Performance at The Cow & Calf

Thanks to everyone who came to the showing The Cow & Calf tonight. We’d love to know what you thought, please reply to this post with all your ideas, suggestions and comments.

The first night… tell us what you think

Thanks for coming along for the first work-in-progress showing of Irresistible at Mind the Gap Studios! Please give us all your thoughts and feedback.

My 3 hats

I’m a one person hat army, these are my hats and who I am when I’m wearing them:

Stetson
I’m a nomad cowboy going from town to town, looking around and travelling from place to place.  I like watching the different scenery especially moving from the country to the industrial… a traveller never stops in one place.

Baseball cap
Things that I don’t need a big hat for, it’s my everyday hat and I feel comfortable.  It frees me to be to be creative and compose, to just be me and create a tune from nothing.  A tune is something real, making something out of nothing – not just notes.

Fedora
This is a professional hat, for a professional person doing a professional job like a director.  I feel important when I’m wearing my fedora.  Reactions of people are funny when I’m wearing this, people think I’m going to be strict or tough if I wear a fedora.

I think the adrenaline and the excitement will be mighty high tomorrow!

Well, yesterday we had a technical rehearsal with costume, but the first session was with Joyce just doing the a’capella version of Irresistible… a’capella means when you do it with no music.

Then all the costumes came for the hobos and me. My costume consists of thermals – to keep me warm! A white shirt, camouflage trousers and a cream waistcoat. The first thing I wear is my leather jacket and my cowboy hat, and then I have a change where I wear a tailcoat in camouflage.

I love my costume, it felt really snug and really nice. I kind of pictured it like the coat I wore for Animal Farm which had tails – but it’s even better!

I have been working on a rap for before I go into the Sound of the Sirens song. So I was working outside with Joyce – it felt better to go outside as it was too warm inside and I couldn’t concentrate and get my words out. It was a bit more free outside and I was really able to belt it out. It was my idea to go outside as sometimes the heat makes me tired, I love working with Joyce she’s great fun!

I struggled with confidence doing the rap but now that I’ve done it over and over, I know just to go for it and it will work. It’s like anything new, you’re nervous at first but as you do it over and over you get better at it.

It’s the show tomorrow at Mind the Gap and I can’t wait really. We were going to do a run through outside today so hopefully it will stop raining!

I want the audience tomorrow night to be excited and enjoy the show. We’ve worked hard on it and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

I think the adrenaline and the excitement will be mighty high tomorrow! Everyone is dealing with it pretty good, Making Theatre need more direction than Acting Company but that’s where I come in. Part of this project was for me to do some directing.

So, am looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow night, hope you enjoy the show!

I was too focused to worry about the weather

Yesterday I came into Mind the Gap and basically everybody was very excited because it was the first time we all went up to The Cow & Calf. There was a very nice bus driver and a very, very nice looking coach that we went up in. We all got on the coach and ‘journeyed on’ to The Cow & Calf.

When we got there we did a trial to see how long it would take different people to walk up. Then we got to the entrance and the wind hit us! It was absolutely freezing!

We recced the site and tried a few things like me walking onto the rock using the steps. As well as that we tried to figure out a journey that I could do to go to the sirens. As it had been raining some of the rocks were quite slippy and dangerous.

So first we practiced walking up to the place where we were originally going to go but there was a realisation that that journey would be unsafe at night, especially as I have a torch to carry. We had to try and find a simpler journey for me to do. The Crew are going to help me and are at different places to help me down from the rocks.

After that we did the thing where the hobos went to their fire and I was practicing my journey a few times.

I enjoyed it, even though it was really cold and windy. I was too focused to worry about the weather. I tried to motivate people to not think about the wind as we needed 100%!

So all you guys that are coming please be prepared for the weather, it is important that you wear double layers and waterproofs. And if you have thermals I’d advise you to wear those too.

And the winner is…

I couldn’t decide between 2 entries as they were both fun and equally good.

So, Julia Roberts and Jennifer S you are both winners!! Please email ben@mind-the-gap.org.uk to get your tickets. Well done!

The raven is like my spiritual friend

Today we had a big meeting about what we want to happen for the show, and Ben Pugh’s been thinking about lots of things about production, like how we’re going to get to the venues and that kind of thing.

Me, Si, Will and Tim had a meeting about what’s going to appear and what the journey will be. Will sketched some pictures about how the raven will move from scene to scene. Then we talked about the rehearsal schedule for next week We are going to go up to The Cow & Calf to do a recky to decide where the Acting Company are going to be, as well as me and the sirens.

After that Si and I went to the AV room to start putting some soundscapes together, which was basically putting one siren after another, after another. And so now we’ve made a big loud cacophony of sirens, it’s going to be quite disconcerting because there will be big speakers that will be the focal point of the show.

