So what is Theatresports anyway?

by Cellobella on Thursday, April 1, 2010 · 1 comment

Jen asks me to get back to basics following my Life Lessons from Theatresports post so here goes…

Theatresports was created by a guy called Keith Johnstone.

First of all Theatresports is a vehicle for improvised theatre.

A mechanic.

Ah but what is improvised theatre?

Acting without a script would be the first thing that comes to mind.

Theatresports then gives you a framework for a show… and games to set up the improvisation.

For example – you could do a game called “n-words” – this is one of my favourites.

In this game each person is given a certain number and they can only say that number of words at one time.

It can be hilarious.

If you can remember that you only have a certain number of words to say!

Another fave is when two cast members speak in gibberish and the other two “translate” what they are saying.

And I love “sing about it” – even though I can’t sing – here the MC calls out Sing About It during a scene and the actors have to make up a song on the spot.

I guess I love it because I can’t sing but this gives me licence to.

Having said that, I never got to play it in the three nights I was on.

Sigh.

Another favourite is Half Life.

In this game you improvise a scene, then replay it in half the time, half the time again, and so on until you replay it in about 3 seconds.

It is a lot of fun.

You play in teams, but the competition is really for the audience.

Does that make any sense at all?

Suffice to say that it is a bit like stepping off a cliff – you have no idea what the night will throw at you – you just have to step off and go for it.

It is very liberating.

And isn’t that what we do in life anyway?

** I don’t think I’ve done that great a job – help anyone?

Blowing in the wind

by Cellobella on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 · 6 comments

Albany Windfarm

On a recent trip to Albany I went down to the windfarm – about ten minutes out of town or so – to check it out.

The turbines are impressively big.

The whooshing noise they make impressively loud.

And the cliffs reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher. Vaguely.

There are lots of fun stats about the speed of the tip of the blades – which are as big as a jumbo jet’s wing – but what I can tell you is that they move faster than they look from a distance.

Worth a visit if you’re down that way.

Albany Windfarm

Albany Windfarm

Life Lessons from Theatresports

by Cellobella on Monday, March 29, 2010 · 4 comments

Unfortunately my photo collection from Theatresports is somewhat thin, so you’ll have to make do with this image stolen from Facebook (hope that’s okay Jo):

Over the past few months Groover and I have been going to Theatresports classes and performances.

I’ve always loved the idea of Theatresports.

It seems so clever and so fast.

And yet so lazy!

You don’t need to learn any lines!

I love that.

So this is what I’ve learned…

1.  It is okay to fail happily

Failing means that you have tried your hardest.

If you never fail, you have stayed safe.

Being safe means you have never taken any risks.

Without risk, you will never move forward, you will not grow.

Failing happily means that you celebrate growing and changing.

The chance to succeed.

2. Pause

Pause in order to listen.

Count to three before you respond to give yourself thinking time, rather than thinking about your next speech/comment while the other is thinking.

Listening is the greatest gift we can give another person.

We… I… don’t listen enough.

So often I catch myself waiting for a break in the other person’s conversation so I can jump in with my well formulated comment, when really I should just listen.

And when I do pause, I discover a lot more is being said than I realised.

And I wonder what I missed.

So… pause.

3. ….

(I’m pausing)

4. You are only there to make other people look good

And isn’t that true of life?

Yes, obviously it is YOUR life, but by supporting others around you, your life is enhanced.

For without their strength, you will end up holding the world up by yourself.

That’s exhausting and not so satisfying.

5. Keep it simple

In Theatresports the trick is to keep it simple and obvious.

Your audience has a set of expectations and they love it if you stay within that circle of expectations.

It’s why some of the best comedians are those who talk about everyday life – somehow the most obvious observations are hilarious when repeated back at you.

And don’t you think life is the same?

Avoid trying to be too clever.

People want to hear what you’re REALLY thinking, an honest response not some quick one liner.

Sure the gag is cute now and again, but it soon becomes wearing.

You can’t have a real relationship if you don’t have honest communication.

Conclusion

I thought I was learning about theatre, I was learning about life.

(I’ll be signing up for more life lessons later this year… find out when on Facebook.)

The day after the rain

by Cellobella on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 · 3 comments

On Sunday, the sky was the deepest blue:

Umbrella Tree

Then yesterday Perth had the worst storm certainly since 1994 – a storm which knocked over our back fence and uprooted our tree – and probably since 1978′s Cyclone Alby.

The storm was intense where I was and I was nowhere near the centre.

In the city the hail was fingernail size rather than tennis ball sized but the hail came in horizontally and the rain was very heavy.

The thunder cracked the sky causing the ground to shudder and the lightning was intense and frightening.

I was in my car.

With the traffic a nightmare – Perth was in gridlock – I decided I would do more good if I went back to work to help out.

I got home about nine thirty.

By that time the roads were clear – clear of traffic – but covered with debris.

We were lucky – no damage.

Groover who was in Floreat at the time of the hailstorm had parked undercover and his car was spared the very large hail that fell there.

Early Morning Clouds

This morning the sky was blue with a few Simpson like clouds scudding across the sky.

The air felt fresh and washed.

But it soon became hot and humid.

We expected more storms today but they didn’t seem to happen, well not near me.

It made for a beautiful sunset.

Sunset

Drama queen

by Cellobella on Sunday, March 21, 2010 · 2 comments

This would be my daughter.

She is currently in the middle of a drama festival at the school and we are hosting three girls from the French International School in Hong Kong.

It is an interesting experience.

