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runawayskellum at 07:37pm on 26/01/2011
runawayskellum at 07:37pm on 26/01/2011My university has the most ridiculous exam period IN THE WORLD but, finally, it is all done. Has been for over a week now. And I have been having an awesome week.
Most of this week has been spent in rehearsals. A friend is doing his dissertation on theatre of the oppressed/the distinction between academic and non-academic work/other things that let him devise a show as part of his dissertation. I wish that IR was as cool as that.
We only have a month to get the show together so this week has been 10am-5pm workshops every day. So far things have been a little... well. Artsy is a good word for it, maybe, except that makes it sound not-very-fun when in fact it's been brilliant. We had slow-motion relay races in order to 'understand and feel the mechanics of movements you take for granted'. We played improvisation games to 'open ourselves up to the world of imagination'. We played tag in order to - well, mostly to play tag I think. The writing group for the show sit in the corner and scribble things that come to mind as we work and post it on the communal blog, which we then discuss the next day. It makes me want to run off and join some kind of super-childish artists commune.
Today things got slightly more serious. The 'theme' of the play is environmental politics. The challenge is to create something that isn't preachy OR a disaster movie, which seem to be the two options available for ~environmental messages~. We sat and had a long discussion about environmental racism, diffusion of responsibility, the equating of nature = 'natives' and/or women, etc. We also did a really cool workshop via Skype with a professor at the university of Missouri on the ~rainbow of desire~ - a theatre of the oppressed technique devised specifically for western practitioners.
The professor then told us a bit about her work: she does a lot of 'difficult dialogues' stuff, getting people with opposing views to sit down and have a dialogue with one another. (Being from the west of Scotland, I immediately thought more of anti-sectarian workshops than 'so you believe in science, I believe in the rapture: hey, who's to judge?' scenarios. I have no idea which is more accurate.) Interestingly, apparently the topic with the most resistance - more controversial than all the race and class and religion stuff - is the thought that there might (*gasp*) be a gender imbalance in the field of science and technology.
I've also been exercising! Having been for my asthma review, it turns out that my sudden plunge into wheezy unfit ickishness is probably just due to mould or something environmental that I can't really change (until I move out of here). Until then daily gentle exercise should help ease off the pressure a bit. I already feel better; but then, that could just be the lack of exams and the doing-things-I-love-and-find-engaging-and-challenging-all-day thing. Funny that.
Tonight is Kings Speech with L and her BFF who is visiting from the States! \o/
Most of this week has been spent in rehearsals. A friend is doing his dissertation on theatre of the oppressed/the distinction between academic and non-academic work/other things that let him devise a show as part of his dissertation. I wish that IR was as cool as that.
We only have a month to get the show together so this week has been 10am-5pm workshops every day. So far things have been a little... well. Artsy is a good word for it, maybe, except that makes it sound not-very-fun when in fact it's been brilliant. We had slow-motion relay races in order to 'understand and feel the mechanics of movements you take for granted'. We played improvisation games to 'open ourselves up to the world of imagination'. We played tag in order to - well, mostly to play tag I think. The writing group for the show sit in the corner and scribble things that come to mind as we work and post it on the communal blog, which we then discuss the next day. It makes me want to run off and join some kind of super-childish artists commune.
Today things got slightly more serious. The 'theme' of the play is environmental politics. The challenge is to create something that isn't preachy OR a disaster movie, which seem to be the two options available for ~environmental messages~. We sat and had a long discussion about environmental racism, diffusion of responsibility, the equating of nature = 'natives' and/or women, etc. We also did a really cool workshop via Skype with a professor at the university of Missouri on the ~rainbow of desire~ - a theatre of the oppressed technique devised specifically for western practitioners.
The professor then told us a bit about her work: she does a lot of 'difficult dialogues' stuff, getting people with opposing views to sit down and have a dialogue with one another. (Being from the west of Scotland, I immediately thought more of anti-sectarian workshops than 'so you believe in science, I believe in the rapture: hey, who's to judge?' scenarios. I have no idea which is more accurate.) Interestingly, apparently the topic with the most resistance - more controversial than all the race and class and religion stuff - is the thought that there might (*gasp*) be a gender imbalance in the field of science and technology.
I've also been exercising! Having been for my asthma review, it turns out that my sudden plunge into wheezy unfit ickishness is probably just due to mould or something environmental that I can't really change (until I move out of here). Until then daily gentle exercise should help ease off the pressure a bit. I already feel better; but then, that could just be the lack of exams and the doing-things-I-love-and-find-engaging-and-challenging-all-day thing. Funny that.
Tonight is Kings Speech with L and her BFF who is visiting from the States! \o/