The raven is like my spiritual friend, it leads me places and I kind of follow it, it makes sure everything is safe so that I can travel without problems. It’s quite new, we were talking about it yesterday with Will and we had the idea of it flying around and a bit of squawking here and there.

I think it’s quite cool and brings a new kind of light to the piece really. It’s almost like one of these adventure films – basically the raven is like a god.

I’m going to have a chill this weekend, but I am also going to London tomorrow to talk about support in Mencap houses and how much paperwork they have to do. I think it’s important that people know and that some people will have the same view as me.

Then it’s back up to Mind the Gap for a very intensive week of rehearsals!

It’s getting close now…

Yesterday we have been going through a new way to do the show which involves me not talking, I’m coming in the same entrance than show my hand to Susan. She looks at my hand and she nods, then I follow her to the rest of the guys who are by the fire. Then I sing Longing For Home.

Instead of launching straight into the song I do it very slowly at first and then it builds up, and in they second chorus they start howling. After that I barge past the audience and go on a platform, I see the siren there and start turning it. Then I point in different directions and do sound effects of different sirens.

I feel brilliant about it because I think it’s really going forward. The new beginning is better as it stops me thinking about what I’ve got to say and lets me focus on my piece and singing the songs.

It’s getting close now, I know there’s going to be pressure but I know I’ll cope. I’ve done many performances in my life and it will get stressful but I’ll help other people if they get stressed and just make sure it happens.

The plan for today is to get really stuck into rehearsals with the Acting Company and Making Theatre. We’ve already routed out the first couple of things we’ve got to do, now it’s about where the sirens come in and do their thing as well.

My top 5 camouflage

I like camouflage, I like the way the colours and patterns are done.  It’s a visual thing, but I also feel like a rebel in it – I’m saying that I’m not following anyone else.

As a person with a disability you have to fight on, and I suppose that camouflage gives me the feeling that I can walk through barriers that are put before me.  Performers wear camouflage, especially rappers I think for them it’s the same as me about not conforming to the system and saying I’m going to fight my battles.

It is used in fashion and in the military.  There’s strength in it, the military wear it so the enemy can’t see you.  It’s a uniform about street and urban culture as well as being for the military.

Urban camouflage is for fighting in cities – if you are a soldier you don’t want to be in jungle camouflage if you are fighting in urban spaces.  It’s a similar design but different colours – black, white and grey.  For me sometimes I’ll wear urban, sometimes I’ll wear woodland it doesn’t matter where I am.

Sometimes I wear full  camouflage, so trousers, jacket, hat and top, sometimes I just wear the bottom half or the top half.  I’m not trying to be a hard-man, it’s just nice patterns and I like wearing it.

5. British woodland camouflage
For me that was the first ever camouflage I used to wear. When I was a kid I had an Action Man pyjamas and they were British woodland camouflage.  I suppose that is where my interest in camouflage started.  Then when I was older I started going to Army Surplus stores, especially when I started living in Nottingham.

4. Chinese woodland camouflage
It’s a little bit like American woodland camouflage but there’s a big difference.  Where American is brown and dark greens, the muddy bits on Chinese are redder and overall it’s darker.

I like the style of this one; I bought some combat trousers in Hong Kong and they said that they were American inspired but they seem to me more towards Chinese inspired.

3. French woodland camouflage
Worn by the French Foreign Legion, the actual patterns are wider and longer than other camouflage.  But it doesn’t have as many black bits in as some of the others.  It’s a certain kind of pattern, it’s totally different.

2. American urban camouflage

The urban camouflage it similar to American woodland camouflage except for the colours.  It’s more for SWOT teams are guerrilla warfare, it’s light grey, dark grey and black.  I have some American urban camouflage trousers, it’s a very nice colour and if it’s a warm day they are quite lightweight.  It’s a different material to the US woodland camouflage – the woodland is heavier, but it does depend as I’ve known it to be made in different materials.

1. American woodland camouflage
This is my very big favourite!  It’s not just Americans who wear it; the Bosnian Army wear it, Middle Eastern Armies wear it as well.  It’s a really nice pattern and it’s what I moved onto after the British camouflage as I thought it was getting too dark.

I remember when I saw my first ever pair of American woodland camouflage trousers, at an Army supplies shop.  The patterns are creamy, browny and green, and they are not as rigid.  So the pattern doesn’t look as small so it stands out more.

Irresistible competition

I find lots of things irresistible; sirens… clothes… vehicles!  This is a competition to see what you find irresistible!

One person will win a pair of tickets to either performance.  All you have to do to be in with a chance is leave a comment on this blog completing the following sentence (in no more that 50 words):

“I find ___________ irresistible because…”

The competition will close at 5 pm on 14th October.  The best entry will be chosen by me… and my decision is final!