The World Cup

Football. 

Not something I usually am interested in (apart from the brief period where I worked at Tottenham Hotspur...). However the World Cup is more than just football isn't it? It's a chance to express your national pride in a healthy, yet competitive manner whilst also being an activity that we share with countries all over the world. It's a rare moment where the world manages to have some small shared culture. Which is why, this year, I endeavor to do my very best to watch the World Cup (or at least all of our matches!). 

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about sports, as it really will be just uninformed babble, however I can tell you that I am so far enjoying the hype and sense of involvement that has so far come across! As well as the anticipation and pride (and beautiful players...) of course! 
Here's to a good season! 

Till next time :)

xxx

Comedy Store~

        (Comedy store entrance!!)

This weekend had been on whirlwind of a time, with flitting between various shows (including Sweeney Todd, which I shall tell you more about some other time) and rehearsing for my own, however I have made it through to Monday now so all is (almost) back to normal :) 

The Comedy Store, Deansgate, for those who don't know, is a wonderful event where a lot of comedy is performed, but not just for the already skilled! Every first Sunday of each month, the Comedy Store hosts an event known as 'King Gong' where comedians of all ages, experience and talent can come and try out their routines to the audience for practice. This event is not as friendly as it sounds, however. The audience are split into three and one person from each section is given a red card to hold. The audience are allowed to (and even encouraged to) heckle at performers and performances they dislike. When the Gong Master and host (Mick Ferry) sees all the red cards up, he will hit the gong, indicating that that will be the end for that comedians performance. The aim of the night is for all comedians/competitors to try and last 5 minutes on stage. The winner receives a lovely £50, as well as the opportunity to perform a whole routine at the comedy store. 

In my opinion, this is possibly one of the hardest comedy shows to do, as nobody particularly likes being heckled and as a just-starting comedian, it can be quite a demoralising experience. However, I believe that it also provides a useful insight into the world of comedy! It provides you with useful information as to what material works and what doesn't very very quickly. It will also help you develop a very tough skin, which is quite essential in any sort of performance experience, as well as being a simy brilliant platform for anyone who does manage to last the entire 5 minutes! 

I attended this event as my friend was performing. It was his third time at this particular event and only his fifth performance overall. I have seen all his performances at the Comedy Store so far and all I can say is that the amount of improvement he has made, not just in the quality of jokes (from what I've heard so far that is) but also in his physical presence and overall confidence is simply overwhelming! Unfortunately he didn't make it through the entire five minutes, however the audience were more than slightly rowdy by this point, however I still think he did amazingly well and am very proud of him! 

Having done a tiny bit of clowning training, I know how hard it is to go onto a stage and try and make people laugh. Different from acting a comedy role, it is vital that you get the audience's interest, if not approval, within the first few seconds. Also, I think it's possibly a bigger blow on the performer if you are not successful as with comedians, it is you standing on stage, telling jokes that you have made to a room full of strangers. So I really do have a lot of respect for people who are interested in becoming comedians. 

Finally I just wanted to say a HUGE well done to everyone who took part and an even bigger congratulations to the winner! For more information at the event, please visit this link

And until next time- Tchüss!

Xxx

Young Identity: One Mic Stand

[Flier and ticket!]

As a student of German and Chinese, it might be easy to imagine that I end up reading quite a lot of literature outside of learning how to speak the language, but in actual fact, at the University of Manchester, I find it is quite easy to somehow miss out on reading old literature in favour of the more modern approach to language, learning more about the culture, history, political and economic scenes of the country, and as I am doing a joint hons, my credits are quite quickly used up. So it had been a while since I'd been confronted with any form of poetry, let alone 'Spoken Word', which was the basis for the show I saw at Contact Theatre last Friday.

Now usually, when I hear the word 'poetry', it brings back memories GCSE English lessons, sitting in a classroom reading about potatoes, or images of people sitting solemnly in silence together, talking in metaphors and smilies and other such techniques that I know nothing about, so when I was invited by a friend (and participant) to this show, needless to say, I really had no idea what to expect.

