open mouth, insert foot

okay. i think i may as well just stop writing blogs now. every time i do, everything comes out wrong and people think things that i didn't intend for them to think.

so here is one last blog, for me to try and rectify what i started.

a) i was annoyed because we had so little time left and hadn't even done a full run through. i so badly want you guys to do well, but its hard to believe that you will when i haven't seen you do it. however, yesterday basically changed all of that. i've seen that we can do it without constantly calling for prompts, or forgetting when to come on. it's just i hadn't seen it at that point and didn't know if it was going to happen. now i know that you can do and i can honestly say that i think you will do well.

b) you're stressed. i'm stressed. i don't handle stress well. i wrote my last blog to get all that crap out of my head, in case i exploded during a rehearsal. i tried to make it focus on the way I was feeling, not a reflection on you. i even got someone to read it through before i posted so that it didn't look like an attack at you guys. apparently i failed.

c) i don't believe that i have criticised anyone behind their backs. just to clear up a specific issue as mentioned in a comment, any hand stitching looks crappy next to machinestitching, and that was what i meant. not that yours looks crappy. i didn't even know who'd sewn that bit until just recently. also, worrying that someone might make a mistake is not synonymous with actually believing that they will make the mistake.

d) i know i've been seen to be very unappreciative of help that has been offered me. believe me, i appreciate it. my initial irritation about it was due to uncertainty about my role in relation to yours. after that was cleared up for me, i thought that you wanted to help and so i found things for you to do, also changed my designs to incorporate things you suggested to me. **this is the place where i would put an example, but i think that would be bitchy so i won't**.

e) holly, i'd really like to speak to you about my blog, and your comments. there's a lot that needs to be said and i don't think it should be said here.

f) i've been very reluctant to make any comment on what i see ms mace doing on my blog, simply because she is marking us and i'm afraid if i write something that she sees as negative that will affect her marking. but after those comments, i feel this needs to be said. all through the rehearsal period ms mace has been concentrating her efforts on the actors. she is the director and obviously needs to be there to direct, but there have been times that i have wanted/needed to speak to her about something, and it was extremely difficult to find time to speak to her when every rehearsal is spent on the actors. i know that ms mace is the teacher and knows what she is doing, as she's taught year 12 drama before and we haven't, but sometimes it seems like when i need her for something, that i am so much less important than the actors. so, i'm not saying i want her to watch me "put together a costume stitch by stitch", but it would be nice sometimes to have her undivided attention for things that rely on her intent. or even knowing what to say in our presentation. i hate to say this, but really none of knew what we were supposed to talk about until the friday that we showed you guys, ergo couldn't prepare probably.

g) you have a lot of work to do for your onstage roles. it is stressful and hard for you. i can understand that. but from where i am sitting, it doesn't look like it. that is all i was trying to say in my blog. you probably thought i wasn't doing anything either cause for ages all i did was sit around at rehearsals and watch. and that probably irritated you just as much as it irritated me. i thought i had made it clear in my blog that it was my perception of this lack of work that was the issue, not saying that you didn't do any work.

h) i actually had no idea how much work this role would be when i chose it. the reason i chose backstage was that i didn't believe i could do well at onstage because i hadn't done drama last year. not because i love sewing. it's because i don't believe i could do well at performing. if i didn't like performing, i would have picked some other subject. hence my stress at the revelation of how much work it would be. plus, i don't think any of you know this but i am so insanely jealous of all of you onstage. i wish i was good enough to do what you can, but i'm just not. EDIT: i was just about in tears writing that sentence. i'm telling you this so you can see what this actually means to me.

i) and because this blog has gone for so long with so much in between, i'd like to take this opportunity to repeat point (a) to ensure you haven't forgottten it.

i was annoyed because we had so little time left and hadn't even done a full run through. i so badly want you guys to do well, but its hard to believe that you will when i haven't seen you do it. however, yesterday basically changed all of that. i've seen that we can do it without constantly calling for prompts, or forgetting when to come on. it's just i hadn't seen it at that point and didn't know if it was going to happen. now i know that you can do and i can honestly say that i think you will do well.

so yeah. i guess i have a few people to speak to now. no drama today, i'll see if i can catch them before drama tomorrow.

bye.

let's get cynical, cynical!

okay. this is just a quick one. i advise you not to read it if you are easily disheartened. in fact, don't read it at all. i just need to get all this out of my system.

i know the idea is to be hyped up about this, because it's coming up soon and we have to think positive, but does anyone actually believe what they've written? everyone seems to have such high hopes for themselves and the play in general, and i'm generally of the opinion that the whole thing is going to collapse around our ears. maybe it's cause i'm just a pessimist (although i don't like to think of myself this way), or maybe it's because i'm so far behind in what i should be doing.

i know everyone is stressed and i am too. this probably isn't true, but right the way through our rehearsing i've felt that i've had so much more to do than anyone else (except bec). which would be very unfair. and its cause of this perception of how little you guys have to do (what? learn a few lines, remember where to stand, geez how hard can it be?) that i've been so snappy and bitchy. so yeah. that's kind of an explanation why. also, it kind of sucks to work for two or three hours making something, and then to be told that you don't like it. geddit?

