The second week of rehearsal is under way and I have the massive privilege of being the acting coach to the child actors. So I have two Saturdays and hopefully the odd evening to work with 4 massively talented young actors. It's going to be great!
Friday of the first week and I meet the cast of 'A Christmas Carol' for the first time. It's odd not being involved in the performance side of things. I can see the friendships and bonds being created. I hear the wonderful harmonies that Phil Wilmott has created and feel a pang of jealousy that I'm not performing too. But I know I can't and I know that I couldn't have, so to be involved in any respect is massive.
16 adult actors. 4 child actors. And about 30 odd other people involved. This project is massive. And done for the passion, done to be put on a field where everyone is at the top of their creative games. The whole, unpaid affair as an actor is massively unfair and wrong and for what we do, something should be in place to demand that we always get payed...but as the theatre business is at the moment, that simply is not possible. But as an actor, this job can never be a hobby. If you're doing it then do it for the right reasons. With 'A Christmas Carol' all the easons are right. As it is, you have two companies, in Grit and Mokita, who have staked pretty much everything into creating the most wonderful Christmas show to grace London this year. To be involved in any aspect, is a privilege.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Young People
Is the stigma of 'hoodies', those hiding identity in clothes with the name tag ripped out; hanging around looking a little lost but giving deadly stares at any passes by; those people who have nothing better to do with their day but hang out with fellow lost souls, bored, mindless, and mumbling drunk about how they aren't given any opportunities to show what they can really do, really fair? Surely, city workers deserve a little more respect for years of hard work!?
You see, the term 'young person' immediately throws up a media filled vision of the unsocial, unrespectful, unholy teenage lout who terrifies old ladies and shop keepers whilst shining lazer pens into bus drivers' eyes. But what is a young person? To someone who is 70, that might mean a late 20s or 30s. The very term lacks any kind of definition. Who do we mean? Well, speaking as a 20 something, I would say 16 or under. Young, defers the meaning of not old, or rather someone who has a lot to learn, someone who needs guidance and love, someone who wants rather than gives, simply because they are yet to understand true giving.
But what do we call them? 'Children' seems disrespectful, 'Kids' seems childish, 'Youths' seems dirty, 'Teenagers' points at rebellion, 'Students' is safe and yet is only applied to those in a learning environment. Maybe, this is the problem, as adults we've lost touch with who these people are. They seem to demand respect and yet don't know how to earn it. And really, should respect be earned? Or is it something that should just apply. A referee shouldn't have to earn respect - he should have it because of his position.
Perhaps, we've forgotten that children need discipline? But what is discipline? Is it three lashings of the cane? Well, I don't think so. Discipline is creating focus. If the searching, learning mind is given a focus then it learns. When focussed, we get rid of the thousand thoughts and fully concentrate on the task in hand. Without focus, we achieve very little or nothing. So how do we teach focus? By allowing the results to speak for themselves and encouraging the results achieves through it. If a child sees that through focussing they run the hundred metres 2s faster or complete a task with better efficientcy, then surely they will want to do it again? Or at least, they will begin to understand that through focus they achieve. I believe also, that competition should be encouraged. If it's fine to fail then why bother pushing for a pass? If it's fine to lose then why bother wanting to win. This of course, has to be tempered. With a win comes responsibility. With a pass comes the next test.
I recently worked alongside eight, hmm, here we are again. What are they? I think 'young people' works. From my point of view, a young person is anything under 16 so I'm going to go with that. Eight young people from Downham in Lewisham. We were working together to create a performance on the 5th day that highlighted some of the problems and issues in Downham. Now I won't go into full details but the remarkable thing was, when you speak to these guys and girls, they really do have a lot to say. They understand words like respct, discipline, they understand what is right and wrong, they understand and have amazing ideas about how to put things right and yet...and yet...they still went out at lunchtime and swore at shop keepers and shined lazers in bus drivers eyes. Then they come back and say, well, he was looking at me funny or some such. Well, of course he was, he'd probably had kids in the shop earlier who had sworn at him. You see, if young people don't stand up and make a difference in their own lives, then we can't, in placing schemes and asbos do anything to make a difference. They must want to change. They must want to set an example. It is for us to teach them how to do that and help them understand, through encouragemnt and love and yes, discipline, that what they do affects lots and lots of people that in turn then affects them. If you do drugs etc...on the playing field, then yeah, itll get shut down. If it's shut down, then you have no where to go. If you have no where to go then you get bored.
I do of course, realise that a generalisation can never be made in this sector. So much depends on upbringing and area and peer group and teaching and parenting. My field is drama. In creating a performance atmosphere where it's fine to mess around and play and say whatever, I hope to get into the heads of these guys and help them understand that they, as individuals have a massive power. That they are massively important and what they think really does matter.
