Close and Faraway meeting

So I met with Stewart Marshall to discuss the music for Close and Faraway and some suggestions on refining the script.

Things are going well and I have some decent guidelines to work within for bringing the score together in a way that follows the progression of the script. Where things come in, where they come out, what kind of meshing of themes would work, where variations on themes could go. It's nice to have a frame work it makes things a lot easier.

Attune Theatre will be performing a new short as part of Seeds of Thought at the CCA tonight, from 7:30. Come along and check it out.

Stewart has been in meetings with various venues regarding preview events for Close and Faraway and organisations regarding receiving some funding, all very exciting.

Knives in Hens and Frames of Reference

Tonight I went to see Knives in Hens at the Tramway Theatre with Gareth Vile.

It was a really bizarre experience for me because the director made the decision to execute the piece in a sort of surrealistic style which (I am told on good authority from Gareth) is popular in Belgian theatre. This is supposedly very much at odds with how the writer (David Harrower) is usually interpreted, in a very naturalistic style typical to British theatre.

What made this so strange and educational is I felt I had no frame of reference to judge the piece by...
I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it all the way through, but I couldn't say that anything was wrong with it either.

In other words, if you give me a piece of music to look at I can tell you whether it's good or not, if you think good is subjecive lets say i can say whether it works or not. I can tell you if the harmonic changes are clever or basic, if the melody is inspired or average, if there are interesting rhythmic features, if the parts are written idiomatically for the instruments that have to play them, etc.

I can tell you those things because I have a reasonably sophisticated understanding of music.

Basically I couldn't say whether this piece was good or not because I didn't know what criterion I should be judging it by. That's a very interesting experience for someone who doesn't believe the quality of art in entirely subjective and aesthetics go beyond reason (hence, in part, the name of this blog.)

I was so glad that I didn't have to review it because in this instance my opinion would really not be a qualified one. I'd have to fake it. Until I've seen another four or five pieces in this idiom I wouldn't have much to say about it other than I found it a bit too long and intense, but there were some beautiful moments.

Gareth explained a lot of context on the walk home which helped clarify what was going on to a degree.

It's amazing how everything you see broadens your awareness, especially if you can discuss it in detail with someone on the way home :-) This was a funny point because we were talking about whether it was successful or not and as we reached the door Gareth said something like, "If the point of the play was to get people to discuss whether they liked it or not all the way home then it would be an outrageous success." True.

Here is an insightful review of Knives in Hens by Lyn Gardner at The Guardian, she's a very good critic, I've read a couple of her reviews.

Another review of Knives in Hens by Mark Fisher writing for The Guardian in Edinburgh

I've looked at other  reviews as well but none I found particularly worth sharing.

Illich - The High Brow Sketch Show (Episode 8) FEATURING KEANU REEVES!!!!

here it is:

Performed by Illich, recorded and engineered by Jono at the Soular Power Suite

Music for Close and Faraway update

This weekend I have been working here and there for the music for Close and Faraway, I now have a number of pieces in varying degrees of completion:

- Genesis
- Further Away (Underscore for Alpha's First Monologue) / Alpha's Theme
- Omega's Theme
- Omicron's Theme
- Epsilon's Theme (and variations)
- Omicron's Theme
- Bollero
- Revelations

Review of Avenue Q

Check out my review of Avenue Q on The Skinny's Website.

Advice on Writing Musicals, a critic's perspective

I went to see When The Clown Laughs by Joseph Traynor yesterday, I couldn't review it for The Skinny but I did offer up a couple of pages of feedback for the writer/director/co-star. I've made a more general digest for this blog as I think there's something valuable in it and I spose I should be making posts about what I'm doing as that's the whole point of having this blog.

• Be economical with your scripts. The common runtime of a musical at The King's is around 1h40 including interval! That’s about standard for a musical as that suits people’s attention spans. I certainly wouldn’t stretch to more than 2 hours all in.
  
  While scenes and songs are your children, you will generally find that making cuts of choice selections makes every line count and results in stronger writing overall. Especially look out for explanations that are repeated (does the audience already know this? Does putting this in add anything to the impact?)
  
  For songs, every one should add something to the plotline or have an important impact. They should not just serve to span things out. As a general rule if they do not contribute something significant that can specifically be named and justified they have to be cut. I’ve read about Stephen Sondheim writing over 30 songs for a show and leaving only about 22 of them in at the end, it’s just part of the process and no experience is wasted
  
  During scene dresses instrumental music should usually have some melodic material to it, not just the kind of music that accompanys someone singing. Without the vocal melody on top it sounds bare, it sounds like an accompanyment, which is what it is.
  
  Exercise caution in dealing with themes of incest (particularly in the first scene) as some people find this very distasteful. There are some taboos over being forceful on those issues in our society which can leave a bad taste in the mouth of theatre goers which certainly ought not to be an initial reaction.
  
  When actors have solos they should not be under-directed otherwise half way through the song they end up looking like a fish out of water, as though they don't really know what do do with themselves. Some action can be useful in keeping the audience's attention.
  Before you put a show into production do some work-shopping and ask other writers and theatre-makers to read your scripts or watch excerpts and comment on anything points that can be tweaked or any repetition that can be snipped to make the overall item stronger.
  Naturally all criticism is subjective, my only authority is that I see more than most people and write about it regularly.

Tell Me on a Sunday

Check out my review of Tell Me on A Sunday, it's on The Skinny's website.