Third Person (redux) is coming soon

Third Person (redux) is coming to Lancaster in less than a fortnight & we’ve finished the final run of rehearsals before the opening show get-in. The entire piece has been devised & massaged (Peter’s rather gorgeous word for tweaking material, now I think about it 'tweaking' does sound unnecessarily painful).

Dave McBride has been very kindly talking me through some of the basics of lighting rigging - this is yet again one of the skills I didn’t realise was so important until I left university. I would encourage all current students to pester their theatre technician’s for every bit of knowledge available before they leave.

As a postponed Christmas holiday (the festive season was a busy time in retail) I’ve just returned from a mini break in Paris. I can’t promise that it was as artistically enlightening as Peter’s trip last year but I did enjoy myself. Already I’m craving my budget diet of breads and cheeses, two meals a day… mmm mmh

It was Peter’s birthday on the 22nd.
Happy Birthday Peter.

Jenny x

Hello and Happy New Year

So it’s 2010 and we’re back, feeling rested which is just as well because there’s a lot happening in the New Year.

Third Person (redux) premiers at Lancaster’s Nuffield Theatre on the 16th Feb and the final stage of rehearsals are running from this week. As I was putting dates into my new diary I got a real flush of pride to be associated with the work. I’ve been really tight lipped about the piece with everyone outside of Proto-type so I can’t wait for people to come and see it.

Lisa and I have just been having a business woman meeting about educational packages and company administration. Everything is pretty busy on that front so she has been talking me through the plan of action for the next few months.

Plus Proto-type are already talking about their next piece of work… watch this space.

It’s been a really great few weeks of Christmas. It might just have been New Year magic but I’m feeling that everything is coming together. I finally have a permanent day job which I enjoy so paying my rent feels less daunting. Positive things are happening for my company Fivethreefive Project and I have a rather magical Parisian holiday to look forward to. In general I feel a lot happier, more confident and settled living in the big city.

So welcome back, big loves & hope to see you in February.

Jenny

Learning Things

I’m currently involved in a huge learning curve. I consider my internship with Proto-type to be a fantastic source of artistic education; through Proto-type I’m learning a lot about how to run and manage a theatre company, how to organise rehearsal time effectively and how to promote work. The guys have been a great support to me and have really helped making the daunting step beyond university a lot easier to handle. Also I would like to sing the praises of new admin lady Lisa for offering lots of advice about working as an emerging theatre maker – she has been really great.


I recently took part in a free learning course designed for self employed artists/ art workers. It was a bit of an eye opener in some respects; I think I’ve been so busy thinking about how to go about working in theatre that I hadn’t even considered wider issues of work i.e. health insurance, pension schemes, Inland Revenue (as soon as I start getting paid to make work). Some of the advice I am willing to ignore. The course leader suggested that I should only check my emails twice a day but I mean come on, what if something important happens and I can only deal with it with a prompt email response? It caused absolute outrage when I casually said that I don’t expect to receive any money for the work I create in the next year, despite strongly believing in my company and my ideas. Maybe it’s true that if I undervalue myself then I will be undervalued by other people; maybe I should demand a fee from any emerging art events I get involved in; maybe fear does stand for False Evidence Appears Real; OR perhaps I’m more aware of what is entailed in the contemporary theatre industry than I sometimes give myself credit for.


Back in Proto-type Headquarters, the Third Person (redux) rehearsals has just taken on a whole new level of exciting. The guys performed their first work-in-progress showing of this at the most recent Sunday Lunch Club, this time hosted at Manchester’s Greenroom, and received lots of useful and positive feedback. Working with Lisa in the office has been super, apparently she finds me ‘entertaining’ to work with (sometimes I even like to think she’s laughing ‘with me’). We found that sweeping the office is a lot more amusing whilst listening to ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’, yes I do have this on my iTunes and no you should not judge me.


Is it too early to wish everybody a merry Christmas? I thoroughly recommend visiting the German Christmas Market in the centre of Manchester . If you’re lucky you might even see me on one of the chocolate stalls wearing a Santa hat and a festive smile.


