I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet! When I went to Pingelly for work, Steve and I went to their op shop, Pingelly Discounts, and I picked up this absolute gem of a book! It's a book on grammar from the 1920s! Mine is the one on the LH side of the picture. The one on the right is a picture I found on ebay. It covers all the grammatical conventions. It even has two chapters on poetic composition! Mum asked me if Steve thought it was strange that I got so excited over a book about grammar. He didn't. He knows me too well!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Composition for Upper Classes by Lay and Bray
I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet! When I went to Pingelly for work, Steve and I went to their op shop, Pingelly Discounts, and I picked up this absolute gem of a book! It's a book on grammar from the 1920s! Mine is the one on the LH side of the picture. The one on the right is a picture I found on ebay. It covers all the grammatical conventions. It even has two chapters on poetic composition! Mum asked me if Steve thought it was strange that I got so excited over a book about grammar. He didn't. He knows me too well!
My Workspace
Thought I'd chuck in a picture of my actual workspace. It's not always as neat as it is in this picture. At the moment there are three other books, 2 DVDs, a file, an Eisteddfod schedule and a few bits of paper strewn across it as well.I've got my second class with the year 3/4s this arvo, then Hannah's second lesson for the year tomorrow. And I'm supposed to be working on my exam program. I'm also going to be working on Shakespeare with Emily on the weekend and giving Jacinta a phonetics lesson soon. And now I have so many Eisteddfod entries to organise! I'm trying to put together entry packs for Leah and Dannielle. The organising is the annoying part. The best bit is when you get there and your students do well and you have fun running around the theatre after them and pep talking them through their nerves. I'm looking forward to that bit.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
No man is an island
Today I found out, thanks once again to my PoemHunter subscription (see entry A Golden Day 13/2/07), that the concept of 'No man is an island' belonged to John Donne. I never knew that. I'm so far from being a literary scholar! :(
No man is an island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
- John Donne -
The concept is echoed in Ben Lee's We're All In This Together. "...Every twelve seconds someone remembers that we're all in this together..."
Interesting.
promontory:
a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)
No man is an island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
- John Donne -
The concept is echoed in Ben Lee's We're All In This Together. "...Every twelve seconds someone remembers that we're all in this together..."
Interesting.
promontory:
a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Sacrifice
I remember reading this quote on an anorexia site once and thinking it wasn't a bad quote (unless it was in relation to anorexia!).
"Sacrifice is giving up something good for something better." - Anon.
"Sacrifice is giving up something good for something better." - Anon.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Costumes **sigh of appreciation**
On Thursday night I tried on all my costumes for Jekyll and Hyde. They. Are. So. Beautiful. Gorgeous dresses right down to the ground, covered in lace, elegant and fitting, with gloves, pearls, hats, peticoats, bussels and bows. I've never felt so beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen myself look so beautiful. And as an outwardly self-critical/modest person when it comes to appearence, it's not often that I'll admit to thinking I look nice. But damn, I looked nice!
Another great thing about the evening was that I met Muriel, my lovely 'costume lady' (for want of the correct term). Mu and I hit it off. She's a deep well of knowledge on theatre history which I was keen to draw from! She taught me the proper manners, and how to curtsey properly and she complimented me on my walk. It felt like the right walk for the dress - very upright, gliding, refined. I feel I understand Emma even more now that I know how to move and behave like her. Mu and I were close already by the end of our fitting session! She will be my dresser for the show. I'm so grateful that I'll be wearing these lovely things. Including a wedding dress (a first indeed)!
Another great thing about the evening was that I met Muriel, my lovely 'costume lady' (for want of the correct term). Mu and I hit it off. She's a deep well of knowledge on theatre history which I was keen to draw from! She taught me the proper manners, and how to curtsey properly and she complimented me on my walk. It felt like the right walk for the dress - very upright, gliding, refined. I feel I understand Emma even more now that I know how to move and behave like her. Mu and I were close already by the end of our fitting session! She will be my dresser for the show. I'm so grateful that I'll be wearing these lovely things. Including a wedding dress (a first indeed)!
29.3.07 - Correct term is "wardrobe mistress".
