People Show 120: The Workshop

hmmm, tasty...

2009-08-16T03:11:00.000+01:00

Kakerlaken- my thoughts on the way home

2009-08-16T03:03:00.002+01:00

while cyceling home I thought about the german word of cockroch
the litarel translation of cockroch is KAKERLAKEn,
when you translate this in english there are the words
KAKE- which is a word of shit ( but maybe you write in different?) and
LAKEN- which means sheet
I just don`t know what to do with the R, well anyway, I think I should sleep now!
thanks a lot for the nice show and glad to see you again!

Pictures from Opening Night

2009-08-14T14:19:00.011+01:00

Premieren Party

2009-08-14T11:59:00.002+01:00

Showtime!

2009-08-13T10:06:00.002+01:00

And so begins the evening life of People Show 120: The Workshop. From 7.30 this evening, and for the next two nights, our 22 artists will be escorting the public on a whirlwind tour of the grey matter of dreams and nightmares. The tables are set, the wine is poured, we are ready.
DD

dreaming of cake and balloons

2009-08-10T23:38:00.002+01:00

the viscosity of icing sugar
the ratio of hair to talcum powder
the relative merits of expensive balloons
the many varied uses of lampshades as clothing
a peopleshow 120 workshop excursion to gatwick airport

All things that are spinning (right round) in my head tonight. Good night john-boy.

Anna x

My First (possibly last) Blog Post

2009-08-10T01:08:00.002+01:00

DIRTY GIRL!
DIRTY GIRL!

brought to you by Monique, Alice and a few bad angels (poor Nicola)

tomorrow is today

2009-08-10T00:01:00.002+01:00

wow, late, I should go to bed and I should write some freedom slogans for the toilet and learn my poem and sew a bavarian apron,...
Looking forward to meet you all again, the morning mixture of "good morning sweetheart!" in german from david, the look in the kitchen with some sleepy people drinking tea and some hurrying around...
Looking forward to be a puzzle piece, trying where my character might fit in best in this never ending airport running, meeting, hugging,...
Looking forward to sing in the toilet, don`t forget the femal ones are closed for the public this week! does anyone have some shoes in size 5 fitting to a white dress?
thanks and good night
sophie

Let the mayhem begin!

2009-08-09T21:58:00.002+01:00

Well, it's Sunday, and again I state the obvious by declaring tomorrow to be Monday, marking the beginning of another People show week, but not just any old week, tomorrow marks the beginning of the final week...and SHOWTIME! How can this be? where has 2 weeks gone? A unique collection of experiences, slipping through my fingers, so real at the time, and now just memories, there and then gone, never to be re-created and re-experienced as they were then, at that time, with those people, in that place, under those circumstances...transient in their 'being,'.....Transience, memories, traces, all very apt to the themes roaming round the Tank room as we speak, and at the same time also major factors that appear to have underpinned People Show work from its very beginning, so long live transience! Ok, maybe I'm getting a little too deep now, time to take comfort in the prospects of what tomorrow might hold, and let these fill my dreams as I retire for the night,
See ya tomorrow!
xChantalx

Siren song...

2009-08-09T11:35:00.004+01:00

Sunday Morning... Just... And a day off from People Show 120, but only in the physical sense... I woke this morning with Michele's melancholic siren sing reverberating through my mind... Both beautiful and deliciously disturbing... She wouldn't be out of place in a Lynch creation!

After the nominal 3 cups of tea, my thoughts turned to nailing down my slice of the garden piece... I've been pondering using elements of the performance that I showed at the audition (A scene from Alejandro Jodorowsky's Fando y Lis), as I think it could work with the destructively despairing nature of my character... But we'll see... she'll be a strange creature regardless...

I'd like to say a huge thank you to each and every people show member for your support and kindness this week. As you know I received the heartbreaking news that my ex-partner and friend Gordon Campbell had passed away. I'm not sure where my head would be right now, if I didn't have 120 to immerse myself in and so many good people around me in all areas of my life... Love & lunacy, lili.

