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Some musical fun to be had

Monday, July 7th, 2008

ITs Festival

foto: Sigrid C. Degener/ITs Festival

During Imploding Fictions’ trip to Amsterdam where we performed Hamletmachine as part of the ITs Festival, we also participated in the INSTED @ ITs program. INSTED is an international network for young theatre directors (www.insted.eu) and Pip and I have taken on the responsibility for being INSTED’s London representatives.

The ITs or International Theatreschool Festival (www.itsfestival.nl) is a large festival presenting final work by graduating theatremakers from Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere. As a side program to ITs 08, INSTED invited 20 young international and 20 young Dutch theatremakers, and arranged a week of workshops, talks, networking and parties. I participated in what was called the Music Theatre Workshop (replacing the original opera workshop). This was not a workshop on how to direct musicals as one might think, but rather a series of laboratory sessions of theatre-making, focusing on how music could play an essential part in making theatre, enhancing or adding something new to a moment of theatre and also become central in the telling of a story on stage.

INSTED @ ITs

The workshop was consummately and engagingly lead by Thomas Spijkerman and Wilko Sterke, two young musicians and theatremakers (both young gentlemen with an impeccable sense of retro style – looking just as if they were extras in an Austin Powers movie), and we were six young directors participating. Over the course of the four days the workshop went on for, we explored the function music could have in a number of different ways: With pre-recorded music, with live music performed beautifully by Thomas and Wilko, with live music performed not necessarily always as beautifully by the rest of us, with musical- or cabaret-style singing characters, with music naturalistically woven into the scene (a character listening to music in the scene f.ex.), as background music/muzac, Hollywood style emotional underlining, abstracted sound-scenarios and as pure, unadulterated, loud, riotous, riveting, raucous, noise!

Highlight of the week: Øystein during the showing for the rest of the INSTED crowd on the last day, hammering madly on a bass guitar (I can’t play one for shit, but I can make lots of sound with it), being so encaptured – no, entranced – in the industrial, deafening, cacophonic, earpiercing soundblast, he doesn’t realize the scene is over ages ago and everyone is shouting for him to stop…

Hell yeah, give me some LOUDNESS!

(Dear Pinter; this might be the first and only time in history that one of your short playlets have been given the deaf-metal treatment. Though it was good, I’m pretty sure you don’t need worry about it happening again.)

Conclusion: If you ever come across Thomas Spijkerman or Wilko Sterke, don’t shy away. I guarantee there’s some musical fun to be had, some exciting experiments to be made and lots to learn!

Next year: Give me a drumkit. Ooohhh yeah.

ITs Festival

foto: Sigrid C. Degener/ITs Festival

Imploding Fictions’ Hamletmachine was performed at the ITs Festival at Theatre Frascati on the 23rd June 08.

www.itsfestival.nl

http://www.itsfestival.nl/2008_nl/festivalinfo/juryguestaward.php

http://www.itsfestival.nl/2008_nl/festivalinfo/Recensies.php

www.theaterfrascati.nl

www.implodingfictions.com

INSTED @ ITs took place from 23rd – 29th June 08.

www.insted.eu

http://www.itsfestival.nl/2008_nl/programma/instedatits.php

http://www.insted.eu/instedatits

(That last web address says “Insted at ITs”, not “instead’a tits”. Just to clear that up.)

- Øystein

Tags: Amsterdam, Øystein, Brager, directing, Dutch theatre, Festival, Hamletmachine, INSTED, International Theatreschool, ITs, Music, musicians, Netherlands, Performance, Philip, Spijkerman, Sterke, Theatre, Thomas, Thorne, Ulsberg, Wilko, Workshop
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He-e-e-ere’s Johnny! or Why we should never have clicked our heels

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

Heres Johnny

(Jack. One of our regulars. He played one of the robots in Hamletmachine. Great guy.)

WARNING: This blog entry contains an overload of clichéd verbal imagery, gross exaggeration, naff pop-cultural references, shameless self admiration and personal opinions. (It is, in other words, not that dissimilar to Cherie Blair’s recent biography.)

Looking at our busy schedule the last year, one might think Imploding Fictions’ projects appear like duped rabbits out of a magicians hat (“What’s with the bright light? How did I get here? Why do my ears hurt?”), pearls on a string (Norwegian expression. Don’t ask.), train carriages out of a tunnel, one following the other, or that they fall into place like dominos or double cherries on a slot machine (Keeeerching!!!).

(Sammy, doing his impression of a confused rabbit.)

