Bakkhai Production Meeting Minutes 2

Bakkhai Production Meeting Minutes



Date: Thursday, 14.02.2008

In attendance: Tanushka Marah, Julian Deering, Simeon Lewis, Charlotte Atkinson, Emily Dell, Roberta Edwards, Jenny Glithero, Samara Harrison-Moore, Shabana Rehman, Naomi Wagner, Zoë Walker, Charlene Webster, Laura Marston

Absentees: no one

Sound/Music: Zoë, Jenny, Samara and Laura have been working on their ‘Eleleu’-harmony, adding glottal and Middle Eastern sounds. Until next week the group will be working with the CD Jules has given them.
Shabs and me had a separate meeting on Wednesday and worked on the pentatonic scale. We created a new melody and added a constant underlying of rhythmic words from the Indian Kathak dance, called bols (e.g. dha, ge, na, tiraki Ta, ta, thei, tat, ta ta, tidga, digdig etc.), which traditionally serve as mnemonics* to the composition.
Monday both groups will have a meeting with Tanushka during our lunch break at around 1pm.

Lighting: no development in the lighting area at the moment

Costume: Emily and Roberta have developed their initial ideas further and decided that they would like to work with body paint to reduce the cost and time aspect of the original idea. There will be a basic outfit, for example a dress, and the rest of the body will be covered with body paint. The inspiration for this idea came from the moving tabloids we have been exploring in our improvisations. The body paint will be matching the set (grey, white, black) and are there to resemble merging statues. Jules suggested getting body paint worth of five performances (including dress rehearsal and the three evening performances).
Emily and Roberta brought three different material samples to show us, two white linen-like materials and one quite rough sack-cloth sample.
Tanushka liked the idea of the basic dress and proposed using drapes made of silky material or T-shirt cloth, something people with sensitive skin and allergies can wear. Our performance is very physical and our costumes need therefore to be easy to move in.
There are showers in the Jackson’s Lane Theatre in case we are going to use the body paint, which means we will be able to wash it off at the premises.
Theatre body paint can be found in Covent Garden or at theatre suppliers. However, they can be quite costly. Please find out how much of the budget would be needed for the paint.

Set-Props: Charlie and Shabs have developed their initial idea further during the past week. The set is to be minimal, natural and will resemble Oriental paintings. The picture below is a replica of their model box set.
The moon in the back of the set was planned to be 3-D to give an even more naturalistic impression. Their idea was to create a 3-D ball (for example made of frosted glass etc.) coming out of the wall that can be lit in different light shades. The tree could be made of chicken wire, painted pipes filled with wire or Christmas robe lights to create an almost celestial atmosphere.
We also need to think about which colour the floor is going to be. If it is to match the backdrop we need to plan how we are going to do that. Tanushka suggested using a floor cloth which then could be taped to the backdrop. Now we need to decide whether we want a matt or gloss floor.
Again, please find out the prices for all the material so we can start calculating soon.

Marketing/Publicity: The group will have a photo shoot today for the flyers and posters with Charlie and Shabs as their models, and are going to take professional pictures with Zoë’s boyfriend, who happens to be a professional photographer, tomorrow. They booked the professional photographer for half an hour and need therefore at least one hour to set up and plan the shoot.
They also found on the internet a company that would print 500 A6 flyers on 300 GS paper for only £ 80. The company’s name is Best Printing. Please find out if the price is for double sided prints.

Any other business: On Tuesday Simeon and Jules went to see the Jackson’s Lane theatre. All the details regarding the theatre as well as pictures taken can be seen on our blog in the internet. Please do log onto the blog (including myself!).
The stage is 10m (32.81 ft) wide and 6m (19.69 ft) deep. There are 163 seats available.
We have a 2 weeks Easter break in March in which we all have time to explore our ideas for set, costume, choreography and music etc. The university building will be open and we will be able to book rooms for rehearsals. There should be plenty of time to work on our individual projects. So, please do book space and work, work, work. We want this to be an amazing show, don’t we?

Individual research tasks: Jenny – please look at creating a narrative for the opening scene, Samara – please look at the story of shock headed Peter and change it to fit the tabloid of the three witches stitched together, Charlene – please research witches, witch hunts, witches about to be burnt, stories that witches told, burning, persecution, midwives, sex with the devil, scenes of sin, why are witches women and not men?, find different texts for five people, Charlie – please look into the Trantella story; choreograph a solo dance for the spider and link the choreography to Sufism, Tanushka liked the idea of the spider dissolving and the element of spinning (Dervishes etc.), Roberta – please research Greek/Arabic/Turkish folk dances and bring in new dance material next week, Emily – please look into the story of Lady of Charlotte, research goddesses, and combine the lover’s story with the element of punishment, another key word is the cleansing sun, Zoë - please develop music to the story of the lovers torn apart, something romantic, key word: Valentine, Naomi – find another Turkish folk song and adapt it to ancient Greek to fit into the performance

Next meeting date/time: Thursday, 21.02.2008


* Patterns of words or letters used to aid the memory