I've been home a week now yet am still digesting the whole experience, including the vast amounts of bread and cheese consumed in 3 weeks. Mmmmm, I do miss the cheese. So, to the question, 'What have I learned?'
To talk less and do more. As soon as possible get up on your feet and play the damn thing.
Play, play, play.
Connect to audience more. Share everything with them. Look them in the eye, they want to play too.
When an idea is presented - try it. Don't sit and talk about it, play it for all it's worth - if it feels good, carry on doing it.
All of these things seem quite obvious, but it has been very useful indeed to be reminded of them. Working with Footsbarn has been like returning to the source. There is a purity about their way. For forty years they travelled across the world, into communities, presenting their madness before the assembled crowd. Their work is universal it seems because of this fundamental understanding of how to connect with an audience.
I learned a very important word there - disponible. It's not easily translated into English but it means something like available, unappropriated or open minded.

We're done! The second show was our best, though last night too went very well. In typical Footsbarn style we rounded it off with a party - I think I hobbled into my caravan at 6.30 this morning! A very lazy day today once we'd packed up all the props, costumes, backstage and bar. There was a very emotional closing of the 'stage', as we all felt the danger that Footsbarn finds itself in right now. There is a real possibility that La Chaussee, our home here for the last 3 weeks, and creative hub of the company, will have to be sold. It would be a great shame indeed to lose this incredible hive of artistic output. I'm hoping that somehow the great following the company have, particularly back in their old stomping ground of the SW of England, can help them out of this difficult time. 1am- time to crawl into my little caravan one last time. Bon nuit.

A much needed lie-in this morning after our opening night last night in the village of Saint Bonnet De Troncais. It was a sweltering, hot day and setting up our stage in the village square was sweaty business. The show went well considering the short time we've whipped it together and we had a lovely reception from the 150 strong crowd. After the show when we'd packed up and arrived back at base in La Chaussee (about 1am), there was a pan of hot soup waiting for us in the kitchen/restaurant, somebody turned up with a 'Orgue de Barbarie', and I was transported into a smokey, old, black and white French movie!

In just under an hour we're off to Ainay Le Chateau to set up tonight's show, which will be on the main street in the town. Tomorrow, our last show will be here at La Chaussee in the le grand chapiteau and the atmosphere in there promises to be electric. A bientot!

It's hot - very hot - 35 degrees I think. We ran the whole show this morning for the first time and are now enjoying a little siesta time before we star back at 4pm. There's such a lot of text to learn and so little time. I'm just off to find a quiet shady spot to try and cram some in as there is very little time outside of rehearsals. Yesterday we worked until 11pm - it's tough but incredibly exhilarating at the same time. I think I was mildly hallucinating by the end of yesterday. Tomorrow's our first performance in a nearby village. We'll set off in the early afternoon to build the stage, process through he village at 6 then the show will open at 9.15pm.

This morning we looked at the scene where Ariel recounts the story of the tempest she created and the chaos created on the ship. We did this through an Indonesian storytelling style that we've been working on with Mas, a terrific actor specializing in mask work. After an hour and a half's work though we realized we'd set off on the wrong tangent so will now have to adapt the work somewhat. Just on a quick lunch break before we resume. It's going to be a long day - rehearsals will wrap up tonight at 10.30pm!

Sunday - Day off! There's barely been a spare minute over the last 3 days as we begin to orientate ourselves now to preparing the performance for this coming Thursday. There has still been the daily classes in voice and movement but these are now more focused on material that will be used in the show. Yesterday afternoon was spent 'discovering' the masks we have made, followed by pieceing together the improvised scenes we have made so far to see how much of the story we are telling. It was suprising to see how much was actually there. There's lots to do as, unsuprisingly at this early stage, but I think we have something very interesting here. I've somehow ended up playing Prospero alongside a lovely French lady called Marie Pierre. I think we make quite a partnership as she is about 4 feet 10 inches tall! There's a wonderful actor musician here called Haka,, from Bosnia, a Footsbarn regular, whose providing some unbelievable music to the show.
There's a lot of reading to be done today to try and get Prospero's text in my body - but first a walk to nearby Vallon. A bientot!

Just finished a great afternoons work - challenging as ever but this intense pressure to create quickly does inspire some very good theatre to emerge. I was working with a group today finding the scene where Prospero finally confronts Alonso the king, his brother Antonio and the rest of the nobles. After the presentation the feedback on my Prospero was interesting - you played him like a boxer or a pimp! I think there's something interesting though in injecting the old man with a bit of fighting spirit before he completes his final act and starts to whither. As with everything though, it's a delicate balance - the world weariness against the desire for justice. It's been great to work with Ellie these past 2 weeks - her group today did some amazing work with Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano, Ellie giving a particularly genial performance as a gust of wind and a ferocious dog!
Dinner in 5 minutes, I'm off! The food here is amazing!

It's been another incredibly busy couple of days since my last post. Movement, voice and impro in the mornings, then after lunch an intense 3 hours or so of breaking down into groups of 12 or so and exploring scenes - kind of like the auto couer except this time just 30 minutes to get something together before showing it in front of everyone! Put into the mix the challenge of group members speaking different languages and you've got a pretty intense process for half an hour - then we start again! We did some great exercises this morning using the 'Be not afeared' speech of Caliban, which involved chorus, manipulating a blinfolded actor, and feeding lines from chorus to solo actor.
More of the same tomorrow plus, continuing work on the masks that we have been making with Freddie. It's half past eleven now and my bed is calling.

What a week! Six days of non stop classes and rehearsals. Days begin here at around 8am with breakfast, the first class starting at 9. During our first week here the days were wrapping up at about 10pm. Yesterday was our first day off and a few of us headed to a local flea market followed by a swim in a beautiful lake 5km away.
Classes are broken down into ;
Voice
Movement - Mask
Balinese mask
Improvisation
Auto Couer - A common practice at Ecole Jaque Lecoq, where a theme from the play we're working on is given to a small group who then have a week or less to present something back to the larger group.
Today's been really tough getting back into the rythm again after a day off. I'm just about ready to crawl into my little caravan and go to bed!