Although all these analogies might carry some truth (particularly the ‘Keerching’ bit), the actual experience is more like this:

It is like looking at a door.

A large, calm, white door. Impeccably painted, nicely framed and comfortably closed. It is the kind of door that fills you with peace inside, like a door of good karma, a haven of light wood and worry-less tranquility.

Then.

All of a sudden a massive, kick-arse axe comes hacking its way loudly through the all-too-soft wood in a single smashing blow. Splinters fly everywhere and through the jagged hole a new project rears its ugly head and grins shamelessly in our face exclaiming:

“He-e-e-ere’s Johnny!!!”

The Shining

“Keerching!”

In fact, I don’t believe the experience from the inside of the Imploding Fictions vehicle even remotely resembles the viewpoint from the outside. From the corner of the sofa, with a beer and a bowl of popcorn, the Formula 1 racing car is a feast for the eye, a glistening, gleaming beam of light through the dust of the racing track, with a low, humming drone gently caressing your ears emerging from the speakers of the TV-set. From inside the cockpit on the other hand, the scandi-anglo-germanic co-pilots experience a brain mushing, blood curling G-force, battling neck breaking acceleration (Buckle up, cowboy! Let’s ride!) and the noise is like having a 10-inch nail hammered ruthlessly through your eardrums.

Metaphorically speaking, that is.

Metaphorically speaking, Imploding Fictions is like a Formula 1 car where the pan-european construction team with a combination of luck and utter foolishness built the engine out of the spare parts of a space rocket – but completely forgot to install brakes.

Or, it is like the baby in Lynch’s Erasorhead (the cutest baby ever to hit the silver screen!); a demanding, devouring, desperate creature with an excess of growth hormone, a living thing which has to be fed and tended to every day, like a mean green mother from outer space and it’s bad… But like any living creature, worthy of of love and respect (This is where the blog goes soppy, look out. Get your handkerchiefs lined up), having become something we crave for, enjoy (why else would we be doing it?) and ultimately depend on.

It is not something we can really drop or forget, it is not just an object or a concept or simply a legal entity, it is more than that. Something that can perhaps only be expressed through metaphor:

Imploding Fictions is like waking up in the morning, discovering that you have been chained to a rodeo-bull who can’t tell anger management from nuclear warfare just about to be severely stung on his crown jewels by a bee with the wrong sense of humor.

MF bee

(Example of bee with the wrong sense of humour.)

It is both our Mr. Hyde and our super hero alter ego.
Our anagram.
That which you read between the lines.
It is our hidden treasure and the life-size map to find it.
Our fun fair mirror room reflection.
Us without the make up on.

A stack of yellow bricks next to a big, blinking neon sign saying:

“Grab your sand and bubble-fluid, guys!
It might mix nicely into mortar!”

You can read more about Imploding Fictions’ various projects on http://www.implodingfictions.com.

- Øystein

Tags: Art, Brager, Collective, company, Fictions, Hamburg, Imploding, London, Norway, Oystein, Performance, Philip, projects, Shining, Theatre, Thorne, Ulsberg
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Thunderous applause as the band plays on…

Monday, April 28th, 2008

The distinct smell of make up, boiled sweets and cheap champagne hangs in the air. We are unpacking our BAC scratch show of bad jokes, bad acting and bad taste and turning it into a full length evening of misjudged razzle dazzle for the Frascati Theatre in Amsterdam.

Now you see it, now you don’t is essentially the debris of a clown act, a topsy turvy magic show. The principles of showmanship are deconstructed… hence, build up and punch-line are presented in the wrong order, the magical effect pre-empts its presentation. What should be fast and snazzy and glam is rendered through slow-motion, while the actual ‘trick’ is understated to the point whereby it almost escapes attention…

The idea for the show was spurned through a simple fascination for the processes of a repeated joke: its journey from amusement, to becoming a running gag, to becoming a crushing bore and finally through stubborn persistence finding its way back into a warped kind of humour. Now you see it, now you don’t plays with such perceptual shifts and the slippery proximity of laughter and embarrassment, tragedy and comedy, wit and stupidity. The piece also owes a lot to our admiration for Tommy Cooper, and we’ve been watching far too much Jan Svankmajer latley.

And there will be confetti. Lots of it. There will be so much confetti that you will never want to see the bright frivolous stuff ever again.

Two clowns sit opposite the audience. It is the day after the party. After the show. Possibly after the last ever show. Shards of the old act are performed out of context and gags are riffed. An unaffected, lazy, drunken haze seems to lie over the whole thing, which somehow seems to magnify the oiled routines – their absurdity, their construction and their addictive appeal.

