Julie Dodd

http://juliekdodd.moonfruit.com/building-blocks-of-life/4549771843

When researching my idea I came across this artist that produced an installation in response to finding a lot of keepsakes that she had collected over her life.
She decided instead of holding onto them as keepsakes she turned them into this installation stating that:

'Building Blocks of Life' is a small installation which documents my life. Instead of holding onto keepsakes, drawings, letters, photographs etc., in the traditional manner of photo albums, scrap books etc. I have produced an installation where I've recycled these things, bringing them together to form the 'Building Blocks of Life'. Although unrecognizable they still hold the same memories for me.

i found that i started to think about my idea from the perspective of showing the objects that the inmates may have used or had in the time that they would have been in the workhouse.
 Because objects can show the identity they had within the workhouse even if it was just the clothes they wore it would have been something they may have held onto having been stripped of the identity they had when entering the workhouse.

http://www.willardsuitcases.com/
a project that I looked into was a project that was carried out in a closed asylum where they found suitcases of the people that would have been admitted, they can show the person identity and life through objects inside the space of a suitcase.

Scenarios

These two videos show one of the scenarios we started to work on from a story that we had found about a girl being asked to get up on the bar and dance to earn her drinks.

 

 This video is based on  the theme of showing the inner voice of a person that is feeling vulnerable and in a situation they don't want to be in but feel they cant say anything.

Animal farm

So far i have focused mainly on looking at  animal farm because it is based solely on the animals behavior and how they are represented. It has been very useful looking at this book because i have so far looked in to what the animals themselves mean and also what George Orwell meant by the use of the animals and why he chose them to represent the people that he chose them to represent.
The main story itself is based on the events leading up to the Russian revolution and the characters represent Stalin and his influence and eventual downfall and those who surrounded him.
I have found this story very useful because there is a lot of information surrounding the representation of the animal and what the story meant politically, i wish to look into more stories like this that may have had a political influence and also compare it to stories that involve animals in a human world.

I started to look into stage adaptions of animal farm and how the designer in turn has chosen to represent the animals as characters. i have so far found this production of animal the most useful.

 http://www.steppenwolf.org/plays-events/productions/index.aspx?id=631

start of southwell idea!

After visiting Southwell workhouse a few times I've noticed that i have focused on looking at the identity of people and how i can represent this in my installation. I noticed that i was focusing a lot on the objects within the spaces and also thinking about how the people would have felt within the space having been so controlled even their view on what they looked out on was controlled.
I really like the factor of how they entered the workhouse with nothing
 and I would like to focus on this factor, it interested me to think that they had no possessions not even their own clothes. I started to think about how their lives were constricted within a certain frame of thinking and even what they could see was limited by the windows they looked out of. This got me thinking about how i can represent people within objects, i started to think about frames because to me a persons i identity can be shown within a picture which is often in a frame. I want to play around with the use of frames and what they might represent to different people. Also for me i wanted to involve the use of the control that the inmates had within the building of the workhouse, i was interested in using some of the keys that we were shown on a visit. This to me shows the control that the master and mistress would have over the inmates and the sound that they would create if suspended would recreate the noises that would have echoed around the building itself.

puppet so far

This is how far i have got with my puppet, i still need to carve a lot of the torso and head to get it looking more like how i want it to be eventually but i have managed to get all the parts together and the joint work really well. i found it quite easy to carve in the end once all the parts are cut out. its good to see them in use and to see how they would move around when we manipulate them because this has allowed me to see what adjustments in need to make in the future.
So far we have been working on small scenarios that we may find the puppets in from the material we have collected, it has allowed to see which works best in which scenarios due to scale and manipulation.

For example we started to work on one of the scenarios we had an idea for from the text and we found that we started of with the larger puppet being the 'victim' and found this didn't really work with the antagonist as a smaller puppet so we swapped them over and it worked much better.

Southwell third visit

 On this visit we were asked to walk around the building taking in any sounds smells and to note anything that we found interesting visually and anything that we might have felt that the building might have been like to be there when it was still a workhouse.
I mostly noted that the building would have been:
-cramped
-dark
-cold
-sounds from other rooms would have been heard round the building
-loud

editing the script

So far we have broken the material down into collections of where we gathered them and then started to look at the individually to see how we can arrange them into a conversation. One of the events we went to 'Equalitea and cake' we got some really great interviews and the material we have is set out into a conversation, so we started by using this as the bases because we felt this was very good material and was already in the set up that we wanted.