and when you guys just rock up to rehearsals and you don't know your lines and spend so much time mucking around, when i've spend five hours the day before cutting and pinning and sewing, and i still have a presentation to prepare and costumes to finish, and i'm supposed to have a handle on all of your characters, and you only have to know about your own characters and even then it looks to me like you've done no work outside of school rehearsals, and the rehearsals are a waste of time for me because i get more done at home but i have to be there anyway, but putting in late nights and early mornings and tuesday-off-for-trinity-sunday sewing and freaking out about giving you things to sew because if you screw it up i lose marks, and my costumes are supposed to match your character but so many of you still seem to be developing your characters so how am i supposed to match something that doesn't fully exist yet and it's not fair cause you guys don't have anywhere near this much work and ms mace spends all her time with you lot and doesn't seem to know anything about what i'm doing or how time-consuming it is or how much it costs and i'm trying to be nice but when i'm thinking all this it's insanely hard to not run out of rehearsals screaming after ripping apart all the stitches.

so yeah. that's about what's running through my head every drama lesson. vous comprenez?

you're what?!

Right - new blog post. Yesterday was Trinity Sunday, and a five-hour rehearsal which I was unfortunately unable to be at. Because I was busy working. From what I've heard it was very productive - well done y'all.

Anyway, I also used yesterday to give out some costumes that need to be finished. I feel a bit mean getting people to do it, but I don't think everyone understands how long things take to make. For example, those simple pink leotards take about an hour for an experienced, skilled sewer to do. And that's without cutting or measuring. For me, they take closer to two hours. And thats the quick and easy stuff. So you see I'm spending several hours night doing this. And that's the reason I wasn't at school on Friday - I took a whole day off to sew. Of course, my Mum is helping a lot, as she is a lot quicker with the machine, and knows a lot of handy tricks. However, all the designs, pattern collation and fabric selection was done by me. Fortunately, most of the difficult stuff is over with now, and I just have to work on simpler things. The only hard part is adjusting patterns to fit people who are very different from the sizes I have access to.

So that was just an update on the kind of stuff I'm doing. I know I don't do much at rehearsals except for watching and thinking, but there's a lot of stuff I'm getting done at home.

And now you've seen a few of the costumes. I've checked most of them, and they all seem to fit (although there are like twenty more that need to be made), which is insanely good for me as I don't really have enough fabric to re-do anything. However, if anyone has any MAJOR problems please approach me, I'd rather know than have you sulking about something. But please please please don't make any changes to ANYTHING without talking to me about it, okay?


Anyway, that's all I have time for! See you guys later!

EDIT:: Memo to self. Look up role of costume designer in theatre, also role of costumes in expressionism, for presentation.

then comes the toast to right good cheer

Good evening, and thank you for tuning into AllyNews. This is Ally in the newsroom.

Hello folks, and on the recent costume front there has been some enormous progress. Our representative spent four and a half hours in Spotlight yesterday, scoping out the frontline. A significant amount of funding is going towards this project and we believe it is our duty as the highest rating news service in Australia to update you on the distribution of these funds. Large amounts of fabric have been purchased, with some items currently unavailable, such as feathers, or put in the 'too hard for now' pile, like sequins. And now let's cross to Ally with the weather.

Thanks, Ally. Things are a partly cloudy over here at the moment, as Capers is finished for the year and it will be another nine months before it starts again. However, our viewers have sent in many favourable reports and so the temperatures are expected to rise to a sunny maximum in the next few days.

And that's all we have time for. Tune in tomorrow for your daily dose of Allynews on channel A.

of shoes and ships and sealing wax

Well, I figured it was about time to write again, seeing as my last post was **shock-horror!** two weeks ago. I just thought I'd jot down what I have and haven't done, just so I can get a grip on exactly how behind I may or may not be.

Here's what I've done:
Drawn up original costume designs for all characters.
Redesigned and redone about half of them.
Given out first-draft costume sheets
Revised costume sheets for some characters
Collated patterns for costumes
Sent out sizing sheets
Put thought into modifying patterns for different sized people (oh woe is me to have all my patterns sized 10-14).


Here's what I still need to do:
Get back everyone's sizes
Copy out patterns & make changes to some of them
Buy fabric
Cut fabric
Put together the basic pieces
Embellish with sequins, appliquee etc.
Prepare 15-minute presentation
Fix any mistakes, or 'unforeseen circumstances'.

So it's apparent I really haven't got very far. But I'm going to Spotlight this Sunday to buy things, and then I can work on actually making the costumes.
There are a few items that I have considered as a part of costumes, but they kind of come under props. So I guess I'll have to get them, as they are not on Bec's prop list. Or I'll tell her what they are so she can work on it.

I'm also putting a little thought into Hair and Makeup. I know that this isn't my area, but for some characters, like the clowns, the costume really isn't complete without it.

