Team H Visit Regional New South Wales
Posted: Friday 26 October 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Molong, Orange, Regional NSW, Team H, The Players Leave a comment »As a resident of Sydney, you can sometimes fall prey to the assumption that the metropolis hosts all of the greatest art and exhibitions and events. Our recent trip to the Orange Region was an occasion where this assumption was delightfully proved wrong!
Molong is a town about half an hour outside Orange, and inside Molong Central School, where we performed, we found an incredible room. This room not only contained a massive collection of art, but it WAS the art itself: David, a teacher, had spent the better part of a decade assimilating, sorting, collating and glueing together mini poster prints of famous films. They were sorted, often by genre or theme, but also in alphabetical order. The result was a spectacular museum of cinematic history that, as actors, we just drooled over! Ironically, the room was used as the detention room, which would have made me WANT to get in trouble had I been a student at the school.
Below is a snapshot of this incredible instillation, as well as a great shot of Huw at Conobolas Public School in Orange. I’m left thinking, again, that there is so much more to be seen in this incredible country than just the art in Sydney. Thank you Bell Shakespeare, for reaching out across Australia!
How, Anthony and Matilda awestruck at the collection of film paraphernalia at Molong Central School
Huw conducting a workshop with students at Canobolas Public School
Team H Visit Roxby Downs
Posted: Monday 10 September 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Roxby Downs, Team H, The Players Leave a comment »Roxby Downs! We are here!
For those of you not from the area, the hotel is lovely. I like the layout; two stories of neat apartment rooms circle around an aptly named “Oasis” garden, complete with swimming pool. Palm fronds and lush green trees, stark in their contrast to the dehydrated eucalypts local to the area, populate the courtyard garden. Smooth rocks cover the garden beds and lead to the pool, bright and blue and refreshing even to look at. Compared to what lies beyond the walls it is indeed an Oasis paradise.
The people here are friendly. Local students work at the local shops. One caring employee helped me select the best brand of sunscreen; something of a necessity, I’m sure, in the days to come.
Shortly we head to the community center for our show. A night time performance now seems so foreign, which is bizarre, as that is the time of performance most actors are used to. It shows how long we have been doing this job for, I guess.
Sunset is pretty. And I’m reminded of those bush setting oil paintings you see in gallery’s selling for hundreds of dollars. What a rip off – the real thing is far more spectacular than any painting can capture.
There’s a stillness an a calmness to the air that I find comforting. It’s real. There’s no games or rat race to stress about keeping up with. Half an hour can drift by as you watch the sky change colour. Suddenly the pace of quintesential “Aussie” films now makes sense.
Below is a photo of us putting the luggage net over our ute tray.
We’re back in the sand!
Posted: Friday 20 July 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Romeo And Juliet has arrived in Melbourne. We can’t wait to see you all at The National Theatre in St Kilda!
We’ve missed working together on this show, but we haven’t missed our old friend… SAND!!
ACTing!
Posted: Monday 25 June 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Some night time car musings from Juila:
This is Julia’s musing face
It’s early evening. The sun has set and the sky is cloudless, deep, and speckled with stars. A moon cresant is smiling back at me, reflected in the window of our Tarago. Team H is driving to Canberra.
This is one of the most magical parts of this job: traveling. Roadtrips fill me with anticipation and excitement. I love watching the countryside out of the window: up close it wizzes by, out in the far distance it glides slowly. It’s mesmorising, and my thoughts drift away like the landscape I’m watching.
I’ve been to Canberra once before, also on a tour. I feel so lucky to be able to travel with the purpose of work – it’s very fulfilling. Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s only national theatre company… Not surprising that it’s the only one as I’m quickly learning how big our country is. We are tiny compared to the vast stretches of desert and road between cities. It’s easy to feel insignificant in such sprawling space, which is why it is so important to connect. And telling stories is one of the oldest ways we do that.
Canberra, we can’t wait to bring you our stories. And we can’t wait to hear yours as well. Thank you Bell Shakespeare for helping us connect.
And that’s a wrap, Sydney!
Posted: Thursday 31 May 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Join Julia backstage at the final Romeo And Juliet show. She’ll give you a sneak peak of the show from the wings…
What happens backstage?
Posted: Wednesday 23 May 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Let Julia show you what The Players get up to backstage at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
Let the rehearsals begin!
Posted: Friday 30 March 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »As I(Julia) write this blog, I am sitting up the back of the Romeo And Juliet rehearsals. We are all hot and sweaty after a massive dance number we have just rehearsed. Ed (our dashing young Romeo) has a stocking on his head. Underwear is hanging from our set washing line. Anthony (Capulet) and Huw (Tybalt) are rehearsing their scene, throwing insults at each other upon a rickety jetty 2 meters in the air. Felix (Benvolio & Paris) is noodling away on the electric accoustic guitar we’ve got in the room. Suz (Nurse), T Bone (Lady Cap), and Tilly (Juliet) are giggling over cups of deserved tea on their break. Already this production is looking to be extraordinary.
Damien Ryan (director) is just a delight to work with. He’s a fun, irreverent, light hearted guy who just loves this play and knows it inside out. Quoting our own lines before we’ve even got them down.
This is set to be the most playful, surprising, and joyful production of Romeo and Juliet I’ve ever been in. Be sure to pester your teachers to book your school excursion. Or even come of your own accord! Trust me – you don’t want to miss it!
Shout Out to Trangie
Posted: Friday 9 March 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Team H (aka The Forst Fourlio) wished they could have stuck around to see your CRAZY hair. Tell us all about the hairdos on parade, Trangie Central School!
Thanks for having us Trangie Central!
O’ for a Muse of fire (Henry V)
Posted: Tuesday 14 February 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »FALSE ALARM!
*No Players were harmed in the making of this film.
