Budget for final performance

Budget

Payment of cast
Minimum 100 £ - maximum 200 £

Set building materials
Approx 150£

Costume
50 £

Publicity
30£

Additional anticipated expenses margin
70£


Total : mimimum 400£ - maximum 500£ (due to confirmation ofnumber of cast members needing payment)

production schedule

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

ground plan for final project

Here is the ground plan of the space i would like to use for my final project.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16322535/L1-Set-Design-Studio

However as I have not been granted confirmation of this space, I have also been in contact with Wimbledon Racquets and Fitness Club with regard to using their fire escape for the performance (see sketch-up attached). These are two very different venues and the final piece will be greatly altered by which ever I am allowed to use.

Theatretank reacts to the Cull of 250,000 Pigs in Egypt

There have been no cases of swine flu in Egypt, yet the government has ordered for the slaughter of ever pig in the country.

For more information on the topic http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8030000/newsid_8031400/8031490.stm

2009 All Ireland Confined Finals.

As you may remember, earlier this year I was working on the set design and the projections for a play called Same Old Moon, which recently qualified to compete at the All Irelands...

The results are back.... and Same Old Moon won the Premier Award and Replica at the 2009 All Ireland Confined Finals.

The piece also won the award for Best Lighting (Playlight Perpetual Cup) and Best Producer (Broderick Perpetual Cup)

Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make this happen!

The Ghost

In the upcoming performance of SunDogs we will be using a special effect, which we worked on and tested out on Friday. This optical illusion is created by projecting a video of a moving body into the mist of a hazer, creating a ghostly figure. This will be the first thing the audience will see when they enter into the space. I am very happy with how this worked. I particularly love that the image only comes onto focus from one angle and otherwise it just appears to be a beautiful light show. I'm really interested to see how the audience react to it.

Sun Dogs Poster Design

Reflections on Ambient Noise

Political theatre has a long tradition of utilising pedagogical performance models to communicate the intent of the theatre-maker. Over the past year, I have battled to establish the place of pedagogy in my own performance work.

From the outset I have agreed with David Hare that;

“The problem with the political theatre-maker is that... the drama is fashioned above all to be accessible. No member of the enormous audience would be able to mistake the authors purpose or meaning. The demands of what you want to achieve politically are hard sometimes to reconcile with what you can actually achieve artistically” (Hare, 2005; 22).

Having read Jacques Ranciere’s influential lecture, The Emancipated Spectator , I became further confused as to the rightful place of pedagogy within a piece of political theatre. It appeared to me that Ranciere was advocating some sort of theatre without intent. I understood that Ranciere believed that for a person to gain from spectatorship they must be free to make a personal interpretation of the work and thus a theatre maker should allow space for the interpretation of the audience member to vary greatly from the message intended by the author.

This reading of Ranciere’s theories unearthed a lot of questions for me and challenged even the basic definition of political theatre from which I had been working. Political theatre is often defined by its intention. The political theatre maker differs from any other on the grounds that she intends to induce societal change with her art. Thus, if political theatre could not contain intent then I could no longer define what political theatre actually was.

I feel that my input to our group performance, Ambient Noise, evidenced my confusion around these theoretical questions. But on a positive note, I believe that in making the performance, I have come some way to finding the answers to my queries.

Due to my reluctance to evidence a political intent in Ambient Noise, I effectively said very little with the performance. I was intentionally trying to make theatre without intention. I provided a large volume of visual information, letting the audience members interpret it as they wished.

I am glad that I tested this mode of performance in Ambient Noise, but I now believe that this model of theatre-making is not the way forward for my practice. For a piece of theatre to open up a dialogue with an audience it must make some sort of statement. A dialogue must have two sides; if it does not, then there can be no communication.

In a book I am currently reading called Metapolitics by Alain Badiou I have found another argument why a theatre-maker must take a position with her work. Although the author’s criticisms are directed at political philosophers, his commentary can be extended to cover political theatre-makers also. He believes that a claim to political neutrality is a spurious one which is most often used as a fig leaf to allege ideological immunity. For Badiou, philosophers [and by extension political theatre-makers] are no more immune to political decision making than anyone else.