Something else: I need to get some dressers, I think. I won't be able to help everyone to get their costumes on and off, and I think some people will need help.

Anyway, off I go to look at clown-faces. See you all in 4&5th lesson today. And once again I won't be able to be there after school, as I have to be in theatre for Capers. But that's only for this week and then its over, so that should be fine.

Love y'all.
xoxo


EDIT:: Just looked at makeup styles for clowns. And I'm putting this here so I don't forget it. Whiteface clowns should be painted white on their face AND all the way down their neck. Apparently they should also be covered all over by clothes. Which mean I need to put sleeves on my costume design. It says here that if the neck isn't painted, it will be assumed that the clown is going to mime. Which is obviously not the case as Victoria has lines.

title-less

First of all, I would like to apologise for my rather angry-sounding blog of a few days ago. It wasn't written to be attacking, and I realise that Ms Mace asked you to think about things like that, it's just that I don't want to go into my interview saying that someone else came up with all the ideas. So I'm sorry for sounding so angry. Really. Keep on doing it, it was just my little vent and I wasn't attacking anyone.

Onto less controversial matters....We had a production meeting today. We didn't get much done. Ms Mace did a lot of talking, Josh got up and did his bit (which meant we argued about copyright for ages), and I basically yelled at everyone. Fun times.

The lack of time that we have is really getting to me right now. I'll probably get over it soon, but I'm the kind of person who tends to do things at the last minute, and I don't want that to happen with this. So I'm kinda stressed - apologies in advance to everyone that I yell at. I don't mean it.

Love always,
Ally

don't think las vegas, think wild west!

**phew** My fingers ache from all the typing...just finished costume lists for (most) characters. But more on that in a sec.

Today and and yesterday we have been busily rehearsing scenes from Mirror Mirror. Well, everybody else has been busily rehearsing. I've been watching and frantically making notes on costume ideas for the scenes we've covered. I have to say though, I am finding costuming for the Mum and the Voice really difficult, so I don't have costume lists for those two (sorry girls).

My costume lists have taken me all night, but I think I'm just about happy with what I've done. You'll all get them tomorrow at our rehearsal, but here's a little rundown as to what I've done. I've made a list of every scene that you're in, and what character you are in that scene. Then I've detailed what I'd like you to provide, and what I will make. I know that there will probably be a lot of shuffling around, but I figure once I've got these lists into people's hands, I can begin collating patterns and starting cutting very soon.

Oh the excitement.

a whole blog dedicated to maddy

Right. The holidays are just about over, and rehearsals have started. For everyone else. I am yet to attend a rehearsal, as I have been interstate getting tanned and being evacuated off rollercoasters. I dipped through everyone's blogs to hopefully get some updates about the rehearsal(s) that I've missed, and haven't really dredged up anything to help me get a handle on what happened.

However, I have given some more thought to acquiring and making patterns for the costumes. Admittedly, I am finding this quite hard as I rarely work to a pattern, and just make things up as I go along. Ms Mace said that I can enlist all of you to do the actually putting together of costumes, so long as I've collated the patterns and materials for you. Which will be difficult if I don't actually have patterns - you see my dilemma?

At the moment I'm feeling a little like my territory has been infringed upon, in particular by Maddy and Jenna. After reading their blogs, especially this one, it seems like they're trying to costume themselves. While I understand that the appearance of a character is very important to building this character, and that everyone probably has a mental picture of what their character will look like, (and I feel ever-so-selfish saying this) I thought this area was kind of my responsibility. I know I need to speak to you guys about what your image of your character is, but I really don't want you to have solid ideas for costuming as I'll probably have completely difference ideas and then one of us will end up being unhappy.

That said, Maddy's annoying blog has helped me a bit with her character. The most difficult part of costuming the straight characters is that I have to be inside their heads. As well as suiting the individual Girl, Friend, Dad I also have to make them a representative of all girls, friends and dads, and that's kind of hard. It feels a little bit like I have to have a similar depth of understanding to these characters as their players do, but while the players only need to understand one character, I need to understand all of them.

Right, that was a little bit of a tangent. Back to Maddy's blog about the Voice. Her comments about androgyny were rather astounding. Androgynous appearances are something that I'd considered a little (but not much) for other characters, and I feel quite stupid that I didn't think of that for the Voice before. But it makes sense. The difficulty with this, I find, is that the kind of androgyny that Maddy was talking about seems to work well with males, and not so good with females. But I think I will follow this, as it contains Maddy's interpretation of her character, as well as being fun to play around with. I'm a little hesistant though, because if I am asked at the end of the production why I created this look for the Voice, all I could say is that Maddy came up with it, not me.

Her blog has also made me change my mind in a big way about the Voice as well. I was going to treat the Voice as a straight character for costuming, but now I've decided to treat the Voice as a circus member. My main reason for doing so is because the circus is the Girl's struggle with anorexia. And the Voice is also her struggle with anorexia. I also found that the Voice is basically the only character who is a member of the circus (Anorexia the Magnificent, a magician who can pull more than the wool over anyone's eyes), and also present in the 'real world' scenes, therefore providing a link between the circus and the real world.

