Exit, pursued by Simon Smith and his Dancing Bear

in situ: The Winter's Tale - term 2, week 3

I wrote about our brush with Judy Garland and vaudeville last week.

This week we took a turn into Dennis Potter territory, trying out "This Year's Kisses" by Nina Simone and Alan Price's version of Randy Newman's "Simon Smith and his Dancing Bear". The latter has some particularly nice beats which a bear-suited actor can fill with a few nifty dance steps.

We spent the majority of our time focusing on the paranoia choruses which we've only fitted in at the end of previous sessions. Different partnerships came up with imaginative ideas... perhaps it's just my impatience that makes it seems things are moving slowly. It's only week 3 of nine, after all...

Exit, pursued by a bear singing Judy Garland

in situ: The Winter's Tale - term 2, week 2

I mentioned "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert" last week. Last night I found myself lip-synching to Judy Garland. Well if it's good enough for Rufus Wainwright...

Our director is looking for ways to transition between scenes, so we are now experimenting with Judy and Johnnie Mercer singing "Friendship" (Antigonus and the bear), Bryan Ferry's version of "Jealous Guy" (Leontes), Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby" and Screaming Jay Hawkins version of "I Put A Spell On You".

Anyone new to experimental theatre expecting something akin to Rowan Atkinson's "Alternative Car Park" is in for a surprise.

in situ: back to work on The Winter's Tale - term 2, week 1

I got off to a poor start last term, missing the first week of The Winter's Tale and then injuring my back, so this won't be as complete a record of rehearsals as I had hoped. Nonetheless, the term went well and we had something worth presenting by the end. Sadly we've lost some good actors for the new term, but the new slimmed-down group might make it easier to get to know everyone a bit better.

Throughout last term my partner kept jokingly suggesting the inclusion of song-and-dance numbers, so it is slightly unnerving to find we're exploring that territory tonight. We spend time in twos and fours teaching each other naive and simple dances which we are going to use to show the happy nature of Bohemia in contrast to the paranoia of Sicilia.

The second half of the evening we spend lip synching in pairs to Dean Martin and Peggy Lee singing "We Was". I'm happy being partnered with Rachael because she's great at letting go, but watching some of the all-male couples it soon becomes apparent the more deadpan and sincere you look, the funnier it is.

Let's hope someone finds a louder CD player for next week.

[Update]

Of course, "Non-professionals often use lip-synching as a form of musical pantomime in which the performer moves his lips to a musical recording done by someone else. This form of lip-synching is often performed by drag queens and, more recently, drag kings."

Which puts us firmly in "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert" territory (Northern, obviously).

Nice one!