Weblog
A place for reviews...
On this page you can read on some of the stuff i do, and what i think about shows, films and such like occasionally too. You an leave a comment by clicking 'Add Comment' under the article and a comments box will then appear under this text.
Takeover day - 23rd November
Article Date: 17/12/07
Back near the end of Novemeber I was lucky enough to go down to London again to the Participation Works Offices. I went there for the 11 million (Office of the Children's Commissioner) Takeover day. This is where young people go into an organisation and take over a particular role for the day. At Participation works it was a bit different, i spent a day as more of a consultant looking at the PW gateway (website) especially, whilst the 'Children's Rights
BSEYC Meetings
Article Date: 17/12/07
Recently the BSE Youth Council have met a number of times, looking at what young people say about things and working on projects. With some fun things coming up and a small increase in membership the team at the youth council are great. People taking on more responsibility and working hard. Along with the assesment project the next big thing is the fantabulous looking Mix 'n' Blend in February - The 15th of Feb, 7pm --> 11.30pm. See more info at the youth council website: www.bseyouthcouncil.co.uk
Newmarket SkateJam
Article Date: 22/10/07
CEG were called in to offer a PA system at 7 o'clock at night 2 days (on a Friday) before the event (on a Sunday). Seen as we were free on the Sunday (normally a bit of rest) we took it up and ended up going out with 4 crew and plenty of speaker power. We ended up going down to using just a quarter of the speakers we had taken out on the day just to keep our power consumption from the generator down, but we could still hear the music and compare fine from the other side of the field (and apparently even from in the female toilets! Which were also quite a way away). The young people were enjoying the SkateJam and there was some good talent showcased too. Remember, if you want a christmas function, maybe with a band or suchlike then simply visit www.cegtheatreservices.co.uk. And if you need a singer then i can certainly reccommend a couple, one is www.joshseldis.co.uk.
BurySound Heat 2
Article Date: 22/10/07
Another great night where people did seem to be loving the night, some alright music and a nice atmosphere with yet another full house. The CEG staff worked well and hard, had a quick get out and produced some great work with the lighting. We are looking forward to the final where yet more equipment is going in to add to the current Digital rig we are using.
King Edward's Circus Day
Article Date: 14/10/07
Think of this, a day where hundreds of students can dress up for charity for a day of Circus. Seems like heaven and a time when people can really express what circus really is. But you would have been very dissapointed if you'd seen it, i know friends of mine in Circus were when they saw pictures. At least most people (apart from those 'Circus Goers') made an effort and supported the good cause that is Jeans for Genes day and there was quite a lot of variation. Some people went for ringmasters, whilst others clowns, a couple as jugglers, others as mime artists (they cleraly don't get the difference between street theatre and circus!), quite a few as freaks and others pretending to be aerial artists in tight leotards. Now some of these are fine, but the number of people who interpret circus as freak shows was very disgraceful and personally irritating considering it just shows how much work there is to be done to change people's perceptions of circus - especially to show that it is a very valuable performance art. I will get some footage of how i went to the circus day on here asap.
Lisa's Sex Strike
Article Date: 14/10/07
You may be thinking "Huh?". Well Lisa's Sex Strike is actually a show, recently having ran at the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, and if you don't fancy reading this article on, i'll just stipulate my summary; It was a great show, good use of theatrical techniques and looked smooth, i think it could have finished a bit shorter as i would have quite liked a darker ending where the opportunity had presented iteself about 5 - 10 mins before the end, with the criminal paying for his bad deeds. But hey i suppose they did of course want the audience going out on a high. Any way, i thought they used lighting very well as i normally sit through a show and look at not much else but the lighting, just a bad habbit i have got into, but whilst i did make note on the lighting once or twice it was more to say to myself that, "Oh. I havn't been looking at it" as it was just as lighting should be, subtle and presented the atmoshphere well for most of the time, there were a few bits i would have done differently but hey everyone has their own creative thought process. The acting was strong and the doubling up of characters worked well with there being a definite differentiation between them, and the balance of humor to straight acting was also fantastic. It really got messages across to the audience, i personally managed to interpret it in such a way that it really highlighted the need for racial, gender, and ethnic harmony which just continues to prove my thought that we all live in one worl, we are all members of the same world community, sure we can have differences, varying cultures and allegiances but ultimately we should stick together for the good of mankind and the world as a whole. To have a show that highlights that in my mind i think is very powerful and deserves my full respect as a performance and my congratulations would go to the whole cast and production team for that. The fact that it was a show based on times of old and a Greek story it didn't draw too much attention to it for those that aren't aware of those times ahoy that Aristophanes was talking about when writing the original script.