Any great director will 'know' their actors. They will quickly figure out who this actor is. What makes them tick? Where are their comfort zones and how do they work? What goes on in their heads? In understanding this, the director will guide the actor into giving an extraodinary performance that they didn't know they could achieve. A performance that will push them around and make them uncomfortable but a performance that will ultimately 'create' a remarkable human being.
I feel it's our responsibility as adults to set an example that show love to our young people, that shows discipline, that shows that we do actually care about what they have to say. We always remember our best teachers. What did they do that had such an affect? We always remember our best friends. How do they make us feel? We always remember someone in our life that has had a massively negative affect. How can we change that and stop ourselves becoming what we hate?
Ooohh, getting a bit idealistic here...sorry. I just feel passionately that young people need to be talked to...well, that's about it.
You see, the term 'young person' immediately throws up a media filled vision of the unsocial, unrespectful, unholy teenage lout who terrifies old ladies and shop keepers whilst shining lazer pens into bus drivers' eyes. But what is a young person? To someone who is 70, that might mean a late 20s or 30s. The very term lacks any kind of definition. Who do we mean? Well, speaking as a 20 something, I would say 16 or under. Young, defers the meaning of not old, or rather someone who has a lot to learn, someone who needs guidance and love, someone who wants rather than gives, simply because they are yet to understand true giving.
But what do we call them? 'Children' seems disrespectful, 'Kids' seems childish, 'Youths' seems dirty, 'Teenagers' points at rebellion, 'Students' is safe and yet is only applied to those in a learning environment. Maybe, this is the problem, as adults we've lost touch with who these people are. They seem to demand respect and yet don't know how to earn it. And really, should respect be earned? Or is it something that should just apply. A referee shouldn't have to earn respect - he should have it because of his position.
Perhaps, we've forgotten that children need discipline? But what is discipline? Is it three lashings of the cane? Well, I don't think so. Discipline is creating focus. If the searching, learning mind is given a focus then it learns. When focussed, we get rid of the thousand thoughts and fully concentrate on the task in hand. Without focus, we achieve very little or nothing. So how do we teach focus? By allowing the results to speak for themselves and encouraging the results achieves through it. If a child sees that through focussing they run the hundred metres 2s faster or complete a task with better efficientcy, then surely they will want to do it again? Or at least, they will begin to understand that through focus they achieve. I believe also, that competition should be encouraged. If it's fine to fail then why bother pushing for a pass? If it's fine to lose then why bother wanting to win. This of course, has to be tempered. With a win comes responsibility. With a pass comes the next test.
I recently worked alongside eight, hmm, here we are again. What are they? I think 'young people' works. From my point of view, a young person is anything under 16 so I'm going to go with that. Eight young people from Downham in Lewisham. We were working together to create a performance on the 5th day that highlighted some of the problems and issues in Downham. Now I won't go into full details but the remarkable thing was, when you speak to these guys and girls, they really do have a lot to say. They understand words like respct, discipline, they understand what is right and wrong, they understand and have amazing ideas about how to put things right and yet...and yet...they still went out at lunchtime and swore at shop keepers and shined lazers in bus drivers eyes. Then they come back and say, well, he was looking at me funny or some such. Well, of course he was, he'd probably had kids in the shop earlier who had sworn at him. You see, if young people don't stand up and make a difference in their own lives, then we can't, in placing schemes and asbos do anything to make a difference. They must want to change. They must want to set an example. It is for us to teach them how to do that and help them understand, through encouragemnt and love and yes, discipline, that what they do affects lots and lots of people that in turn then affects them. If you do drugs etc...on the playing field, then yeah, itll get shut down. If it's shut down, then you have no where to go. If you have no where to go then you get bored.
I do of course, realise that a generalisation can never be made in this sector. So much depends on upbringing and area and peer group and teaching and parenting. My field is drama. In creating a performance atmosphere where it's fine to mess around and play and say whatever, I hope to get into the heads of these guys and help them understand that they, as individuals have a massive power. That they are massively important and what they think really does matter.
Any great director will 'know' their actors. They will quickly figure out who this actor is. What makes them tick? Where are their comfort zones and how do they work? What goes on in their heads? In understanding this, the director will guide the actor into giving an extraodinary performance that they didn't know they could achieve. A performance that will push them around and make them uncomfortable but a performance that will ultimately 'create' a remarkable human being.
I feel it's our responsibility as adults to set an example that show love to our young people, that shows discipline, that shows that we do actually care about what they have to say. We always remember our best teachers. What did they do that had such an affect? We always remember our best friends. How do they make us feel? We always remember someone in our life that has had a massively negative affect. How can we change that and stop ourselves becoming what we hate?
Ooohh, getting a bit idealistic here...sorry. I just feel passionately that young people need to be talked to...well, that's about it.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Incoming
News on Youth Projects and Mokita's fabulous new show, starting rehearsals in a week at The King's Head, Islington. Coming soon!
It's time for 'A Christmas Carol' awesomeness!
It's time for 'A Christmas Carol' awesomeness!
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