And I am glad to say, I was more than astonished by the sheer talent and enthusiasm and excitement that spoken word generated in that room. With the relaxed atmosphere, dim lighting and overwhelming wordplay, my evening was filled with an array of genres, from discussing the political situation of not just our country, but the world to what one's personal identity means to them to messy rooms and refereeing football matches for younger children. And, as if that wasn't enough, there were 2 solo singers and a hiphop group who performed as well as a chillax'ed band, who had apparently only met up a few hours before the performance, but still managed to captivate the audience with an impressive display of improvisation. But the thing I found truly inspiring? The fact that everything performed that night was all original work. 

The night was kicked off with a poetry competition known as the poetry slam, the prize being a lovely sum of £50. The poetry had some guidelines (including the prohibition of props and the need for all work to be original) and a panel of three judges who rated each poem on a scale of 1-10 for Content and Performance. There were roughly 10 competitors and I have to admit, I was genuinely astounded by each and every poem that was read. They all touched on seperate issues, some about love, some about individuality and some about loss. But each poem was sincere and heartfelt and entirely original. It made me realise that all my preconceptions of poetry were entirely wrong, and the skill with which everyone manipulated and played with word and rhythm to illustrate a story was and is something that I don't think I could ever do. Plus the fact that performing poetry as yourself is hard enough without the added pressure of it being your own work! 

The section my friends were in was at the end and was part of a selection of work by Contact's spoken word group called 'young identity'. 'Young Identity', as I understand, is much the same as CYAC, in that it is a free weekly workshop aimed at young people to try and expand their horizons and hone their skills. It caters for people of all experiences and is a very open and generous environment where you can create work to be proud of, whilst also providing you with the opportunity to get your messages and performances out to the world to hear! It is a fantastic opportunity and, if anyone has the time, I strongly recommend it. For more information, please click HERE.

My friends did one performance each, and, as they were both in CYAC with me, I had no doubt that they had a true, raw talent in acting. However to see them both performing their original poetry was still breath taking for me, not for lack of belief in their talent, but more from the sheer quality of work produced! It's hard to imagine that people roughly my age and younger are capable of weaving words together in such a harmonious manner to create something truly magnificent to hear. With just the right balance of dry humour to lighten up the dark themes, I found myself entirely engaged by both their performances and actually quite inspired to join Young Identity at some point in the future.

On whole, the entire event was a complete inspiration to have witnessed and I feel that I have discovered some new world that had previously been clouded by my own misconceptions. Can't wait until the next open mic!

youngidentity.org 

Well, until next time~

~~~

Obwohl ich Deutsch und Chinisisch studiere, habe ich den Gelegenheit um Classische Literatur zu lesen nicht ganz oft, also jetzt, wusste ich ganz wenig über Gedichte. Meistens, studiere ich Politisch oder den Deutsche Kultur, aber letztes Freitag, sah ich eine Gedichte Stück bei dem Contact Theater. 

Normalerweise, wann ich den Wort 'Poetry' gehoren, denke ich über meine alte Englischen Stunden, wann ich hatte Gedichte, die an Kartoffel gesprochen hat. Also, wann ich an dieses Stück gehort, hatte ich gar kein Idee, wass den Stück sein würden!

Glucklicherweise, hatte es mir ganz gefällt! Der Atmosphäre hat mir entspannend und alle Leute die ihren Gedichte gelesen haben, war total wunderbar! Sie haben viele Gedichte geliest, ein paar über Politische Meinungen, ein über Identität usw. Und Alles war ihren eigenen Geschriebte! Da gibt es auch Musik! :D Am Anfang des Nachts, gab es ein Gedichte Wettbewerb. Der Sieger hat £50 gewonnen! Später, hat meinen Freunden geliest. Es war wirklich toll, um ihren Gedichte zu hören und ich finde alles wirklich toll! :D

Jetzt, finde ich Gedichte wirklich cool, und hoffentlich, wann ich Zeit haben, gehe ich auch zu 'Young Identity' um mein eigenes Gedichte zu schreiben! :) :)

Bis nächste Mal~
xxx