5 minutes - for The National Theatre of Scotland

Rehearsing for the National Theatre of Scotland film

I broke the morning routine to go downstairs to catch our five minute section of the National Theatre of Scotland's fiveminutetheatre at 6.55 this morning. It was running a few minutes behind schedule, and my broadband speed was appalling; so instead I caught snatches of disconnected movement and odd still images from our Angus film, which had been created last month as one single 5 minute take at the Community Hall on the island of Berneray. I noted that 69 other people were watching....

Berneray hall as we were preparing to shoot
our five minute film,

This 5 minute film isn't an extract or even a compilation of moments from our 'Angus' show. It's no more, nor less, than just one of the things we created as part of a very short research and development period on the Uists. Doing it was very useful - giving us at least a very clear goal and focus during the three days we were all together on the islands. Thank you, NTS, for allowing a Lancashire-based company to participate in the celebrations of your first, very exciting, five years. May there be many more!

Angus and the 5 minute film

Today was a long and rather fulfilling day. From the successes and uncertainties of yesterday we put together a sequence of performed sections and music that had a kind of internal logic and balance. The NTS film had to be no more than 5 minutes long, and our first run was well over 7 minutes. We then chipped away at it - clipping the narrations; cutting parts of the performance; curtailing film sections; and generally making things flow more easily. Soon we were down to 6 minutes; then 5'30", and then 5'20"...and so on until we hit 5 minutes exactly. We found we could repeat this run after run - and so the 5 minutes version of 'Angus' was born. 

We then put on two 6 o'clock shows to a small invited audience, but also an unexpected 2.30pm run when three visitors turned up at the community hall to shelter from a squall. Turned out one worked for the National Theatre (of England)! Tea was brewed and all went very well and each of the shows were duly recorded on film. 

But we also had to discuss and brainstorm several problematic parts of the show; take publicity shots (see a selection above); test focal length for projections and finally dismantle the set and pack everything away so the hall was clean and shiny for tomorrow's Berneray Youth Club session.

The evening was rounded off by a group trip to Tigh Dearg for a great meal for all eleven of us. Many, many thanks to Chris, Mary, Joanne, Joe, Alison, Loz, Jonny, Christina for making this expedition so effective, and such fun; not to forget young Joseph for the terrible jokes and Nicky for grimacing at them. 

Getting Myself Prepared Day

Today is a Getting Myself Prepared Day for our visit to Uist and Berneray next week.   

 

Loz and I will be driving up on Thursday - Loz to meet Anna-Wendy Stevenson and talk with other local musicians; myself to work with Chris Spears on putting together a rough stage-set for later the following week when Joanne B Kaar, plus Alison (with Christina and Jonny) arrive. Together we'll spend a couple of days workshopping ideas for the show - and putting together a 5-minute performance for the National Theatre of Scotland film.

There's going to be a lot of improvisation involved in the couple of days we have together in Berneray Community Hall. We'll be taking up a number of masks, puppets and films to play around with. Chris has told me we'll have 4 x 500w lamps, a rack and dimmer board available. He also pointed out (memories of our horse-drawn days flood back) that the hall has a domestic-type 13amp power circuit and we won't be able to draw much more power than this (plus sound and video) in any case. He has a simple but decent CD player we can use too, while Christina will bring projectors, a Mac with Q-lab, and film equipment that we'll need to operate the technical equipment. 

Joanne will (possibly) improvise some grass shadow puppets once we meet up on the island. I'm really looking forward to meeting Joanne, who has thrown herself into this work despite never have met me - come to think of it we've never even spoken on the phone; everything has been done through email.

In addition to the workshopping and rehearsing, there are publicity shots to be taken for future marketing of the show, and material to gather in order to provide content for animations and film-work to be used in the show, as well as recording material for the soundtrack of the production. On our return journey we'll be making a diversion to Fife, where we'll record Joyce Laing reading extracts from her book 'Weaver of Grass'.

Above is a horse-in-the-making, a puppet Alison is trying to get ready for the trip, and at the top two of the Angus masks that have been brought to a further stage of their painting.

5 minute theatre film

Our application to the National Theatre of Scotland to be included in the 24 hour on-line broadcasting of 5 minute films to celebrate their first five years has been successful, and a 5 minute film of a section of the Angus McPhee show will be broadcast to the world on 21st June 2011. The film has to be of a live performance in front of an audience, so we will film an extract during our 'workshopping' of the show from Berneray Community Hall, in the outer Hebrides. More information here.

Alison is taking a well-deserved Easter break, and I've spent the past week looking at the material we have for the NTS film, as well as the film projections and animations we'll need for our own use (the script is in its eighth re-write); making some simple puppets for test purposes when we're on the islands; slowly building up the paint on the 5 masks of Angus; and talking with Christina (our new member of the Horse + Bamboo arts team) about the technical jobs that will need doing - again with an eye to what we'll be doing on our mid-May visit to Berneray. Above, three shots of my working notebook for the project - this notebook is a wonderful thing in itself - made by Joanne B Kaar. 

I've also been discussing the film and animation sections of the Angus production (quite different to the film for the NTS) with Daniella Orsini, who designed the Horse + Bamboo website. There will be four sections of film projected onto (and behind) the set as part of the performance narrative - each probably about 5 minutes in length, and the films will overlay the performance, being projected onto and becoming an integral part of the stage action. I'm hoping that Daniella will be able to work with me to animate and create these important parts of the production.

A week's break... and such a lot happens

I'm back after a week's half-term break in Dorset, during which time I mulled over the current script in the light of the work Alison and I had done the previous week, when we erected a (very) temporary stage and looked at the setting for the production. It's always far easier for me to picture how a script will work once a staging layout has been clarified.

As a result a number of significant changes have been made - clarifying the filmed and animated sections; adding a large horse puppet at two important parts of the story; changing a 'story within a story' section in order to help the narrative; and adding some new visual twists and turns. I discussed this new version with Alison this morning and I've now sent off copies to our main collaborators. 

Alison has tonsillitis and went home early, preparing to think about the Rashin Coatie story we're incorporating into the show. She clearly had been doing some research because within a few hours she sent me a link to another blog - http://grasspuppet.blogspot.com/ (which unfortunately seems to have dried up in 2008). The blog was written by Jumaadi, an Indonesian living in Australia whose father taught him how to make puppets from grass when he was 6:

During this period Esther travelled north, meeting Joyce Laing once more at the Art Extraordinary Gallery in Pittenweem, Fife, and further discussing how we can use Joyce's knowledge of Angus and her collection of his work; as well as the possibility of using her voice as a 'narrator' within the show. Esther also saw the National Theatre of Scotland's 'The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart' which she raved about, and visited The Maltings in Berwick-Upon-Tweed. All this in the course of developing contacts and links for a potential tour of the Angus show.