IC Squared

Both today and yesterday I met up with Laura, Rob NJ and Matt to talk about the direction of the script - we were attempting to define the core plotlines and to concretise (yes, it is a word Laura!) what we have already created. Today we were joined by Jenny - we hadn't intentionally excluded anyone, it just so happened that as a sub-grouping we had bumped into each other in the IC* and decided to have these two informal meetings. It has to be said that the smaller group size probably did allow us to accomplish a little more than we would have done in a larger (albeit better organised) meeting.

We constructed a timeline of the main plot using index cards*, and created a kind of family tree of (principal) characters. We're going to have to cast fairly soon, as the play will open in five weeks (well, five weeks yesterday in fact), and we're now aiming to finish the script within a week. At the same time we took the opportunity to pilfer some food from some kind of conference in Colab 1 - apparently it's to do with a magazine that coincidentally features an article called something along the lines of "Video Recording Theatre for Education", which could be quite interesting...

Anyway, as previously mentioned there will be nine of us heading down to stay at mine tomorrow in order to get up bright and early and visit the V&A "Collaborators" exhibition, a word which has unfortunately become rather negative in my mind of late as I'm still "hard at work" on an essay on Sartre and Vichy France. This has however focussed my mind onto ideas of memory, particularly collective memory, and potentially how subjective memory is challenged by the increase in data collection and video recording in our society. Can't get away from relating everything to this bloody play! :)

The ball starts rolling...

"A collective is not the negation of the individuals of which it's composed. It would be dangerous to think that a collective can exist without eyes, without mouths, without hands." - Ariane Mnouchkine (interview, Théâtre/Public)

I've had a really productive day so far - had a really good meeting with Scott and Reuben at the Drama Studio, and a nice, relaxed, informal meeting with Laura Jenkins who is currently Stage Manager for The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus and (more importantly concerning t2.0#) Student Coordinator for CILASS. I also made real inroads into a piece of work due in for next Monday on, quelle surprise, collective creation and the Théâtre du Soleil, which was a bit of a two birds, one stone choice of essay, taking into account the fact that the work of this company is one of the major influences for this project (thanks to Danielle for nudging me into make this clear!).

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, the Drama Studio is managed by the aforementioned Scott and Reuben, who generally let companies get up to whatever the hell they want on stage and in rehearsals (as long as it's legal and safe).

The meeting felt pretty good as there were very few 'no's and a lot of good ideas/feedback coming from both of them. Given that they see things from a very different angle from your usual theatre-types, and, particularly in Reuben's case, with the advantage of a great deal of experience behind them, they are essential both in terms of their knowledge of the workings of the theatre and in finding the holes in what you're suggesting; they are able to point out potential problems that would otherwise have escaped under the radar, then suggest work-arounds that again would never have occurred to you in a million years.

This meeting was swiftly followed by a quick panini at Lunch Stop (pancetta and braised pear on wholemeal, possibly the most middle-class toastie this side of Islington), then off to the I.C. for an informal chat with Laura.

One of the aims of this project (and there are, unapologetically, a fair few) is educational in nature: encouraging interdisciplinary knowledge transfer (e.g. between students taking theatre modules with the School of English, and those such as myself taking the final-year theatre module within the Department of French), and using the rehearsal process to put into practice ideas from a variety of different academic disciplines.

This, to me, fits in rather well with the process of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), for which the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL - acronyms galore in this post!) just happens to be at the University of Sheffield. The thought occurred to me a while ago: why not approach CILASS (the Centre for IbL in the Arts and Social Sciences for those who aren't sick of initialisms) regarding use of facilities and/or funding? I made initial contact with them a little before the proposals, and mentioned a little about this in our official proposal document (read it here - excuse the fact that it was written in the early hours the morning last Thursday) - this then caught Laura's eye and she very kindly got in contact to let me know a little more of what to expect.

Further to our chat today it looks like we'll have a proper meeting with the dudes from CILASS, and I hope we'll be able to make use of some of the facilities available.We may also look at applying for funding, but it doesn't initially look like this project falls into any of the usual categories. Coincidentally though, immediately after chatting to Laura I bumped into a friend who works at the Alumni Foundation, from whom we might be applying for a seperate grant, but we'll have to see as it looks like the deadline for applications was Friday. Typical!

Anyway, I'd better get back to my essay as I find it always helps when you finish reading the actual primary text...