There will be cake

2009-08-06T20:50:00.002+01:00

...possibly...

twice

2009-08-06T20:17:00.002+01:00

...have I missed my stop because of peopleshowrelated thoughts and furious note-taking. I never miss my stop, but I think it's a good sign. I'm really enjoying this week so far. I love how the spaces are coming together slowly but nothing is rigid and things are in a constant flux. Also it's great getting to know the group better.
Note to my tank-girls: if we do want any animation or filmed footage we need to do it Saturday as early as possible. I can try to sort out a camera, but will need to know early tomorrow if we'll actually need it. (will be quite a heavy beast if we do decide to go down that route, but will give us lovely high quality.)

Anna x

My Feet!

2009-08-05T22:31:00.002+01:00

Wednesday again already! I can't believe it! and what a day it was. My feet are absolutely killing me, I feel like I've spent a whole day walking round an airport in killer high heels!, Well I guess in theory I have???
It really is so exciting, as we start to see the fruits of our first week of frolicking, emerge and begin to form and take shape into dare I say it, devised theatre works, and in such a natural and organic way, and such an inspiring process to be part of. For me, today was a refreshing breather in the 'safe house,' of chorus group work, after our smaller group 'space' creative collaborations earlier on in the week, but after experiencing the satisfaction of today's achievements, and emergence of some definite show material, I'm eager to start fine tuning the themes we've been discovering within our spaces, and exploring how these might start to evolve! So bring on tomorrow, create, create, create!

Chantal

Lips, eyes and skin...

2009-08-04T22:14:00.005+01:00

Day…erm...*lili struggles to count her fingers*...Nine… and my first blog attempt…

What an amazing bunch of multi-talented people I find myself working alongside… Each and everyone a treasure in their own field of experience and beyond… As cliche and bum licking as that sounds... every word of it true!

I embarked on this workshop looking for adventure and I haven’t been disappointed… I have pushed boundaries and pull muscles that I didn’t know I had! Each day I dip my toes willingly into the unknown and am both exhausted and exhilarated by the experience!

My own practice works within the loose framework of the surreal and the absurd, which generally manifests itself through sculpture and fine art performance… Usually working either solo or part of the duo ‘Folie a Trois’ with my good friend Sarah Grainger Jones. So working as part of such a huge group is unknown territory for little old me. I never imagined it would be quite as powerful as it is… We are at times menacing and destructive then at the blink of an eye, delicate and graceful… No mean feat for some 20 something individuals who barely know each other a week!

The past few days have found us in smaller groups working site-specifically in various points of the People show building. Michele, Nicola, Lyndal, Camilla, Alice and myself are in the garden. Not the best of spots to work in today… But we braved the good old English summertime in our matching red plastic ponchos (think strawberry flavoured condoms!) And began adding to the foundations we have already built… and, in my case especially, discovered a few things that really should be left alone! BTW ladies… I have to insist the lobster stays… Even if only as my cigarette holder! ; )

Right, that’s enough of my waffling for one evening… I have to catch up with all the blogging before hitting la la land… Oh, and thank you Michele for understanding that its perfectly plausible to carrying lips, eyes and skin around in a suitcase ; )

See all you loonies in the morning!

2009-08-04T21:11:00.009+01:00

2009-08-04T20:19:00.001+01:00

2009-08-04T19:40:00.002+01:00

old news

2009-08-03T23:23:00.001+01:00

There should be more pictures on here! Thus here a picture of my paperpuppettheatre of the selection workshop long ago.
side note: When it comes to image searching, I know everybody has their own favourite ways of doing it, but here are my two favourite websites to get to something a little more random and unusual than google image search:
http://ffffound.com/ has amazing surprising lovely stuff but unless invited (and these invites are rare indeed) you can't save stuff which is why I use http://www.weheartit.com as well*, Just thought I'd share these.
Anna Benner

*which of course decided not to work tonight just as I am trying to advertise its usefulness.

Friday 31 July

2009-08-03T11:03:00.015+01:00

Week 2 (and forward looking to post show 120)

2009-08-03T08:18:00.003+01:00

Aching muscles (non-people-show-related), sleepy eyed and with an armful of images, I am looking forward to start week 2.

And since you've seen my life's (well, past 2 years) work now, I want to see yours! Is anyone having any shows coming up in September and beyond?

Anna Benner

That Sunday feeling...