Returning to Ranciere’s text, I think I have found a new reading of his paradigm; one that allows room for intent while still providing space for audience interpretation.

Perhaps there is a light at the end of this tunnel...

Review of Dream Play

Last Wednesday I attended a performance that was based on Strindberg’s Dream Play.
The scenic design of the piece was minimal and symmetrical and was very visually pleasing. There was a single red door at the back of the stage which was surrounded by large hanging jigsaw pieces, upon which a projection was cast. The door remained lit throughout the performance, but was never opened.
In retrospect, I find this emphasis on the door to be a little confusing, and I wonder now whether or not this lighting element was a wise design choice. For a great deal of the performance the actors were only partially lit, so the audience’s attention was repeatedly drawn to the door. Not being familiar with the original play, the symbolism of the door was unclear to me. I think this ambiguity was further compounded by the structure of the script, were all the characters of the original play were divided among two actors.
Perhaps the projections could have been a little more descriptive in order to aid the audience in understanding the performance as a whole. Having said this, for me the most successful element of the performance was the projections, and I would have liked them to cover more of the jigsaw pieces (since I know that this was the original design plan). I also liked the costumes in general, although I felt that Agnes’ boots were a little clunky.
Overall, the piece provided some very visually interesting moments; however, I left the theatre somewhat confused, and the meaning of the performance evades me still... perhaps I should go to the library and read the play...

Images From SunDogs Rehearsals

Things are going smoothly with SunDogs and everyone is getting along nicely...

A Response to Phase Lapse

Last Wednesday I attended Phase Lapse, a 20minute devised performance inspired by the traditional Korean poem Gong Mu Do Ha Ga. The element that most appealed to me about the performance was the sheer simplicity of the design concept. The room was entirely bare apart from a number of candles, a hanging cloth, a bowl of water and a live body. The work had a certain confidence about it; by this I mean that every aspect seemed considered and thought through. Nothing was rushed. Everything was paced and the performer held the audience in moments of beautiful stillness; using her body to capture and recreate the ebb and flow of tranquil waters.

I will say, however, that I felt the piece might have benefited from a little more action and that there were moments which could have been exploited to engage the audience a little bit more. Water is not always tranquil; it is sometimes violent and unpredictable. It erodes and weathers. Waves crash and break. Perhaps the stillness of the performance could have also broken at moments to allow for waves of climax to crash and then recede.

When the performer extinguished the last candle, for example, was a moment in which the dramatic potential was not capitalised on. I understood the candles to represent the light of life, and although the performer paid great attention to the extinguishing of the first light, the last four where put into the bowl of water and extinguished together. I felt as though even a simple pause, before the last light was quenched, might have added pathos to the moment.

For me, one of the most successful elements of Phase Lapse was the costume design, which transformed from black into white during the course of the performance. Although I know that the use of the colour white was intended to represent death here, I still read it as a signifier of matrimony. I say this not in criticism, but rather as a compliment. The group aimed to explore the mixing of cultures and this contradiction made me consider my own cultural perspective and how it can limit the way I view and understand things.

However, I think that my misreading of the colour white, as a signifier for matrimony, was unintentionally reinforced by the group’s choice of music for the final moments of the piece, which was a electronic track featuring the sound of church bells (Scaling by µ-Ziq, from the album Royal Astronomy). Another reason that I found it a little jarring to hear this piece of music is that it is already known to me and is in my music collection. Although it is a great track that I really like, because I know it, it coloured the performance for me and I think this is best avoided if possible. Apart from that, the sound design was very nicely mixed. I particularly liked that no one voice dominated over the others. Instead the overlapping voices sounded like the babbling of a brook.

Overall Phase Lapse was a very tight show, which was well conceived and executed with precision and assurance. Congratulations to all involved.

The Votes Are In

Earlier this year I worked on the set and projections design for a play called Same Old Moon, which has since been touring the festival circuit in Ireland. (There are 8 festivals in total) I just heard word of the judge’s verdicts on the piece and we were pretty happy overall.