The Medea
Article Date: 14/10/07
The Medea is a play based in Greek Times where a woman is betrayed by her Husband who goes on to try and marry a wealthy young woman despite already having children. I went to see this in the Cambridge Arts Theatre where i have now been a few times. It is a nice little theatre and although our seats weren't ideal they had a good ebough view. The play itself was actually quite good, the acting mediocre and could have been played with a bit more energy, but then it did keep my interest throughout. However this may have been down to the fact that i had to read the english translations on little screens as it was in Greek!! And it seemed to take at least 3 times longer to say it in Greek, in iteslf an annoying thing considering the whole play was set, as is the style of the time, in one place, and is practically continuous prose for 2 hours straight. Whilst it wasn't the most excting piece it wasn't the worst show I've ever seen before. What do you think to 'The Medea'?
Participation Works Advisory Group (PWAG!)
Article Date: 11/10/07
What is Participation Works? Well it is a consortium of organisations including NCB, CRAE, Save the Children UK, NCVYS & the BYC. It is all about developing participation work for young people in England through training, consultancy and resources including a Knowledge hub and national network. I work as an associate trainer for PW but was also recently selected to join the PW Advisory Group, consitsing of a small number of Young People with a range from 10 to 23 - very big!! With the job to advise where neccessary on issues and policy that affect us as young people in the delivery of the PW work and ensure that young people are told about what is happening this should be an exciting and enjoyable new project. See the PW website @ www.participationworks.org.uk
BurySound 2007 - Heat 1
Article Date: 09/10/07
Well Friday's battle of the bands competition was pretty good. From a consumer's point of view they seemed to enjoy the night alot. More info can be found at the BSEYC website. From the point of view of CEG it went pretty well too, it was a bit of a challenge rigging to the side bars of the Corn Exchange but we managed it safely and produced good angled effects. The best thing was that considering the install of it all we managed to have no cables that people might have been able to trip over, the one wire possible was even pushed under and taped to not cause a problem, the sign of a good job by the team. The next heat is going to be bigger and better lighting wise and we look forward to seeing you on the 19th of October.
BSEYC Meeting
Article Date: 09/10/07
On Tuesday the 2nd we had our first bseyc meeting for a number of weeks, it was up in our new base and allowed us to cover what we will be doing in the upcoming times and sort out our new office space. A good little group was there and it is shaping up nicely, with some fantastic looking projects coming. Check out the BSEYC (Bury St Edmunds Youth Council) website at: www.bseyouthcouncil.co.uk
SuperBad
Article Date: 01/10/07
On Saturday the 29th of September i visited the O2 in London (formerly the Millennium Dome) to watch SuperBad with some new friends. SuperBad was Super Good (cheesy i know). For a 15 it was probably a bit too vulgar as the girls so nicely put it but to be honest apart from 1 bit that actually presented the opportunity for some great humour the whole film was fantastic and simply had an adult teenage humour, seemingly more suited to guys. I won't go into the story line as its one of those must see films that is sublimely executed with great comical timing and a realistic yet opportunistic plot line that also mixed into it emotional distress and ultimately happiness. The venue was great too, very much neon land but then i do like that and it was of course very modern and clean the sort of interior styling that appeals to me. Go see it soon if you haven't already!
Carnegie UK Trust - Inquiry into the futures of young people in civil society
Article Date: 01/10/07
Brilliant.