So yeah. I suppose in drama tomorrow, which will be my first rehearsal for Mirror Mirror, all my ideas will be turned on their heads and I shall have to abandon them anyway. BUT I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME! Designing is the part which should be over with quickly, as it will take time to actually MAKE all these things.

**runs off screaming into the distance**

alas poor yorrick, i used your skull for a bowling ball

Hello everyone. Tis officially the holidays today. HOORAY!

Well, I hope you all had absolutely fabulous Easters and ate far too much chocolate than is good for you. Because I did, and it was fun.

Today, as you no doubt all know (seeing as you were there), was Hamlet. It was a good play to watch, but it was hard to get notes for it. I suppose that's probably because I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I only managed about three (very messy) pages of notes. I hope it's enough.

And, I ran into an old friend in the theatre! I haven't seen Bee for nearly a year, and there she is, come to see Hamlet with her school! It's amazing what a small small world it is.

I keep saying it, but I'm going to say it again. I won't be at the holiday rehearsal thing, I will be at the Gold Coast thoroughly enjoying myself. I should have an initial costume sheet for people (subject to LOTS of changes though) very soon, once I know the final casting for every scene. Basically, I'll put on the sheet everything I will try to provide, and everything I'd like you to get for yourselves, and that way you can see what you might be wearing. If there's anything you definately can't get, or if you are uncomfortable with a costume, just let me know as soon as you can. Thanks y'all.

And someone left me a comment but deleted it. I wonder what it said....

black and white and pretty colours

So. Yesterday, which was Wednesday of Week 10 of Term 1 (trying to get some time perspective into this) was a HORRIBLE LESSON. I think I managed to make at least two different kinds of un-friends. One who I have spoken to but still feels the need to mention it on his blog, and one who hasn't actually said anything but I think likes me less than I initially thought. Oh what fun. I'm trying to think of a way that makes me remember who they are for later reference, but that won't give them away here. Oh well, here's to remembering it.

Well, anyway, that was the most horrible part. We were supposed to be building our 'character relationships', but as offstagers, we (meaning Bec, Josh and I) kinda can't. So we just discussed stuff. Which ended up being a little of yelling match. I said a lot of shite that I shouldn't have, stuff I'm unable to justify, so now I feel a little like a bitch. Not fun.

Why Oh Why Am I The Most Socially Inept Person In Our Class.

Wow. Oh Thank God Thank God. I just read Victoria's blog and was kind of freaking out at the descriptions she'd found for the Whiteface Clown. I was all like OMFG DATS SOO NOT WAT I THORT WTF AM I GONNA DO OMFG OMFG OMFG but then I followed the handy-dandy link that she provided, and it's all okay now. It also makes me wonder what kind of clown Leonie would be, cause that would greatly affect what I'd put her in.

And I have a sketchbook now. I'm putting the rough drafts for costumes in it now, but all I've found myself able to do are the main characters (eg Girl, Voice, Clowns) because I don't have a full cast list yet. It's so much fun though. **dances**
EDIT: I forgot to add in something I thought for the Voice. I'm not too sure about this, but I though maybe a skincoloured bodysuit which has been painted/appliqueed, to make it look like Maddy is basically naked with a bit of bodypaint. That'd be awesome, and came from Maddy's suggestion that she run on in the nude (a joke, at least I hope so). Does anyone think the painted bodysuit thing could work?

And until next time y'all,
Ally

xoxo

would someone please pass the salt?

we got our casting today. needless to say, it was a rather emotional lesson. although i basically knew exactly what i'd be getting, i was a bit shocked at some of the casting decisions. however much as i didn't expect a few of the people and their roles, i'm sure they'll all be amazing.

we also did some parkbench/busstop work after recess. i think park bench went especially well today, Klunyk's Jesus thing was so funny! Snaps to him!

oh and another thing - it was mentioned again in people's blogs (Luke's actually, but i'm too lazy right now to link to it) about the split up in groups. seriously people, can someone pleeeease enlighten me about this? i believe oil-and-water was the phrase used. please y'all, someone talk to me about this. i'm begging you sweetly, i'm down on my knee!

hoorah for gratuitous musical references.

eep. my blog entries of late have been so short. i'm sorry about that, but there just isn't much i have to say. i suppose when the group production gets properly underway, they'll be plenty for me to talk about.

if only you'd touch a mouse or a fly, but no you're so particular

the musical is over.

tears and hugs to everyone who was a part of it! you were all absolutely awesome.

now i need to find something new to fill my afternoons with.

extra extra read all about it!

just to enlighten all of you who may or may not know yet:

i am doing offstage. i am not being marked on my onstage prowess. i will, however, hopefully have roles onstage so i don't spend the whole time sitting backstage twiddling my thumbs.

so hooray for getting to design people's costumes. it shalll be fun. even though we still haven't got the full casting list yet so i can't really start, at least until we get it. whoooo i can't wait til people get cast so i can think up stuff for them to wear.