The following awards have been received. ; We got 2 wins, 5 seconds and 1 third. Our total on acting awards was 14 and we got 4 adjudicators awards and 4 technical awards (1 for technical, 1 sound and 2 for the set). Not a bad haul overall


So Same Old Moon has qualified now to compete at the All Irelands this month in Waterford.

Fingers crossed...

SUN DOGS Rehearsals

The dancers who I have been working with in the creation of SUN DOGS (a devised performance to be viewed in Wimbledon on the 30th of April and the 1st of May) are all trained in the art of Butoh. For this reason we are employing a lot of Butoh exercises in our rehearsals and ultimately these will greatly influence the final performance. Within Butoh there is an understanding that movement is initiated by an internal or external source, rather than by a conscious decision to change ones position. For this reason there is a constant interplay between states of control and “uncontrol”. Here is one of the exercises which we have been exploring.

TEXT SOILDIER TO 80010

I designed the projected images for our group progect, Ambient Noise. The projection simply consisted of a scroling text that instructed the audience to “TEXT SOILDIER TO 80010”

If a member of the audience chose to carry out the instruction they would receive a text message back from the British Army about recruitment opportunities.

Toy Soldiers and Freshly Cut Lemons

In our group performance, Ambient Noise, we created masks which were intended to be looked through by members of the public, while the actors watched the audience. Behind each mask was a lit scenario for the audience to view, accompanied by a sound played through headphones. Bo chose to accompany my mask with the theme tune of Super Mario. Here is an image of the scenario which I made.

The scenario consisted of toy soldiers and freshly cut lemons.

“Suddenly all was fire and sword! Splinters of shells had gashed the
lemons. Now death was in action” (Jean Genet; The Balcony)

I chose to use lemons because I wanted to engage, not only the aural and visual senses of our audience members, but also the sense of smell.

Ambient Noise

Today, during the debriefing of our group project, we were advised to wait a week before writing about the performance on our blogs. I think this is very wise advice, because although I have already gained a great deal from the making of Ambient Noise, I believe that with a little more time to reflect upon the experience my understanding of the process will evolve further. So for now I will say little about the work, and until I do here are some images to fill the silence.

The cast list of SUN DOGS

I am happy to announce the final cast list for SUN DOGS, a devised multimedia performance due to be showed in Wimbledon College of Art theatre on the 30th of April and the 1st of May



The Raven: Roberta Vaz

The Bear: Teba Gomez

The Orca: Anne-Maarit

The Eagle: Laura Gubbins

The Wolf: Alessandra Fei



Congratulation to all those who made the cast and thank you to all who auditioned

A Possible Poster Design for our Group Project

Feedback welcome...

An Image Thats Hard To Shake

The work of one artist in particular has left a lasting impression on me ever since my recent trip to The Saatchi Gallery to see The Revolution Continues: New Art From China.


The artists name is Zhang Dali and the work is titled Chinese Offspring. It deals with the abuses suffered by immigrant workers on Chinese construction sites.


Perhaps this image will be relevant to the work I am doing in my group project at the moment.

A Mistake to Learn From

Having been a curator of the first week of our MA exhibition, I had a great deal of sympathy for the curators of the second week. For this reason, when I submitted my work which was to be displayed in the second week, I made no demands on how I wanted it to be presented. In doing this I intended to make life a little easier for the curators, however, I can now see that this choice was in fact a mistake on my part. In the end, I felt that my piece was not presented in its best light... quite literally!

In fact, the curators made a conscious decision not to put any light on my object. Due to the reflective nature of the piece they were concerned that the reflected light would interfere with the works surrounding it.

Unfortunately, the reflection of light was my main intention with the object and by not speaking up during all the commotion of the set up for the show I feel that I did the piece (and myself) a disservice.

I am learning that there may be times when it is necessary to be a little precious about ones work.

Here are a few images of how the work was intended to be displayed. This piece is titled Lazy Susan Gets Seven.

