The Blog about the stories and Michael McIntyre...

So its been a while since my last blog so I'll try and keep it short and sweet as I possible can!

On the 3rd of November I went to see the fantastic Michael McIntyre at the 02 arena. So what has this got to do with Drama in the Community I hear you ask. As December ebbs ever closer and we have decided on the genre of storytelling for the Christmas project. I feel that Michael McIntyre is one of the best stand up comics and that's mostly down to his storytelling skills. The majority of all his jokes are observational and universal something that everyone in the audience could relate to. When he entered the stage he commanded the space with such ease and fluidity that I forgot that I was at the 02. It felt as if i that I was just chatting to an old friend at a pub having a nice catch up. With Michael use of different voices, physicalisations and enthusiasm he made all of his stories come to life and jump right off the stage, even though it was just him on a very big stage.

One of the best jokes of the night was his story about one trip to Starbucks...
"I was in Starbucks and the person in front of me said: 'Can I have a tall, skinny, black Americano please?' I said: 'Are you ordering coffee or an American president?'
I feel that if we incorporate some of these elements in some of our bigger, bolder stories that we would want to tell for the project it would make them memorable. Just as much as the small, quite and intimate stories.

In our last lecture Emily and I presented our story and we looked into double act storytelling, within our Rumpelstiltskin story. I really enjoyed this as we got to really play with the story and make it our own. As our story had a lot of characters in it and there were only two of us, we decided that one of us should multi-role. We created a rotating head piece that had a symbolic trait to represent each character. So the King had a crown, the girl had long flowing golden hair and Rumpelstiltskin had an evil mask. During our mini performance we decided to tell our story as extended versions of ourselves. I felt that this worked very well as we got to be very creative and very original with our work. It also brought out some comedy that we did not know that we had in the piece! I would really like to develop the idea of double acts in our December projects as I feel that not only could they bring out the comedy in a story but any intimate and poignant points.

Well thats all for now....as you can see it was short and sweet, sorry guys and dolls!!

The Blog that follows on with the doors...

Following on from the last epic blog about doors I remembered this poem/verse/story in a book that i had first read about six, seven years ago. The reason i call it a poem/verse/story as none is really sure of what it can be classed as. There are many papers, forums and books written on this one piece of writing. So for the sake of diplomacy (if that's the right word) i name them all!!
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

J.R.R Tolkien

After kicking myself furiously this sort of sums up what I was trying to say in my previous blog. That a door begins and ends a journey. Where that journey will take you, the things and places you may encounter nobody knows. However all these then all set of chain reaction and they make your journey a little more extraordinary.
Developing on from my idea I thought what if we made each room into a different place, environment by using simple props and costumes. This would then add to the mystery and magic that a journey would have and keep the audience in suspense. It would also give them an element of surprise. As the lovely people at Ham House want their visitors to be able to move freely around the space and not be stuck in one place. What if while there moving there on some sort of journey to find stories and each story they hear they get a clue. When they have all the clues or riddles they must solve. It could lead them to the face painting and the other activities which are on offer. The best thing I think about it is that they could be done in any order.

Well that's all i have to say for now, let me know what you think blogging world!!!

The Blog in which I almost lose the plot and start thinking about doors!

hello blogging world again...

So picking up from the last time we left off after my minor tremors with my first blog, i have decided just to throw myself into this. My lovely housemate and fellow D.I.C member Emily tried to make a visit to Ham House today to get some inspiration. However a wave of disappointment engulfed us as we discovered that it's was not open today! Bad times indeed my blogging friends. After our first tour of the house last week while everyone else was fascinated by either the history behind this beautiful place or the paintings I found that I was enchanted by the doors.

DOORS!! I hear you say of all things that were around the fantastic tapestry's, the winding corridors, the exercise room and the beautiful hand made furniture. All of these things would be a good starting point for inspiration. But the only thing that caught my eye was an inconspicuous door hidden to the side of the room. To me it seemed as if it was there just waiting, wanting someone anyone to inquire or even investigate it. For me this door jumped out at me, i felt how Lucy felt when she first fell into Narnia very curious but very excited. So back to the story we were in the exercise room for at least 10 minutes and for eight of those minutes there was me staring at this door.

Then as we continued our I found myself very interested in the doors in the house there wasn't any doors that were the same each had a different decoration or style.
If your still reading this I promise I haven't lost the plot yet, just bare with me a little longer...

So as we came to the end of the tour my thoughts turned to the Christmas project and of course the doors of Ham House. Today it finally occurred to me that doors are gateways into different times, place, dimensions and even different universes a bit like a Tardis!! I then began to think what if each door that the audience walked through was a different time and place. In these places they could meet different characters and hear there stories. These stories could then all link with each other. The best thing i feel about my idea is that these stories do not have run in a linear order, so the audience can feel free to travel at their own pace through the house.

Well done if you manged to get to the end of this post and you still somehow managed to follow me....so a big congrates to you!!!
So blog people untill the next time I get facinated by some more inanimate objects!!

Hello Blog, Lets Be Friends!!

Hello Blog, My name's Siobhan....
So here I'm finally doing the unimaginable. I'm starting my blog, so please be kind and lets try and be friends!!!

So where to start, i guess the best place would be the beginning when we were told to blog!! I was filled with a mixture of dread, apprehension...i felt like a fish out of water that had just been killed and was about to fried to be placed next to fish and chips. As you may have guessed i'm not to keen on this idea, but hopefully as time goes on we will be the best of friends litte blog friend.

Tomorrow i'm going to Ham House to get some more ideas and inspiration for this christmas piece, i'll let you know how i get on.