The Children’s Theatre Festival is almost over. A Theatre festival organized in a week. Some friend’s of mine performed in the resort town of Tichy just outside of Bejaia. The performance was in an old cinema that hasn’t been used in years. The seats are so old they are starting to desintegrate and you end up sitting at a strange angle. There is absolutely no lighting—the walls are crumbling, the curtains torn to shreads, and pigeons and sea gulls have built nests in the rafters.
The cinema/theatre is in a neighborhood that nobody in Tichy ever goes to—it’s the part of town where you could easily find a prostitute. Broken beer bottles all over the ground, men waiting impatiently under over hanging bushes…etc etc. My friends found a group of 5 boys playing in the street and invited them into the cinema for their own private performance. They put 5 chairs on stage and improvised gags and jokes and slapstick for 45 minutes. The kids were totally beside themselves. And there’s where the importance and magic of theatre lies—it can happen anywhere for anyone…
I have one more day left of the workshop I am leading for actors of the TRB. There are 5 consistent guys who keep coming and work really hard. The other’s come and go and I can tell they don’t really see the importance of learning to move, taking note of one’s body as an actor…It’s difficult too because the people who drift in and out do not get how I am trying to build one day on the other. And I keep second guessing myself—really who am I to be leading a workshop for the actors of a regional theatre? I told them—look this is all research that we do together—I will propose things but ultimately it’s up to you to take my proposition further on your own. Once it gets physically demanding half the group sits down or asks if they can go and get a coffee.
In other news recuitment for the KFP is going slowly. The folks at the TRB who are helping me have been swamped by this festival. I am leading 4 different workshops at schools here next week (as of Saturday given the Algerian weekend of Thursday and Friday) and I’m hoping something comes of that…we are trying to circulate the word of mouth as much as possible…already today two people have spoken to me about the project.
This afternoon I attended one of the day-time performances of the Festival. The kids in the audience were out of control, let out of their cages. Screaming, chanting, clapping, talking with each other, shouting things at the actors, dancing in their seats to songs in their heads…one entire row was dressed in the Bejaia football team’s colors. Apparently they lost their way en route to the stadium…there were fire fighters and a policeman at the theatre who in the middle of the show and chaos walked right in front of the stage, the props master at one point opened the door to the theatre and lit a cigarette…
For kids here it feels like they are living in a pressure cooker. As soon as there is any activity that gets them out of the rigid constraints that encircle most people in this country they seem to loose all reference points. I am surprised the kids didn’t charge the stage. Actors here tell me stories of kids climbing up on stage with them in the middle of a show.
I led a workshop after the second day-time performance with middle school students. There were exceptional. And oh so much more willing to take risks than the adult actors I am working with in the morning…
The cinema/theatre is in a neighborhood that nobody in Tichy ever goes to—it’s the part of town where you could easily find a prostitute. Broken beer bottles all over the ground, men waiting impatiently under over hanging bushes…etc etc. My friends found a group of 5 boys playing in the street and invited them into the cinema for their own private performance. They put 5 chairs on stage and improvised gags and jokes and slapstick for 45 minutes. The kids were totally beside themselves. And there’s where the importance and magic of theatre lies—it can happen anywhere for anyone…
I have one more day left of the workshop I am leading for actors of the TRB. There are 5 consistent guys who keep coming and work really hard. The other’s come and go and I can tell they don’t really see the importance of learning to move, taking note of one’s body as an actor…It’s difficult too because the people who drift in and out do not get how I am trying to build one day on the other. And I keep second guessing myself—really who am I to be leading a workshop for the actors of a regional theatre? I told them—look this is all research that we do together—I will propose things but ultimately it’s up to you to take my proposition further on your own. Once it gets physically demanding half the group sits down or asks if they can go and get a coffee.
In other news recuitment for the KFP is going slowly. The folks at the TRB who are helping me have been swamped by this festival. I am leading 4 different workshops at schools here next week (as of Saturday given the Algerian weekend of Thursday and Friday) and I’m hoping something comes of that…we are trying to circulate the word of mouth as much as possible…already today two people have spoken to me about the project.
This afternoon I attended one of the day-time performances of the Festival. The kids in the audience were out of control, let out of their cages. Screaming, chanting, clapping, talking with each other, shouting things at the actors, dancing in their seats to songs in their heads…one entire row was dressed in the Bejaia football team’s colors. Apparently they lost their way en route to the stadium…there were fire fighters and a policeman at the theatre who in the middle of the show and chaos walked right in front of the stage, the props master at one point opened the door to the theatre and lit a cigarette…
For kids here it feels like they are living in a pressure cooker. As soon as there is any activity that gets them out of the rigid constraints that encircle most people in this country they seem to loose all reference points. I am surprised the kids didn’t charge the stage. Actors here tell me stories of kids climbing up on stage with them in the middle of a show.
I led a workshop after the second day-time performance with middle school students. There were exceptional. And oh so much more willing to take risks than the adult actors I am working with in the morning…
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