Sun Dogs Audition footage

Proposal for Sun Dogs

Name of performance: Sun Dogs
Direction: Emily Bailey and Sarah McLaughlin
Set design: Sarah McLaughlin
Light and projection design: Emily Bailey
Costume design: Eileen Newton
Choreography: Lorraine Smith

Staff experience:
Set design: Sarah McLaughlin is a freelance theatre-practitioner and visual artist. Having recently been granted Artslinks Bursary Award from the Irish Arts Council in 2008, she is currently enrolled in the London University of the Arts. She has twice receiving the award for Best Set Design at the National Irish Student Drama Awards.
Light and projection design: Emily Bailey is a video installation artist who is currently studying for her MA in Sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art.
Costume design: Eileen Newton currently works as the costume technician for Wimbledon College of Art.
Choreography: Lorraine Smith is the founder of Silversmith Performance Company. She trained in Butoh and has performed in the Shunt Vaults on two previous occasions.

Synopsis: Sun Dogs is a multimedia, site-specific performance. The piece draws inspirations from the distortion of light, which occurs in the labyrinthine passageways of the London Underground. Through a deconstruction of the movement of Butoh this piece will reinterpret the sun dance rituals from Inuit culture. Using the human body as a projection surface to reflect and refract light this piece will create a visual dialogue between the dancers’ bodies. Live tribal drumming will provide the soundscape. The performers will eventually leave but aspects of the performance will remain, thus blurring the lines between performance and installation

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Time Frame for installation and strike:
As the set is quite minimal the installation and strike will take a day either side.

Technical Rider
Equipment needs for performance
6 Stage Lights (par cans and source four pars are preferable),
2 projectors,
Hazer,
2 speakers,
amp,
mixing desk,
CD Player,
ladders for installation
and safety cables to secure the equipment.

Sun Dogs Audition

Today I held an audition for an upcoming multimedia dance piece, which will be ready for viewing on the 1st of May in the Theatre of the Wimbledon College of Art. The performance for which the audition was held is a devised work that I am making in collaboration with fellow MA students, Emily Bailey and Eileen Newton.

Having booked a little dance studio in the centre of the city, we posted the details of the audition on ArtsJobs.com and received a very positive response to our ad. We had a great turn out today and I am confident that we have found some very talented and competent performers. In fact, the standard of the auditions was so high that casting the parts will be somewhat of a nightmare.
By Friday I will post the final list of successful applicants here, but until then, here is a little excerpt of an improvisation exercise that we tried out during the audition. Enjoy!

Toy Soldiers

A recent trip to the Saatchi Gallery exposed me to a Palestinian artist, Wafa Hourani, who is doing some very interesting work that I think speaks well to our group project.

Here are a few pictures of his work and the Blurb about its origins.

"Wafa Hourani is a Palestinian artist living and working in Ramallah. Combining photography and sculpture his Future Cities projects deal with the social, political, and economic realities of Palestinian life to develop grim and apocalyptic predictions for the residents of the West Bank. Qalandia 2067 takes its name from the main check point crossing through the West Bank Security Fence which divides the cities of Ramallah and ar-Ram; it is a site of political unrest and human rights concerns. Dating his piece 2067 – one hundred years after the Arab-Israeli 6 Day War – Hourani has constructed 5 scale models envisioning the future of a refugee camp where time seems to have regressed rather than evolved. Basing each segment on an actual site – the airport, border crossing, and 3 settlements – the buildings are rendered as war-ravaged and crumbling, crowned by implausibly archaic remnants of TV antennae. Each building is a miniature light-box illuminating glimpses into the private lives of the residents through film strips placed in the windows, an unnerving reminder that this science fiction horror is, for many, an everyday experience."

for more information see

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/wafa_hourani.htm?section_name=unveiled

Post Graduate Forum

In preparation for my postgraduate forum presentation which will be held on Firday the 13th, I have made the following hand out

In Search of a Real-Theatre-Politik

Presentation by Sarah McLaughlin to the Postgraduate Forum on the 13th of March 2009

