Check out our Poster for our performance! Created by our wonderful Designer Sarah Harvey.....thoughts?
Tuesday 6 March 2012
TECH REHEARSAL
So Colourphobia has been running around in rehearsals like mad little clowns!
Cups have been flying, sand has been spilt and water has been soaring! but its all under control!
So yesterday we have our FIRST AUDIENCE MEMBERS!!!! It was only a total of 3 people! but the response was amazing! oh yes, thats right, it was our Tech Rehearsal yesterday which went extremely well. We have lights, we have music and we have video and working simultaneously! Our show was running at 26 minutes!! Ekk! its been shaved down to 21 minutes!! Some last minute shaving to do today and well be all ready for those examiners!
It's Time to put the gloves on and clean this show up, tighten those dance moves, adjust that blocking and get this show on the road!
As of friday once our show is on the road and the secrets are revealed we'll be making post on our research period in greater detail, explaining how our piece was created, the research behind it and the process to its creation.
Cups have been flying, sand has been spilt and water has been soaring! but its all under control!
So yesterday we have our FIRST AUDIENCE MEMBERS!!!! It was only a total of 3 people! but the response was amazing! oh yes, thats right, it was our Tech Rehearsal yesterday which went extremely well. We have lights, we have music and we have video and working simultaneously! Our show was running at 26 minutes!! Ekk! its been shaved down to 21 minutes!! Some last minute shaving to do today and well be all ready for those examiners!
It's Time to put the gloves on and clean this show up, tighten those dance moves, adjust that blocking and get this show on the road!
As of friday once our show is on the road and the secrets are revealed we'll be making post on our research period in greater detail, explaining how our piece was created, the research behind it and the process to its creation.
Colourphobia xxx
Tuesday 21 February 2012
FACEPAINT and WATER
So Colourphobia have infact been extremely busy in the studio experimenting with facepaint. Literally red raw faces putting on, taking off and putting on, taking off over and over again. Every colour in the palette has been used and we have had lots of fun doing it.
This week we have been filming our final shots for our faces montage- it looks very exciting stuff and we can't wait to show the audiences.
2 weeks til show time...so back in the studio to experiment some more.
Colourphobia xxx
So Colourphobia have infact been extremely busy in the studio experimenting with facepaint. Literally red raw faces putting on, taking off and putting on, taking off over and over again. Every colour in the palette has been used and we have had lots of fun doing it.
This week we have been filming our final shots for our faces montage- it looks very exciting stuff and we can't wait to show the audiences.
2 weeks til show time...so back in the studio to experiment some more.
Colourphobia xxx
Sunday 5 February 2012
Testing the Clowns Continued!....
At the start of the session we each had a go of walking out from behind the curtain as a clown and just simply stand there with the red nose the (the exercise we did with Jon Davidson) Sounds like a daunting exercise I know! However it is an excellent way to start exploring clowning with a sense of neutrality. In this process we realise the impact of speech and how that made it a lot easier because we were able to communicate however that made us explore the power of silence! Also the impact that has on us as clowns
Then we really got into it by now and we all feel comfortable with the exercise we wanted to start exploring the use of make-up and how that may or may not change the way we perform/ react as a clown. We each picked a picture then went all PICASSO and painted it on one another and I have to say for beginners... we did a pretty good job!
I found it all very therapeutic I was also completely in control of somebody else's face which is an awful lot of pressure and you as the artist have quite alot of power over them because you are in control! This is something possibly to be explored within our process.... After our little painting se we decided to repeat the clown game again and see if it did have an effect on us but to do it purposefully but naturally. I personally felt a big change and I was aware of the face I had on and it did effect the way I behaved and interacted it made me feel like I had more character it made me feel like a CLOWN ;).
This was such a FUN FILLED session what a lovely way to start my birthday 21st!!!
Peace, Love and Clowns
At the start of the session we each had a go of walking out from behind the curtain as a clown and just simply stand there with the red nose the (the exercise we did with Jon Davidson) Sounds like a daunting exercise I know! However it is an excellent way to start exploring clowning with a sense of neutrality. In this process we realise the impact of speech and how that made it a lot easier because we were able to communicate however that made us explore the power of silence! Also the impact that has on us as clowns
Then we really got into it by now and we all feel comfortable with the exercise we wanted to start exploring the use of make-up and how that may or may not change the way we perform/ react as a clown. We each picked a picture then went all PICASSO and painted it on one another and I have to say for beginners... we did a pretty good job!
