Initial Ideas – Page 2 – No Added Sugar

Love Love Love

Gabrielle Ruth Evans / March 11, 2014June 2, 2014 / Initial Ideas, Music

As a company the exploration of live music in performance has always been part of the agenda to explore. In the theatre industry, companies such as Filter and The Little Bulb Theatre Company have explored the idea of incorporating live music into performance and have used it to their advantage to produce some amazing shows. It is a unique element to use if available, therefore when we discovered that not only myself but most of the cast can either sing, or play an instrument or was willing to learn, from this point I think we all knew that if we did not explore and develop music for our performance it would be a great loss.Also, with the topic of love in mind, music is known as the universal language of love, so it would be rude not too. Music has the ability to create a connection with the audience in the same way as any play or text. Particular songs over the years can become reminiscing of all the good and bad encounters you can have with love. Such as, a first Kiss, a couple’s first dance at their wedding or even a first meeting.

Within the company we discussed various love songs that are both personal to us and some well-known classics. As musical director with help from assistant musical director Jozey as well as collaborating with director Tom and the singers, we shall be able to pick out the correct few love songs, as discussed in Jozey’s earlier post ‘thoughts about music’. We went away from rehearsal with a few of the musical choices to explore the possibility of playing it on either piano, guitar or ukelele.

Within the piece, we want to include some old time classics such as ‘I’d do anything for love’ by Meatloaf and ‘All you need is love’ by the Beatles. , spiced up with some original composition. That will, I hope add some depth and texture to some of the written and to be written text and with hope that it will help the audience along with their journey.

In relation to all of this, the instruments we have decided to use the most in our performance are the guitar, piano and Ukulele. But through discussion we also thought it would be nice to get some alternative instruments into our company which will take the shape a glockenspiel and a tambourine. Yay! Becky our producer is going to buy them for our next rehearsals and although at this moment I don’t know where they are going to be used, I am sure we will find a valuable place for them.

As Musical Director, I am looking forward to the next few weeks. Exploring things I have not done before from taking charge of music to even developing my own musical abilities. I am also hoping to help the company learn a little more about musical techniques and to produce some music with, dare I say it, maybe a hint of sugar.

Gestes de la Romance…

Phoebe Wall-Palmer / March 9, 2014June 2, 2014 / Initial Ideas, Love, Verbatim and Interviews

Because everything is more romantic in French.

Romantic gestures. Big, small, surprising, embarrassing, adorable or sexy – these gestures of love keep our relationships alive. They feed, what is often called, ‘the spark’.

Ask anyone about this subject and you usually hear: “no… we’re/he’s/she’s just not that romantic really!” Of course, we could all be overlooking the tiniest of details in our relationships: That morning cup of tea, picking you up when it’s raining. And why are we oblivious to these charming acts of love? Because films, books and television seem to shroud our honest lives with some grand idea that the only way you can keep a relationship going is to hijack a hot air balloon and whisk them off to Barbados, where you’re greeted by Sonny Rollins, who plays a saxophone solo as you have a walk along the beach… or something similar. I suppose we should not be totally cynical about it though, these films are not reality by any means, but I think it keeps the hopeless romantic topped up in all of us. For example, the brilliant scene in ’10 Things I Hate About You’, where Patrick sings to Kat on the school field:

In light of this, my quest was to find real stories that are near enough film worthy. The criteria included: gestures of love, romantic surprises, or getting together against the odds. These are some of the true stories that came through…

“My Nan moved from Italy when she was about 24, with 20 other Italian girls. They worked in a factory or something and lodged with English families. She lived with my Grandad’s family (he was away in the army at the time) and another Italian friend. The Italian friend didn’t get on with the family and eventually she left wanting my Nan to go with her but she didn’t. My Grandad’s mum threw a birthday party for my Nan, and that night my Grandad came home. He asked her out on a date, they fell in love! When their children were about 18 months/2 years old my Nan went to Italy for 3 months to see family. My Grandad had to stay and work but missed them so went out on Christmas day without them knowing and suprised my Nan.”

“My friend Amy’s boyfriend Craig turned up on her doorstep, having spent £70 on a taxi to get to her house, with a new dress and a table for dinner booked (think he definitely got head that night).”

“My Grandma and Grandad got together because my grandma was a librarian at the library by Grandad studied at. They talked regularly, and eventually he asked her if she wanted to go out. She politely declined, but he tried again. After several attempts he waited for her after work one day with a bunch of flowers and after that she agreed and they went on a date!”