Not really many other words to use to describe this event. From the superficial aspects that we were staying in the Hilton Hotel (London Docklands) which was massive and quite modern, and quite simply a superior place to be, and the aspects of the great food the content of the weekend was good too. Basically we had spent the first working day looking at what future's thinking is and how projecting ideas and circumstances can be beneficial. We then also looked at where we think the world is heading and what is actually going to happen given the present political, social and economic climates. The second day we focused on where we would like the world to be, pretty much in an ideal world (not quite because our 30 year goal of having world peace would ideally be today!). We then also established steps on how to reach these goals, with the issues varying from citizenship education and life skill development through to establishing a global parliament with the context of 'globally guided, regionally decided' as a phrase i came up with on the spur of the moment meaning that a global parliament would be a bit like a federal government that makes the overall decisions and guidelines but it is then up to the local people of a region to follow what is best for them in accordance with the guidance received, going through the processes of continental unions, country governments and regional assemblies.
As you can see we developed some complex ideas and established some great debate and thinking among us. Now i have mentioned 'we' numerous times i should say who 'we' is. Basically the people involved were outstanding young people from across the UK & Ireland (5 Jurisdictions of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland). There were 30 people selected from these countries with representatives from Irish Youth Council's, the UK Youth Parliament, Funky Dragon (Welsh Youth Assembly), Scottish Youth Parliament, and even the European Youth Parliament along with others that are volunteers in Hospitals or other great contributors to civil society. Civil Society is the part's of society that are not government ran or ruled by the commercial sector, so is very similar to the 3rd sector and includes VCO's and FBO's which are; Voluntary & Community Organisations and Faith Based Organisations predominantly.
The other part to the weekend was the Saturday night Entertainment, after a BBQ style dinner some of us played cards (particularly 'Hello Mr Prince' - don't ask, it came from Orla an irish girl from just outside of Dublin and is based on a more active and physical version of Snap). After a bit of this we made our way downstairs and into taxi's and went over to the O2!! (previously known as the Millennium Dome) where we visited the 11 screen Cinema and saw SuperBad (see the review above). This was a great night already but once we returned a few of us went up to one of the rooms where we were then joined by a few more and we played poker until 3am - Texas Hold'Em which i won before reverting to 7 card Stud which i wasn't quite so fortunate about. But hey. The only down side is that during the course of the evening i managed to lose my voice and found it very hard to talk, still when writing this 2 days later i can't talk properly.
Arts Council England - Great Peter Street
Article Date: 30/09/07
On Tuesday the 25th i went for the first time down to the ACE national office at Great Peter Street, right next to the houses of parliament. It was a splendid area, i spent time in the morning (eating breakfast) in the gardens next to Westminster and overlooking the Thames which was quite a peaceful experience. I spent the rest of the morning in a meeting about the upcoming open doors events (www.artscouncil.org.uk/opendoors) which are sure to be brilliant, and for reference the closest ones to where i live are in Norwich on the 7th of November and one in Ipswich on the 2nd of November. Basically they focus on technical and production theatre.
I then spent the early afternoon in a meeting about the getintotheatre.org filming, how it will work, what my role is and such like. Quite a productive day in all and still home in time for some evening TV.
Participation Works - Continual Professional Development Day
Article Date: 30/09/07
The CPD Day itself was on the 22nd of September, but i did head down to London (Euston) the night before so that i wouldn't be too tired for the day, although just my luck that i got stuck on a train delayed by a freight train if i remember rightly so i didn't get there until late as it was. But either way PW were great as normal to put me up in the sterling MIC hotel where the conference part was being used for the training anyway. It is a very very nice place to stay and i can recommend it to anyone that needs to stay somewhere in the Euston area - http://www.micentre.com/. As normal i have gone off on a tangent again, the day went well sharing experiences and skills as well as getting a participation policy update and the programme update.