2009-08-02T20:07:00.003+01:00

I have that sunday feeling. You've squeezed every last drop of your weekend out and then you suddenly remember-homework! And back in the days of maths and science my heart would drop and I'd start tidying my bedroom-anything to avoid homework!
But that is not the case now, I look back on my notes from the first week of People Show workshop and my heart rises. So many memories, ideas and inspiration already! I begin to look for some visuals to bring in tomorrow. I am excited but do feel somewhat underprepared for the second week-this is where it gets serious! But I shan't let the panic set in yet so I go about finding pictures of toilets in fields and communist propaganda posters...
Bring on Week 2! Rubyx

And it's the end of week 1 !!!

2009-08-02T14:33:00.002+01:00

Sunday 2ND August today, means it's Monday 3rd tomorrow, and the beginning of week 2 of The People Show 120 experience. Can it really be that I've only known this fantastically eclectic group of artists for 1 week? yet I feel that they, and all that I've experienced and discovered with them, could fill a lifetime! It's simply incomprehensible, and yet deliciously wonderful at the same time. And maybe those 2 words, 'incomprehensible,' & 'wonderful,' sum up Friday's devising experience for me. Having familiarized ourselves with our newly adopted 'space,' there was an intense generation of ideas, concepts, themes, in the forms of words, sounds, imagery, you name it! This was then followed by a distinct lull in the energy, a kind of stalling experience..."How the hell do we go from page to stage?" And that's where 'incomprehensible,' comes into play, because don't ask me how, or when or what made it possible? but from a state of near despair, and the foreboding words,

"OK we'll see the Tank Room group next, how long do you want to set up?"
"Oh, 4 seconds..." to, " make that 2 mins..."

An amalgamation of all those paper ideas, was brought to life into the beginnings of a live mixed media creation, that I suddenly felt I could believe in, and nurture, and that felt WONDERFUL!

Chantal Francis

Subconscious Hands

2009-08-01T12:09:00.002+01:00

Since our journeys home and our sleeping positions I have a new interest in the still positions and the repetitive gestures of hands. Our hands are very expressive in our sleep. Spend a journey home looking at hands and hands only and see what people's hands are actually doing, very often unbeknown to the owners of those hands. Notice what people's hands do in relation to what the rest of them is doing- are they with or against? Where is that person actually, what are they thinking about really as they pretend to be interested in the sound coming out of someone else's mouth?

Lyndal Marwick

What I like about People Show

2009-08-01T11:54:00.002+01:00

A clean slate, a blank canvas- feelings of openess with tinges of trepidation. Two and a half weeks to create something decent with a big group.

What I like about People Show is the permission to be innocent, and to respond simply with, 'I like that.' Freedom of play and fresh, seeing eyes come from this open, calm state. Our preconceptions melt away as our group creates one detailed, moving, noisy, visual landscape, kind of like a painting that has come to life.

Lyndal Marwick

So much stuff.

2009-07-31T09:28:00.001+01:00

The day before Yesterday:
Two rectangular rostra in the middle of the hall, not something that would normally confuse me, but that they were covered completely with an array of objects and props.

If I'd been able to do anything I'd have tidied up, or slept.
As it was I acted my way through the caressing of a few small things as if they suggested some trace or remnant in my mind, before finding what didn't, if I'm honest, feel like mine.

It took a while to make sense of that:
an empty stage is a terror I find beautiful, and familiar -
fill it with props and its like a desert to a collector.

Discomfort can be very productive: I'd have loved to have been watching the line of us watching. I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

Yesterday:
Sleep patterns, bodies in a space making spaces, and this is where I see the stories.

Blimey.

JBx

Wow what a day!

2009-07-30T22:37:00.002+01:00

Hello again!
It's the end of day 4, I simply can't believe it! How time flies when you're having fun! And what fun was indeed had today......
Sleep inspired movement sequences, so ingenious to experience the wonder and magic that can be achieved, from the simplest of naturally occurring movements, and what an impact can be had from mass group synchronisation. I have to admit, I'm a bit biased when it comes to mass synchronisation within movement, I simply love the power omitted from a group of bodies all working as one, projecting an overwhelming sensation that I personally find spine tingling!