lol that makes me sound so.....shallow? clothes-orientated? so something, i just don't know what it is. i really am rather excited about what i get to do.....it shall be brilliant.

good luck to everyone on getting the roles they want - althought i'm sure that whatever you get, you'll do it fantastically. and no more hands up for offstage? pity that - where are your creative talents people?!

ms mace says the final final cast list should be ours on tuesday. whoopdidoo. can't wait.

reviews: everyone is working on reviewing politely savage, which as we all know i didn't get to go see. some people said it was amazing and some people said it was crapola, so i don't know whether or not i'm glad i didn't go. although that means i have to go find something else to review. oh woe is me (my life is a misery). that's from a song. my life isn't actually that miserable.

wow. that's the first time in like three weeks i've had a song in my head that isn't from the musical. its our last show tonight. thank god.


oh, woe is me.
my life is a misery.
o-oh, can't you see
that i'm at the start of a pretty big downer
the sword of damacles is hanging over my head
and i've got a feeling someone's gonna be cutting the thread!
(that ain't no crime!)

and lo! the scripts arrive with much fanfare and rejoicing

we have scripts now. mine is number 12. i wrote that here so i won't forget.

we're supposed to find out casting today. the anticipation is killing me.

and that is all. see you all in about ten minutes.

musical takes up all my time

Well here I am, writing drama blogs while I'm supposed to be packing for my rehearsal camp tomorrow. There are clothes and shoes strewn all over my floor. But I'm doing this instead. Says a lot about my attention span.

And I am so not leaving it a week before posting again (although I have a legit excuse, i've been at musical rehearsals). I had to go back and read everyone's blogs in order to work out what happened in what order on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank deity-of-non-specified-religion-here that there are people in our class who keep up with stuff.

First off - I want to address the so-called 'issues' we are having in class. Frankly, I don't see them at all. I mean, it's obvious that there are different friendship groups in the class but that's simply a matter of who you prefer to hang out with, and not a 'nasty' thing. And now I'm constantly worried that some people have issues with me, and I just cant see it. I'd like to say to everyone now....
If you have an issue or any kind of problem with me, tell me about it. Subtle hints don't work. And I'd rather know that I'm irritating you and then do something about it, than to carry on in blissful ignorance. So leave me a comment, approach me after class, do whatever but please just LET ME KNOW.

Anyway, after Ms Mace had this discussion with us, we started some more team-building games and stuff. We did Knots, but unfortunately I was in a seperate circle to the main knot and so was out easily. Then it took ages and ages to try and get the other knot out, but it just didn't work. So after recess we had another go, and GUESS WHAT I WAS IN A SEPERATE CIRLE AGAIN! But this time we were entwined with the other circle, and couldn't detach. Seeing as we couldn't get any knots out, we played the ball game and got to a rather high number (which escapes me at this point in time).

We've done a lot more reading of Mirror Mirror, and it's really very interesting the way things are going. Some people are doing VERY well at certain roles...
SHOUT OUT TO ADELE! Your Girl today was so so so so so wonderful. It's one of the best performances from this reading that I've seen so far. You rock, girl.
I have to say, I really like doing the readings and having a go at different characters. I think it would be fun to have a go at the voice. Cause it's such an interesting character.

Well, now I must go and try and cram all my stuff into a bag. I hate having to bring costumes on camp - takes up all the room in my bag!

Love y'all.
xoxo

and then my brain spontaneously imploded

Last week we started doing a moving reading of Mirror Mirror as we still don't have our own scripts. This is to give us an inclination of what the play will be like, but I think it's also an opportunity for Ms Mace to see how certain people do with certain roles for casting. I hope it's not the latter. She keeps putting the same people in the same roles, which is great for our continuity, but not good for seeing how people go. If I were to have my choice of roles, I think I would like to play the Auguste Clown or the Ringmaster (although if I was basically backfill, I think I would cry. I hate being expendable). EDIT: I just realised that makes me sound really up-myself. It wasn't supposed to. I promise. Everyone seems to have it in their heads that Ringmaster is a male role, but it does specify in the script that it could be either. I even think it could be more effective with a female Ringmaster, as there is the scene where the Girl refuses cake but the Ringmaster sneaks some to eat - a big contrast that I don't think would be apparent with a male Ringmaster.

Something else which I don't agree with - the Voice. I really very much think that the Voice should be male. I know that everyone has different opinions, but I just can't see the Voice being effective as a girl. People have said that it should be female because the pressure to be thin is coming from other girls around you, but this doesn't seem right to me. Everyone feels pressure to be thin at some point or other, and I know that just about all that pressure coming my way has been from guys. Maybe I just have strange experiences, but that's why I think that the Voice should be cast from one of the guys in the class. Also, as anorexia has been studied as a kind of repressed sexuality, trying to regress back to a childish body shape and denying one's identity as an adult sexual being, I think that the dynamic could be very interesting with a male Voice. Comprenez, tout le monde?

I have lists and lists in my head of who I think should get certain roles, and who I think will get those roles, but I don't know if it's appropriate to put them here.