The focus of my practice and research here in the London University of the Arts has been primarily concerned with the historical tension that exists between art and utility in political theatre.
The desire to separate theatre and politics is not a new phenomenon. Throughout antiquity, the concern that theatre can corrupt political life has been a recurrent apprehension among social commentators. Similarly, certain dramaturges have expressed comparable misgivings about the amalgamation of performance and politics for precisely the opposite reason. They, on the other hand, fear that politics may corrupt and even eviscerate theatre. Despite these reservations about the combination of politics and theatre a belief persists among many that theatre not only has the duty to serve the people but also the unique ability to bring salvation to a corrupt and distorted social world.
There is an inherent tension here which concerns me, as a maker of political theatre. If politics and art are mutually destructive forces, and each corrupts the other, how can political theatre be created without compromise? Can the makers of theatre reconcile art and utility? This research question has best been articulated in the words of Sir David Hare;
You want the world to be different. You want injustice to be addressed. You want a social system which relieves the ubiquitous suffering of the poor. Why on earth do you imagine that theatre might be an effective, even an appropriate, way to achieve such things? (David Hare, 2005; 19)
Problematically, theatre with a political goal often lacks nuance, as it is designed primarily to be accessible. For this reason it can be simplistic and unchallenging, or, worse still, it can be dogmatic, dictatorial, heavy handed and one-sided. Habitually, the maker of political theatre does not want her audience to miss the point, so instead she browbeats them into awareness. It is my goal to find a new way to approach the making of political theatre.
Whereas the traditional elitist method of political theatre seeks to edify its audience by granting them information, I want the audience to have ownership of their own experience. Grounding my work in the theories expressed by Jacques Ranciere’s seminal piece of literature The Emancipated Spectator, I am trying to create a form of political theatre that speaks to the audience as a collection for individuals rather than as a unified community. In so doing the theatre maker can allow each member to interpret the work differently depending on each individual’s life experience.
Giving away artistic control in this manner demands a certain level of humility from the theatre maker. The artist must consider the political problems that they confront as having more than one solution and more importantly they must accept that they do not know, and cannot possibly know, the answer to the problems they seek to explore. Although by most definitions, political theatre necessitates the expression of a certain political view point; my political theatre will instead encourage the development and articulation of independent perspectives for each member of the audience.

Curator; friend or foe

This week I have been wrapped up in the business of curating a group exhibition in the Nunnery Gallery which will have its opening reception tonight, Thursday 25th of February.
I took up the position of curator for this show due to my background in set design; believing there to be several important similarities between the role of a curator and that of a set designer. Fundamentally, both professions are concerned with the narration of space. They both pivot on spectatorship and they must both work within certain perfunctory parameters such as sight lines and fields of light. So although this was my first attempt at curation, I entered into the gallery space on Monday morning believing that I had something to offer to the process... Little did I know just how much I’d learn from the experience.
There is a very different way in which a curator combines the work of separate artists to the way in which a theatre maker combined the contributions of individual theatre practitioners. There is a notion of the integrity of each piece of work in the former that is not present in the later. For a curator, there are demands that the artist’s work is set apart, so that it can stand on its own as an individual piece. Admittedly, today the role of the curator is expanding and becoming more fluid and free; a fact that appears to be a source of great concern to certain members of the art world (see Claire Bishop’s Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics ). There still exists today a very palpable opposition to the curator who extends his/her remit beyond the mere function of hanging. Curators who attempt to juxtapose different art works, with the aim to finding new meaning in so doing, inevitable meet with opposition.
This notion of the integrity of an individual piece, which is so deeply ingrained in the minds of fine artists, is not an issue in the art of theatre making. The work of a theatre maker is never intended to stand in isolation. From its very conception each element is intended for synthesis. Theatre always creates new meanings through methods of combining, juxtaposing and aligning the work of separate artists. No single element speaks alone, nor is it meant to.
I could say much, much more about what I have learned in the past week, but the whole thing has me utterly beat. So for now... I must sleep

Intersections; An exhibition of new work by MA students at Wimbledon College of Art