I found it all very therapeutic I was also completely in control of somebody else's face which is an awful lot of pressure and you as the artist have quite alot of power over them because you are in control! This is something possibly to be explored within our process.... After our little painting se we decided to repeat the clown game again and see if it did have an effect on us but to do it purposefully but naturally. I personally felt a big change and I was aware of the face I had on and it did effect the way I behaved and interacted it made me feel like I had more character it made me feel like a CLOWN ;).
This was such a FUN FILLED session what a lovely way to start my birthday 21st!!!
Peace, Love and Clowns
Thursday 2 February 2012
Testing the Clowns!
Today we started testing out the faces of a clown!
Jordan as the Pierrot Clown
Danielle as the Tramp Clown
Sarah as the Traditional Clown
Colourphobia and the Party Trumpets!
Colourphobia Gang!
Colourphobia Close Up!
Colourphobia. xxx
(More blurb on this session to come!)
Clowning Around With Jon Davidson
Wednesday 1st February- Colourphobia Theatre Company had the absolute honour of having a private workshop with the one and only Clown legend, Jon Davison.
Jon Davison had taught us a short lesson on the art of clowning a few years back; and I think it is fair to say it was this introduction to clowning that has in fact inspired our company to form and create the work that we are hoping to create today.
So the day- freezing cold in a dark studio 2, Colourphobia group are anticipating a very exciting workshop huddled round the one radiator that works. (but that's another story) At precisely 10:30am- Mr Jon Davison enters our room and the sheer giddiness and excitement kicks in. All 3 of us keen to impress him, but also so eager to learn form a true clown.
First we introduced him to our main project- A critical and cultural exploration of Clowning: through the history of "Blackface in the Minstrel Shows" we intend to explore the power of make-up,Coulrophobia and filmography to devise a performance that will capture the essence of clowning through make-up and movement for a modern day audience.- to which he got extremely excited about and we all spent a good hour discussing all we knew about black and white minstrel shows, history of clowning, links between clowning and minstrelsy, make-up and it's power, possible ideas for the show....etc etc etc. The discussion just bounced back and forth between us all- secretly I honestly think he was impressed with our knowledge (good old senate house trips) as we even taught him a thing or two about minstrelsy.
Then the true fun began- Jon lead us in a clowning workshop:
FIRST - the chair game- aim of the game is to sit on the empty chair so that the person standing can't.
THEN- to make the game interesting the person standing was allowed to break the rules.
Literally we were fighting each other, falling over each other, running around with random chairs, pulling, pushing, (Jordan actually became a psycho chair stacker at one point) and laughing so hard al the way through.
SECOND- the Nosed Clown- Each person would enter the room with a red clown nose on and stand before the audience and try to please/entertain us by just being them.
Sounds simple right- WRONG- I couldn't even breathe in my nose, so the art of just being able to breathe in and out is apparently funny.
Jon was great, he was able to educate us on the simple techniques and rules of clowning with these two simple games. "Clowns are people who break the silent rules, do the unexpected"
The BEST thing about the whole workshop was we laughed so hard, played even harder and all with Jon joining in with us!
Now we have refreshed our clowning skills- its time to start devising our show!!! Yaya!
LOts of exciting things to come guys!
Colourphobia
For more info on Jon Davison: http://www.jondavison.net/
Underground Attack!
On Tuesday 2nd Colourphobia went to UCL's Senate House library ( once again! ) to dive into the books and research our little clown hearts out.
Having last week spent time researching the black minstrels, this time we went on down the traditional clown route, Commedia Dell'arte and Coulrophobia ( which apparently, theres no books on in that library!) the trip was very eventful, we learnt a lot of little tricks and secretes, which we're not prepared to disclose to just any old soul!! (just yet)
Our trip home found us in the most amazing Sainsbury's EVER, so if you're ever by Tottenham Court Road, pop in there ! its like supermarket dream! so before we all went our separate ways, we decided to play with a wee spot of clowning on the underground!
My, my was it eventful.
We didn't want to scare our fellow passengers in full clown, make-up and all, on our first day. So we went on wearing our red noses, equipped with a white board and juggling scarves! To see how society responded to us. and most importantly how they responded to us without the face-paint!
After doing several round trips to and from Bond street and Liverpool Street... which is very exhausting! We managed to get a small handful of people to 1. Interact and actually reply to us! and 2. to actually give the juggling scarves a try!
