IX - Back to grey
Rainy days, improv insights, playback numbers and a newfound love for Alan Bennett—here's to change and creativity!
Greetings from a London that forgot about its dress rehearsals for summer. It’s been rainy this past week and had to recover some layers from the closet everytime I had to go out. Yes, I know I chose to live in this country and I have to deal with it. As a matter of fact, after five years under the EU pre-settlement scheme, I just applied for the definitive settlement status to remain in the UK. Let’s see if the government is convinced enough with my imprint in this country so far. I’m kind of afraid of the new stance of the Labour party regarding inmigration. We’ll see.
That aside, last week was a satisfying in terms of rehearsals, performances and catching up with friends. I hope you, dear readers, enjoyed your time as well.
🧠 The Improv bit
I had a great time last week with Shuffle exploring different ways to present conflict in a two person scene in a compelling way (I talked about it a few weeks ago). I guess it all comes down to its resolution.
We played with the notion of pushing and pulling to create tension, but making sure we break it safely to propel, not only the scene, but the relationship between the characters. But, of course, we should avoid being loud, making the audience feel uncomfortable in front of an argument. One tip for that is, when having an argument, imagine there’s a baby sleeping behing the stage and you don’t want to wake them up. 🤫
The work showed up on our show, Mixtape, during the Hoopla Pre-party last Saturday. I like how, despite a very simple and silly premise (random songs as initiator), we get to work grounded relationships without disregarding the fun.
🪑 The Playback Theatre (PT) bit
I also got to perform last week with London Playback at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, and we were happy with the result and the warmth coming from the audience afterwards.
The theme of the performance were “changes” and we encountered stories about changing careers, changing bodies, the perilous changing of the world… even we had a lovely storie about a dream that hasn’t changed.
Honouring the topic, we did change a thing as well: the number of actors. Instead of the usual quartet, we were five carrying the acting role. And I’d say we did a good job balancing us during the performance.
But, is there any written rule about the number of actors? Well, I haven’t found one. It’s more like a stablished etiquette, we don’t want too many nor too few. It takes skill to balance the presence of many actors on stage in order to avoid the enactments to feel crowded.
There are special ocasions, like student showcases or festival performances, where you have four main chairs on the stage and many others on the side to accomodate the extra number of performers. Every reenactment has a contained number of actors and they can tap out and exchange positions between reenactments in a tidy way.
On the opposite side, with fewer actors, it’s way more challenging. Even there are already people out in the wild doing solo playback, but that’s something I’d like to explore more and come back to later.
🎭 The Theatre bit
I have to admit I didn’t know much about contemporary English playwrights before moving to the UK and I’m still getting introduced to them. Through Chris Mead’s course I got to know Alan Bennet and I had to explore some of his works.
I got my hands on a couple of his published monologues, of the Talking Heads series, and I was instantly hooked by his writing style. I also decided to get a copy of his play Allelujah, which is a very choral play with lots of characters. And I was happy to find out that the writing style of the dialogues is as good. Definitely, I’ll keep an eye for more of his works.
I’m open to recommendations of other British playwrights, if you have any, send them my way.
🗣️ Shout-out
Comediasians is a group of great improvisers that got together to celebrate their heritage through improv and, ocasionally, stand-up comedy. I happen to know many of them individually, but when put together you got that “Avengers: Endgame” feeling. They work so well together on stage they’re always a delight to watch.
Check their link tree to make sure you follow their trail of performances, workshops and social media presence.
📆 What is coming up
This Friday the 13th at Shoreditch Balls, you will have another chance to witness an a capella musical theatre piece created from thin air. Get your tickets.
📚 🎮 🎥 📺 The geeky dessert
I haven’t said it before in the newsletter, but I’m huge horror nerd. Ever since I was a kid. I grew up watching horror movies and that’s something I never let it go. I’m saying this because last week I watched Fear Street: Prom Queen on Netflix and I enjoyed it very much, maybe due nostalgia.
It’s a very good homage to the slasher films from the 80s. The synth music, the nonsensical behaviour of the characters, the gore, the final girl… all the ingredients are there. And, like a pizza, it’s not high cuisine but it’s quite satisfying.
Just FYI, my favourite slasher films from the 80s are the A Nightmare on Elm Street saga. If you also dig this genre, I’d really love to bond with you over it, let me know!
✨ That’s all folks ✨
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Ferran Luengo