Dancing with the Prince
Hey! Guess what I did tonight? I danced with Don Pedro (Richard Mellick) in Much Ado About Nothing (Essential Theatre, Shakespeare in the Vines, Hackersley Winery)! He picked me from the audience and I danced with him in front of about 400 people! He said he'd picked me sometime at the start of the play. When they said he needed a wife, some older women in the front row put their hands up, but he said to them, "not a chance," and came and chose me. It was exciting and I felt so happy to be involved!
Little did Richard know, he was picking someone who'd actually worked with Stephen and Kate, his co-stars. He learnt this later when I talked with himself and Stephen. Stephen and I had a good chat and a catch up. He and Kate were brilliant and the show was a joy! We were a great Shakespearean audience, I thought: opinionated and collectively outspoken. Even the cows (part of the scenery, or one might say, 'unwitting extras in the drama') joined in!
Stephen told me that he, David, Angelique and possibly Nic will be back down here in July doing Othello and The Canterbury Tales at BREC and in Busso. Looking forward to seeing the gang again!
Little did Richard know, he was picking someone who'd actually worked with Stephen and Kate, his co-stars. He learnt this later when I talked with himself and Stephen. Stephen and I had a good chat and a catch up. He and Kate were brilliant and the show was a joy! We were a great Shakespearean audience, I thought: opinionated and collectively outspoken. Even the cows (part of the scenery, or one might say, 'unwitting extras in the drama') joined in!
Stephen told me that he, David, Angelique and possibly Nic will be back down here in July doing Othello and The Canterbury Tales at BREC and in Busso. Looking forward to seeing the gang again!
Monday, February 19, 2007
So many people
There are so many people in the world. And everybody is one of them. Every other person experiences life in the same way I do, from first person perspective. There is no one who isn't anyone, and there is no one who is more than one person. (Unless you count people with Dissociative Identity Disorder and conjoined twins, but I don't count them because they really are one and two people respectively.) When you put two people together, something happens. All of a sudden there's a mutual reality. There's a consensus that what one person sees is pretty much the same as what the other person sees, so the reality that each of them is experiencing is confirmed. This combined perspective, although still two seperate perspectives, is what creates a community. So the world is just a big clump of individual perspectives combined into community upon community upon community.
'night.
'night.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Self-confessed MBTI junkie
I am officially obsessed with personality types! I found a book at the library today called Do What You Are. I actually joined the South Perth library so I could borrow it!I've loved the MBTI since I learnt about it from Jon Doust at a workshop in 2004. Every time I study it I realise all over again just how brilliant it is. I sat in the library laughing my head off because it was all I could do not to cry at how accurate some of the descriptions were of the types of people I know.
I'm an INFP, by the way.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Bio
I'm currently rehearsing for Jekyll & Hyde The Musical. I'm playing the part of Emma Carew, Henry Jekyll's fiance.
The following is a bio I wrote for fun after reading the program bios from The Full Monty, the last show that was put on by my current company, the Bunbury Musical Comedy Group. My actual program bio for J&H, of course, won't be this long, but I had fun summarising my entire career to date!
"
My first ever on stage experience was a bad one. It was in the Bunbury Eisteddfod when I was 7, and I accidentally sang the same verse twice in My Ship Sailed From China. I decided then that I’d rather be a writer.
Eventually, writing lead me back to the stage when I wrote a play in year 6 which I ended up starring in when my lead actor didn’t show up.
I started taking singing lessons again in about year 9, but I always had a problem with nerves when it came to performing in front of anyone. I remember my first solo audition. It was for The Sound Of Music, and I was shaking so much you’d think I was being electrocuted!
Thanks to group auditioning, my involvement in regional theatre began in 2001 when I was in the chorus of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown with Sundance Music Theatre Company. That’s all it took to get me addicted to the stage. Since then I’ve been involved in Sundance’s The Wizard of Oz, and the South West Opera Company’s Carousel, Les Misarables and The Gipsy Baron (backstage).
My very supportive parents gave me countless lifts to rehearsals from our home in Donnybrook before I got my licence. We moved to Bunbury this year, which has enabled me to be involved in the South West One Act Drama Festival with SWWHIC Chicks Theatre, performing in a group devised play, Three’s A Crowd.
Last year I was privileged enough to work alongside professional actors and directors when I was cast in Bare Naked Theatre Company’s inaugural double season of Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Audrey) and Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio), performed at selected venues around the South West. I can’t begin to explain how valuable this experience was for me as an actor.
