lighting, sound, projection etc)
My solo project appears as an opportunity to test all the ideas that I proposed in the first term in real. I will combine the different influences I have in one piece of art, and this will be the first attempt of these characteristics, before my final project.

Proposal for Company Performance

Name of performance: Ambient Noise
Company Members: Bo Young Kim, Sarah McLaughlin and Vasiliki Papadopoulou
Synopsis: We are proposing a 20 minute performance based on Jean Genet’s seminal piece of literature, The Balcony. This text has been chosen for its unique synthesis of, and approach to, the core themes of reality and escapism. We wish to explore the tension that exists between ones political responsibility and ones desire for escapism. In so doing, we will take particular care to address the role of sound in either stimulating a political consciousness or conversely inducing a personal fantasy. Whereas the characters of Genet’s original play chose to ignore the sounds of war and destruction that could be heard from outside the brothel; our production will confront the audience with a similar choice. We plan to provide each participant with a choice of aural stimuli. From outside of the playing space they will hear the sounds of modern warfare; however inside the space they will be greeted by a solo performer who indulges in his own false reality. Since Genet’s script famously created an ambiguity between truth and fiction, our performance will also aim to distort the boundaries of what is real. Consequently, we hope to call into question the validity of our knowledge of contemporary international conflict, which is based entirely on the information that is disseminated through various media bodies.

Implementation
Time Frame for installation and strike:
This performance will be conducted in the TV Studio between the 19th and 25th of March. Our Production will be ready for public viewing on Wednesday evening at five o’ clock with a get-in on Tuesday morning between 10 and 12. The company strike will take less than a half day to complete.
Budget:
The Company have decided a collective budget of £100 to realize this production
Delegation of tasks:
Bo Young Kim: Sound and Costume design
Sarah McLaughlin: Direction and Projection design
Vasiliki Papadopoulou: Set and Lighting Design
Technical Rider

Equipment needs for performance
6 Stage Lights (par cans and source four pars are preferable),
2 projectors,
Hazer,
2 speakers,
amp,
mixing desk,
CD Player,
ladders for installation
and safety cables to secure the equipment.

Equipment needs for Documentation
3 Camcorders
3 Tripods,
1 stills camera

Basic Set Elements
Couch,
TV,
10 pieces of 4x8 Plaster Board,
Paint