Hamlet

Italian visitor, an actress, did not have much English but wanted to see it anyway. She reported that she did not get much of the text, but knew the story, had seen much of the Kenneth Branagh movie, and was able to follow the action. She thought there were not enough pauses, silences -- very acute, indeed, and I agree, but the company must have thought "we've got a lot of shit to get through, people, pick up the pace or we're here until midnight!" She also thought the Ophelia was unusual, and she was, rather an "odd girl" instead of a super-feminine girly-girl. I liked the show better in row D to the side rather than in row L more to the centre, where we had seen in first time. I had a harder time hearing everything at L, but Hamlet was pretty clear in both seats, and Claudius hard to understand. I am growing to like the Festival Theatre, as long as they don't have that balcony and post in the middle, but I still don't like all the steps, and it is just too damned big.

Extras Needed

Looking for extras (male and female) for TRANSPORT, a multi-media project prototyped at the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab.

This is a non-paying engagement as the project is low-budget. However, if you take part, you will be invited to a post-production party, and your name will appear in the credits.

Filming takes place August 18 to August 22, 2008 between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM. To take part, show up at 9:00 AM or 11:30 AM at Studio #6, Globe Studios. You can take part any or all days, as many hours as you are able to. All you have to do is sit on a GRT bus chartered for filming, and take occasional direction.


Place:

Studio # 6
Globe Studios
141 Whitney Place
Kitchener ON
N2G 1X8

519-576-3338
519-503-1489


isabella.stefanescu@gmail.com

Oriza Hirata

Went to the Japan Foundation in Toronto last night to hear a lecture by playwright Oriza Hirata, author of Tokyo Notes, Ronin Office Ladies and other plays, on the development of modern theatre in Japan. The lecture was in Japanese with English interpretation: a paragraph in Japanese followed by a paragraph in English; laughter by the Japanese speakers followed at an interval by laughter from the English speakers (but not always). So it went rather slowly, with the history covered from the late nineteenth century only up to the post-war period, and then some disconnected and more abstract reflections on Japanese theatre in the nineties.

It was interesting how he grounded the history of modern theatre in the material and political conditions of Meiji-era Japan. The goals of the government were 1) to become economically and militarily strong 2) to reverse the unequal treaties concluded with imperial powers. So education was emphasized, and art education as far as it furthered the goals. Music was encouraged because you could march to it, and fine art because you could draw maps! Moreover music and art could be used to impress the Westerners that Japan was civilized, and worthy of being treated as an equal.

But there was no purpose for theatre. It didn't make better soldiers (probably the contrary). Also, it was used by the democracy movement to communicate with the illiterate peasants, and so came to have a left-wing association. (Which persists to this day -- Hirata had parents who wouldn't allow their kids to study drama with him because they were afraid it would turn them into communists. Unlike a North American parent who would be afraid it would make them gay.)

Reparations from China allowed Japan to sent students to study in the West, and this included some students of art and music, but not theatre. It was left to the next generation, the children of the nouveau riche, (who became rich from industrial development and also the colonization of Korea) to import modern theatre to Japan. That is, they went to France and did what interested them instead of studying.The first modern theatre was founded by an expat who went to France with a load of money to live there for years, but came back after the great Kanto earthquake because he was worried about his parents. So he used the load of money to open a modern theatre.

The productions in the theatre were imitative of how things were done in Europe, so much so, that actors wore false noses and blond wigs. Yikes!

Then came the rise of Fascism and the war and occupation. Post-war theatre tended to be dominated by the left-wingers who'd been imprisoned, and Hirata said they were kind, and wise, and noble people who wrote very boring plays. (I had the impression that Hirata wanted to give a lecture: How Japanese Theatre Failed.)

At this point the lecture became rather more disconnected and also I might have been disconnected a little as well. The drive in from Waterloo was dreadful and navigating Bloor and Yonge to find parking was confusing. A young woman crossing the street diagonally (I've never seen such a thing) gave me a languid finger because I was trying to turn where she was. We hadn't done laundry in a while so I was wearing my Aikido T-shirt with "Aikido" in Kanji, which I was concealing with my fleece, as I did not want to draw attention to myself. Anyway -- where was I -- many more interesting and disconnected observations from Mr. Hirata but I shall conclude here as I have things to do!

Call for Actors

Looking for actors (male and female) for TRANSPORT, a multi-media project prototyped at the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab. Here in Waterloo Region we will film 5 vignette-style stories of encounters on GRT buses. The aim is to show that interesting life happens in public transport, and that buses are places of adventure, romance and poetry. Filming will take place August 18 to August 22, 2008.

This is a one-day paid engagement for a low budget multi-media project.

Audition Dates & Times

1st session: Sunday, August 17 9:00 am - 1:00pm
2nd session: Sunday, August 17 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
3rd session: Monday, August 18 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Place:

Studio # 6
Globe Studios
141 Whitney Place
Kitchener ON
N2G 1X8

519-576-3338
519-503-1489


Requirements:

Please e-mail photo and a resume to:

isabella.stefanescu@gmail.com

No text is required in preparation for the auditions.

www.translucence.ca/transport