As a job, I work for an organisation called Nurture Works, more commonly known as BUZ (Build-Up-Zone). My job involves performing in shows at primary schools each week, helping to run discos, being a camp leader and this year even running my own school holiday drama program called BUZ Act 3.
I’ve been taking AMEB Speech and Drama lessons since 2004, which has meant travelling to Perth one day every week to study the practical and theoretical aspects of theatre. Last year I achieved a High Distinction for my 8th grade performance exam and Honours for my 6th grade theory. This year I’ve taken on a few of my own drama students, as well as juggling work, study and Jekyll and Hyde rehearsals.
Emma is my first lead role in a musical.
"
The following is a bio I wrote for fun after reading the program bios from The Full Monty, the last show that was put on by my current company, the Bunbury Musical Comedy Group. My actual program bio for J&H, of course, won't be this long, but I had fun summarising my entire career to date!
"
My first ever on stage experience was a bad one. It was in the Bunbury Eisteddfod when I was 7, and I accidentally sang the same verse twice in My Ship Sailed From China. I decided then that I’d rather be a writer.
Eventually, writing lead me back to the stage when I wrote a play in year 6 which I ended up starring in when my lead actor didn’t show up.
I started taking singing lessons again in about year 9, but I always had a problem with nerves when it came to performing in front of anyone. I remember my first solo audition. It was for The Sound Of Music, and I was shaking so much you’d think I was being electrocuted!
Thanks to group auditioning, my involvement in regional theatre began in 2001 when I was in the chorus of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown with Sundance Music Theatre Company. That’s all it took to get me addicted to the stage. Since then I’ve been involved in Sundance’s The Wizard of Oz, and the South West Opera Company’s Carousel, Les Misarables and The Gipsy Baron (backstage).
My very supportive parents gave me countless lifts to rehearsals from our home in Donnybrook before I got my licence. We moved to Bunbury this year, which has enabled me to be involved in the South West One Act Drama Festival with SWWHIC Chicks Theatre, performing in a group devised play, Three’s A Crowd.
Last year I was privileged enough to work alongside professional actors and directors when I was cast in Bare Naked Theatre Company’s inaugural double season of Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Audrey) and Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio), performed at selected venues around the South West. I can’t begin to explain how valuable this experience was for me as an actor.
As a job, I work for an organisation called Nurture Works, more commonly known as BUZ (Build-Up-Zone). My job involves performing in shows at primary schools each week, helping to run discos, being a camp leader and this year even running my own school holiday drama program called BUZ Act 3.
I’ve been taking AMEB Speech and Drama lessons since 2004, which has meant travelling to Perth one day every week to study the practical and theoretical aspects of theatre. Last year I achieved a High Distinction for my 8th grade performance exam and Honours for my 6th grade theory. This year I’ve taken on a few of my own drama students, as well as juggling work, study and Jekyll and Hyde rehearsals.
Emma is my first lead role in a musical.
"
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Harriet
While I'm talking about books, I might as well publish the review I wrote for Youth Express last year. I had to read a book about a Galápagos tortoise called Harriet. Sound like fun? Yeah. Barrels. Nah, I'm really greatful to Jo, the lovely journalist who gave me the opportunity to get off my ass and actually write something, even if it was about a tortoise.
"
Have you ever read a biography that covers around 175 years of personal history? Have you ever read a biography for which the subject was never interviewed?
Harriet, by Anthony Hill, is a unique biography indeed. It tells the story of a tortoise who was brought to Brisbane shortly after her birth in Santa Cruz in the Galápagos Islands, probably in the 1830s. Considering the fact that asking Harriet about her life was out of the question, Hill has put together a very detailed, mostly factual account of her experiences, from her voyage to Australian shores to her eventual death at Australia Zoo in June this year. When I say ‘mostly factual’, I mean that the story has some fictional elements to make it interesting, such as Harriet’s bitterly sarcastic, wise old voice jumping in to give occasional comments on the narrative, and a bit of guesswork as to how the tortoises in the story may have been feeling about certain events.
Of course, some parts of Harriet’s history are unknown. There are a lot of different opinions on how Harriet came to Australia. Hill has based this part of story on one of the many theories, all of which are discussed in full factual detail in the final chapters of the book.
The story is accompanied by helpful illustrations by Coral Tulloch, which include a map and a family tree showing several generations of people who encountered Harriet. Other useful features are a timeline, general information on tortoises and the Galápagos and a page of references and suggestions for further reading. This book would be perfect for a primary school student doing a project on tortoises, or researching Harriet’s life, because it is easy to read and jam packed with information.