And then it was playtime!!! Object inspired movement routines! I was in my element! and the group feedback sessions were invaluable! I think I'm now really starting to get to grips with the whole devising process, (at least in theory anyway...) So bring on tomorrow! As we delve further into the unknown and explore our newly adopted spaces, and let ourselves be led by the stories they tell! I simply can't wait!

My favourite catchphrases so far

2009-07-30T20:22:00.002+01:00

Here's what we've been saying the last few days:

Screwdriver!
Scalpal!
Clear!
Aaaaahhhhhhh!
Stop. Write it down.
Apocalyptic mushroom.
The woman with the make-up is now beautiful.
....regrets capitalism.
....suspicious yellow flip flops.
I say bless you. Does that make me a good person?
This is a central line train to Ealing Broadway.
Pigeon 1. Pigeon 2. Pigeon 3....
Ready for immediate occupation
Car. Car. Car. Damn!
Close your fucking mouth when you sleep.
Objective:
It could just be a packet of crisps.
I contemplate the stitching on my rucksack.
Those children shaking machines.
The stickman gets a rough deal.
No returns. Credit?
Sale!
Lighten up!

Lyndal Marwick

whoops

2009-07-30T20:09:00.002+01:00

I broke a toilet! It now resembles something far less comfortable - but in it's way, a piece of art. Sorry peopleshow!!

Loved the sleeping standing up - what fantastic sculptures and images we created - and a fresh way of approaching this kind of work was relieving, easy, natural, and fuelled by the wonderful subconscious.

I feel like the artist i'm told I am.

Bring on day5,

James

I am an artist!

2009-07-30T19:20:00.005+01:00

Yes, I am an artist.
However, I am not (yet) a theatre person.

The first two days confused, challenged and intimidated me: coming into a room where everyone wants to be barefoot, trying to raise my voice over a crowd of people knowing exactly what kind of wonders there are in a boring-looking suitcase, feeling the pressure to come up with something brilliant. At the end of day two I wanted to hide in a corner and watch through a gash in the curtains.

I'm glad I didn't. Today I was rewarded with a growing confidence that made it completely normal to reveal my sleeping positions to a group of people who were strangers not too long ago. Maybe because sleep is one of my favourite things to do, it felt comfortable enough. I found myself almost falling asleep vertically. And now we're starting to create our own bits, I reach more familiar territory - developing ideas, visualising, lighting - I'll get to use projectors, my how I love projections! - but I am no longer scared* to stand on a stage as a performer, too.

Anna Benner

*well, yes I am, really, but it gets a little less every day.

images from Wednesday 29 July

2009-07-30T12:20:00.005+01:00

An Early Blog

2009-07-30T07:20:00.002+01:00

Morning People,

So the experience for me so far has been one of immense joy and discomfort - not two things i generally feel at the same time, so thanks.

I'm so glad that as a goup we are slowly beginning to form our own rather large peoplette show under the tutelage of these fantastic artists.

Fuck me yesterday was great - the stand up - the connection - all the journeys , all so diverse yet all starting from exactly the same spot - interesting how some people mainly noticed 'suspicious yellow-looking flip-flops', whilst others noticed 'a man with a really really bushy black beard and no hair, and I thought in my head of turning his entire head upside down so he had a beautiful head of hair with a clean-shaven face'. How we all view the world from a different perspective - this is gonna be great for the piece.

Speaking of piece all I can keep thinking is apocolyptic mushroom. Images are emerging in my head that link all our diverse journeys to one port of call, one airport, one train station, the last place on earth - how did we get there? who did we see? why are we here? what have we got to show for our journey? what are our fears, hopes, dreams?... cough spit drool sneeze cough...frantic mushrooming uncontrollable...who knows!!

Right got to go or will be late to see you.

James

p.s. something that came up on the first day with the whole group music movement leper thing - with so many of us we can create such strong images of waves/walls/armies/towers etc etc - looked amazing with incoming tide of hands - loved it.

2009-07-29T23:57:00.001+01:00

Thoughts that remain with me as I am about to go to sleep, thoughts that have made it through the last three days (relatively) unscathed, but who knows if they’ll still be with me in the morning:

“I can see in his eyes that, yeah, he regrets capitalism.”

You’re trying not to be visible but you are, and it’s beautiful and it’s like a painting.

As a performer, find the point at which you know you are being listened to.