One lady questioned whether our noses where real and said 'oh, where you born with that nose then?' and then went on to tell us about Red Nose Day and the charity behind it.
However the winner of the day, was when we were waiting on the platform for our train back standing there with a message saying 'Hello Fellow Passengers! How are you?' a little girl saw us smiling her little heart out, waving and then said 'Oh, they're clowns!' witha giant grin on her face. Oh yes we are! Such a delight to see the innocence of a little girl, brighten our day as well as give us hope for our un-itnteractive tube passangers. Come on London! snap out of following the Rules of the Tube!
Much love.
Colourphoia. xxx
PICTURES TO COME! ONE OF THE COLOURPHOBIAS HAS MISPLACED THEIR CAMERA LEADS!
Having last week spent time researching the black minstrels, this time we went on down the traditional clown route, Commedia Dell'arte and Coulrophobia ( which apparently, theres no books on in that library!) the trip was very eventful, we learnt a lot of little tricks and secretes, which we're not prepared to disclose to just any old soul!! (just yet)
Our trip home found us in the most amazing Sainsbury's EVER, so if you're ever by Tottenham Court Road, pop in there ! its like supermarket dream! so before we all went our separate ways, we decided to play with a wee spot of clowning on the underground!
My, my was it eventful.
We didn't want to scare our fellow passengers in full clown, make-up and all, on our first day. So we went on wearing our red noses, equipped with a white board and juggling scarves! To see how society responded to us. and most importantly how they responded to us without the face-paint!
After doing several round trips to and from Bond street and Liverpool Street... which is very exhausting! We managed to get a small handful of people to 1. Interact and actually reply to us! and 2. to actually give the juggling scarves a try!
One lady questioned whether our noses where real and said 'oh, where you born with that nose then?' and then went on to tell us about Red Nose Day and the charity behind it.
However the winner of the day, was when we were waiting on the platform for our train back standing there with a message saying 'Hello Fellow Passengers! How are you?' a little girl saw us smiling her little heart out, waving and then said 'Oh, they're clowns!' witha giant grin on her face. Oh yes we are! Such a delight to see the innocence of a little girl, brighten our day as well as give us hope for our un-itnteractive tube passangers. Come on London! snap out of following the Rules of the Tube!
Much love.
Colourphoia. xxx
PICTURES TO COME! ONE OF THE COLOURPHOBIAS HAS MISPLACED THEIR CAMERA LEADS!
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Why Colourphobia??
What does Colourphobia mean? Why the heck would we pick it as a name?
Well little followers, let us fill you in…
Coulrophobia, if you look in any well known dictionary or our beloved google is that name given to those who have a fear of clowns.
COULROPHOBIA = FEAR OF CLOWNS
We assume those who have a fear of clowns, will either
1. Already know this name, and kinda get the jist.
2. Not be on our blog for too long! and moving swiftly along.
we however like due to its similarity to the word colour, we’re very interested in the power of make-up and face-paints, colours, what different colours mean to different people, how a colour shows expression or an emotion, juxtaposing colours, colours as opposites, using colour as a mask on our face and what this colour may represent, playing with colours…. it goes on and on and on…. basically…. WE LOVE COLOURS!
So we had a little play around with Coulrophoiba and and the word Colour….(see what we did!) and created and own word…. Thats right COLOURPHOBIA!
Hence, we were born!
Colourphobia. xxx
Lets Get This Show On The Road….
So …
We’re creating a performance based around, clowning and the black faced minstrels questioning the power of make up, along with a bit of filmography, song, dance, fun and laughs.
Hence…
We’ve created this blog for several reasons.
REASON 1 - To show the world what we’re doing, nothings a secret nowadays anyways.
REASON 2 - To keep track of our workshops, thoughts, findings and EH-PIF-A-NIES (having 2 dyslexics in the groups doesn’t help in making a blog, so there shall be a lot of typing/spelling mistakes. You’ve officially be warned and any nasty comments will go to the police for bullying.)
REASON 3 - We have to create a portfolio of all these amazing findings, so where better to keep all the info!
REASON 4 - We want to know YOUR ( thats all of you ) thoughts on our findings and what we’re creating.
Thats enough reasons for now, any more questions, send them are way!
Hope you enjoy our blog as much as we’ll enjoy adding to it!
Colourphobia. xxx
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