It's great when you Play.

After saying goodbye to our show Sunday Morning...  It popped back up again.  In my inbox.  As an email invitation to the Edinburgh Festival.  As part of the official selections for the South African Season.  A collaboration between the Assembly Festival (not to be confused with the Assembly Rooms) and the SA Dept of Arts and Culture.

James and The South African Season.

We said yes, and then... why hello again Sunday Morning.  We were very excited, and somewhat intrigued, to bring this show to an international audience.  It is not a show overtly about the hardcore realities of living in South Africa... racism, crime, cultural conflict.  In fact it is a feel good show about a guy struggling with one could say 'middle class' problems.  Of course the writing is brilliant and James' performance is wonderful... but we don't follow the story of the woman who under horrific circumstances does something hectic (we assume).  No.  Instead we follow the story of the man who happens upon the scene after the woman, who has done something hectic, has left... without any trite explanation, without any contrived insight, without any moral judgement, nothing.  This incident is the turning point of the play and his story moves on.  As it is his story.  Not hers.  And his story is as real as hers.  Because life throws a curve ball at an ordinary guy out for a run.

James and I on the day we arrived.

We had a quiet start to the month long run in our teeny tiny venue (a double width shipping container) and as is often true with art... it grew and grew and grew.  James, being alone after a week with me helping get the show in, at a festival that boasts something like 3000 shows, it is terribly easy to feel overwhelmed and very very small.  The turning point arrived after about the 5th show with two people in the audience one of whom had fallen asleep that James decided that this really wasn't working.  He wasn't having fun.  The audience wasn't having fun.  Not when 50% of them are asleep!  So really, if no-one is having fun, what is the point.  Go home rather.  Do a corporate.  Its much easier and pays more.  And he decided to find the fun again.  The sense of play.  And he did.  There was no option to come home.  So to die or not to die... every day at 12:40 for a month.  He chose not to die.  And the show turned around.  To the point where James was sad when the month was over.

The Box... our fabulous shipping container venue.

= 3 LITTLE RULES OF PLAY =

1.  High ENERGY level

To be totally present you have to have a high energy level.  This means you can't have 'floppy arms' when you talk... in other words when you make a gesture you drop your arms back to your sides let them hit your body and then sway there by their own momentum.  You need to be fully aware so that one gesture moves into the next and there is no parasitic movement.  Parasitic movement = movement of your arms, swaying, feet etc etc that you are totally unaware of.

2.  Keep it FRESH

It may very well be the 100th time you have performed this piece... so you cannot say that it is the first time you are telling it.  No.  That would be a lie.  And you can't believe a lie.  But, it is the only time... on this day, in front of this audience...  If you think of it like that then it is impossible to do it exactly how you did it yesterday.  Shake it up a little.  Read the audience here and now... audiences are different.  And if you have the right level of energy your listening can (and will) tune into them... And you are able to make subtle shifts in how you deliver a line... when you clock... how long you hold a pause... how long you play a moment etc etc...

3.  Have FUN

If you are not having fun.  Then the audience is not having fun.  And then there really is no point.  Having fun is a decision.  Decide to have fun and then you will really have fun.  Its a bit like that laughing exercise - force yourself to laugh until eventually you are really laughing.  The easiest way, I think, to really really have fun is to make it not about you... but about the story.  It is important for the audience to receive this story... and not to see how brilliant the actor is or the director is or the line is written etc etc...  You have to try to remove self consciousness and serve the story.

The rules are simple... and difficult.  And sometimes easy to forget.  But they are always there to come back to if you have lost your way a little.

So, Sunday Morning found a new breath.  A renewed energy.  A brand new audience.  I feel very happy for the show and really very proud of you, James.  Thank you... It's great when you play.  Rock on.

And now a few pics from the beautiful city of Edinburgh... 

This really appealed to James' sense of humour.

A dramatic view of the old and the new from The Meadows.

Arthurs Seat... the day I gave myself such massive blisters and didn't even make all the way to his seat!

James being a tourist.

A thistle.  So pretty.

James and Vika having breakfast... two of my favourite people.

Saying Goodbye...

Yesterday I finally went to collect the Roadkill set from the Market Theatre.  Walking through the echoing halls of hundreds of donors whose names shine down on you in gold print... people and organisations who have so generously supported theatre.   Patrons of the arts.  How wonderful.