The importance of the dynamic of a show, but not necessarily as in beginning-middle-end, instead to do with instinct, like a day going from night to dawn to light to dusk and night again.

I want to see (and hear) two minutes of just the balloons squeaking minutely against each other in front of the microphone.

I want to hear Delano tell his whole journey home by only describing people’s shoes.

I want to see Ruby just stand and lick the inside of a chocolate bar wrapper until the lights go out.

Ira x

2 Minutes of Standup!!!

2009-07-29T23:06:00.002+01:00

Well what a day! and a thoroughly entertaining one at that! Firstly thank you to both Mark & George for an insightful start to the morning, the sharing of memories, info and experiences, straight from the horse's mouth as it were, simply priceless.

And then came the 1st major challenge of the day...the editing of an entire 3 hour home journey, (and that excluding the detours,) into 2 nerve racking minutes under the intensive glare of a spotlight, in front of a foreboding looking mic! Talk about throw you in the deep end, and you know what, I am SO GLAD it happened that way, and feel privileged to have been witness to the birth of such a flourish of sensational, highly amusing and beautifully delivered 2min stand up pieces, I'd most definitely have paid good money to see what I experienced during those 42 mins of captivating and as I said, often hilarious storytelling. I still can't get the coin powered 'child-shaking machine,' out of my head, and in away I think that kind of hits it on the head, it is the mundane, everyday things in life, our behaviours, habits, routines, that ordinarily make sense to us and/or others when in their everyday context, but for some reason or another take on this whole other aesthetic when scrutinized, or abstracted from the 'accepted norm.' And its this that can make something so simple work so well, and cause such humour, and/or move us as the human being and audience member, to experience and be transported by the kind of heart felt moods & emotions that make up good theatre & performance.

Well enough of the philosophical stuff for now, time for beauty sleep in prep for all that tomorrow will bring!

Chantal Francis

2009-07-29T21:07:00.003+01:00

After having a lovely time today, experimenting with prop/object, I thought I would post a couple of sections of poetry from one of Gertrude Stein writings, Tender Buttons, which considers the private discourse about private perceptions to objects, food and rooms...

A CARAFE, THAT IS A BLIND GLASS
A kind in glass and a cousin, a spectacle and nothing strange a single hurt colour and an arrangement in a system to pointing. All this and not the ordinary, not unordered in not resembling. The difference is spreading.

And especially for you Lilly...

A FEATHER
A feather is trimmed, it is trimmed by the light and the bug and the post, it is trimmed by little leaning and by all sorts of mounted reserves and loud volumes. It is surely cohesive.

Nicola x

Story telling

2009-07-29T19:48:00.002+01:00

We had our last morning with Mark this morning. I could listen to him tell stories, jokes and impart words of oh so wise wisdom for days on end. So I am sad about this. But the hour we passed with him and George Kahn was a pure delight and I have locked many of their words away in my head for when I am still a struggling artist 50 years from now!
Just listening to Mark tell story after story made me think that not enough good stories are told nowadays and it is rare to find such a charasmatic story teller in this modern world of texts and msn.
And so I was pleased to find we were honing our own story telling skills that very day. With the terrifying microphone centre stage and the even more terrifying spotlight we individually told the stories of our journey home last night. Who'd have thought Bethnal Green hight street could hold so many wonders!
It was a truly captivating afternoon-every story enticing you in a different way. I want to tell more stories like these...Rubyx

Bits Remembered (of days one and two)

2009-07-28T22:48:00.003+01:00

A Documentary:
- How we met: "were you the one where I had to lift up the bus?"
- A science experiment: how to Fly with non-bio
- The last two people on earth want to talk about water
- How to wash up, part one
- Sailing around the world goes badly wrong (have they even left Portsmouth yet?)

A Suitcase:
"I think I could take it on Easyjet without having to pay extra"
"Everything anyone ever wrote down ever"
"Would you let poor Janet die in there?"

Some Keys:
"I used to be tone deaf, but now... listen..."
"You're lucky you've got a key. A man came round with a box and everyone else got a key and I got a lock"

Some Departures:
- A passerby
- Another passerby
- A child
- A suitcase
- A cleaner
- A person in a bag
- The word No
- White face masks
- An Iron
- A Lampshade Woman
- A traveller
- A sneeze
- A woman with one shoe
- A headless green dress
- A seagull
- Another sneeze
...