Everyone's had lots of ideas for staging and publicity and costumes and stuff. I love some of them, such as setting front of house as a circus with fairy floss and popcorn and stuff. I also think that creating the appearance of a circus tent inside the theatre would be good, by taking streamers or something in red and white stripes from the centre of the stage on the ceiling out to the edges of the room. Thoughts on theatre in the round/thrust stage: yuck. I prefer the idea of a conventional stage. As well as being harder to perform in, I think it looks a little unprofessional (especially the thrust stage) unless it's done VERY WELL, which I don't think we're capable of doing. Especially with actors leaving and entering the stage. On a regular stage, people can come in from any point on the sides, but on a thrust stage, they can ONLY come in from the back. And if it were in the round, actors would be leaving the stage through the audience, creating distractions. I know it would create more of a circus feel with the audience on all sides, but I don't think it would be as good for practicality.



I've also done a lot of thinking of costume ideas. I'm thinking taffeta and sequins and leotards and feathers and all sorts of glittery things for the general circus troupe. Costumes for 'troupers' would have to be layered on top of each other, to enable them to switch characters (as ducks, clowns, mallrats etc) easily. I can think of so many ways to do that, and still have a complete costume for each character, but it's difficult to finalise ideas without a sense of casting and knowing how quick the changes would have to be.

The Voice I would dress in all black or all white, seperating it from the 'real people' in the play, with a painted face in those two colours. Try to make it less like a 'person' or a 'personality', and more like an emotion with a face. EDIT: On second thoughts, that's a bad idea. Completely ignore it (i'm just leaving it here so that later on I remember that once I thought it was good.

The girl, as a child, I am thinking bright pink and purple and green and blue, with those colours fading to paler pink, brown, grey as she gets older and sicker.

Auguste Clown: bright (possibly blue) hooped one piece clown costume, with contrasting frilled collar and cuffs and a tutu around the hoop. I know this sounds kind of stupid, but I can't find a picture of what I want. In my head it looks good, and I could draw it for you if you really want to see it. Hair frizzed out, with a small hat or bow perched on a rakish angle on top.



Whiteface Clown: Bascially a Pierrot. This is what a Pierrot looks like. Just search for it on Google if you want some more pictures. I think that this style of French clown would be a nice contrast with the Auguste Clown, a colourful garish image which is what most people think of when they think 'clown'. Try here if you want to know a little more about Pierrot.







Family: Well, street clothes goes here. I have colours in mind but that depends what the actors who play them have in their wardrobes.

I have other ideas for specific scenes, such as the ballet scene or the mallrat scene. In the ballet scene, I think that Madame should be in shawls and a walking stick - an old, fussy instructor. The girls should all be in leotards (thinking pale pink), pink opaque tights, and sheer skirts, pink jiffies for shoes. When the Girl enters, I picture her skirt and shoes in white, differentiating her from the rest of the ballerinas, but only subtly. The Mallrats I'm thinking are those Supre-style 13 yr olds you see all over the place. I want them all in matching outfits (different colours, of course), short skirts, brightly coloured layered tops, belts, leggings, chunky jewellery etc. That particular scene is highlighting conformity, and costumes like these would emphasise this.

I know that all these ideas are pretty extravagant and we don't really have the budget for it (or even if the actors have time to alter their costumes between appearances onstage), but I think it would look amazing. I've put a lot of thought into it, and I have patterns lying around for things like clown jumpsuits, pierrot costumes, leotards etc. As I still haven't quite decided whether or not I'll do costumes as an offstage and be marked on it, I'm working on developing these ideas in case it is the path I choose to take. Even if I decide to be marked on my onstage performance, I'd still love to have significant input into costumes.


**phew**. This was a long blog entry. Thanks for reading it all, and letting me just spill all my ideas over onto this.

yes bec, i did steal your link

Hey everyone. This is just a quick post, to enlighten you all with an ana link. I think it strikes a chord with Mirror Mirror and the way eating disorders are portrayed in the play. So here ya go, Glamour, Popularity and Truth. And I didn't quite steal it from Bec. This page linked off of the page she gave, but I thought it was important that people should read it.

And I know I'm posting far to frequently for anyone to keep up, but I'm writing when I have the inclination, which is fairly often, and besides aren't we supposed to be keeping this blog for our own reference later anyway? Oh and on Friday we watched part of that Channel 7 (i think i love you, but what am i so afraid of) special on "Skinny Celebrities". I saw it when it was aired, but it still gives an interesting outlook on eating disorders and the race to be a size 0.

Love y'all.

boycotting capital letters

aaaaah.

that's the sound of me screaming.

i am so *insert expletive here* worried about drama right now. especially the group production. i just read josh's most recent blog, and it's got me thinking that i'm nowhere near ready for it. i've been approaching the whole thing with some vague "yay-i-like-performing" vibe, along with a lot of "i'm-not-that-inspired-but-oh-well-that's-okay". i so don't know what to do. it's a hellish feeling.

although i did show ms mace some passages from mirror mirror today. i didn't get a chance to talk to her about it, as it was just before musical rehearsal. i'm kind of worried about what she will say.

another thing that i'm thinking about for if i do costume as offstage is budget and casting....

but now i must go. it's taken me like an hour and a half to write this stupid blog entry cause people keep calling me. like, the only reason i was hanging up the phone was because i had to answer it for someone else. gosh.

at least i'm slightly less scared now.

bye for now.

bang bang bang bang bang

Wow. Drama today felt powerful.

