Back from LONDON L
The ISTA TAPS trip was from the 7th to the 11th
of October and it was AMAZING! The most interesting and fun-filled trip I’ve
ever been on, I learnt so much about theatre that I didn’t know and I met
people who had the same interests as me from all around the world, and to see
there different views on things was interesting and it gave you more to think
about different aspects of theatre and different ways theatre students analysis
a play or performance.
Sunday 7th:
Was the day we flew to LONDON! That night we went to see a
dance musical called ‘Some Like it Hip-Hop’ by Zoonation. Which was set in the
60’s and was about women not being able to get jobs as easily as men get them.
I really enjoyed this play because I really like dancing and singing and it was
a play that I would want to go see again. The dance and singing skills was
amazing and I really got intrigued by it. This play was mostly dialogue from
the narrator and a few other characters whenever there were freeze frames
during the play. At the end of this performance the actors got the audience up
on their feet singing and dancing which was very enjoyable and everyone joined
in. What I also liked from this performance was when the actors bowed they got
to do their own dance putting their own stamp on their character and I really
appreciated this in the performance.
I was in such a good and inspired mood after this
performance which then got ruined when we got ripped off in a local Indian
restaurant.
Monday 8th:
Was the first day of TAPS, I didn’t know what to expect and
I was a bit anxious about being in such a big ensemble. After 5 minutes after
we started I felt fine and comfortable with everyone I was with. Our two
ensemble leaders were Sherri and Anthony and they were so confortable to work
with. They always went from one activity to another which kept us going and we
never got bored because we were always on our feet doing something interesting
to do with theatre.
Our first morning we did warm ups:
-
Banana Song – to get us started
-
Positive Yes exercise- to get the energy levels
in the room high
-
Eye contact game –mingling with people in the
group and get to know people better.
-
Bear and Lumberjacks game – which helped with
the concentration of the people playing the game and showed that with even any
type of distraction an actor has to be able concentrate to be able to focus and
perform. A BOAL activity.
-
Pair activity – thinking about what type of
performer we were – interesting to see what other people thought about what
type of performer they were.
The afternoon
-
Playback Theatre – Observation someone during
the lunch then re-enacting it out.
-
Lineals – shows emotions and what a person is
really feeling and can have an effect on the audience.
We then had a master class on music and we were shown
different rhythms and we had to create some ourselves and gave us activities
with singing and beats.
That night we saw ‘Oh, the Humanity’ which was a very
thought provoking play and showed different perceptions on how people felt.
Even thought it was a go performance and the acting of one women especially was
amazing, I saw that she really got into the characters she was playing and her
emotions she portrayed stood out. I didn’t know what to expect of this play and
when I heard what other people’s views they had on them were very interesting
and varied to mine.
Tuesday 9th:
We mostly continued doing warm up activities and different
types of games to do around theatre. We talked a bit more about lineals and
went through emotions of lineals. We then talked about immersive theatre and
discussed a few aspects before our master class we were going to have in the
afternoon. And we also had a mini talk
about comedy with Sherri who is specialised in that because she is a stand-up
comedian.
The master class we had in the afternoon was very
interesting and interactive, before we went on this trip I had to do a research
on it and I got really interested and thought it would be really good to go see
one, so doing a master class on it was really enjoyable.
That night we went to see ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ which was
one of the best performances I’ve seen. It was so enjoyable and there wasn’t a
dull moment in it. It was a play about a man that manages to get two jobs and
have two guvnors bossing him around. We could really see the comedy throughout
the whole play and the audience were always laughing and enjoying themselves.
The music played brought a joyful feel to the whole theatre and put everyone in
an even better mood. The only thing I was disappointed with was when I found
out that some of the audience that were picked were in fact real actors. It
kind of got rid of the whole comedy of the play and the real audience getting
involved. And I think it would have been funnier if they were just audience
picked at random.
Wednesday 10th:
The whole ensemble had an overview chat about the play we
saw the previous night and everyone thought it was hilarious and entertaining
and really enjoyed it as much as I did. We then had a serious talk about the
Research Paper and the P.P.P we will have to do in our second year of theatre.
I think this talk was very helpful because I got a clearer idea and help from
what I was told about what im going to have to do in my second year.
That night we went to see Damned by Despair, which I think
if I was more awake and more into the type of theatre that was portrayed I
would have found it much more interesting. Even though I didn’t particularly
enjoy it I thought the sound and projections used throughout the play were
interesting and created a dark and intense atmosphere.
Thursday 11th:
Bye Bye London, Thursday was the day we had to go L we were all really sad
about leaving and we wished we could have stayed for another week if we could.
We all learnt lots of new things and we were able to share what we learnt and
look back on what an amazing and unforgettable week we all had.