We took the conversation and placed it into another document and started to highlight bits of the text that would gather the information and stories into categories such as work, nights out or gym.We then started to look at some of the other material that we had collected and cut and paste these into the conversation as part of the characters stories or as scenarios that we could potentially act out using the puppets.

model box

After talking with Sarah at Southwell workhouse about the thoughts i have had about the project i f that my installation would be good to do as a journey around the workhouse and was thinking i could locate it in a few of the rooms around the workhouse. Possibility of doing a main installation within the green room and then smaller parts of the piece in other locations. I have started to build a model box of the green room becuase i think this would fit will with my idea and possibly the room just before this one, also thought about the entrance of the workhouse and the stairs leading out.

Gathering the material

This is the link to the radio show that I transcribed:
 Feminist Society Radio flyfm.co.uk recording

We started to gather the material that we would need to eventually form our script, there were a few events that we found that were on and we went along to interview people. We also started to transcribe some of the interviews and i also found that the Nottingham Trent feminist society had been on the flyfm student radio so I transcribed this.

Southwell inspiration

i started to look into installations for inspiration that i could apply to my own, i wanted to focus on use of objects and installations that could be freestanding or something that i could take an aspect from.

i really like the use of frames because when we were at the workhouse it was said that the inmates were stripped of their identity when they came to the workhouse and feel that a frame is quite representative of this. i really like the use of multiple objects or repetition of things.

I also like the possibility of being able to use light within the piece.

Southwell workhouse first visit

Southwell workhouse is a very interesting building, i really like that its rooms have no furniture in because this allows us to have quite open spaces for the installations. i was looking for open spaces that i could have an installation in that  would be fairly free standing because it would be fairly difficult to have anything on the walls or to be able to suspend something. i really like the rooms that are in the older section because you can see the original layers of paint and there is more of a sense of the people within the rooms.

Puppetry workshop-making the body

The body needs to be worked in multiple parts, this is worked out from the front and profile drawings. The arms and legs are made in two parts and the rest is work as the torso and the pelvis. The parts are cut out in the same way as the head, the side and front view is marked out onto the styrofoam and cut round using the bandsaw.

After all the parts are cut out they need to be shaped using rasps and sand paper this allows us to work the parts into the right shape that would match the natural body shape of a person and also allowing us to allow the parts to move as needed for example making sure the knees and elbows to bend as appropriate.

Once all the parts have been shaped correctly they need to be joined using small blocks of wood and webbing. Firstly slots need to be cut into the ends of the parts of the limbs for the small blocks of wood to fit into, the webbing needs to be glued to the blocks and this is what creates the joints.

On the last day of the workshop i had joined the limbs together, started carving the head and made one hand. I know need to finish the torso and join all the parts together, finish the head and make the other hand.

Puppetry workshop-making the hand

For the hand again we needed to have a profile and a front view of the hand in the right position, i chose to go for a neutral position because i don't know as of yet what the puppet will express with the hands but most of the actions will involve neutral hands for the most part. The fingers are then worked separately, this involves cutting them out individually shaping them and then gluing them together in the right position. Both hands are worked the same one will be a reflection of the other.

Puppetry workshop-making the head

To start off with the head we needed to have a scale drawing of what we wanted the head to look like, i based mine of what i believed one of the feminist society look like based on listening to the radio section that i transcribed. I put together a drawing using a few images rather than just basing it on one person in particular at the moment. From the drawing we traced the front and profile views which we then cut out and traced around onto a block of styrofoam which we cut out using the bandsaw.

You have to ensure that you keep referring back to the original drawing to ensure that you get features in the correct positions and at the right depths within the Styrofoam, the face is carved using large knives at first then once you have a shape established you work with a scalpel for the smaller details and begin to carve away the features and work into the face making sure things are at the right depth.

Everyday sexism puppetry project

For this project we will construct a puppetry verbatim play formed from interviews and stories that we will carry out and gather. The transcription of which we will then edit to form a script and this will be perform with the puppets that we will make based on some of the people that we interviewed.

MRP idea

For my major research project I want to start looking at the use and representation of certain animals within design, books and film. I wish to start looking into what animals can represent and why the author etc deiced to use those animals to represent parts of there story, I will look into their use on stage and how they are portrayed and what this says about what they signify.

Ive started to look at:
Animal farm-George Orwell
The Raven-Edgar Allan Poe
Cunning little vixen opera
Signifier's and semiotics

Ive looked at these books:
Human Zoo-Desmond Morris
Theatre as a sign system-Elaine Aston and George Savona
Uses of Enchantment-Bruno Bettelheim
Man and his symbol-Carl Jung

I'm looking into why they might have chosen to represent a part of the story with animals and what type of animal they chose to represent that. I want to start looking into our relationship with certain types of animals and what we understand animal to represent and what they may signify to us.

Propaganda swing

Director: Hamish Glen
Writer: Peter Arnott
Designer: Libby Watson

Based on true stories and real people Propaganda swing is a story and political satire that takes a look at a chapter of history set on Germany and the use of swing jazz as propaganda.

It tells the story through the eyes of Billy Constant who is an American journalist in Berlin.