“My mum was Sikh and therefore was expected to have an arranged marriage. She got a job and started working in the summer holidays. My dad was a security guard who worked close by (he is English), my mum thought he was nice but had never looked at boys in that way before. My dad kept asking for a date, however she explained that she wasn’t allowed to date. My dad was persistent and in the end they had a secret meeting, my mum’s dad dropped her at work but she got on a train to London and made sure she was back on time for work finishing. My mum and dad only ever had one date and one kiss and on that basis my mum changed everything she had known, they started planning on how and when to escape together. My mum packed a bag and left a note to say she was leaving. Her family found out where she was and after a tough two weeks she felt too guilty and agreed to stay with a family’s friend. It was then she realised it was my dad she wanted to be with, but the only way she could be sure was to leave him to find that out. They arranged to move up North and stay with my dad’s uncle. They came up here with a carrier bag of clothes and made their life together. My mum tried to win her family’s love back, it took around 7 or 8 years but eventually it happened. 25 years on they are still together happily married with two children.”

In terms of performance we were inspired by these beautiful and bold stories. However, these are exceptional cases that really are film worthy. But they are few and far between. It inspired us to really consider the small everyday gestures versus the grand. The cups of tea versus the public singing. Therefore, we are starting to think about how to embed the little details into one or more of the scenes, most likely in some of the more serious aspects to the piece. As a sort of experiment we are also planning a grand romantic gesture. It is in the pipeline and will remain a surprise until the night (and will be largely improvised on my part)! This contrast will hopefully highlight the realities of our relationships and how we crave the grand romantic gesture and are possibly neglectful of the little details. But as I said, this is an experiment!

Hope Cove and the big “I do!”

Rebecca Sowter / March 8, 2014June 2, 2014 / Development, Initial Ideas, Love

As part of our devising process, each member of the company is researching into different milestones in a relationship which may be used in the performance. For the structure of the piece, we have discussed using a timeline of some sort that plots the generic events that occur in an average relationship (first kisses, meeting parents etc). These events will then be explored individually through a mixture of real accounts from the public, our own experiences and the heightened portrayals that popular films/songs/TV use. I am delving into the muddy waters of marriage; a foreign territory for me which means relying on my own experience is not an option.

In films and TV, marriage and weddings are often overly romanticised or unrealistically dramatic. What springs to mind instantly is the classic soap opera nearly-wedding where just before the couple say ‘I do’, something terrible happens that disrupts the ceremony. This more unrealistic view of engagement could be something we explore, however I have already started talking to real couples who will be getting married later this year. Their responses give an honest but heart-warming account of what this life event is like. From the interviews, I have picked out a few points of interest that could be used in the performance. The proposal is something that I think we can definitely play with and using details of real proposals we could create a very uplifting (but genuine and not sugar coated!) scene. Below is a picture of the location of one proposal that was revealed in an interview which we may explore in rehearsals:

the location of one interviewees proposal

First dance songs could be a useful and interesting way to connect our use of live music to this section. That would also create a potential opportunity to have a more physical scene, as currently we have a lot of static, text based moments. It would also be interesting to link some of the stories that we find together. Here is a short list of possible songs that we could use for this section:

‘Don’t Marry Her’- Deep South
‘Love and Marriage’- Frank Sinatra
‘Marry You’- Bruno Mars
‘Going to the chapel of love’- Dixie Cups
‘Paradise By The Dashboard Light’- Meatloaf

Landmarks that make up your timeline… Sexy sex sex.

Lauren Elizabeth Walker / March 6, 2014June 2, 2014 / Development, Initial Ideas, Love

In rehearsals and discussions, we have been exploring different landmarks in a relationship. As a group we decided it would be easier to allocate each other a factor of a relationship and work on them individually. I decided I wanted to research “Sex” exploring awkward sexual encounters with a person, and alternatively sex with somebody that you love. While researching I came across an inner monologue of a Man’s thoughts during sex. The monologue sparked lots of different ideas in the rehearsal and there was lots of useful stuff in it. We decided at first that I am going to rewrite the monologue twice. One of them will consist of a man’s thoughts when having sex with someone they love and the other when the sex is awkward and new.

Here is a paragraph of the monologue I found to give you an idea.

“Sex. Sex. Sex. I am thinking about sex. Now I’m thinking about thinking about having sex. What is wrong with our brains that we can’t just enjoy things? We have to analyse them? Have we been doing this position to long? If I switch now, is she going to think that I wasn’t enjoying that last position? Because I really was. It’s sex- unless my penis is being bent in half, I am enjoying all of this”.

(What Culture, 2013)

I also researched typical music to make love to, the music that I found was extremely cliché and most of the songs are what you would expect to hear in a sex scene in a film. The most famous ones were “sexual healing” and “let’s get it on” which are the songs that will be playing throughout the scene.