Now you see it; now you don’t is a celebration of failure, a bid to give drinking games the title of art, and an attempt to salvage the world through an overabundance of confetti.

- Philip

Tags: Amsterdam, BAC, Brager, Cabaret, Clowns, Comedy, Confetti, Cooper, Don't, Festival, Fictions, Frascati, Fringe, Imploding, It, Magic, Night, Now, Oystein, Performance, Philip, Scratch, See, Theatre, Thorne, Tommy, Ulsberg, You
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Imploding Fictions in Hamburg

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Together with INSTED we were invited to the Körber Studio Junge Regie 2008 in Hamburg, Germany’s annual symposium for young directors. We lived in a place just of the Reeperbahn (probably the most decadent street in Europe), but even so nightlife was eclipsed by a full on schedule that seemed devised to test even the toughest theatre junkie.

The regular programme: show for breakfast, four hour afternoon debate about the previous shows, supper (this was invariably soup), first play of the evening followed by an audience discussion, second play of the evening followed by an audience discussion, then a ‘party’ (which was another play, only this time you were allowed to bring in a glass of wine).

So, this was the ‘basic programme’ around which were scheduled a series of special events, shows, talks and debates, including a lecture with postdramatic theatre gurus Hans Thies Lehmann and Heiner Goebbels.

By the end of six days we had seen nineteen shows. You can read the previous sentence again if you like.

Being invited to the Körber Studio Junge Regie in Hamburg is equivalent to being waved onto a roller-coaster escapade through the current trends of contemporary German theatre. It would be an interesting sociological experiment to force Charles Spencer through the experience. My guess is that he’d explode in a fit of indignation.

With neat regularity Spencer accuses people like Katie Mitchell of ‘smashing up the classics’, taking ‘outrageous liberties’ and ‘not serving the intentions of the dead playwright’ (actual quotes!!!) On evidence of Körber Studio 2008 faithfully reconstructing classics is certainly not what German theatre is about. It dismantles them, reconfigures them into new constellations, probes them for contemporary relevance or exposes ideological clashes with current thinking. The productions we saw of Woyzek, Hamlet, Hedda Gabler and Elektra were not attempts at reconstructing Büchner, Shakespeare, Ibsen or Hoffmansthal but rethinking them and their themes from a 21^st century standpoint. A central figure at the core of German (and most European) theatre is the ‘dramaturge’. When the term crops up it in Britain it is usually in reference to someone who acts as a kind of script supervisor on new writing. But on the continent dramaturges work on classic plays, they research previous drafts, influences etc. and then, together with the director, determine the structure and strategy for a new production (in Britain we’d say adaptation) of it. The constant accompaniment of the dramaturge and the resulting intellectual rigour in theatrical debates was one of the first striking features of our visit to Hamburg.

The other one (really not wanting to be stereotypical, but hey) was that German tea is a fucking disgrace. You get presented with a glass (!) of warm water into which you are expected to dunk a tea bag. And when Oystein asked for tea with milk the guy behind the bar (after an initial period of confusion) held it under the coffee machine and filled it up with frothy milk.

A rather novel aspect of the festival was that it was accompanied by students of criticism (in Germany you study to become a critic) as well as the students of directing, dramaturgy and acting. The critics joined the directors’ internal discussions and debates on the shows we had seen and then read out and discussed their reviews with the artistic teams under discussion present. This meant that the practitioners had an opportunity to give direct feedback to the critics and vice versa. It was a great idea to bring these two stereotypically polarised fronts together and engage in mutual debate.

Christa Müller, a dramaturge at the Thalia showed us around the Thalia Theater which made us green with envy: two rehearsal stages which are exact replicas of the main stage (minus the auditorium) a firmly employed ensemble of actors on a regular salary and a current repertoire of fifty three (!!!) plays!

Our stay in Hamburg was really inspiring and we met some great people – we thank the Thalia Theater, the Körber Stiftung and INSTED for inviting us, and we hope to return to Germany again soon (maybe next time with a production…) Next week we’ll be back in London.

One stop on the way to Norway.Today…

Monday, March 10th, 2008

On Friday the 22nd February we finally presented our two showcase performances of Norway.Today. We pitched our ideas to Company of Angels last June, and have been working actively on the production since last September, so it was a relief to finally seeing it all come to fruition. This long awaited culmination only marks the end of phase one though, now we are on to phase two which includes planning further development and contacting potential venues and festivals.

