Technical difficulties, buffering, delayed conversations; although zoom and Facebook chat have been able to keep us all connected through lockdowns, this week we have experienced the down side of the world of tech, but it certainly did keep us entertained! We realised this week how much getting together in person and being able to chat and talk through ideas really does help with the creative process.
However, this wonderful world of tech, does allow us to re watch our past performances, and this week that is exactly what we did with "Down, But Not Out" a mask piece performed in our MA Drama year, and it re-watching it after a few years, really allowed us to put into perspective where we are today.
"Down, But Not Out", was a mask & puppetry piece about homelessness, loneliness and love (and all the goings on in a park)! This performance was a collaboration between Shaz and our very good friend Dai Thomas along with the incredible cast members Lucy Henderson (congratulations on the big news Dai and Lucy!) and Ryan Richards. Re-watching it back together was a great experience to share as often with mask, you're not able to see everything that is going on during the performance and also made us question what the future could hold with mask work and South By SouthWest Theatre Company.
We would like to each share our experience and thoughts in re-watching this performance below and if you did get the chance to watch it at the time, we would love to know what you thought also!
"When I reflect back on "Down, But Not Out", I often wonder how an idea in my head was ever possible, to translate a non verbal performance to the stage. A show where the audience would be able to comprehend the story being told in a way that was alien to most. Many of them had never seen or even known about Mask performance. Some of the cast had never performed with Mask. Every day, from morning through to late at night for 6 weeks the cast and crew worked tirelessly to make it work. And they did, with a willingness to succeed that warmed my heart. Being in the performance I could not see what the audience did, I heard the laughter and felt the electricity through the silence. Fast forward to 2021 and we finally managed to see the show in it's entirety, thank fully it had been filmed at the time but we had only just got round to downloading it. As Sally, Tommy, Rhys and myself sat down to watch it we finally got to see what our audiences did. Reflecting back now, I still wonder how an idea in my head was possible to translate to the stage."
- Shaz Wells
"When Shaz asked me to be a part of "Down, But Not Out", I was so excited and honoured as it would be the first time performing with the MA students and what would become "South By SouthWest Theatre Company. Working with mask did make me very nervous, but I was willing to learn and step out of my comfort zone. Working with mask you think would be easy, because there's no lines to learn as such, but it is actually quite difficult because you could not really see out of the little holes you have for your eyes but it’s also really hard not showing your face expressions underneath a mask which, I thought, you rely on when acting. Working with cast for the six weeks we all worked so hard to make sure we were doing the movements correctly and to make sure the audience understood the story we were trying to convey. Watching it back with Tommy, Sally and Shaz, it was nice to see it from the audience view and also see some scenes that we’ve not seen before."
- Rhys Davies
"Coming from an acting background where I was given lines to learn, a costume fit and directed on where to move, the thought of working with mask was really alien to me at first and made me incredibly nervous, but sitting down and re-watching the performance with the theatre company, was a really rewarding experience and I really enjoyed watching the several characters I had the pleasure to play during the performance. "Down, But Not Out" focuses on such an important issue, and for me the aspect of loneliness and the watching the world go by, while issues like homelessness, literally get walked passed. I always do find it difficult to watch myself back, but with this, I really enjoyed being reflective with the piece and thinking about where and if it could go next. It's one of the performances I am most proud of and although by the end of it, I was physically exhausted, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. After watching it back with the company, I even got to show my grandparents who simply fell in love with the characters of Barry and Dotty, a elderly couple up to no good in the park. For me, I was constantly watching my grandparents reactions because they fully got the story, the characters and the message, which for me is a little triumph because they see acting as I once saw it; only learning lines, in a real-life setting play, and having a costume fit. The world of mask and puppetry helped open my eyes to much much more!"
- Tommy McFarland
"What to say about Doug the Dog? I knew from the moment I crocheted his head, I didn’t have enough wool. So upon seeing an exact match of wool in a Primark jumper I knew I had to get to work, and after copious amounts of sewing and hot glue, Doug was born. Doug was a conduit in the show, not just between Guy and the other characters and entities, but with the audience also. Though mask is mostly non verbal, with the exception of half mask, Doug was the only character to make a tangible and physical noise. This meant that I could communicate to the other performers on stage as well as the audience to help drive the show forward. Learning how to operate a puppet of Doug’s stature was challenging and rewarding. And to see the end result from an audience perspective was an enlightening experience."
- Sally Stockman
Being able to reflect on our past performances and be able to document them is so important for us and that is why we thought we would share these thoughts with you this week.
Reflection - looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer
A special mention goes to Dai Thomas, Lucy Henderson and Ryan Richards, who we are still so happy to call friends and we can not wait to hopefully be able to work with in the future.
Keep up to date with all our blog posts and social media by following us on all our socials!
Facebook - @southbysouthwesttheatrecompany
Comments