The lonely island- “I just had sex” Paolo Nutini- “Candy”

Marvin Gaye- “Lets get it on” Jeremih- “Birthday sex”

R Kelly- “Bump and grind” James Morrison- “You give me something”

Barry white- “I’m gonna love you” Marvin Gaye- “Sexual healing”

While researching I also looked at different movie clips, as most films portray sex as something that is romantic and just works when really this is not the case at all. It’s interesting that a lot of the films that portrayed these scenes were the older classics. The example I have shown here is a perfect example of what I’m sure most girls envisioned there first times to be! Newer films such as bridesmaid portray the awkwardness and sometimes how it really is funny and just doesn’t work!

Films

An example of an awkward film clip…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44zNphZdnXc

(You tube, 2011)

An example of a love scene…

(You tube, 2009)

As the scene progressed we decided that we wanted the girls inner monologue as well as the boys, it made more sense to have both sides of the thought process during sex. Instead of interviewing I wrote two different monologues and we pieced these together to create the scene the writing style is very ‘real’ and doesn’t portray the things people necessarily think is going through somebodies head when having sex, because it isn’t all “I love him” and “this is perfect”. It’s lots of different emotions. Men and women are paranoid, they don’t know if what they are doing is working or what the other person thinks of what they look like naked.

Works Cited

Philips, H (2013) 10 Most Awkward Sitcom Sex. [online] London:Whatculture. Available from http://whatculture.com/tv/10-most-awkward-sitcom-sex-scenes.php/5 [Accessed 26 June 2011

Wheatley, C 2011, ‘One Day’, Sight & Sound, 21, 9, pp. 70-71, International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 May 2014.

Megan (2009) Ghost Unchained Melody [Online Video] Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfxUVjHFl0 [Accessed 6 July 2014].

videovipere (2011) Bridesmaids sex scene [Online Video] Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44zNphZdnXc [Acessed 6 July 2014].

Thoughts about music.

Jozey Wade / February 23, 2014June 2, 2014 / Development, Initial Ideas, Love, Music

One of the things we have agreed upon as a group from the start is that we intend to use live music in our piece.
We have been greatly inspired by companies like Filter Theatre who utilise music and live sound to enhance their work brilliantly. As well as work by companies that Tom, Phoebe and I saw at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, such as the Flanagan Collective with their charming folk musical, ‘Beulah’, and HitchHook Theatre’s ‘This was the World and I was King’ which used original songs to underpin the story of three children and their parents during World War One; “the inclusion of music [was] seamless” and it “complemented each scene wonderfully” (Adam 2013).

Photo: http://hookhitch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/web19.jpg

Production still from HitchHook Theatre’s ‘This Was the World and I was King’.

Music can be such a part of romance and love, it’s hard not to involve it in our thoughts on the subject. While in a relationship, couples tend to have a song that somehow speaks for and “belongs to” their relationship, recent dump-ees have a song or two that they sit and cry to, newly weds have their wedding dance number and romantic meals or gestures are often accompanied by romantic background music (Barry White perhaps). On top of that, music itself is, more often than not, inspired by love – especially popular music. Song lyrics are often about romances gone wrong or romances gone right, or romance in one way or the other.

So, we felt that complimenting and under toning our piece with music throughout would really provide a kind of romantic atmosphere (where appropriate). In using popular loves songs from throughout time too, it would give the audience references to relate to and even laugh at. The aim is to have a sense of humour, not to be too cheesy. Just honest.

So, starting to make a list of famous love songs (this list will be edited and added to as we go):

Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
True – Spandau Ballet
The Power Of Love – Hewey Lewis and the News
The Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
I Wanna Know What Love Is – Foreigner
The Shoop Shoop Song – Cher
What’s Love Got To Do With It – Tina Turner
I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Whitney Houston
Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
Somebody to Love – Queen
The Rock Show – Blink 182
I Would Do Anything For Love – Meat Loaf
What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
Always – Bon Jovi
All You Need is Love – The Beatles

I’ll stop here for now, but we will continue this! I clearly need help thinking of more modern “hip” love songs (because I may as well be 50 years old as far as music is concerned). Gabby and I have also made a list of the instruments and capabilities we have, and also things that people could possibly pick up or learn in the time we have.
Here is our list of instruments and possible players so far:

Ukuele – Jozey (and Lauren wants to learn?)
Guitar – Jozey (very basic but could learn more) and Tom
Piano – Gabby (experienced) and Jozey (very VERY basic but could learn more)
Horn/ Sax – Gabby (experienced)
Glockenspiel – (Becky is learning)
Tambourine – (Any of us could learn)
Vocals – Lauren, Jozey, Phoebe, Sam, Shellie and Abbi

Reference:

Adam, N (2013) ‘This Was the World and I Was King’, Broadway Baby, 22 August. Available online: http://www.broadwaybaby.com/shows/this-was-the-world-and-i-was-king/31504 [Accessed 23 February 2014]