Day 5
After a few days of working outside here by the sea, under the sky, often under the stars, there are things i am beginning to notice more than i might normally. Something seems to be making my senses work more clearly.
The different textures of ground beneath the feet – from brick and cement, through grass and mud – both sludgy and thick – to the many various types of sand.
Sounds, both far and near – the waves, the daily cycle of creatures, voices, passing vehicles, breath.
The sun or wind or shadow upon my skin. Heat and cold.
I am also perhaps more in touch with my body, what it needs, feels, demands, enjoys. What is challenging to it and what it cannot abide.
This is doubtless also an effect of being able to focus purely upon performance – the voice, the body, character, interpretation – without the distractions that have previously always surrounded a rehearsal process. I have possibly never before worked on only one thing for the entire length of its process. When one is in the city there are always other things to be done. Always a balancing of jobs. Here there is not even travel to distract. Or shopping, cooking, socialising (outside the group) so one becomes more fully consumed by the process.
It makes me think of Clifford Barton and creating something there. To be near the water, among trees, surrounded by animals. To have expansive views. Walking, yoging, swimming, lying in grass. The softness of the natural world. Its contrasts, in fact.
So here and now we are daily being treated to droplets of delectable forms and techniques. Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Bangla gaan, Tai-Chi, and of course the Shakespeare. Whatever I go and wherever I go it feels like I’ll never be far from Shakespeare and it’s particularly good to be performing it again after so long teaching and directing.
I still can’t quite tell how it will all come together – whether the forms will compliment or jar with each other and with the play itself. There are flashes of promise that a very energetic tension might be created, perhaps the right kind of atmosphere for the play – powerful, steely, bright.
And there is no doubt that these few weeks will be excellent for my Bangla. I’m already feeling it swell a little as i allow myself to ask after familiar words i’ve never quite known the meaning of, and as i read and hear more and more.
Once again it seems to be the perfect thing at the very best time for me. To surrender somewhat, to be consumed by something not of my making, to be learning so many new things and to allow something new to grow… to allow some of my own ideas to settle down and mature quietly as my creative self is nurtured and allowed to blossom through something that is entirely out of my control.
So no matter what might come of this production in the end, I am grateful and happy to be here. It is a nice gentle reintroduction into the rigours of life in the ‘Desh and I look forward to whatever else is going to happen next.
This wonderful footage is from a mini-documentary on the project made by Nurul Alam Atique.
Tags: acting, Bangla, Bangladesh, beach, bilingual, cox's bazar, drama, julius caesar, mermaid, mermaid eco resort, natok, rehearsal, shakespeare, theatre, tragedy
