Bringing the Bard to the ‘Bart
Posted: Sunday 11 November 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Tasmania, Team T, The Players Leave a comment »Team T have just returned from two weeks in Tasmania and we loved it! Having recently travelled to Julia Creek in outback Queensland we couldn’t get over how green Tasmania was in comparison. The wildlife was beautiful and the landscape stunning. We jammed as much touristy things in as we could – wineries, Mt Wellington, Mona, historic Richmond and Salamanca Markets to name a few.
Peacock!
An historic bridge in Richmond
We found an array of delicacies in Hobart, it seems that Tasmanians are kings of cuisine and what better way to stay motivated for our shows than with lots of Patisserie treats. Here is a shot of our favourite little cafe, so far, that we found on our travels to the Salamanca markets.
A lovely little cafe at Salamanca Markets in Hobart
Dessert with a view
We have received such a warm welcome from everyone down here, students, teachers and especially those chefs. Because the countryside is so beautiful everywhere we go, if it wasn’t so cold it would be great to do a performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream outside in one of the stunning parks! We were all raring to go for our shows at Ouse District High on the morning of Monday 5th November and then we popped into MONA to soak up some more culture in the afternoon.
A light installation at MONA
We caught some live music at the Republic and a big shout out goes to Sacred Heart College in New Town for showing the Melbourne Cup in their gym hall. Oh, and we even did some work. The audiences were awesome, super respectful, the Student Masterclasses were fun and we can’t wait to come back next year.
The beautiful view from Mount Wellington
We dropped a line to Charles and Camilla, and they changed their itinerary on our advice. Charles even wanted to catch the same flight back to Sydney with us, but we let him down gently. We just didn’t think Sydney Airport could cope with the hype. Now there is a love story Shakespeare would have had a field day with.
Same outbound flight as Charles and Camilla… coincidence or conspiracy?
Overall, thanks for having us Tasmania, we had a fantastic time and hope you cats we got to work with enjoyed yourselves too.
P.S. It has been said it’s best not to leave Team T with too much time on their hands. This is what happened when we were let loose in Hellyer College’s performance space in Burnie. Thanks for the loan of your props guys!
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: The Players, Team H, Roxby Downs 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.
Ashes To Ashes
Posted: Tuesday 4 September 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Sunbury, Team T, The Ashes, The Players, Victoria Leave a comment »
So the team were recently performing in Sunbury, Victoria. On arrival into the town we were informed that it was the home of The Ashes, and that the school grounds that we were performing at were the location of the first match in the series. Well, Edmund was happier than we have ever seen him, being a crazy cricket fan. We just had to get a snapshot of us in front of the giant wickets!
HOWZ THAT!!!!!!
Shakespeare Day at Turramurra High
Posted: Tuesday 4 September 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Shakespeare Day, Team T, The Players, Turramuura High School Leave a comment »
A big shout out to the Year 7 students and teachers at Turramurra High School who let us perform at their annual Shakespeare Day last Friday. At 9am the Students all waited patiently in the hall dressed in full Elizabethan costume, when the doors swung open to reveling trumpet players and the Principal (otherwise known as Queen Elizabeth) who quite grandly introduced us. What an experience, we loved being a part of your day!!! So we kicked off the frivolities and I hear the rest of the day was jam packed with fun events. A big thank you to our Thesius and Hippolyta, you were such good sports. Keep up the good work Turramurra, it was one of our favourite shows yet.
The Players Meet The Twelve Apostles
Posted: Tuesday 21 August 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: The 12 Apostles, The Players, Victoria 1 Comment »We’re back in Sydney now after a great three weeks in Melbourne. We even got to head out to Port Campbell and visit the famous Twelve Apostles on the Victorian coast line which was an absolutely magnificent sight…although as you can see from the video above of Thunder Cave…it was FREEZING!!!
Lucky I brought my ridiculously warm overcoat – even if it does make me look a little Mafiosa (Felix and Ed did mention on more than a few occasions that between my coat and my black leather gloves that they were a little worried that I could have underworld connections!! – I think I might keep them guessing on that one…it should keep them in line for the rest of the year!!)
Thank goodness we’re back to the nice Sydney sunshine…and looking forward to soaking up a bit more when we make it to Queensland in a few weeks!!
“Hey where’d Suz go??”
“Oh, there she is!”
The 12 Apostles on a blustery Victorian afternoon – they almost don’t look real!
And as we took refuge in the Kia, guess what we found…
…a double rainbow (and a couple of cows)!!!
Projecting In Large Spaces With Felix
Posted: Friday 10 August 2012 Filed under: 2012 | Tags: Romeo And Juliet 1 Comment »
So our time here in Melbourne has come to an end. We’ve had a blast here over the last three weeks.
It began with 10 shows of our production of Romeo And Juliet at the National Theatre in St Kilda. The National was built in the 1920s and is much larger than the Playhouse at the Sydney Opera House so we had a few challenges to overcome, mainly to do with the size and volume of our performances.
To overcome these sorts of things as an actor you’ve really got to connect to your breath. The most important thing, I think, is not to push! Sometimes when you feel you may need to be louder and bigger to reach the back row it can be easy to force and push your performance; willing the emotion and the story telling to the back of the theatre, which of course doesn’t work! It will look like you’re trying too hard and it will look like hard work. The skill of the actor and what we are all striving for is to NOT show the work. (That’s one of Ed’s favorite sayings I’ve stolen there, thanks Eddie.)
Oh, we’ve just arrived at our next school for Midsummer Madness. We’re on the Mornington Peninsula for our last show in Melbourne. Will blog again soon. Stay tuned!
Free Flowing Verse With Anthony
Posted: Wednesday 1 August 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »
Now, growing up I wanted to travel.
Also, growing up I wanted to act.
Growing up I wanted to share stories
with those who seldom get a chance to see, live and experience live theatre.
The players/the actors, has been-awesome
Killing 3 birds with one stone. We have set to regional towns like Orange, Dubbo
and right now we’re performing in Melbourne,
A.C.T., next Adelaide and I’ve seen
people and areas of Australia
I would never in normal life have seen.
I have had the fortune of playing some of the great roles in Western Drama such as Macbeth bits of Hamlet and Oberon, King of Faeries. Onwards to
More of this great Southern land to visit,
And inspiration we’ll seek, verse or not!
The youngsters we’ve performed for have been ill,
Not sick in the literal, like fo real,
That sort of speak, heaps of kids every week
Giving the actors feedback. Some good some wack.
All in good fun, all in day at actors at work.
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!!
WAy out West!
Posted: Tuesday 3 July 2012 Filed under: 2012 Leave a comment »Teresa has gone back home to WA for 4 weeks with Team T. Check out what they’ve been up to:
So the Players have travelled into country Western Australia and are loving every minute of it. Today we drove from Kalgoolie to Kambalda and performed for the students there. Thanks for having us, you were a wonderful audience!
All the Sydney-siders are amazed at how dry it is out here but they love the sunshine in the middle of winter. On our way home this afternoon we came across the famous tea-tree, full of kettles and coffee cups, brilliant!! We just had to stop for a family photo. We are going to the mines for the 5pm ‘blast’ tomorrow, can’t wait!!!
Tea-tree!