It is based on the forbidden jazz music that Nazis banned from the radio stations and the 'underground' scene of the people that love that music, when they get the chance to play the music they grab the chance but the words have been changed and it is a propaganda mechanism to keep the british indoors listening to the radio.

I really liked the set up, the whole piece was designed to read like a radio show. The piece was cleverly put together it was essentially a radio show that Billy was broadcasting telling about his time in Berlin, the music was well interjected with moments he observed and inner thoughts of the time. I think the story was well told and the music was cleverly involved into the story, i found however that the use of language was a bit confusing in places because there were moments that we were supposed to believe that they were singing in German even though they were singing in english for us to understand the words.

Overall i found the design worked with the setting it was trying to achieve and the music fit in well with the style of the story.

Everyday sexism project update

Our aim is to interview people about their experiences and views on sexism to then transcribe them and edit them into a verbatim play that we will perform using puppets. We have begun talking to people and carrying out a few interviews and discussions and we are also contacting societies within university to further this research and to be able to talk to more people.
We are doing this by contacting the societies through Facebook and possibly through email to find out who might interested to get involved and we can then arrange a time to meet to be able to talk to them under appropriate conditions rather than approaching people in the street because we feel this will produce better outcomes.

We are also looking through the everyday sexism book and blog to gather some stories that stand out to us to use if we find that time restraints become an issue and we need to start constructing these is a narrative. I have contacted Laura Bates that is in charge of the project to find out if she would like offer her help and allow us to use the existing stories.

Our group has also decided to contact student services and whether they are able to give us any help in case there are any issues that arise that we need to refer people to their services to able to help the participants.

So far we have contacted:
Laura Bates
Student services
Societies (overall email that can contact individual societies from there)
Individual societies on Facebook

Regeneration

   
Written by Pat Baker
Adapted by Nicholas Wright
Directed by Simon Godwin
Designed by Alex Eales

this play is based on a trilogy of books by Pat Baker they follow the stories of many patients at a hospital during the war. Most of the patientsbare those suffering from psychological damage such as shell shock. I found the characters very lling and a refreshing take on what the soldiers would have suffered at such a time.

 the characters are very well acted and scripted they have really interesting story lines that you enjoy watching playout.

The set was interesting it was set to look like a mental hospital of the time,it was cleverly put together however i found that it jarred a little bit it seemed like a very painted set rather than a location. The scene changes were well done but seemed very quick in places and didnt seem to flow in parts.

Overall i enjoyed the play the storyline was enjoyable and i feel i want to find out more about them, the directing acting and scenery were well put together and the scenery fit the story.

Jack and the flum flum tree!!

LAD culture and sexism articles

As a starting point for this project i decided to start looking at what information there was online about acts against sexism and the topic of LAD culture.

Articles found about LAD culture:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29176844

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10657789/Sexist-lad-culture-can-British-universities-ever-get-rid-of-it.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/lad-culture-is-a-black-mark-on-university-life-8340529.html

Alot of Lad culture seems to be mainly built up with in uni, alot of girls experience sexist comments whilst attending uni and also may be involved in initiations pranks that sometimes end in compromising photos being post on facebook groups such as ladbible.

Laddish behaviour leads to alot of girls being uncomfortable on campus and feeling pressured into taking part in alot of the games or just not feeling able to approach anyone about trying to tackle the topic.

Articles about sexism:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/08/freshers-students-sing-necrophiliac-sexist-violent-chant

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/helen-lewis-hasteley/2011/11/comments-rape-abuse-women

The subjects that have arisen from reading some of these articles are that woman are made to feel that it is common place for men to say the things they do and that its part of being a student.

Verbatim

 A video from the National Theatre showing an introduction to verbatim theatre:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/an-introduction-to-verbatim-theatre

Alecky Blythes website with her company recorded delivery.
http://www.recordeddelivery.net/

'Alecky Blythe has pioneered the innovative verbatim technique, originally created by Anna Deavere Smith. Deavere Smith was the first to combine the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance.
The technique involves recording interviews from real life and editing them into a desired structure. The edited recordings are played live to the actors through earphones during the rehearsal process, and on stage in performance. The actors listen to the audio and repeat what they hear. They copy not just the words but exactly the way in which they were first spoken. Every cough, stutter and hesitation is reproduced. The actors do not learn the lines at any point. By listening to the audio during performances the actors remain accurate to the original recordings, rather than slipping into their own patterns of speech.'

This is a similar technique that we will hopefully use in our piece, instead of having earpieces we are going to transcribe the interviews that we will carry out.

http://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/the-knowledge/alecky-blythe-london-road-on-verbatim-theatre

This is a very useful article about Alecky Blythes technique she explains her approach in carrying out the interviews and how you can make yourself seem approachable and that people will be happy to talk to you and share their story.

