atc schools programme 2009

Transcription

ATC SCHOOLS PROGRAMME 2009
TEACHERS’ PACK
The New Zealand Post Season of
THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP
By Vivienne Plumb
In association with Auckland Festival 2009
VENUE: The Maidment Theatre, Alfred Street, Auckland City
SCHOOLS’ PERFORMANCES: 17 March 6.30pm, 2 April 11am
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including an interval
SUITABILITY: Suitable for senior secondary Drama students’ year levels 11-13.
WARNING: Contains occasional use of strong language.
ELEMENTS: Multi-media, Japanese traditional theatre influences, NZ playwright.
PLEASE NOTE:
•
Schools’ performances are followed by a Q&A Forum immediately after the
performance in the theatre for 20 – 30 minutes.
•
During school matinees the bar at the theatre may be closed. We recommend students
bring lunch and something to drink with them, to follow their visit, but eating and
drinking IN THE THEATRE is prohibited.
•
Please make sure all cell-phones are turned off prior to the performance and if
possible, please don’t bring school-bags to the theatre.
ATC EDUCATION UNIT TEACHERS’ PACK 2009
THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP by Vivienne Plumb
Teachers’ Pack compiled by Lynne Cardy, Creative Development and Education Manager [email protected]
All production photos by Michael Smith.
1
SYNOPSIS
THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP is about Honey Tarbox, an entirely
ordinary middle aged woman, and her husband Howard, a recently retired man, whose
lives change completely when Honey begins to speak Japanese in her sleep. It quickly
transpires that when Honey is sleep-speaking she is actually making insightful global
prophesies and this astounding talent turns the shy Auckland housewife into a super
confident media megastar.
In the process Honey’s world is opened up and she befriends a variety of interesting
new people including her night time translator (and ex-language academy teacher,
MISS FLORICA (Peta Rutter), her PA (and Harujuku girl) MOMO (Katlyn Wong), MOMO’S
landscape design student boyfriend KENTA (Andy Wong) and even (the real) John
Campbell.
At first excited by the financial gain to be made from Honey’s talents, Howard
struggles with his wife’s sudden changes and as the balance of power in the
relationship teeters precariously he has to decide whether to stay or go.
DIRECTOR / COLIN MCCOLL
“THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP is a sort of a 21st century antipodeans’
Shirley Valentine.
It’s about a woman and a city in a
state of transformation. It’s about
embracing change and celebrating
diversity. It’s about the power of
imagining and the joy of discovery.
In her reworking of the original
short story, Vivienne has made this
as much a play about Auckland
(though perhaps not quite Auckland
as we imagine it) as it is about a
middle-aged woman taking control
of her life.
Here is a work that is serious, funny, touching, magical, domestic and satiric all at the
same time; a work that celebrates the miracles we can find in the ordinary”. (Colin
McColl)
In staging the play, Colin McColl nods towards traditional Japanese theatre forms such
as Kabuki and Noh theatre. The chorus of Japanese women move with stylised gestures
and ‘invisible’ stage hands (the ‘Karugo’, dressed head to toe in black) facilitate the
many set changes.
The cast watched footage of Kabuki theatre whilst in rehearsal and also worked with
an Auckland based Geisha to perfect their style of movement.
(See also page 8 and 9, JAPANESE THEATRE)
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VIVIENNE PLUMB talks about the
challenge of adapting her short
story into a play.
“THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP was a short
story published in my short fiction collection of the same
title before it ever became a stage piece.
I don’t know how unusual it is for a writer to adapt their own story but I wanted to do
it as I write in several forms – poetry, fiction and drama. The challenge is to lift the
story up off the page. The stage is so visual so I had to make (the story) more visual in
a more concrete way. Of course, it really becomes an entirely new work. It
metamorphoses the way Honey does in the story. I like the idea of one form morphing
into another. It’s like that sticky jelly you can buy in the toy shops that slips around,
shape changing. Intangibles are always interesting.
The story has a lot of ‘magic’ in it. At the time I originally wrote it I was very
interested in what I call ‘everyday magic’. I believed that in our everyday human
rituals (doing 100 sit-ups, using only the pink pegs first, baking birthday cakes,
praying) we produce a kind of ‘magic’. Or maybe it’s just what people now call
‘creative visualization’. I found the magic in the story of Honey transferred itself well
into theatre, as theatre is all about magic also. Good theatre should transcend the
audience into another place, which is a form of magic”. (Vivienne Plumb)
Vivienne Plumb creates a sense of magical realism in the play by deliberately mixing
things that we recognise from the real world (and the real city of Auckland), with an
imagined world. Whilst real-life TV current affairs host John Campbell makes an
appearance in the play, Miss Florica (PETA RUTTER) is obsessed with characters in a
fictional television soap opera called ‘The MacDowells’
ABOUT VIVIENNE PLUMB
Born in Sydney to an Australian father and Kiwi mother, Vivienne has lived in New
Zealand for most of her adult life. She is an award-winning playwright, poet and
fiction writer, and recipient of both the Bruce Mason Playwrighting Award and the
Hubert Church Prose Award for THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP.