I found it quite moving.

Roadkill is over. Finished. (Roadkill... which then became Sunday Morning... and then went back to Roadkill again).  2011-2013.  If we do ever do it again... it will be in many moons.  And perhaps not in English with this fine actor.  So in saying goodbye to this incarnation of the show, that I love so very much... I want to thank James Cuningham and Nick Warren.  James for telling this story so many times... and in as many times as telling it, saying something new each time.  He is such a fine fine actor.  Down to the very last performance I find myself smiling in the near dark of the lighting box as he delivers a line or finds a moment of play that I have never seen or heard before.  The very life blood of theatre.

I was reminded of the first time I read the play.  Nick made me a cup of tea and put on the side lamp as the clouds gathered outside.  And I read it and I loved it.  An hour later with a cup of cold tea beside me.  I couldn't say anything once I put it down... I found Nick in the kitchen making dinner and I just hugged him.  It has to be said... he can write.  We then asked James to be in it. After much consideration James sat down in front of his computer to send us his 'Dear John, I can't be in your play' letter, but before hitting send he asked his wife, Helen Iskander, what she thought.  James read her the play and she told him he had to do it.  And for that I am eternally grateful.

Thank you James and Nick it has been such a pleasure.

So... here is the show in a series of really lovely stills... courtesy of The Market Theatre.

Thank you to GoetheonMain for the initial funding to help develop the show.  To Strike Productions for always supporting us technically.  To Simon Cooper and Christina Kennedy for giving us the first long run at Kalk Bay Theatre and for all the work you put into helping us get such wonderful reviews... not to mention James' award for Best Actor at the Fleur du Caps.

Thank you to Daphne Kuhn for producing the first run we had in Johannesburg at Theatre on the Square which got us nominated for five Naledi Theatre Awards.  To The Market Theatre for inviting us for our final run in the Laager Theatre. 

And finally thank you to all of you who came to see it. Shot.

Nominated!

Much to our surprise and delight we have been nominated for 5 Naledi Theatre Awards... Best writer, actor, director, play... and best lighting!  ...which James and I are particularly pleased about as with our somewhat limited budget to make the show the two of us did the lighting and we rather like it as well :) We have also been nominated in the Fleur du Cap Awards for best actor and writer!  Clever guys our James Cuningham and Nick Warren ...it's great to be counted amongst other wonderful theatre makers... check out the Naledi nominations full list here.  Rock on.   Also shot to the key people who have pushed this play further and further... namely The Goethe Institut, The National Arts Festival and of course Daphne Kuhn and Theatre on the Square...  Looking forward to the awards events next month.

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A backdrop for a kitchen floor

Our kitchen floor has been possesed by a brand new portable backdrop for 'Sunday Morning'... The newspaper pixelated Johannesburg skyline. With which we open today at the Mzansi Fela Festival at the Pretoria State Theatre.  Thank you Deborah da Cruz Meyer for your hard work completing it.  Here's to a rocking run.

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Hilton High

We arrived at the Hilton Festival after hours in the worst traffic jam from a massive accident to watch the brilliant Paul Zerdin open the festival. So great. Then onwards to our technical get in which was smooth and professional - Roamy our stage manager and technician and her team rocked. So aside from our first show where a lone builder decided it was a good time to bang right outside the theatre door... We had a rocking time.

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My festival highlighted was 'Three Little Pigs' with James Cairns, Rob Van Vuuren and Albert Pretorius directed by Tara Notcutt.  Fresh.  Brave.  Funny.  Rich.  All that.

The N3 billows with veld fires... welcoming the imminent summer.

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Sad to to say goodbye... Next for Sunday Morning is our second run at Theatre on the Square from the 16 - 27 October.  Although I shall be in Florence by then.  How quickly the time goes. 

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Red light jumper

Another physical tweet from our board which I dig... I remember doing exactly this at 5am and driving past the early morning cyclists thinking... 'who are these people.'  Now I'm much closer to those cyclists than I am to whoever left this tweet.  Funny.  

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Business Day Today

We're in the Business Day today... with a fab review from Christina Kennedy... my favourite bit... 'Sunday Morning is like a ray of sunshine in an often-gloomy theatre landscape.'  I like that.  Poetry.  And then '...this play play is a more rewarding and elevating self-help manual than anything you'll find in the bookstores.'  Because it made me laugh.  Out loud.