Time and the Conways

          TIME AND THE CONWAYS
                Writer: :J B Priestly
              Director: Fiona Buffini
            Designer: Madeleine Girling

We follow the story of a family called the Conways, the first part centers around a gathering that the family is hosting and portrays one of the family's party games they have carried out since the children were little.

The next part takes place 20 years in the future showing where the members of the family are now and how their lives have changed since the first time we saw them.

The final part shows them back at the party and it seems that one of the children seems to have seen the future section and remembers details.

I really enjoyed this performance, the acting directing and design was all very well done. The play is based on a book by J B Priestly and is one of his 'time' stories. Having enjoyed one of his books before i was looking forward to seeing this piece but did not know much about it. I really enjoyed how well the design fit the story and how adaptable it was, the story was gripping and had you willing the characters see what they were doing to each other.

I love how the ending is left open and we do not know whether the character that remembers the part of the future decides to make changes about her family and whether she decides to say anything. I like the possibility that she doesnt because she can choose to change her own course of action but it almost says that the way we are doesnt change we can only change our point of view about events that happen.

Nottingham Playhouse Prize

The Nottingham playhouse prize is an opportunity to design for the playhouse and to work with a director and production manager.

We would be working with Fiona Buffini on the play Duchess of Malfi which is a Jacobean play written in 1612 designed for indoor theatre.

The play has alot of themes that are very relevant today so is a play that has been designed many times and still relevant to audiences of now.

There are four main characters involved: the Duchess, Ferdinand, The cardinal and Bossela.
The Duchess of Malfi promises to her brothers (the Cardinal and Ferdinand) that she not marry again, however she is in love with her steward Antonio who she marrys and has a child by in secret.

Ferdinand is in love with his sister the Duchess so sets about putting a spy (Bossela) in the court to establish who she has married.

The play revolves around the corruption of the brothers and their attempt to control their sister. Dark play written to be more of an adult play full of corruption, sex and power.

Michael Eaton

All schools should be art schools

Performed 13th January
Located in the Castle Long gallery
Directed by Martin Berry
Written by Michael Eaton

It is a project based on the history of the art school and will be a serious of plays based on major parts of the history and the important people involved.

Part one-set in 1845 about Joseph Hamesley
Part two- art school in waverly- a parody
Part three- celebration of Dame Laura Knights work
Part four- about Joseph Else
Part five- set in the 60's
Part six- unwritten

Needs set designers and costume designer to get involved as well as many people across the school of art as possible.

Dinis Machado Dance 4 project

On the 6th Oct Dinis Machado comes to Nottingham to start a workshop on his next Dance 4 project. The new project is a dance piece that involves 4 dancers and the audience will sit around the space so that they will have to move amonst the audience.

The dance piece is made up of abstract movements that narrates a story about a group of people and an hour in their life, the cycle repeats and the dancers change their movements to how they feel ad how their clothes change throughout the performance. Dinis aims to design the costume to belong to the actor and be a part of them but be a sort of imitation.
The clothes themselves will be abstract and the dancers will change clothes with each other but there may be parts of the piece where the dancers are wearing the same clothes or imitations of each other so seems like two of the same people in the piece.

There will be a lighting mobile above the audience and the performers so it then lights everyone but will constantly be moving so creating shadows and light patches in different parts of the performance.

This piece involves two impaired dancers but the movement has not been adapted tp them from previously devised choreography, it has been devised by them because they have been part of the project from the beginning.There are alot of rehearsals but none of the movements have been fixed and they may change throughout the performance or be interpretations of previous movements. The movements are based on abstract thoughts so each performer can interpret it in different ways.

final riot!

Our final riots at the castle turned out really well the audience really enjoyed our piece. The final performance came together in the end and we came up with quite a jokey performance which went really well against the mood of the other pieces. We found that the audience were willing to put the votes in the boxes and they were quite enthusiastic, they really liked the difference in scale and we were surprised at some of the audience reaction we hadn't realised that it would be a genuine surprise when the puppet popped out the box.

finishing touches

The complete design is starting to come together we have most of the main parts finished, the box is decorated the puppet is made and clothed and the face has started to be painted. The little theatre that we are having at the front has been painted and the puppets drawn. There are a few jobs that we still need to do that will bring it all together, also a few repairs to do after testing it outside.

costume and head

We started to build up on the head by applying paper mache and j-cloth layers to strengthen the head and to allow it to be easier to be painted. I also started to look at the puppets costume, we wanted it to look like a clown but not an obvious clown so I started looking at Pierrot clowns because I felt this gave it the look that we were going for. The main body was just a rectangle of material that i cut to fit over the body and then attached the sleeves to that. The sleeves were also just simple shapes that made the ends by the hands larger to make it look over sized.