Vivienne held the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship in 2001 and has held residencies
at the University of Iowa, USA, and the Hong Kong Baptist University.
Her play, THE CAPE, which has enjoyed productions throughout New Zealand, has been
recently published by Playmarket. It’s the story of four contemporary 17-year-old
youths who set off on a road trip of self-discovery, and Vivienne says: “I think it’s a
great play for secondary schools to study and use”. www.playmarket.org.nz
Vivienne Plumb’s next play OYSTER will feature as part of the YOUNG AND HUNGRY
FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS in July of this year, in Wellington at BATS and also in a
parallel season at The Basement in Auckland, hosted by Auckland Theatre Company.
3
DESIGN PROCESSES
SET/JOHN PARKER
The initial inspiration for John
Parker’s folding and unfolding
set was the scene in the script
where
Honey makes an origami crane.
John wanted to create a set
that, like Honey’s character,
changes throughout the play.
As well as this theme of
metamorphosis John was also
inspired by;
“…elements from another culture - origami, ikebana, the seminal
Japanese design classic HOW TO WRAP FIVE EGGS, traditional
Japanese theatre conventions, commercialism, kitsch, the genius of
Tony Geddes, Asperger’s Syndrome, infidelity, bribery,
exploitation…”
Built on an ultra light steel frame work and covered in the same light core flute card
used for real estate signs, the set pivots from one point at the back and is moved into
different configurations (to become Honey’s bedroom, the language school, the mall
and a Zen garden) by stage-hands dressed entirely in black in the style of the KARUGO
‘invisibles’ of traditional Japanese Kabuki Theatre.
Set design image by John Parker
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Set design image by John Parker
The set in production
5
DESIGN PROCESSES
LIGHTING AND AV/ BRAD GLEDHILL
Visually striking, the lighting and audio visual elements in the play mirror the themes
of metamorphosis and magic inherent in the story and the set. Working closely with
the director and set designer, Lighting designer Brad Gledhill sought to integrate the
lighting and AV elements into the origami like setting as much as possible;
“As the lives of the characters are continually evolving throughout
the play, I wanted to closely integrate the audiovisual and
the lighting components into one coherent design utilising the set as
a starting point. I wanted to allow the world around the actors to
be ever changing and constantly redefining itself - with some fun
surprises on the way.”
AV in production
Some of the ‘surprises’ Brad has created include Japanese calligraphy characters that
pop out from amongst other images, as well as visual scene to scene transitions where
the AV (moving or still image) echoes the preceding action onstage. Some of these are
purely for comic effect, including an onscreen interview between the real John
Campbell and the fictional Honey Tarbox.
6
COSTUME/NIC SMILLIE
Nic Smillie was interested in looking at the ways Western and Japanese cultures
intertwine ‘from high-end fashion to malls and suburbia’ and was inspired by some of
the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Burberry and Kenzo Fashion Houses
Sushi from the local mall
Manga comics and cartoons
Japanese cars
Disneyland
Elvis
Harajuku
Bavarian Gothic Girls
Shiseido makeup
As the character of Honey moves from suburban housewife to Samurai-like prophet,
costume changes reflect her shifting personality (see below).
Honey (Alison Quigan) from mundane to magnificent (L-R)
The cast received guidance about dressing in the traditional kimono from a New
Zealand based Geisha (Rei Shabata)
7
SOUND/JOHN GIBSON
“In Japan there is a concept that music is the relationship between silence and sound.
Sound is the means to listen to silence.
In the singing of the song in this production we discovered that the sound required is
nasal and tense. It is very foreign to Western ideas of beauty, but very familiar to the
eaters of the wasabi that comes with sushi. The tension of the sound increases the
power of the silence.
I have tried to explore these ideas in the sound design using music and sound effects
equally, subtly and aggressively, to charge the space around the actors and to make a
suspended cultural collision; a kind of suburban Butoh for housewives.” (John Gibson)
Most of John’s soundtrack for the play was developed by trial and error in the
rehearsal room. He played tracks to underscore the action and when he and director
Colin McColl found music that seemed to gel with the scene, ‘to make it zing’, they
included it.