They are very sweet girls.

Very polite.

Fun.

I’ve never hosted before so it has been a learning curve.

I’ve discovered that all children like Coco Pops and that there are some kids who like fruit as much as my two fruit bats.

Does the fact that I bought them Coco Pops make me a bad host mother?

I did offer them a cooked breakfast.

Of course once a kid sees Coco Pops they can’t go past them.

Actually, I’d prefer muesli please is not something you are going to hear if a packet of sugar is on the table.

They are very self sufficient.

My daughter got up this morning before me and organised breakfast.

All I ended up doing was loading the dishwasher and accepting their thanks.

Er… no problem.

Then they walked to school (we don’t live far away).

Job done.

Tonight we’re going to their performance and then taking them out for dinner and a bit of sightseeing.

Goodness knows where.

Anyone got any scathingly brilliant ideas?

I confess, this is the bit I’ve been worried about the most all weekend.

Love over gold

by Cellobella on Saturday, March 20, 2010 · 3 comments

I was searching for a CD tonight.

And this is what my poor eyes saw.

Nothing.

I really hate the fact I need my glasses to find a frigging CD.

You see I knew I had Love Over Gold by Dire Straits.

It was one of the first albums I ever bought.

Yes on vinyl.

I think Complete Madness was the first and then Love Over Gold and that’s because a young man was obsessed by Dire Straits and he took me to the concert (at the Entertainment Centre… remember that?).

He was really into guitar playing and would play me guitar and Dire Straits and I thought he was sweet, although I wasn’t really into him.

I liked the music.

It felt rather cool at the time I thought.

You are probably spitting your coffee over the screen at this point but I did think it was cool.

I liked Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and Madness.

I was 16.

Anyway Love Over Gold was one of the first CDs I bought too.

I started buying CDs long before I had a CD player.

I could see the writing was on the wall.

And when our CD collection was stolen in 1994 I felt sure I would have insisted on buying Love Over Gold again.

Dire Straits and in particular this album was a favourite.

For goodness sakes it had only 5 tracks and one of them was more than 14 minutes long.

And one of them was Industrial Disease.

I knew all the words. 

Classic.

The other Mark Knopfler CD I really liked was the soundtrack to The Princess Bride – my favourite movie.

So why was I so keen to find it?

Well today I heard a track and I could have sworn it was a Dire Straits tune from this album with new words.

Can’t remember the words or even the artist as I was so indignant that they should steal Mark’s work!

So I thought I’d better listen again to his fantastic guitar playing and remind myself.

Of course as I can’t compare them it is a moot exercise but I am enjoying the journey back down memory lane.

I’m 16 again (and saving myself for university).

In flight

by Cellobella on Friday, March 19, 2010

In flight

I took this photo down at Cottesloe beach.

You know the usual fifty photos of a seagull and then it takes off and you get lucky.

I love the feeling this photo evokes for me.

Taking flight.

The energy.

The upward momentum.

How good must it feel?

Cosplay cutie

by Cellobella on Thursday, March 18, 2010

Cosplay Cutie

This is my daughter being some Cosplay character that no doubt she will scream at me for not remembering!

She dressed up to go to some anime/manga convention in January.

Isn’t she cute.

I’m not sure I agree with the whole dress up like a naughty schoolgirl thing that generally seems to happen at these conventions but at least in this case she her skirt falls below her knees.

It covers more than her actual school uniform in fact!

So the question is – how long will the phase last?

I love dressing up myself so maybe for a long time.

In other news she is now babysitting… and getting paid!

She loves it, especially the money,  the boys she looks after love her.

And at least if she is going to be on her laptop all night we don’t have to watch and think boy are we bad parents because – she’s working!

Win win.

Why I love gmail video chat

by Cellobella on Monday, March 15, 2010 · 1 comment

I was a bit grumpy the other day at work.

I had just discovered Skype (I know I know… slow adopter) and wanted to get it on my work laptop so that I could communicate with my near and dear while spending weeks on the road and also because I can see it would be a useful tool for my work.

Anyway IT were a bit wary and fair enough, it’s their network.

As luck would have it I was given a webcam and headset and a nifty little set it is too as this laptop is a pretty basic model.

So the other night I plugged it all in and decided to try gmail video chat.

And guess what?

It actually worked!

And it was easy, and I didn’t need a special program.

Okay the quality isn’t as good as Skype but it’s good enough and I’m stoked.

So Google – thank you. 

You have met my needs once again and I’m not above given credit where credit is due.

Me and the Queen

by Cellobella on Sunday, March 14, 2010 · 1 comment

I’m listening to Corrine Bailey Rae’s Put Your Records On, it’s just the perfect Sunday morning track. 

Me and the Queen

This morning we wandered down to the port to check out the Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger liner in the world.

Three times the size of the Titanic, the ship dwarfs the Fremantle Passenger Terminal.

Queen Mary 2

We couldn’t get too close and so it wasn’t that interesting an experience if I’m honest.

Still you never know, one day I might even go on a cruise, you know, when I’m old enough.

Probably around the time that I give up dying my hair and own my own zimmer frame.

More interesting photo wise was the number of people taking photos.

Taking photos of the Queen Mary 2

And in fact perhaps the view from the ship itself is somewhat more interesting… this is a still from their webcam up on the bridge (click on the image to get an up to date photo):

Tonight we have another night of Theatresports.

This time we’re making the kids come along and watch.

Payback for all those concerts of theirs we sat through.

It will be interesting to see their reaction.

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