And more to come...
Jade Blue x

Pictures from today's session

2009-07-28T18:10:00.012+01:00

2009-07-28T17:02:00.003+01:00

Sweet Jesus,me blogging I can hardle believe it!I can barely get my e mails and Im repeatedl being told I cant spell,so there is no need to tell me again folks,its a risk you run!!
Here it is ,Its the peopleshow three week workshop,its show 120,its day two,we are twenty three in total,a large about of the female variety and sadly a bit thin on the man front,the two we do have however are hot so, thats ok for three weeks anyway!
Its day two ,every few hours my reasons for being here change and thats great and unsettling and I like it.
Mark Long gave a chat this morning on the "serious" business of making theatre,devising,the ingredients ,what its all about. The irony of him losing his place and steam of thoughts on his lecture pages were very pleasing to me and summed up the genie in he bottle of what it is we are trying to do for these weeks!Thank you mark.
Group dynamic is very interesting,Im getting the feeling we are all very suggestable and sensitive ,which is a good thing but not so good before lunch and the energy is focused on internal wholegrain or white debate!
Im enjoying asking the others what they do,getting a glimpse,getting the in jokes, when what they say might at other times seem a strange things to say,like lily saying the suitcase may contain lips eyes and skin.You see normally that might seem a strange thing to say but when you know our lily likes to stuff dead animals then its just a pleasing notion!Why wouldnt the case be filled with those things!
I love to watch gareth when he is watching others perform,its like reading a good book.
The coming together of the group in exercises seems very apocoliptic to me,yesterday for me was lepers crawling towards a saviour crossed with shaun of the dead today it was killer flu out outbreak.Not a good way to die,very unattractive.
With this session, I got images of the july bombings several years ago.I had a friend seriously hurt in the edgeware road blast,that morning she pushed her way onto that carriage,she was saved by her rucksack on her back hitting the tunnel wall instead of her spine when the bomb blew the doors off. With all the coughing and spluttering we were doing today in the exercise, something she told came back to me.
That it was fucking manky dirty down there,soot black dark,filth,years of fumes and ratty decay,mix a bomb in that and what you have is dark colours,body parts,blood,lipliners,a single shoe,saliva,hair,tears,screams,white teeth,piss,snot and shit mixing with soot,oh and a lot of bad language!It was a lot of peoples memories of my friend , her appaling diatribe of base filty dirty cuss words.she cant remember any of this!
A uniform colour but with different heat and consistancy,tears creating lines on faces made equal by something horrible.Everyone pitch black,sounds,smells,textures;Slippy too!
Time to go now,thank you for baring witness to my first every blog,21st century here I come!xMichele Moran

2009-07-28T11:38:00.000+01:00

Mark Long, one of the founders of People Show, explains the importance of being serious.

2009-07-28T11:26:00.004+01:00

Sensing the tension building in the room, Mark lightens the mood with some charades.

Day one...

2009-07-27T17:37:00.002+01:00

It has begun.
23 workshoppers have officially infested People Show Studios and my, what havoc has been created already.
In day one of devising there has been (among other things) unrequited love, epic rounds of keepy-uppy, silent movie-making, countless entrances and exits, sibilance, resonance, sustainance, baggy pants, shouting, running, falling, dying, breathing, coughing, coffee, laughing, crawling, falling, screaming, yawning and a whole lot more besides. (deep breath!)
We have been inspired and we have expired but we'll be back tomorrow with fire in our bellies and twinkles in our eyes to build on what we began to give birth to today.
Here's to day one.

Laura Milnes
People Show 120: The Workshop

And so begins People Show 120: The Workshop

2009-07-27T14:05:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the Blog of People Show 120: The Workshop
On 27 July, 2009, 23 emerging practitioners joined the People Show artists on a three week, intensive course in our own particular method of devised theatre.
Over the course of the next three weeks, and beyond, the participants in this course will put their ideas, thoughts, rants, images, films and reactions to PS:120 here, in this blog.
People Show is the UK's longest running experimental theatre company, now in its 43rd year. This course has been made possible in part through the generosity of Arts Council England and London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Thanks for coming,
David Duchin
General Manager