Being given the theatre at the Junction not only to perform in, but also to rehearse in for the entire two weeks we were there was a rare luxury, but also absolutely necessary: Our concept relies heavily on the use of video projection and live feed, and we were able to install and work with these features from day one. We received very positive feedback on how the video projection was incorporated into the show, something we would never have achieved had we not had the chance to rehearse with it through the whole process.

There are some people we would like to thank for their dedication to this project, without whom it would not have come together:

John, Theresa and Vanessa at Company of Angels for giving us this great opportunity.

Richard and Lucia at the Junction for their generosity, giving us the chance to work in the Junction theatre space for two weeks.

The Junction staff for their help with this and that whenever we needed it.

Tamas Kirali, our lighting designer who came in right at the very end and lit the show beautifully.

Yui Okado who volunteered to help us out with stage management in the last stages of the process.

Rob Colin Thomas, photographer, for coming up to Cambridge to take photographs of the show.

Our two audiences who gave us positive, critical and constructive feedback.

And last but not least:

Laurence Short, our video and sound designer – this would have been a completely different show without you, we have benefitted greatly from your technical know-how and never-ending ingenuity! We hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship!

And of course the actors, Neil Connolly and Hannah Boyde – you are our August and Julie, and we look forward to continue the Norway.Today adventure with you!

Where do we go next? We don’t know yet. But one thing is certain: There will be more performances of Norway.Today. It is only a question of where and when…

- Øystein

Imploding Fictions’ production of Norway.Today by Igor Bauersima (translated by Dr. Marlene Norst) was developed with support from Company of Angels and The Junction as part of the Young Angels Theatremakers Award Programme 07/08.

Tags: award, Brager, Cambridge, Company of Angels, directing, february, Imploding Fictions, improfilm, Junction, Norway, Oystein, Performance, Philip, projection, Theatre, theatremakers, Thorne, Today, Ulsberg, video, Young Angels, youth
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Busy start to 2008

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

It’s been a mad (as always) and (unusually) busy start to 2008.

Oystein is in the midst of preparing two shows; Beauty in Stone at Camden People’s Theatre with the new integrated performance company Preface Morn (http://www.perform.tv/thescenepool/beautyinstone.html) and his solo performance Imitating Eloquence which will be performed in Kristiansand, Norway on 1st February.

Pip is currently in rehearsal for Peter Handke’s silent piece The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other at the National Theatre (opens 6^th Feb).

On the Imploding Fictions front we have our new show Norway.Today coming up on the 22^nd January at the Junction in Cambridge (book tickets under http:/www.junction.co.uk).

But the biggest Imploding Fictions news is that Hamletmachine was awarded the Premio Internazionale Claudio Gora at its guest performance in Rome! The Jury selected the production with the following statement:

For the ability to express through the poetry of the body, the power of imagery and strength of silences and the rigorous research conducted.

Øystein, Pip, Sergio Sivori and Cristina Giordana (the organizers of Premio Internazionale Claudio Gora)

We are really honoured to have been chosen for this award and would like to thank everyone at Laboratorium Teatro in Rome for their support and encouragement. Especially Sergio Sivori for laboriously sieving sand for us ; )

(Wherever we travel with this production, the 200 kilos of sand are a nightmare…)

We hope to perform in Italy again soon!

Hannah Boyde and Sammy Metcalfe rehearsing before the Rome performance. In the background 200 kilos of wet sand spread out on the floor to dry…

To read more about the Hamletmachine in Rome or Associazione Claudio Gora, check out these links:

http://www.assclaudiogora.it

http://www.laboratoriumteatro.it

http://www.groruddalen.no/spiller-hamlet-for-italienere.4443126-19208.html

http://www.teatroviviani.it/home/leggi.asp?id=921

http://www.dramma.it/drammaturgie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1441&Itemid=54

Tags: Brager, Claudio Gora, Fictions, Hamletmachine, Heiner Müller, Imploding, improfilm, Italy, Laboratorium Teatro, Müller, Oystein, Performance, Philip, Premio, Rome, Theatre, Thorne, Ulsberg
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Imploding Fictions’ New Year Resolutions 2008

Saturday, January 12th, 2008

Productions may no longer include:

Sand

Bubble Fluid

Real Mobile Telephones

Fake Blood

Cliff diving

Actors

Oystein will learn how to:

Sew

Iron

Speak German

Pip will learn how to:

Speak Norwegian

Get a good friend in the Arts Council

Balance a lawn mower on his chin

Miscellaneous:

We will not use Bable Fish for translations.