"
In actual fact, I found the book incredibly boring and uncreative. But... I decided to be nice about it for the review. It was very well researched but it might as well have been a textbook. I guess when you grow up reading Gleitzman and Jennings you come to expect a little bit more creative writing craftsmanship and prestige to engage the young reader. Although some of Gleitzman's newer stuff seems a bit questionable... I mean, Aristotle the nose germ? Kinda 'ick' if you ask me. But hey, all is forgiven for the guy who wrote the brilliant trilogies of Rowena and Keith.
Sorry, I digress. It was nice to have a review published. I wonder if anyone read it.
"
Have you ever read a biography that covers around 175 years of personal history? Have you ever read a biography for which the subject was never interviewed?
Harriet, by Anthony Hill, is a unique biography indeed. It tells the story of a tortoise who was brought to Brisbane shortly after her birth in Santa Cruz in the Galápagos Islands, probably in the 1830s. Considering the fact that asking Harriet about her life was out of the question, Hill has put together a very detailed, mostly factual account of her experiences, from her voyage to Australian shores to her eventual death at Australia Zoo in June this year. When I say ‘mostly factual’, I mean that the story has some fictional elements to make it interesting, such as Harriet’s bitterly sarcastic, wise old voice jumping in to give occasional comments on the narrative, and a bit of guesswork as to how the tortoises in the story may have been feeling about certain events.
Of course, some parts of Harriet’s history are unknown. There are a lot of different opinions on how Harriet came to Australia. Hill has based this part of story on one of the many theories, all of which are discussed in full factual detail in the final chapters of the book.
The story is accompanied by helpful illustrations by Coral Tulloch, which include a map and a family tree showing several generations of people who encountered Harriet. Other useful features are a timeline, general information on tortoises and the Galápagos and a page of references and suggestions for further reading. This book would be perfect for a primary school student doing a project on tortoises, or researching Harriet’s life, because it is easy to read and jam packed with information.
"
In actual fact, I found the book incredibly boring and uncreative. But... I decided to be nice about it for the review. It was very well researched but it might as well have been a textbook. I guess when you grow up reading Gleitzman and Jennings you come to expect a little bit more creative writing craftsmanship and prestige to engage the young reader. Although some of Gleitzman's newer stuff seems a bit questionable... I mean, Aristotle the nose germ? Kinda 'ick' if you ask me. But hey, all is forgiven for the guy who wrote the brilliant trilogies of Rowena and Keith.
Sorry, I digress. It was nice to have a review published. I wonder if anyone read it.
Michael Rosen's Sad Book
I read this book at Borders on Friday. I was standing on one of those little library stools (the book was on the top shelf), crying! It was so moving.
The author, famous children's writer Michael Rosen, writes about how sad he feels about the death of his son, and how that sadness affects him on a daily basis.
The illustrations by Quentin Blake are and subtle enough not to take over the power of the words, yet they seem to perfectly capture the depth of emotion being expressed.
A Golden Day
PoemHunter.com, although it bugs me because it sends me squillions of poems and I can't read them all, sometimes sends me a poem that reminds me why I bother subscribing to "A Classic Poem Daily". I received this one a couple of weeks ago. I know it's a bit cliched, but I thought it was so beautiful. It gave me the tingles.
A Golden Day
I found you and I lost you,
All on a gleaming day.
The day was filled with sunshine,
And the land was full of May.
A golden bird was singing
Its melody divine,
I found you and I loved you,
And all the world was mine.
I found you and I lost you,
All on a golden day,
But when I dream of you, dear,
It is always brimming May.
- Paul Laurence Dunbar -
A Golden Day
I found you and I lost you,
All on a gleaming day.
The day was filled with sunshine,
And the land was full of May.
A golden bird was singing
Its melody divine,
I found you and I loved you,
And all the world was mine.
I found you and I lost you,
All on a golden day,
But when I dream of you, dear,
It is always brimming May.
- Paul Laurence Dunbar -
To quote the great Jane Lane, "Yo."
Welcome welcome welcome to the clutter that is my head and my workspace.
I'm starting this blog so I can publish things that interest me and things that are relevant to my study. For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm an AMEB drama and performance student. I love literature, grammar and ideas.
Hope you find something interesting to read here.