Ho, ho,


Jenny G

Bright and Sparkly

It’s a funny thing but as I left university I was told on numerous occasions that I was about to discover that my degree doesn’t count for all that much. At the time I nodded along earnestly, but honestly I was too excited about leaving to pay much attention. It is only after moving to Manchester and taking up such temping jobs as catering for the Nolans on Tour and fuelling overexcited football supporters with pie and lager, that I now understand what they meant. Through all this I’ve been lucky to have Proto-type here to keep me on the contemporary theatre straight and narrow. Tar guys. I’m pleased to say that things are beginning to come together now; I’m even beginning to have fun.

Proto-type Theater have a fabulous new member of the team in the form of admin whiz kid Lisa Mattocks. Already she’s brought a great vibe to the office; despite a busy few weeks (and Peter suffering from what seems like The Plague), spirits are up and everyone’s excited about having her around. It seems that everything is a bit bright and sparkly at the moment. Recent Proto project Through The Wall went down really well in Chester last week and the focus is now back onto new project Third Person (redux) and their first ever Winter School in January. Get excited.

Also, aren’t the dark winter evenings beautiful? As I write this I’m listening to an album called Love songs of Yesteryear, I recommend it.

Have a good evening.

You’re the cream in my coffee,

Jenny

Third Person (redux) - BAC

This last week, I was delighted to be invited along to the Battersea Arts Centre during Proto-type’s artist in residency. I snapped up the offer, obviously, and here’s a little of what happened:

I left my house at half five on Wednesday morning and spent my entire journey down to London being extremely careful with the equipment they had asked me to carry. I think my exact thoughts were ‘don’t break anything; don’t lose anything; don’t place anything down next to somebody else’s very similar looking case, accidentally pick up the wrong one and arrive at the BAC to find that I’ve been fastidiously carrying someone’s underwear.’ Within a few minutes of arriving I knew the stay would be interesting. There is truly nowhere in the world like the BAC, from the cat who just wanders around, to the open plan unisex bedroom (thankfully I remembered my pyjamas).

The five days were spent working on their project Third Person (redux). General activities consisted of rehearsing, eating, rehearsing, eating, learning the lyrics to songs sourced from the internet, sleeping, waking up, rehearsing.... I moseyed about trying to keep myself useful. It was really interesting to see their rehearsal process from an outsider’s perspective. The guys were going through that stage which I love, with lots of ideas being played with and deep discussions being had. It was especially interesting for me since Wes, and indirectly Proto-type, have had quite a strong influence on my theatre education.

At the end of the stay everyone left Battersea feeling absolutely exhausted but with the feeling that the performance is heading in an exciting direction. I actually feel like I’m still recovering a little bit and I’m just the intern (I wouldn’t dare admit this to the guys in person; they’re all very busy people at the moment so I’m sure I’d be in danger of having their scripts and PhD papers thrown at my head).


Fun and games.

Jen

Karma

I was talking to this guy on the bus on Monday night (I realise I talk to a lot of complete strangers, I’m clearly not attuned to city living). Turns out, he was an artist who had been living in my area of Manchester for the last few years but was moving to Berlin in the week. When I told him that I had just moved in the day before, we ended up having this really excited conversation, with waving arms, all about karma. Despite claiming to have no particular religious convictions, I do think about karma quite a lot of the time. For example, I have ruined the end of many a perfectly idyllic day by worry about what horrific day must be around the corner; I try very hard not to bitch about other people because I will then live in fear about what people are saying about me. Also I have decided that I have somehow earned a great year since last year was very stressful for me.

So as a tribute to the guy who is moving to Berlin and an apology for not being able to attend his farewell party, I would like to discuss the ying and indeed yang of this last week.

Bad bits: Nearly missing my train, my new landlady being ridiculous, the big Swedish warehouse of hell, not knowing my way around Manchester, simply watching Rachel wade through budgeting documents, forgetting the code to get in the office, the whole uncertainty feeling you get when you’re new at something (I much prefer to be that slightly stressed person who knows exactly what she’s doing), having a tickly cough and most infuriating of all: not having internet set up at home.