So ja - this is me - at home - reading the paper.

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Lights up

My first favorite tweet from our physical tweet board at Theatre on the Square.  I also love the lights. x

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Post-it Pose

James and I in front of our physical tweet board after the opening of Sunday Morning at Theatre on the Square... The skyline of joburg made from post-it pixels... where people are asked to write why they love Joburg (You can check them out on twitter @jeninecollocott #sundaymorning #whyilovejoburg). Our opening was full and lovely... Thank you Daphne Kuhn for all your work and enthusiasm x

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Newspaper Pixels

Johannesburg slowly emerges on the wall of Theatre on the Square...

A pixelated wall for theatre backdrop.  How exciting.  I know.  I spent the whole... and I mean the whole of Tuesday tearing up the Sunday Times (because of course the play being Sunday Morning - only a Sunday newspaper would do - even if no one knows - it still counts) breaking off bits of prestic and sticking the individual pixels onto the theatre wall.  What a mission.  I was in such a flat panic that I wouldn't finish in time.  But miraculously I did... here I am two days later and my fingers are still so sore from ripping prestic - who knew!?  It was worth it though.

So the 'how to' of a newspaper pixel backdrop...

Have a wonderfully inventive and super talented designer - for us that's Alastair Findlay - to come up with the design of the image... a semi-circular Joburg skyline... ahh.  The rest of the circle is completed on the stage floor with a semi circle of more hap-hazzardly ripped newsprint which demarcates the playing space amongst other thing of course... (and this has always been part of the design)  So now it is no longer the semi-circle of life but the circle... of life.  Deep.

Set aside like about 9 hours... or get help.  Help would be good.  (Important to note... I did of course actually have help over the weekend in the form of Nick my husband and Amelia my stepdaughter.  But sadly I had asked for the stage wall to be painted grey and it really didn't work - there wasn't enough contrast... so it was repainted on Monday when we did our full tech leaving only Tuesday and me to complete the wall.  Hectic.

Then project your image image onto the wall and outline it in chalk.  Ensuring that you don't let your computer go to sleep as the image will have moved when you wake it up again.  Mmm.  Frustrating...  So there I was every few minutes running up into the empty theatre seats, where the projector was balanced, to my computer and running my finger along the mouse pad sensory thing...

Yip.  Develop a system... mine was this:

1.  Tear the paper into the pixels using a metal ruler for straight lines
2.  Rip and stick balls of prestic onto as many pixels as you can stand (whist you are sitting cross-legged on the stage)
3.  Grab a massive hand full of prestic ready pixels and get sticking
4.  Start from the bottom up... such brilliant advise from the site The House That Lars Built (which incidentally I stumbled upon after deciding to do this... but it was key piece of advise that made it possible ... try any other way and you'll see what I mean.  Thats a challenge)
5.  Step away often to see the image emerge, creating delight, giving you the energy to 'keep calm & carry on'

My favourite pixel leading up Ponte tower.

Inspired by The House That Lars Built we made a physical tweet board... for why you love Joburg...
a few of which I will instagram and tweet and bite-size blog...

An idea on a chalk board

A little idea has been brewing in the lead up to our get-in at Theatre on the Square this Sunday...  to grow the stage design for 'Sunday Morning.'  It started on our kitchen chalk board (which usually holds the often ignored shopping list - eee)...

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The wonderful Alastair Findlay, our designer, came over last night... and now it is on paper.  Roll on Sunday... when there will be more...  The joy of collaboration.  The evolution of design.

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Window dressing

This afternoon I had a meeting with the wonderful technical crew and the dynamic Daphne Kuhn at Old Mutual Theatre on the Square...  Such inspired enthusiasm to make the work the best it can be.  I am very excited for Monday a week when we get into the theatre.

And here we are in A1... dressing the window in Sunday Morning.  Also the press release went out today.  All in all - a big day.

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Heathcliff it's me

Last night we did our first performance of 'Sunday Morning' to a theatre packed to the rafters with 200 odd teenage girls and boys!  How scary.... as part of the St Anne's cultural week... my heart was pounding and I had to concentrate to steady my hands so as to hit 'play' properly - up in the tech box - never mind being on stage.  Full of nerves for how these kids would respond to our work - which does not have them as the primary target audience... but much to our delight - they roared with laughter and rose to their feet and whooped for the wonderfully brilliant James Cuningham!

