Ed Rapley

I have just watch a film i really hated. It was indie by numbers. It was formulaic to the point of insult. It was bereft of true feeling in it's inception and execution. It was god awful.

Sunshine Cleaners - From the *producers* who brought you Little Miss Sunshine.

Right there, that's it the whole reason why this is an awful film, it's not the Director, Writer, or any other member of the creative team bringing you this film, it's the PRODUCERS.

That means it's the sweaty-palmed money-men thinking:

"If we touch their hearts, they'll give us money."

Now this is long over due.

Just the day after I performed my first full work in progress presentation of The Middle Bit at the Arnolfini i was off to London to put on a 15 minute version at the Tristan Bates Theatre's Midnight Matinees.

As the name suggests this happens from midnight onwards and it comprises work in progress and development performances. That night there was a script reading by, ah right, this is the problem i have forgotten the details and lost the info sheet i had so maybe i will update this once i've tidied my room.

For the first time in nearly a year I performed 10 Ways to Die on Stage. It was an absolute pleasure, The Ustinov is a lovely black box theatre with helpful technical staff, a nice layout and a good lighting set up.

I performed the show for a small audience of teenagers who are part of a theatre programme run by the Lovely Sita Calvert - Ennals. It was really interesting playing with their reactions and the material often took on new timings and i improvised some new stuff as i went, which felt really good.

Well it has been far too long since i last updated this blog, so now i am seting myself the challenge of writing seven blog items of merit in seven days, I even have them planned out in my mind, so here they are in no particular order -

Show at The Ustinov

Thoughts on Directors

Mayfest Report

Midnight Matinee Round Up

Future Performances

New York, New York

Technology

Well I'm performing the Middle bit this Friday at 6:30pm in the Bristol Old Vic and I am terrified, so scared I can barely think straight. Brilliant. Get your tickets now because it will sell out on the night for sure - http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/middle-bit.html

Well folks if you don't know already Mayfest is starting this weekend with the return of The Invisible Circus' Carny-Ville at the Bridewell Island on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May.

Dear reader I am very tired, so please much allowances for me.

Just back from another excellent Prototype at the Tobacco Factory Theatre.

Again it was well attended, with a large slice of the performance / theatre community in the audience. I really felt that the feedback session was much more focused and therefore useful, because this time most people actually answered or at least tried to answer the questions they were asked by the artists. Giving good and useful feedback is a skill that needs to be learnt and it felt to me that progress has definitely been made in the audience that attends Prototype.

So what was on show?

1st up we had Arkward City with a piece about relationships and the difficulties in communication within them, that was in an early stage of development. They made use of some excellent devices and and elements of repetition that were both pleasing and surprising. However the physicality felt too generalised, perhaps because it was very neat and for the most part graceful which meant it didn't respond so much to the subject matter. Also it featured taped voice which I react to very badly. I recognise this as my own preference and not a jibe against the work. For taped voice on stage to work for me it needs to be of such high quality that I can forget that it's coming out of the speakers, otherwise it draws me out of the live action. Plus it makes me think that if you cared so much about that writing why don't you just say it? Here it felt like a lot of the words were already said within the actions and that it would be more powerful to communicate the text with images and transitions within the physicality.

Next up were The Plasticine Men, and here I must declare an interest (this will happen a lot tonight) because the director of this piece Simon Day is a friend of mine. That said this was a STORMING bit of work. It was honest and truthful within the world that it created, it didn't drop the physical game for comic effect or make excuses for itself. I thought that there was a beautiful complicite between the performers Fionn Gill and Martin Bonger, as well as the lighting, and the sound. All put to effect to tell an interesting story. It took me a little while to place the story because the first narrative thread that emerged was during a song and this, it turned out, was not where the story took place but a sea shanty intended to evoke mood rather than provide concrete information about plot. Minor trifle mind, producers of the world get emailing these boys.

The third piece by Once was an interesting anomaly because it wasn't really meant for the wider audience but rather a small group who volunteered to take part in it. It was a short scene followed by questions to the participants regarding someone they knew who had died. As I didn't volunteer I don't feel I have any useful feedback.

Fourth on the bill and first on after the interval were Tittle-Tattle Theatre, a collective so recently formed they don't have a website, but should they ever want one I can recommend they check out this guy who builds websites. Again a declaration Saini Manninen is a friend and fellow member of Residence.org.uk. I found it hard to get to grips with the Shakespearean sections of this performance response to The Taming of The Shrew because of the language and the sheer number of different characters that are brought to life. It carried a sense of desperation, constriction and isolation that I feel can be built upon.

The final piece of the night was brought to us by Angus Barr, Wayne Clendennen, and Holly Stoppit. Again this will be biased because Wayne is a friend of mine as is Holly, who also directs my solo stage shows 10 Ways to Die on Stage and The Middle Bit. This piece was a great showcase for the writing, comic timing and facial manipulations of Angus, who is a brilliant comic actor. Wayne displayed a perfect deadpan throughout with some spot on swearing whilst Holly switched between quiet confusion and rampant passion. Overall the show uses the technique of droping the game for comic effect, but i started to see the drops coming so it lost some of it's power. Also I wasn't sure about what the wider idea behind the work was. Still if it was to be funny then it was a success.

Another excellent night of work, well done to all the artists, Katie Keeler, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, and you for reading this far.

As ever do get in touch and feel free to build on the piece using the comments section below.

I made it back home after tonight's work in progress presentation of The Middle Bit at the Arnolfini, but only just, my legs had pretty much stopped working.

Tonight I learnt an important lesson about pre-performance nutrition having basically run out of energy and gone all jelly legged before the show and thereafter visibly wilting during the post show discussion. Not even managing to get a beer down me before wobbling off.

Ok, it has gone beyond a joke now, I am not leaving Bristol, please read the post and you will see the unmistakeable hands of sarcasm and jest at work.

This day was always going to come, I knew that eventually I would have to make the move, but I didn't think that it would be so soon. That's right folks - I am leaving Bristol.