But let me start with yesterday. Which was Tuesday. We had a theory lesson and a prac lesson, both focussing on expressionism. Mr Philp was watching the theory lesson, which was slightly disturbing. I see enough of him in maths twice a day to have him in drama too! Ms Mace introduced us to expressionism, a form of theatre that depicts emotions. Well, I'm still not too sure about exactly what it is, but thats the closest I can get (I think). After recess we started making our own physical theatre/expressionist pieces, using our bodies to demonstrate a 'bad' emotion. Our group, consisting of me, Holly, Phoebe and Knowlesy, decided on depression for our emotion. There was quite a bit of discussion on how we would do it, but we finally came up with a great idea. Holly was to be the girl being swallowed by depression, and I was to play her friend, who helped pull her out of its depths. The other two symbolised the depression, swirling around her and getting closer and closer and closer.

Today, we continued rehearsing our emotions and presented them to the class. We used the theme music from MIB, which is eerie and kooky and suited just about all the presentations perfectly. The other groups did depression, drug addiction, and paranoia. They were all very good, and the movement combined with the music made for quite a powerful feeling for the audience. I know that I was completely embedded in their 'world' and didn't want them to end. I felt this especially in Adele-Jenna-Bec's depression, because it ended with Bec as depression as the winner. IT WAS SAD.

Well, that's all folks.

No, wait, not quite all. I have been giving some deep thought to our group production. I really want a high mark, and I don't know the best way to go about it. I would LURVE to use the performing aspect as my mark, but I don't know if that would be the best way for me. Ms Mace says that what she's seen of me is that I lack depth in my characters, which means I wouldn't be able to achieve an excellent mark for an onstage assessment. So I have considered doing an offstage role, probably in costume design. I like thinking up costumes for things, and about half my day-to-day wardrobe is costume pieces (which is probably why I always dress so absurdly). I'm just torn, between doing what I love and what might be best. Any comments on this matter would help a LOT.

I am presenting a couple of monologues from Mirror Mirror to Ms Mace (soonish, hopefully) so that she can take a closer look at how I perform and help me decide.

It's all so hard.

welcome to the life of your time!

Wow...I have so much to say. I haven't really been keeping on top of everything, so I'm gonna try and be serious here. Try being the operative word in that sentence.

I had a flick through Mirror Mirror at SSABSA (is that the right amount of 'S's?) Drama Day, and I got a bit more of a picture of what it's about. I mean, at first I thought it was like a character who worked in a circus had an eating disorder, but that's not what it appears to be about. Keeping in mind that I only **flicked through** the script, it looks to me more like the circus is a metaphor, as in the girl's life is a circus. The Ringmaster looks like an amazing role, fun to play but also open to quite a bit of interpretation. And it's a character who could be over the top, but still be serious in context. I can't wait til we find out what the casting is, although I may not be thinking that if I get a role I think will be especially difficult. It's hard to remember that we're not 'competing' for the lead roles, but that we will receive roles that will (hopefully) showcase our talents the best.

Yesterday was SSABSA Drama Day. I held off writing about it last night, in case anything amazing came up in Drama today that related to it. And I was right! It seems that Luke was inspired to do an ISP, instead of being a part of the Group Production. I have to say, quite a few of us never saw that coming. I was hoping to maybe be inspired to a different path as well, but nothing really struck me. It made the ISPs look hard, and an offstage role to look just plain boring. However, there were some very interesting parts to the day. The scenes performed by Tyndale were very skilled, in that the girl playing Helen Keller didn't speak the whole time, but managed to convey so much. She even pulled off blind well, as she just stared blankly into space instead of looking at what she was doing. I also enjoyed Kane's ISP presentation, as I didn't see it last year and it introduced me for the first time to the idea of Forum Theatre. The 'workshop' with the two actors and director (unfortunately, names escape me) was very interesting, especially the subtext exercise using the beanbag. A useful part of the day was the information on reviews, as I really had no idea how to go about them, and I kinda assumed Ms Mace would explain when we got to that. All in all, although the 'being lectured at' part was really boring, SSABSA Drama Day proved well worth it.