The Nunnery
27 February – 8 March 2009
Open Fri – Sun 11am – 6pm

Wimbledon College of Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by more than 70 postgraduate students from the MA Fine Art and Visual Language courses.
A diverse and international group of emerging artists introduce a collection of their varied work. Taking place mid-way through the course of study, the work is the outcome of an adventurous, enthusiastic and challenging approach to art making. Continuing Wimbledon’s long established reputation for producing accomplished and thoughtful practitioners, this show represents exploration and experiment, whilst maintaining an emphasis on professionalism.
Split into two parts exhibited over two weeks, the show reflects the inclusive and expansive philosophy of the Wimbledon MA. This is an opportunity to view painting, drawing, sculpture, video, film and performance pieces by new artists addressing a multitude of themes. The eclecticism and diversity of approach evident in the exhibition is unified by each participant’s shared desire to constantly question, revaluate and refine their artistic practice.
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Opening Reception:Part 1: Thursday 26 February 6-9pmPart 2: Thursday 5 March 6-9pm

The Nunnery Gallery
183 Bow Road
LondonE3 2SJ

020 7538 1719
http://www.bowarts.org/thenunnery/index.php?code=421

For more information, images or viewings outside of opening times please contact http://uk.mc254.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wimbledoninterim@gmail.com
Victoria Burgher
http://uk.mc254.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mail@victoriaburgher.com
http://www.victoriaburgher.com/

Script for Ambient Noise

Last week I spent my days putting together the script for our group project and recording each characters part with the actors I had cast for the voice-over.

Here I have attached a section of the script for your reading pleasure...

AMBIENT NOISE; an extract*

Inside the TV Studios there is a warm hazy womb-like room build of paper lit in a soft blue/green light. There is a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. it is not lit. It is dripping with candle wax and toy soldiers. There is a mirror in the room which reflects a second masked character who has his back to the audience. His mask has no features. It is blank and expressionless. He is looking at a television that is hooked up to a playstation with a war game on pause. He is holding the joystick limply in both hands. The music that was playing in the corridor continues while the audience entre the space and position themselves around the room. Suddenly as if awaking from a dream the masked figure acknowledges the audience. A second voice is heard

VOICE2: You’re late! Where the hell where you? Are all the doors firmly shut? Can anyone see us or hear us?

The masked character moves through the audience and hastens the shut the door. Pausing and looking left and right into the corridor before carefully shutting it. As the masked figures returns his attention to the room the voice continues

VOICE2: I’ve been told that this house is going to be besieged. The rebels have already crossed the river

This afternoon, just before you arrived the rebels took three key positions. They set fire to several places. Not a single fireman came out. Everything went up in flames the palace was blown up last night. It’s dangerous for anyone to loiter in the streets. You had a pretty close shave.

(he laughs and looks at himself in the mirror, taking a stance like a movie character, he pretends to machine gun the entire cafe)

Bangbangbangbang!

I went out to plant a bomb. When I got half-way up the street, some son of a bitch started firing away but he missed me. I saw the machine-gun almost in front of me. He was reloading. I just stood and stared at him, cool as a cucumber. He looked as if he were posing, with the light beaming on him. He took aim. And then, he toppled over. One of our boys had picked him off. I continued on my way, calm as can be. I plant my bomb and here I am. I wasn’t scared for a second. Didn’t bat an eyelash.

A noise is heard

VOICE2: What’s that?

All the lights go out. The audience is plunged into darkness.

*Ambient Noise is an adaptation of Jean Genet's The Balcony, so all the lines here have been drawn directly from the original text. They have however been reconstructed and rearranged for the purpose of our performance.