JAPANESE THEATRE (a brief history)
Japanese Theatre is shaped by rich cultural traditions, folklore and religion and the two most prominent theatre forms,
Noh and Kabuki, have influenced Western theatre-makers as
diverse as Brecht, Brook and Le Coq.
Each is characterised by highly stylized movement, gesture,
costume and by the blend of various performing arts; music,
singing, mask, puppetry, dance and Shinto rituals.
Noh theatre developed in the 14th century under the artistic
principles of Zen Budhism; restraint, austerity and economy
of performance and continues to be performed today. Noh
plays are a blend of dance, music and song and the stories
are often about gods, warriors, demons or even real people
(although they usually reappear as ghosts).
The traditional Noh stage is made completely of wood and housed within a pavilion
modelled on Shinto shrines. The stage floor is polished so that the actors can move
with a gliding motion and buried beneath the floor are giant pots or bowls that
enhance the resonant qualities of the wood when the actors stomp heavily on the
floor. A chorus accompanies the narrative with a repetitive chant and a musical
ensemble ‘Noh Hayashi’ underscores the action.
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Noh actors are almost exclusively male. The actor playing the main role is masked and
wears ornate extravagant costumes, whilst the minor characters wear less sumptuous
garments and the stage hands are dressed entirely in black. The stage hands often
remain onstage for the entirety of a performance, introducing and retrieving props
where necessary.
Kabuki theatre, which emerged in the 17th century, was more popular than Noh, being
pure entertainment that appealed to the merchant classes as well as workers, monks,
and even servants. Initially involving puppets, by the eighteenth century Kabuki plays
moved away from puppetry (and towards realism) and Bunraku became the puppet
theatre.
In contrast to Noh, the earliest Kabuki performers were all women but later roles,
including females were played exclusively by men. Whilst the actors were frowned
upon by the authorities they became idols for the general public and acting dynasties
emerged including the Danjuro dynasty which survives today. Danjuro I (pictured
above) developed a flamboyant acting style marked by bold black and red make-up
and exaggerated movement.
Traditional Noh theatre presentation
9
CREDITS
CAST
Honey Tarbox Alison Quigan
Howard Tarbox Bruce Phillips
Miss Florica (and others) Peta Rutter
Momo (and others) Katlyn Wong
Kenta (and others) Andy Wong
Gus (and others) Stephen Papps
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Colin McColl
Set design John Parker
Costume design Nic Smillie
Sound design John Gibson
Lighting design Brad Gledhill
Camera/editor Theo Gibson
Translation Morita Masako
Language Coach/Voiceovers Yuri Kinugawa
Cultural advisor Rie Shabata
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Manager Mark Gosling
Technical Manager Bonnie Burrill
Senior Stage Manager Fern Christie
ASM Birgit Lindermayr
Kurogo Chye-Ling Huang and Jordan
Mooney
Operator Brodie Quinn
Properties Master Bec Ehlers
Set Construction 2 Construct
Patternmaker and Costume Construction
Sheila Horton
USEFUL RESOURCES
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The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre
www.artandculture.com
www.japan-zone.com
The Wife Who Spoke Japanese In Her Sleep, Vivienne Plumb 1993,
University of Otago Press (Dunedin).
10
CURRICULUM LINKS
ATC Education Unit activities relate directly to PK, UC and CI strands of the NZ
Curriculum from levels 5 to 8. It also has direct relevance to many of the NCEA
achievement standards at all three levels.
All secondary school Drama students (Years 9 to 13) should be experiencing live
theatre as a part of their course of work, (Understanding the Arts in Context).
Curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8 (equivalent to Years 11, 12 and 13) require the inclusion
of New Zealand drama in the course of work.
The NCEA external examinations at each level (Level 1 - AS90011, Level 2 - AS90304,
Level 3 - AS90612) require students to write about live theatre they have seen.
Students who are able to experience fully produced, professional theatre are generally
advantaged in answering these questions
ABOUT THE ATC EDUCATION UNIT www.atc.co.nz/educationunit
The Auckland Theatre Company Education Unit promotes
and encourages teaching and participation in theatre and
acts as a resource for secondary and tertiary educators.
It is a comprehensive and innovative education
programme to nurture young theatre practitioners and
future audiences
The Auckland Theatre Company Education Unit has direct
contact with secondary school students throughout the
greater Auckland region with a focus on delivering an
exciting and popular programme that supports the Arts
education of Auckland students and which focuses on
curriculum development, literacy, and the Arts.
Auckland Theatre Company acknowledges that the
experiences enjoyed by the youth of today are reflected in the vibrancy of theatre in
the future.
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atc schools programme 2009

Transcription

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