Accessing Theatre Workshop at TRBSE for ACE
Article Date: 30/09/07
Most people that know me are aware that i can use a lot of acronyms and phrases, even when working with professionals in the field i seem to be able to discombobulate some of them with my use of industry terminology. Not in this case though really, all the title means is; TRBSE - Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, & ACE - Arts Council England. This was basically where having designed the workshop on the day i delivered a workshop, now cut down to 1 hour (would normally be 2 hours minimum) around the theme of accessing theatre, what you think of theatre, what the barriers are to participation and International Theatre Collaboration as well as looking at the possibility of setting up an Eastern Regional Youth Arts Council. For reference or interest my workshop plan can be downloaded by clicking here. The group was actually quite a pleasure to work with, a few challenges admittedly but nonetheless nothing any half decent facilitator could cope with (i wouldn't say i'm the top out there but it worked, and the participants both seemed to enjoy it and gave very good feedback on the whole). Covering the issues at such a pace would have been tough for anyone but the group really handled it well and hopefully it was kept interesting by being mainly on their feet (but not exhaustingly active) combined with the odd bit of sit down discussion. I may release my full evaluation report on here soon so keep checking. The workshop was held on the 21st of September 2007 at the Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds. Thank-you to the Education Officer and all the participants.
YPPT National Residential (Nottingham)
Article Date: 30/09/07
This weekend residential was Friday the 14th to Sunday the 16th of September. It was brilliant to meet people again (and a few new faces too) and from the outset i can say that it was an enjoyable time (but nonetheless tiring). The weekend focused on project management and session facilitation which to me was a good topic, being experienced in facilitation and project management allowed me to be one of the guides within the small groups to those less so, which was great to think that i can help others, i would say though that i did also learn new stuff about creative facilitation (more commonly used in the arts world than in the participatory world) which made the time even more fruitful for me. Whilst at the residential i also delivered a couple of hours worth of sessions, a workshop in engagement to the arts and also an update / information gathering thing for the YPPT filming which is being used for the getintotheatre.org website and international conference. I have since then however been appointed to work on the project to co-ordinate the people to actually undertake the interviewing along with all the bits that go with it like equipment audits and availability and data collection etc. So back to the residential, it was held at the University of Nottingham where i stayed in Halls on campus and worked with a variety of other young people from across England. On the Saturday night i performed with my JO Staff (non-fire version of a fire staff / martial arts weapon) which went OK, wasn't the best ever but then i couldn't actually see the staff half the time (it was too dark). Performing with the staff was just a part of what was happening that night with some folk dancing happening, dancing, comedy impressionists, readings and even a DVD of some one's comedy show, which i might add i saw more of on the sunday and is fantastic. Everyone done well and it was such a mix and variety of high quality performances, dark to light, prancey to swingy and a whole lot more. The only thing about the weekend was the journey home, not only of course did i not want to go home but spend more time with everyone (we really bond and get on well) but when i did try my train had been cancelled. As such after being about to get on a bus going to Poland(!!!) i was on a coach toddling on my way. However, it was running through the City of Nottingham, 2 coaches, a bus, a train and even a Van later that i actually got home, as tired as anything. But hey, i do have to leave a very busy and active life.
Theatre Royal Youth Theatre (BSE) Platform - Stage Fighting
Article Date: 30/09/07
This happened back on the 13th of September, it was a presentation of what some members had done whilst at a day's workshop the previous sunday whilst i was working out on site with CEG for a national car racing league. The quality of the stage fighting varied very much, some was superb others was not so desirable but at least they tried and seemed to be enjoying them self. The MC to the presentation got caught a bit short when he asked for some audience participation so at that point i figured i would help and volunteered, only to get beaten up. Or more of a fake (but hopefully slightly realistic) piece of stage fighting, which was also explained to the audience to share the knowledge. Overall it was great to be back in the lovely new Theatre yet again and at least it let some young people show their hard work, for only if they were allowed to display some of the other exciting things they had done at the workshop.
Regional RFO Theatre Assessments Consultant Meeting
Article Date: 11/09/07
The meeting consisted of simply reviewing a presentation of the fundamental aspects of carrying out an 'undercover' assessment of a venue. Developed by someone who mainly works in the sports industry we found that some parts could have been more relevant but that it was overall adequate at reminding us of the basics involved. It did also give a few more eye opening points and has as such allowed me personally to develop as an assessor / researcher / evaluator, or however you would like to put it.