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This morning as the mist rolled in and I gave a physical characterisation workshop to a group of about 19 Grade 11 drama students... it was somewhat intimidating for about 5 minutes... teenage girls are scary... and then it was a whole load of fun.  

This is a very beautiful part of the world... the kind of setting that reminds one of classic love stories...  Heathcliff, it's me... 

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Broken newspaper

The view from the restaurant above the stage of part of our design... A semi circle of broken newspaper trailing the front row of fab red theatre chairs. The food was amazing. The company rocked. And James was so great.  Moments of play - venturing into new territory. It was such fun to be audience... Tonight is the last night... Sunday Morning at Kalk Bay. Yay. 

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Sushi and salty air

We arrived in Cape Town last night for the end or our Kalk Bay Theatre run of Sunday Morning... Red wine, old friends and long chats into the night... to be greeted this this morning by a glorious Cape Town winters day filled with coffee, sushi and salty air.

Tonight will be the first time I see Sunday Morning as an audience member.  Excited.  I've read it's quite good ;)

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In the Sunday Times on Sunday Morning

Chilling out at Arts on Main eating falafel and cheese cake and a text comes in from the oh-so brilliant Christine Skinner... We're in the Sunday Times with a lovely review.  My favourite bit 'Its about moving on... recognsing the small child that was once - and sometimes still is - at our core.'  Hey.  Also my first photo credit... Very excited.

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Cheese cake and chocolate mouse. How can you not. And it's Sunday. 

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Out and About... on a Sunday Morning

We were in the Sunday Independent yesterday... on a warm sunny Sunday Morning.  Qwa qwa.  Check it out.  How rocking.  On the next page... to the right... was Batman.  Mmm.  The connection ends there.  James and I did this photo shoot when we were on at Goethe on Main just before we opened the doors for one of the shows... oh quickly James we need publicity shots... and go.  and i'm very glad we did.  This image below has proved to be very useful.  The play has done amazingly in terms of press - the response has been nothing short of overwhelming - big thanks to Christine Skinner and Simon Cooper from Kalk Bay Theatre... those who see it love it... and yet... we are still playing to medium sized audiences.  Is that the state of theatre... because all evidence points to the fact that it is not the work.  The work is good.  Possibly even great.  James is brilliant.  And Nick really can write.  Is it because we are from Joburg playing in someone else's garden?  Could be.  Or is it that reputation takes time.  Possibly.  James doesn't perform often in Cape Town and Nick and I have only taken Dirt there previously (outside of the Out the Box festival).  Or is it really just theatre.  And everyone in one way or another has this experience outside of the festival circuit.  Either way - we continue to make work... and will continue to do so till the 11 August in Cape Town (so book now!) in the hope that word-of-mouth will kick in big time and we will be fill to the rafters in our final two weeks... and then onwards to St Annes Diocesan College Cultural Festival,  Old Mutual Theatre on the Square and The Witness Hilton Festival.  I don't feel too bad because Batman (which we also went to watch this weekend - and it totally rocked!) wasn't sold out either :p

Sound bites from other reviews:

'A gem of a story, magnificently crafted writing' - Robyn Sassen, Artslink

'Everything Defending the Caveman should have been... sharp, sassy script... unstoppable!' - Diane de Beer, Star

'Virtually flawless' - Steve Kretzmann, Artsblog

'This piece is so beautifully and colourfully written and James is nothing short of magnificent.  I left the theatre grinning like a lunatic, and spreading the "gospel" of Sunday Morning like some demented cult member!' - Christina Kennedy, freelance journalist  

'A magisterial performance... a script replete with poetry, poignancy and incisive wit...a tour de force by the most exacting standards, from the brilliant, wordless preface to the last speech.  A gem.  FIVE STARS' - Theresa Smith, Cape Argus

'SUNDAY MORNING is 'n diep menslike storie wat met eenvoud oorgedra word.  Maar as jy James Cuningham het, is daar in elk geval oorvloed.  4 Sterre' - Marina Griebenow, Die Burger