Proposal for Company Performance

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Name of performance: Ambient Noise

Company Members: Bo Young Kim, Sarah McLaughlin, Eileen Newton and Vasiliki Papadopoulou

Synopsis: We are proposing a 20 minute performance based on Jean Genet’s seminal piece of literature, The Balcony. This text has been chosen for its unique synthesis of, and approach to, the core themes of reality and escapism. We wish to explore the tension that exists between ones political responsibility and ones desire for escapism. In so doing, we will take particular care to address the role of sound in either stimulating a political consciousness or conversely inducing a personal fantasy. Whereas the characters of Genet’s original play chose to ignore the sounds of war and destruction that could be heard from outside the brothel; our production will confront the audience with a similar choice. We plan to provide each participant with a choice of aural stimuli. From outside of the playing space they will hear the sounds of modern warfare; however inside the space they will be greeted by a solo performer who indulges in his own false reality. Since Genet’s script famously created an ambiguity between truth and fiction, our performance will also aim to distort the boundaries of what is real. Consequently, we hope to call into question the validity of our knowledge of contemporary international conflict, which is based entirely on the information that is disseminated through various media bodies.

Implementation

Time Frame for installation and strike: This performance will be conducted in the TV Studio between the 19th and 25th of March. Our Production will be ready for public viewing on Wednesday evening at five o’ clock with a get-in on Tuesday morning between 10 and 12. The company strike will take less than a half day to complete.

Budget: The Company have decided a collective budget of £100 to realize this production

Delegation of tasks:

Eileen Newton: Costume and Mask Design
Bo Young Kim: Sound and Costume design
Sarah McLaughlin: Direction and Projection design
Vasiliki Papadopoulou: Set and Lighting Design

Technical Rider

Equipment needs for performance
6 Stage Lights (par cans and source four pars are preferable), 2 projectors, Hazer, 2 speakers,
amp, mixing desk, CD Player, ladders for installation and safety cables to secure the equipment.

Equipment needs for Documentation
3 Camcorders, 3 Tripods, 1 stills camera

Basic Set Elements
Couch, TV, 10 pieces of 4x8 Plaster Board, Paint

She Swallowed A Fly

Here is a video of the performance I put on before Christmas

Design For Projections

Over the last week I have been designing the projected images for a play that will be performed in Ireland in late February and early March. The play, which is called The Same Old Moon, is a humorous account of a womans memories of Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s.

Since the play has quite a light hearted script, and the director is taking a rather playful approach to the text, I thought that I might also take similar liberties with the design. The projections are going to work as a visual narrative, establishing the time and place of each act, in the moments before each scene begins. As the play spans over 40 years, the real challenge for me will be trying to indicate the passing of time to the audience without being too descriptive.

This image is the first to be finished so far for the production. It will probably also be used as the poster design for the show... (Although, personally, I think it is a little too busy to function well from a graphic design point of view).

I will upload other images as I create them.

Some Images I took during our Collaborative Project

My Short Lived Career as a Graphic Designer

Here are some screen print posters i made for the band The Noen Flea Circus...
Check them out @

www.neonfleacircus.com

Lost Identity Collaboration

All hell is about to break loose... Our collaborative project is going to kick off this week.

It will be a three act durational performance, which takes place over the course of 3 days. For more information on the collaborative project check out http://www.theoverlook.co.uk/

So for now I am in the eye of the storm and I’ve had a moment to reflect upon the collaborative process so far.

I found this image which I think illustrates the process of collaboration nicely. It is called Lost Identity Collaboration and it’s by a really talented young graphic designer in Germany called Alexander Otto. Here is a link if you’d like to see more of his work http://www.diftnorm.com/

Not Very Green Graffiti

In the spirit of recognizing and recording, not only my successes, but also my failures;
this post is dedicated to possibly THE BIGGEST FLOP OF ALL TIME!

You may remember my previous post on Oct 20th 2008, about green graffiti, entitled “Theatre as Disposable Art”. Well... having researched different forms of environmentally friendly graffiti in the processed of writing that post, I decided I wanted to give it a go myself.

I made a mixture of moss and buttermilk and painted it on walls around London. The main idea is that the moss should grow in the shape in which it was painted. So, I painted a series of footprints on some already gratified walls across London. The foot prints were intended to grow into lush green plant life in the context of urban decay. I hoped that once the foot prints were fully grown they would possibly encourage anyone who came across them to consider the tracks we are leaving in our natural world as we expand and developed.

...The desired effect was not achieved, however...
Not by a long shot!!!
My poor little feet didn’t grow. I think I didn’t water them enough...

...bummer...