Good bits: Just catching the train, my new housemates being ridiculous (especially love Erica Mileham being a constantly physical theatre comedy genius, even when she doesn’t mean to be), having a beautiful new home, attending Proto-type rehearsals, discovering that even serious grown up theatre companies spend their breaks talking to eachother in silly voices, the lady in the Lancashire teashop who fixed me up some toast even though it wasn't strictly on the menu and standing next to a man who was whistling that 80’s tune with the saxophone (I can’t think what it was called but the experience was epic, what a whistling range).

Peace, love and good karma,

Jenny

Sunday Lunch Club - Bluecoat

One evening on holiday I had an epic conversation with a Canadian man who turned out to be this multi-millionaire money lender (I know, right). He had asked me what I wanted to do for a living, why and also whether there was much money in that line of work. I found myself trying to explain everything to do with wanting to make theatre, wanting to work in theatre, what I mean by theatre and my expectations of never having all that much money despite of me constantly working really hard. Recently whenever I get into this sort of conversation, I have noticed that I start off confidently then begin to stumble over my words and eventually semi-apologise for having such silly aspirations. I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to answer these types of questions. All I can say is that I may well have been one of the only people on holiday that spent their last night feeling excited about getting home and getting back to work.

This weekend has been nothing short of awesome. Especially as on Friday my friend (and member of our still nameless theatre company) called to tell me that she had found us a new home in Manchester . I believe I said the words “Amy, love, I’m in Venice! Great news, I’ll call you tomorrow to talk finances”. On Saturday when I got back we did talk finances, as well as talking ‘which room can we make into a makeshift rehearsal space’ and ‘can you even believe we have a dishwasher? It’s going to be amazing’.

But Sunday, and more specifically the Sunday Lunch Club, is what I have been really looking forward to. It was an afternoon of talking to lovely people (see below), eating food from lovely plates (see below, mine had a pretty pink flower on it) and having the privilege of seeing and discussing performances in a really rare and intimate way.

The artists contributing this time at Liverpool’s Bluecoat were Krissi Musiol and Mandy Romero (see below). I don’t want to get into the danger of trying to explain their work (and probably misrepresenting them) but they were both really interesting pieces and led to some fantastic feedback discussions. My personal feedback contribution involved me desperately trying to form a more helpful and intelligent comment for Krissi than simply ‘I really liked listening to the sound of you speaking’. Luckily for Mandy I had managed to have enough thinking time to be able to offer ‘I liked the bits when you didn’t speak’. Good work Jenny, well earned lunch.

The whole affair was a bit like having Sunday Lunch with a very large extended family, except it had Theatre and Live Art and lacked excessive shouting and one overly tipsy aunt. Here’s hoping for the next SLC in Leeds.

Jenny

Sticky Labels

Hello

This week involved a lot of posters, a lot of flyers and many hundreds of little sticky labels. It was like a Proto-type initiation and I do feel like a stronger person for the experience, plus Peter bought lunch.

AND talking of lunch, very excited about attending their next Sunday Lunch Club. Tell you all about it, right after I get back from my holiday.

Bye-bye everybody,

Jen

Internship Day 1...

Hello,

It is very exciting to be the latest Proto-type intern in the beautiful Storey Institute. I recently updated my occupation status from ‘student’ to ‘out of work artist’ and have now managed to nuzzle my way under Proto-type’s great wing. One day in and I’ve been given an email address, a desk and a blog to write. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Westerside Jr - possibly the best moment of my week was hearing my old Uni teacher being referred to as ‘Daddy’.

I am just genuinely thrilled to be around, eavesdropping on the inner workings of a real, proper theatre company. I’m hoping to return the favour by completing my time without having any Frank Spenser moments - breaking their equipment and knocking over their shelves.

Fingers Crossed.

Jenny