We will learn some Italian basics.

We will not piss off rights holders.

We will not piss off producers.

We will not piss off priests, muezzins or rabbis.

We will be more gracious with our opponents (what d’ya think Sammy?)

We will design a set which is a giant chocolate fountain

We will complete a full length version of our show “Now You See It; Now You Don’t”

Note: Resolutions are made to be broken.

Tags: 2008, Øystein, Brager, Britain, England, Germany, Hamburg, Imploding Fictions, London, New Year, Norway, Oslo, Performance, Philip, Resolutions, Theatre, Thorne, Ulsberg
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Norway.Today at the Junction

Saturday, January 12th, 2008

Hello and a cheery 2008!

Tickets for Norway.Today can now be booked at the Junction Box Office 01223511511, web: http://www.junction.co.uk . It would be great to see you there!

Best, Philip Thorne and Øystein Brager – Artistic Directors of Imploding Fictions

A helicopter job?

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Why is it that we can’t seem to do a show without some piece of elaborate expenditure? In Hamletmachine we set our hearts on having a huge hour glass which had to be especially blown for the occasion. For our current production Norway.Today, we have decided that part of the video-scenography is to be filmed on location at the fjords. There is one section we are especially keen on creating – the bit were the stage direction states: Julie falls off a cliff and dangles over the abyss. Having to organise all this from Sidcup with a shoestring budget, doing all this ourselves was (unfortunately) not an option – so we sought out some random message boards and dropped a hopeful add aimed at Norwegian cliff-divers into the digital ocean… And lo and behold, we got a prompt answer from a bloke who reckoned ‘what you want is a helicopter job’ and offering his services in this field. Since helicopter jobs are still way out of our financial paradigm at this humble stage in our careers, we requested whether a ‘handheld, camcorder-type job’ wouldn’t be equally feasible. To which the (quite reasonable) response was ‘yes – but the falling of the cliff bit might be a bit difficult.’ (We’ve had an actor cycling into a tree and off a peer before – but that’s different. That was Sammy Metcalfe. He will do anything.) Anyway, our man on location is now off on a tentative cliff balancing expedition, and we’ll see what kind of footage we get – we’re excited!

Our exploration of Igor Bauersima’s Norway.Today has been made possible by the Young Angels Theatremakers Awards, initiated by Company of Angels and The Junction in Cambridge.

- Philip

Tags: Angels, award, Øystein, Bauersima, Brager, Cambridge, Company of Angels, Igor, Imploding Fictions, Junction, Norway, Norway.Today, Performance, Philip, projection, Theatre, theatremakers, Thorne, Today, Ulsberg, video, Young
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So long, Rose Bruford…

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

We have finally taken our leave from the hallowed halls of Rose Bruford College (with all the comic ritual that accompanies British academia…)

Every morning for the past three years we’ve wandered through Lamorbey Park and past the sign with Harold Pinter’s sarcastic (and rather fitting) remark: “What are they doing in Sidcup??” onto the Bruford campus which has been a safe haven, providing us with secure parameters within which Imploding Fictions could be established. We’ll be eternally grateful to Polly Irvin for her backing of our Hamletmachine showcase – which went on to become the first international Imploding Fictions show, as well as of course our other marvellous mentors Colin Ellwood and Annie Castledine.
And of course our fellow directors Lizzie Newmann, Liz Skelcher and Joe Thorpe. It’s been an inspiring ride – from the claustrophobic beginnings of animal study and Stanislavskian objective exercises, right up to the collaborative haul of realizing Meredith Oakes’ new play at BAC.
Rose Bruford will undoubtedly remain an important part of our lives (and that of the company), and we hope to be back with our future shows and to participate in workshops and symposia…

- Philip and Øystein

Tags: 2007, Art, Øystein, BA, Bachelor, Brager, Bruford, College, directing, Directors, Drama, Fictions, Film, Graduating, Graduation, Imploding, Performance, Philip, Rose, Scool, Short Films, Theatre, Thorne, Ulsberg, University, video
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Imploding Fictions’ Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Thorne’

Some musical fun to be had

He-e-e-ere’s Johnny! or Why we should never have clicked our heels

Thunderous applause as the band plays on…

Imploding Fictions in Hamburg

One stop on the way to Norway.Today…

Busy start to 2008

Imploding Fictions’ New Year Resolutions 2008

Norway.Today at the Junction

A helicopter job?

So long, Rose Bruford…

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