Festival Workshops and Shows

For something a little different of the festivals Phil and I enjoyed some workshops this week put on by some of the different performing groups . I did an acting workshop focusing on a certain style of acting (Stanislavski) on creating a character. There were people at the workshop from 15 to 60 years old with varying acting experience. We had a lot of discussion and some time for improvisation. I was chosen for the first scene and was lucky to have been because not everyone had a chance to practice what we'd been learning. I liked the focus on character building through actively (vs. passively) thinking about the character and the context beyond the script provided. Phil signed me up for the workshop - I thought I would be too intimidated to go to an acting workshop at the Fringe - I'm glad he did - I enjoyed it - sometimes I need a little push to jump into the pool and then when I'm in I'm glad I'm there.

The other workshop that both Phil and I did was with a Korean musical group called Dulsori. They play many different types of drums and cymbals which they taught to participants. I ended up getting a low sounding cymbal which I only had to hit once every little while - I had to hit it the same way every time so it wasn't too musically challenging for me. The only thing about it was it was quite heavy and the instructor said that since it's so heavy the person playing it normally brings it up to hit and then holds it down at their side and dances around between beats. I did this occassional hitting and frequent dancing and had a great time. Phil took the same workshop the next day. At the beginning of the workshop when the instructor was explaining how to play the various instruments, when he got to the one I had played the previous day he told the class about the woman who was dancing so exuberantly the day before. Phil let him know that he was my husband and had a good laugh about it. And I thought I was holding back!

Phil and I have seen a few shows at the Frings as well and they've all been very good. We saw the Dulsori group I just mentioned put on their show called Binari. It was held in an outdoor venue which makes the drumming sound that much more spectacular. They also sang and had a few different wind and string instruments along with the drums and cymbals. These guys were great and in their finale they get the whole audience dancing out to the main entrance by the street in front of the venue. Harrison just loved it and both he and Parker were dancing and having a great time.

Another show we saw was Break Out put on by a Korean breakdancing troupe. It was billed as "extreme dance comedy". Again we took the whole family. The dancing was awesome and the play was very funny and entertaining. Harrison loved it and Parker was quite attentive throughout the performance so I guess he enjoyed it as well.

A couple of weeks ago as a family we also saw Potted Potter, a two man play about the Harry Potter series in an hour. We found the play very funny. They even got the audience to participate in a game of Quidditch by placing two hoops at the side aisles and splitting the audience into two teams (Gryfindor and Slytherin). They tossed a beach ball to the audience and had us bat it back and forth to try to get it through the hoops. They also picked to seekers and one of the actors dressed up like the golden snitch. The seekers were a little too keen in our group and took the snitch down pretty quickly. Of course Gryfindor won!

Tonight I went to see another Korean production called The Angel and The Woodcutter. It was a silent play and was acted very beautifully. It was quite sad , but had some funny moments too. It's always interesting to realize how much information people can convey without words.

Phil has gone out to a couple of comedy shows on his own, but hasn't been too impressed with these. I think we'll try to take in a few more shows if we can before the Fringe ends. There's also the book festival, film festival, international festival... to check out so we are not at a loss for things to do right now.