'perfect for any evening' - Tracey Saunders, Cape Times

'witty, charming and heart-felt' - Yoursoapbox.co.za

'gentle, funny, poignant... Jenine Collocott has directed the play using Cuningham's mastery of physical theatre to tell the story... a beautiful and heart-warming piece of theatre.  I loved "running" this little journey of "SUNDAY MORNING" and would encourage you to run it too.'  Bizcommunity.com

'this extraordinarily talented performer, utterly immersed in a role that had us transfixed with awe' - Whatsonincapetown.com

'near perfect... takes you from fits of laughter to deep introspective moments that leave a lump in your throat' - TheatreSceneCpt

'a moving piece with moments of sheer elegance... Put on your tracksuit, lace up your takkies and take a "SUNDAY MORNING" run through life's major little lessons with this masterful crew..."  Scarletnugni.com

'This is a slick, beautifully finished production, the kind of performance I wish we got the chance to see more often.  Go and see Cuningham prove that fatherhood's not for the faint hearted.'  - Clara Lever, 48 Hours

Come a new dawn, come a new man

James Cuningham outside the theatre... keeping warm!

me in my new bunny dress.

It was cold when I arrived... light cloud.  rough ocean.  cool breeze.  pale blue sky.  a slight texture in the sea air.  Breathe in.  Ah.... feels like Cape Town.  All that was missing was a bit of drizzle.  I love how European Cape Town feels... reminds me of Florence... where I've lived for 6 months of the year for the past two years.  Urban-quaint... a lovely combination.  I brought a new dress along the Kalk Bay promenade from the most darling shop, Catacombes, with a cheerful talkative owner whose wife makes the dresses... also very European I might add.

We were busy doing our technical get in preparing for our technical run through... Simon [owner of Kalk Bay Theatre] had very kindly brought down - from the Grahamstown Festival - what bits of set could be lowered into his convertable... which was suprisingly a lot!  I got major minus points as show producer this time around [long story]... and Nick was to drive down with the last set piece and the smoke machine in time for our opening on Saturday night.  Everything was okay.  James Cuningham had just completed shooting the movie version of Long Walk to Freedom [I know - how cool] - Half our set had arrived - I arrived [and brought a dress eee] - no technical issues - we were happily plotting lights... we were on track.  and then my phone rang.  

Nick is snowed in somewhere in the Karoo.  Not having the one set piece makes just about no difference to the show... not having the smoke machine was easy to hire in... but not having Nick was worrying as trucks were jack-knifing in the road... sliding down ridges onto their sides... B'nB's were all booked out.  It was all quite chaotic...  But luckily Nick pulled his Landrover Man moves and got through to us at 12 o'clock that night.  Hectic.  

Nice to walk out of a darkened theatre and this be your view <3 Kalk Bay Theatre

Down on the docks drawing money and buying cool drinks.

A pigeon pair of boats x

The opening went rather well I believe and we have had bucket loads of wonderful reviews flying in.  Very exciting... and hopefully good reviews do really turn into good audiences... here are some of them...

Come a new dawn, come a new man - What's On | Tonight | IOL.co.za by Theresa Smith

[What I love about this one is firstly the headline and the way she describes how a Sunday morning should be... ahh.  That's why it's called that... that and it takes place over two sunday mornings]

Bizcommunity by Daphne Cooper

[What I love about this one is the reference to the dress moment - that and the idea that we would have absolutely no set :p]

Scar*let Nguni Blog by Scar*let

[What I love about this one is the trip down memory lane to High Diving <3]

Die Burger by Marina Griebenow

[What I love about this one is the chameleon walking over autumn leaves description x]

What's on in Cape Town by Andrea Fedder

[What I love about this one is it was in the top three things to do in Cape Town] 

Theatre Scene CPT by the people at Theatre Scene Cape Town ;)

[What I love about this one is the idea of jumping out of your chair and yelling at the actor "I know what you mean!"]

Us on stage... with wonderful other artists... like Janni Younge and Adrian Kohler from Handspring Puppet Company

And while we were doing all that... this is where Nick was... can you believe this is the Karoo!?

For more of the adventure story and other amazing pictures of the Karoo visit Nicks blog...

All three of us, me James and Nick, in the theatre on Sunday morning ... he-he ...
for a final tech before Nick and I flew back to Joburg... 

Diane De Beer's interview ran in the Cape Town Argus the Monday after the show.  Cool.

Thank you to Kalk Bay theatre... to Simon Cooper and Christine Skinner.