29 August 2009

Yellow raincoats, mad Scotsman and doggy poo!

My last day at the Fringe. The day started off with another photographer starting a conversation with me on the Royal Mile because I was carrying a camera - it was only when we exchanged cards that we realised we already knew of each other on Flickr.

Then as I was waiting to watch "Shut Up, Play" perform on one of the stages, a crazy Scotsman who had been posing for photos with them decided to take me for a waltz, and then demanded money because I'd taken his photo! I pleaded that I'd used all my cash on the bus, so he asked for a kiss instead - ugh! Thank you so much to the ladies who came up to me immediately afterwards to ask if I was OK! I think he got a talking-to from the Fringe staff after that!

Shut Up, Play were so much fun to watch and interact with. They love to have their photographs taken, and to take photos of themselves and their audience. After the performance a couple of them took their pictures with me. Immediately after that they and some other acts were filmed by MTv. I can't seem to find out when this will be shown on MTv though, so if anyone knows can you let me know!

I went to see The Dandelion's Story, the story of a doggy poo rejected by everyone until a dandelion seed comes along and transforms her. I wasn't sure at first whether to go and see this show, because it is a children's show. But I'd read some good reviews and I'd enjoyed A Love in Dream by the same company last year so I decided to give it a go. I'm really pleased that I did. I really want to thank one of the actresses, Na-Eun Park (who plays the Story Girl) because she had a long chat with me before the performance, and explained the story and the elements of Korean culture and tradition that had been worked into the performance.

I was really moved by the performance in all sorts of ways. It was very very funny in places, but I was moved to tears in other places. The actors are very welcoming to the audience, and sitting in the front row I found that they interacted with me a lot. The costumes are wonderful and inventive, and there are some wonderful lighting effects like using shadows projected through the backdrop, and hand-held lights that created an effect like dancing fireflies. The characters were wonderful, from the cuteness of the dog and the doggy poo, to the humour of the sparrow, the clod of earth and the hen and chicks. I agree with another reviewer who said that the sparrow reminded him of the Cat in Red Dwarf! There's a lot of depth to the story with ideas of reincarnation and self-worth. It was a really uplifting performance, and it's got a cute doggy poo so what more could you ask for!

21 August 2009

Munny

This is my first attempt at decorating a Munny. I started with a white Mini Munny, and decorated it using acrylic paints and gel mediums. I didn't set out to make it into a girl in a Totoro suit, because I knew that someone else had done that before and I didn't want it to seem like I was copying them. So I started to make it into a girl in a teddy bear suit, but when I came to make the ears I realised that it had more of the character of a Totoro in its face, so a Totoro it became!

I used a mixture of Coarse Pumice Gel and Extra Heavy Gel (Semi Gloss) by Golden to create the texture, then I mixed various colours of acrylic paint together to make the teal colour. The ears are made from Sculpey, and I also made a leaf from Sculpey and wood for her to hold.

17 August 2009

Busy weekend at the Fringe

I spent most of the weekend in Edinburgh and went to see 6 shows.

Platform 88 was haunting, mesmerising and thought provoking. An old woman sits on a railway platform singing. A young woman appears, they fight, they dance. When the train comes the young woman disappears.

First Class was the story of how brash, larger than life post office clerk Bea teaches reserved Michael to sieze the day and enjoy life. She takes him on an imaginary journey to Paris. This show was a lot of fun, and at the end you are given a Paris metro map (so you can go on your own imaginary journey through Paris?).

Kaguya-Hime was a dance performance by some young Japanese girls. The dances were good enough, but they didn't really seem to have much relationship to the fairy tale they were supposed to represent. I saw the dancers performing on the Royal Mile earlier in the day, and didn't really feel I got anything more out of attending the actual performance. It might have been more interesting if the dances had been more varied, and if there had been more costume changes and lighting effects.

Tree Duet was bizarre, bewildering, odd. It was a strange intertwining of stories about trees, life, death, carbon footprints, and a temple. Some of the stories were interesting and moving, there were some interesting and thought-provoking ideas, but as a whole I didn't really know what to make of it. I wasn't sure I was really supposed to laugh at what was done with the bonsai tree at the end, and I kept thinking that the male actor must have needed the toilet with all the bottled water he consumed!

Lucky Dip was a lot of fun, really amusing with good characters and a good storyline about a man and a woman who spend all their time participating in competitions. There was innovative use of a bath cut in half, which was used in various different ways throughout the play.

Shut Up, Play was one of the best shows that I saw. It was absolutely hilarious. The yellow raincoat wearing performers are Japanese, and they create music from everyday things like crunching crisps or blowing bubbles. They are so full of energy and have great facial expressions, and the music they produce is great. There's some audience participation. They don't mind if you talk to your neighbour, use your mobile phone, or take flash photographs. I'd recommend this show to anybody!

07 August 2009

Fringe: Don't Forget to Breathe and White Tea

On Thursday I went to my first two Fringe shows of the year, Don't Forget to Breathe and White Tea. They had some similarities in that they were both performed in quite intimate spaces by two actors playing contrasting characters, with quite conversational and realistic dialogue.


Don't Forget to Breathe

Don't Forget to Breathe was, for me personally, just about as perfect a theatrical experience as is possible. I'm don't know whether everyone would necessarily love it as much as I did, but to me it was something very special.

It's the story of two people who meet on a station platform: Charles, a straight-laced assistant lawyer, and Saz, a free spirit and a bit of a mystery. The set consisted simply of a bench, wastebasket, planter of flowers, and a station sign. Ambient sounds of birdsong played before the play began. The audience were encouraged to sit as close to the front as possible, so I sat in the front row, which I'm glad I did because the actors were often just a few feet away. The actors were wonderful and really made me believe in the characters.

The story was reminiscent of many of my favourite films, like Brief Encounter and Last Life in the Universe, which have a theme of spending a short time with someone who affects you in a way that you will never forget. I savoured every second of it, not wanting it to end, knowing it was a performance I would never forget, with characters who really made an impact on me. Oh, and it had a lot of humour too!



White Tea

Before the performance of White Tea, the audience dressed in white paper kimonos before entering a small square room with benches along the sides, each side having space for about 5 people. The two actors (one Japanese, one Scottish) served tea to the audience. Footage about Hiroshima was playing on four data projectors pointing at the walls which were covered with the same white waxy paper the kimonos were made of. Paper cranes hung in the corner.

In the centre of the room was a large low Japanese table with small drawers on the sides (from where all the props were produced when needed) and 3 tatami mats on the top. The table was used as many things, from aeroplane seats to beds to a boat. The actresses passed within inches of the audience as they moved around the room.

There were lighting and sound effects, and it was a fascinating experience being completely immersed in the performance, despite the fact that it was uncomfortable wearing a paper kimono in a tiny room on one of the few hot days of the summer!

The Scottish actress who played the character Naomi wore a short dress fashioned from one of the paper kimonos. The Japanese actress wore a paper kimono, with white origami cranes and flowers in her hair. I found the character Naomi a bit irritating (but she was probably supposed to be). The story was moving, with a shocking revelation about Naomi's family history.

I also took lots of photos on the Royal Mile.

Garden ornaments

I've been getting out of the habit of drawing, but doing this reminded me how much I love it and that I should do more!

04 August 2009

Antiques fair

These are some of the things I bought at a recent antiques fair. A Japanese inro (a small container which would hang from the belt of a kimono), a marquetry box which has scenes of Japan on the top and sides, and a lacquered chocolate box with a Japanese scene on the top by a company called Birrells from Glasgow.

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