Day One
Introductions and Explorations
Performance Feedback, Chris and Sheena: The audience are on your side so why not try and take them somewhere more challenging.
The momentum of the 10 minute performance and the way that it unravels towards the end cannot be maintained for the 25 minute version. We have to think more about the overall journey, exploring different moods and energy levels. Don’t be afraid to not be crowd pleasing.
What are we trying to say in our performance? Not sure really. We were both very clear from the start that we do not want to offer an opinion of what we think is right or wrong. We are exploring our complicated position in the issue, and the huge variety of choice we have.
Shall we use our own voices? How does this fit into the soundscape?
Is just one bottle of wine enough for the whole 25 minutes?
One week is not long enough to explore all of our ideas!
Day Two
New Material, All Ideas Open
Our all new sections: Crotch clocks, clear blue text, the recipe and the birthing of the bleach babies.
If we both agree, it stays in. Making quick decisions, having to be ruthless.
‘He’s just pulling out at the moment. I Know, I know, it’s not right.’
‘New Persil! Washes even whiter, even whiter, new Persil! Washes even whiter!’
4pm =cup of tea and flapjack.
Day Three
Old Material and the Wednesday Dip
It’s time to stop creating and start working with what we’ve got.
We’re in a Wednesday dip. Our energy is low and it feels like there is so much still left to do. Our two voices in the space can sometimes be hard to navigate. Nic arrives in the afternoon to save us. We perform our original version of the piece and explain the new ideas we are currently exploring.
Nic’s advice: Explore the natural length of your material.
We had to try very hard to cram the original piece into 10 mins, so now it’s a case of pulling everything apart again and seeing where it wants to go.
Day Four
The Booze Run
Our one and only chance during the residency to try new piece with alcohol.
Two bottles of Rose at the ready!
First Task of the day: Structure
Everything had been cut up into its sections, and now we have to work on threading them back together. The whole performance is a series of different episodes. Linking them together is tricky.
Here’s what we got:
Adverts
Wishing and Hoping
Recipe
Brimful of Asha
Crotch Clocks
Clear Blue
Bleach Babies
Cake Baby
Baby Bump
Voodoo Child
Signs
Bad Touch
It always feels so much better to perform this with the wine than without. It’s exciting when the wine gets opened, that feeling of ‘here I am with my friend, about to have a big night out!’
‘We always used to drink Rose and Lemonade before a big night out. Whatever Rose was on offer, normally something crap like Blossom Hill.’
Day Five
The Final ‘To Do’ List
The sober (hungover) run through with Nic and Sheena, sorting out some of the transitions and rewriting the recipe: ‘The finished mixture will be of a soft, drooping consistency, thick and lumpy, with a sour, salty taste.’
Final edits needed to the soundtrack, but all the big decisions have been made. We now have a 25 minute piece.
So valuable have Nic in the room, fab mentor! Such a supportive voice and really valuable in addressing how we are able to convey our concepts to the audience. So much of our work is based on our own sense of humour and the way that we personally communicate with each other, having that outside eye really helped us to clarify what impression/mood/feeling we are intending our audience to experience.
But…The unanswered question of the week: Do we change our name??
Lascelles Dance (Old version)
La Skallie Project (New version?)
Shopping list: Table cloth, Alarm clock, Two bottles of Sweet Rose (something kind of nice, we can’t drink crap anymore)
