Sic Transit Gloria Seami

Translating ancient plays
I have a thing for it. A sick obsession that will not die. It is both easier and harder than writing a new one, I think. Easier because you don't have to worry about the whole plot thing. Harder because (if you're me) you very much feel the weight of history on your shoulders. You're the latest in a line of translators that stretches back centuries. You're also producing works that people have 'expectations' of, and that you know your audience may well have seen literally dozens of times before. So it has it's own pressures.... But I like it. I really like the process of trying to get into an author's head and transpose their ideas into something for today. I also really like the idea of using it as a tool to better understand a text - it's like experimental archaeology for theatre.....

Performing vs directing
Both have pros and cons. And I deeply love both practices. Performing gives you a direct control over your scenes/bits/whatever. Directing gives you incomplete control over the entirety of the piece. That's how I'd sum it up....

Both involve you working out your dramatic vocabulary, and then applying it to the text you have before you. I don't come into either with set notions/pre-conceptions about how I want something to look/feel like. I have ideas, I have a sense of a piece, but it's never too detailed at the start of a rehearsal period. It comes together the more I see of what actors can actually do and acheive in the 6-8 weeks we've got to throw it into a performance.

Directing involves a lot of compromise. Often the ideas that pop into your head won't work because they are physically impossible, or they involve too much refinement in your time frame, or actor X simply can't run with it. So you have to let them go. I think that's the hardest part of it to come to terms with.

Acting involves compromise because your ideas and the directors ideas are not always in line. So you have to let them go. But you end up with a lot more of 'you' in it.

Office politics
Politics occurs whenever there's more than 3 people in a group. It's inevitable, and it is part of the human condition. Problems arise when it festers.... And that's the fun circumstance I've walked into at the playground. A bunch of people who have had this kind of seething undercurrent of stupid that has been floating around the joint for (from what I can tell) about 10 years or so. Sigh....

Greece
Nice place to visit, would not want to live there.... I had a great time when I was over there - seeing things on the ground made it all more magical for me. But seeing life in modern Athens - yeah.... wouldn't want to live there. I liked it there too because my Greek improved muchly, which is handy!

Rock climbing
It rocks! I answered this previously but to summarise: It challenges body and brain. It's awesome!

Theatre

I'm mildly obsessed... And I don't really know why. I like the idea of getting inside a story and enacting it, and of bringing it to life with my body and voice, either within strict conventions (like in musicals) or in a bizzare free-form way (like Helen's Seneca workshops).

I think I like people watching me - in essence it's just a form of exhibitionism. I also like the idea, taking someone's life/experiences/imagination and then layering yourself on top of it and turning it into something unique that can never, and will never, be recreated. Not even when you do the same scene the next night.

I also like theatre because it forces you to practice what you preach, to elaborate on your thoughts with your entire being. You have to deliver, you have to do, you have to act and you have to make choices. Often what the choices actually are is completely irrelevant, but you have to make them clearly, and you have to commit to them. And then you have to re-create that moment again and again. It challenges me more than anything else in life.

Balancing following your passion with earning a living

I'm fairly blaze about life.... I figure I'll always be able to make a living doing something. What it actually is doesn't really bother me, so long as I keep on performing.

So the balance is reached by asking myself the simple question: What is the minimum amount of paid work I can do to get by comfortably, and still give myself 3 nights a week to rehearse?

At the moment I've got that balance (or close to it, a bit more money would be nice, but I'm not starving). So all is well.

Intense relationships

I think it all goes back to my exposure as a youngin' to a relationship that was not working with mum and dad. I think that either I was going to be cynical, or over-compensate and put "love" up on a pedestal. You can guess what happened...

All this combined with my distinct lack of romance early on in life, and brought me to the conclusion that love is this bizzare, over-reaching, fatalistic thing. That relationships must be saved at all costs. And that you should do anything asked of you in a relationship. It meant that my commitment was absolute and my passion was unwavering. And that first moment when I realised someone showed some genuine romantic interest in me, well, I was besotted.

Living together after about 6 weeks, of course it will work! Marriage! Yeah sure! In the end I'm glad that it ended when it did. If it had gone on any longer we probably would have damaged each other.

But even that experience did not curb my enthusiasm. And we all know how that ended up...

And today. Have I learned my lesson? Hell no! And I never will! But for the first time in my life, I think I'm the one overwhelmed by the love someone else shows me...

Greek

I founded it you know.... I'm going to assume this is about the language.

I like the language because its mechanics are a billion times more interesting than that of our own. It's flexible, it's malleable, it gives you lots of ways to say the same thing (at least in English). Often by using the same words, but different inflections and grammar. So I'm pretty sure our language is inadequate when it comes to translating ancient Greek, but it's all we got!

I'm also an etymology geek. So it makes sense. And this is what I like about the modern language - it allows me get my etymology geek on in a whole knew way.

Oh, and inadvertently, my knowledge of modern Greek helped me to communicate to a Spanish speaker today who spoke very little English - because the Greek word for stairs is skala, and the Spanish word is scalides - so she understood!.

Post break up bonding

Interesting...
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Do you still have that brick?

"If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don't speak often or ever) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your LJ and see what your friends come up with."

1. Will you be looking for a new job?
Well my current job finishes in July, so probably. I'll either go back to my old job at the council, or find something better. I'm hoping for the latter

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?
No

3. New house?
Yep - lease here is up in April. So stay tuned

4. What will you do differently in 2007?
We'll see. I don't really know. I'll use less water. That'll do ;).

5. New Year's resolution?
More excercise

6. What will you not be doing in 2007?
I won't be directing a play. What exactly I will be doing remains a mystery.

7. Any trips planned?
An abstract plan for a Western Australian adventure

8. Wedding plans?
Well I'll be best-man-in-ating..... So I'll be part of someone's wedding plans.

9. What's on your calendar?
Calender? Probably 1987....

10. What can't you wait for?
Starting to make some inroads into the finanicial mess this year's left me in.

11. What would you like to see happen differently?
Dunno.... that's a cop out, but I really don't know.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?
More excercise will hopefully bring around changes all of its own....

13. What happened in 2006 that you didn't think would ever happen?
Oh plenty. Not much of it has anything to do with me. I guess I never thought I'd actually get The Clouds off the ground.

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?
Yeah. Probably. I like to think I'm reasonably nice anyway.

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 2006?
No. Well I might - I guess I'll have to buy more clothes so it'll happen inevitably.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?
I'll probably drink less. I'm not going to use a word as strong as 'quit'....

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?
Maybe... It's not too shabby anyway.

18. Will you do charity work?
Hmmm..... I'd like to think I would. If I'm honest about it, I'm not pro-active enough to go out and seek that kind of work to do. But if it comes up I won't say no.
19. Will you go to bars?
Yeaaaaarse.

20. Will you be nice to people you don't know?
I am already.

21. Do you expect 2007 to be a good year for you?
Yes.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?
A fair wack. I feel like I've had a lot of expereicnes in the past year - I'm sure some of them have changed me.

23. Do you plan on having a child?
No.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
Yep

25. Major lifestyle changes?
Probalby. Change of house, change of suburb....

26. Will you be moving?
We'll I can't stay in this seat forever.... Well I could, but it'd get smelly.

27. What will you make sure doesn't happen in 2007 that happened in 2006?
There's a couple of things. I'll keep them to myself.

28. What are your New Year's Eve plans?
Kate's (it was my plan). It was a good old night.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?
Aye.

30. Wish for 2007?
Pfft.

Hmmmm.....
Strange.....
I like the idea of having 2 docklands though....
As for the last one. No Comment.