Wednesday 21 January 2009

Finally.......

Finally Obama is President. Though I can't help feeling people are pinning everything on him. Will he be able to live up to all his promises? Whatever happens I think he is going to bring a lot of change to the US and hopefully the world.

I also finally signed the Gaza petition. In Durham of all places. I think we as a generation need to be more politically active and fight for what we belive in. Its not enough just to talk about it I think we need to do. May I remind you of the poem by Niemöller

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the
social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the
trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the
Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Is it that we don't have the time anymore. Or because we live in the Western world we are not affected by what is happening abroad so we simply block it out.

It reminds me of an exhibition I saw earlier this week at the Baltic Art Gallery in Newcastle about Bernadette Devlin. At the age of 21 she is the youngest ever woman to be elected as an MP. Throuhgout the Northern Ireland troubles, Devlin was a key political activist for the Republicans.

Saturday 17 January 2009

To the North to see The Suggestibles

I arrived in Newcatsle yesterday with the news that I was off to see an improv comedy show. I was intrigued as I am not the biggest fan of improvisation, unless it is really very good. And this show was really exceptional!

From the beginning the audience were put at ease. They had a nice innocence about them, which is what I liked the most. They started off with a warm up game using storytelling and then played 'Freeze'. It was nice to see that these warm up games are not just used in class! Throughout the two hoiur show they played games and sang songs which were all improvised and all the themes given to them were suggested by the audience.

I was out with drama students from Northumbria University who had been having workshops with one of the players. They said he was really intertesting and they had liked the work they did with him. I'd love to get them down South and come to St Mary's!

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Chiswick House Magic


Emma, Maria and I drove to Chiswick and Gardens this morning to have a wander around and spark our imagination. We walked around the garden and had our own mini adventure! The river passes through the gardens which I'm sure will have a part in our eventual show. As the gardens have a lot of pathways we have initially talked about creating a story which is a quest. We thought that stories which are about quests and adventures always have a very clear structure and we think that is probably needed for our show as we are most likely working with primary aged children. Walking around the gardens really did inspire us and we have already come up with some ideas for the story we will soon create.

I am really excited about the project moving forward and creating something that everyone is going to enjoy and have lots of fun with.

Monday 12 January 2009

1st Meeting Today!

Today we met in the Dolche and had a chat about DIC 2009 and the role of the creative team within the project. We are going to visit Chiswick House tomorrow morning to have a look around the grounds which I am very excited about!
We are also going to walk around the town and grab a coffee to get a feel for the people and what they are like.
We decided we should get our own folder so we can file the minutes of each meeting and keep together all our work so that everyone can get to it.
We are going to book to see How to Catch a Star at the Polka (if anyone wants to come let me know and we can arrange a date everyone is available).
All in all I think the meeting was successful and it was nice to have a chat. We decided that we will meet at 11am every monday in the dolche so thats where we'll be if anyone needs us!

Sunday 4 January 2009

I thought you'd like this....


I saw this and thought of Mark