And onto today's lesson. It was amazing. We were looking at our physicality, as a casting tool for Ms Mace, and I guess there was also benefit in it for us (even thought none immediately comes to mind, except for 'fun'). We started off doing mirrors, and my partner was Maddy. I think we worked really well together, as our movements were almost in perfect unison. Ms Mace even called on us to demonstrate in front of the class, which made me feel a little stupid but it was a great acknowledgement to know we were doing well. Then we tried moving our whole bodies and walking, mimicking each other's movements. This was a LOT harder as we had more to keep track of, and we weren't necessarily looking at each other directly. After lunch we came back with different partners, preferably of different genders, and Josh and I were together this time. We tried the walking-mimic thing again, but this time we were supposed to follow each other, not one lead and the other follow. We did it with colours as our inspiration, and I have to say I found it so much harder to work with Josh than I did with Maddy, but I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe Maddy and I just 'click' together well. After that, we 'danced' in our unison thing to music, and then joined up groups to form a large group to 'dance' with. Which meant that now my group (lol 'my' group...makes it sound like i own it or something) consisted of Josh, Jenna, Kyle and me. This was much easier to do, and I felt a lot less stupid. The ideas for movement were either adopted immediately or just ignored by the other three, which meant there was less time wondering what was going to happen. I very much enjoyed Drama today, it was challenging but still fun.

**phew** That was a blog-entry-and-a-half. If you've managed to read this far, then well done. Gah. I keep writing for an audience even though this is mostly for my own reference. Must be all my previous blog-writing which DID actually have an audience. Well, a great big HI and a hug to everyone who visits me here.

I so can't wait til the Group Production gets underway. I love rehearsing for things. I love performing them even more. I'm just a teensy bit worried I won't be good enough.

BYEEEE!

i am the fairest of them all, dammit!

And we have a play. Mirror Mirror here we come. I'm glad Mirror Mirror was the play chosen because it seems to resonate with everyone, and it can be a bit of fun as well as it's set in a circus. A couple of years ago, a close friend of mine (unfortunately we've grown apart now) was hospitalised with anorexia, and hardly anyone noticed how thin she was getting. It's too easy to cover it up, so hopefully the play will help the audience to notice things like that.

And we played games yesterday. Park Bench and that Bus game. I don't like the Bus game, it's too chaotic and I don''t think our class runs with it too well. Too many people try to draw the attention to themselves, there's no give-and-take. In Park Bench, as there are few people onstage, they don't try as much to hog the spotlight. As least that's how I see it.

So far in class, we've all mucked around all the time. Rowdy discussions, chaotic games, even when we did a moving reading of Dreamers people were laughing and joking. I guess last year people were able to settle down for the important stuff, but I didn't see that and I don't know how well we're going to be able to cope with a 'serious' Group Production. But that'll happen when it happens.

After having had a few weeks to get to know people, its interesting to watch the class. There are some people who couldn't care less about discussions, but are really into games; some who completely ignore everyone else and just go with their own ideas, no matter how little sense they make in context; and even some who just sit and don't really participate in anything. I'd like to know where I fit into all this, but obviously I can't notice anything 'different' about the way I am because I'm too close to the source.

Well, this is the end of this. I'll try and write blog at least once a week, to keep up to date with things. Love y'all lots and please, if you read this, just leave a comment or something cause it'd be nice to know who's been here.


Ally the Great.

sex, mirrors and rhinoceroses

Double drama today. Twas interesting, to say the least. Really, the entire first lesson consisted of discussing and arguing and yelling about a play to do for our Group Production. Ms Mace gave us two choices to start with - Cloud Street by Tim Winton adapted by Nick Enright and Rhinoceros, an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco. She explained that there was more theory for Rhinoceros and that could give us more opportunities in our report, but that Cloud Street could have a better audience response, but the sex scenes would have to be changed.

And the screaming.
"LION KING LION KING"
"How come they get to do a fairytale next year?"
"There are 12 roles in the Lion King, you know that?"
"STAR WARS: THE MUSICAL"
"Can we do a group devised?"
"One time I saw the Lion King without singing"
"I want to do the Lion King"

"WE ARE NOT DOING THE LION KING!"

And so on and so forth. After collecting a list of five issues for us, Ms Mace mentioned a play called Mirror Mirror by Sue Murray, about eating disorders. Personally, I don't know what we're going to do. I don't like the idea of Rhinoceros (even though I don't know anything about it), however we were told it'd be easier to get a higher mark in.


Gah. At the rate we're going, I doubt we'll even have a play.

second blog post which comes second

This is in a second post cause Ms Mace said to. So there **pokes out tongue**


I'm supposed to talk a bit about the first week of drama class. It was...nothing special I guess. Not exactly mind-boggling but I didn't die of boredom either. It kinda sucks that everybody else did drama last year and so they all know exactly what they're in for, and I didn't, which means I don't know anything, but them's the breaks.

And now I shall go and try and do something productive.

**gallops away on a white horse into the sunset**

I have Issues thinking up Titles

So.

**awkward silence**

Um. Yeah.

This is my drama blog. A blog in which I am meant to write about drama. Sounds better than a journal anyway. A journal which I would never write in. Because I don't do journals. But I do do blogs. Apparently. **shut up ally**

Well. I am Ally. I am doing Year12 Drama and this is my blog for it (we had to say something about ourselves - is that enough?). Hooray for blogs. My other blog kind of died a couple of months ago, so this gives me something new to do. Cause I don't spend too much time on the internet at all **sarcasm**.