Moving On

Our final day in Seoul was spent first at our old friend the UK Immigration and Visa service office in Namdaemun, picking up the visas that cast their shadow over our rehearsals for a while, then after lunch we had a debrief on the run-through, followed by a meeting to plan the move on to Birmingham.

The set has been simplified here, and much of what there is is being made in Birmingham, so there is not too much for us to transport. What there is will be divided among the several routes to Birmingham. Daniel leaves at 5.00 tomorrow, direct to London, I am going to Manchester via Helsinki on Saturday morning, Young Ju, Mijeong and Hye Jin go to Amsterdam and then Birmingham on Saturday morning, and then Yudai and Azako go to Tokyo, Zurich and then Birmingham on Saturday evening. I don't think I will bother you with the routes for Toyoko, Minato, Hisashi, Su Young and Byung Ho!


Yeon and Simon have arrived safely in Birmingham, and are paving the way for the rest of us, so there was a production meeting in Birmingham, just as we were winding up our day with an evening in a tiny little bar in the very arty Samcheongung area near to Insadong.


In between, emails and skype chats have been flying between here and Birmingham and Tokyo about the song Ayako sings before the play starts, which is still causing quite a bit of angst. The schedule has been worked out, and there will be a bank holiday pause before the blog resumes, along with rehearsals, on Tuesday. Just enough time to settle into our new continent, and winess Birmingham City's triumphal return to the Premier League. On May 4th, we have a picnic planned, in our own tribute to Chon Sang Byeong [I hope you have been paying attention!] We will hope for good weather to welcome our happy group to Birmingham, and maybe we will see some of you there. In the meantime it is time to say goodbye to Seoul.

I will go back to the sky again
At the end of my picnic in this beautiful world
I will go back and I will say…it was beautiful

So, what did the kids in Korea think?

In the end it has all come in a rush...suddenly we are at our 'preview' day. We did a run in the morning, aftre some work with the new fabrics for the Brazil scene. It is improving, but still looking a bit clumsy, to be honest. But all that is overshadowed by the news that the visas have come through, and so there is a lighter feeling around.

Even the news that the run-through has been mentioned to some people as 3.00 and others as 4 is taken well, and the time is brought forward by an hour. Then some others arrive at 2, having had an e-mail with that time on!

Anyway, in the end we showed the play to about 40 people, including a group of about ten elementary school children, and then there was a long period of small groups of discussion, almost all of which was gratifyingly positive. For me, the play still seems clumsy at times, and we need to get to the real version of the fences and things like that, and also we need to integrate the music more. But it was really exciting to watch the children watching the heart of the play. They like the characters, they followed what was happening, and there was a good feeling, even when I was busy being anxious about the remaining problems.

After the run, Byung Ho took us for another great traditional meal, and although both he and Ayako seemed to be closing their eyes at times, there was some sense perhaps mostly of relief. We are coming to Birmingham soon, all of us, armed with visas, and a play which looks as if it will work, in Korea at least!

The focus switches for a while to practical things now, getting everyone, and the few props and costumes which are travelling with us, on the right planes at the right time. The Yoghurt machine-monster is rolling on..

Getting closer

I realised how tired I had been last night when I woke early this morning, and wanted to catch up with this blog. My computer was not in the room, and it dawned on me that I must have left it in the PC Room late last night. These places are all open 24 hours, so even though it was only 6, I put on my shorts and trainers and jogged over to Daehagno to see if it was still there. Just like my phone before it, it was of course still there ready for me to collect it. This is really a good place to be if you are prone to leaving expensive elctronic equipment in public places!

It was a beautiful morning once again, although still very cold, and later in the day the rain returned. Still no visas though, and we are beginning to think about what to do if they don't come through in time. Stuart has been in touch with the British Ambassador who is writing to enquire for us, which sounds promising.

We moved today into a bigger rehearsal room for the preview we are doing to an audience tomorrow. Today we did bits and pieces before a run. We got a little behind the time, because Yudai was untypically very late, which he said was down to not drinking the night before - hard for his system to take, I imagine.

The run was pretty good, and the time down to 69 minutes. Most of the main problems at the moment are with the set and props, or at least the rehearsal versions of these. Simon and Yeon leave tomorrow with the backdrops, and the rest of the stuff that is travelling will come with us on flights over the weekend. The rest is being made in Birmingham.

Minato left today, and we will see him next in Birmingham. His current plan for the opening is to find a folk song in whichever country we are in, for Iris to sing in the pre-play section. She is now singing in the Brazil section, a beautiful song which Minato wrote himself, and we at last had a little time to work on the ending today too.

No energy left today for any more detail. I need to get to bed to be ready for a big day tomorrow, when some people actually come and watch a run....

At the end of another long day, a message comes through from the British Ambassador in Seoul - the visas have been issued and should be available for collection tomorrow....never in doubt.

Checks and balances

After a day off which involved most of the company seeing the spectacular and vast Buddha's Birthday parade up Jongno, and which for me had the real pleasure of an afternoon with three babies [Sun Duck, Ji Ok and Hye Jung all with their offspring] we set about the new week with some determination and focus. Still no sign of the visas, but I am under instruction to leave that to others, and concentrate on the play.

So we had a very full day indeed, working hard on the Brazil scene, trying to cut down the 25 minutes that the play overran on Friday. After that we worked on the Grandmother's Story, which is running well, but is a little long, and hard to follow for Japanese and English speakers. Cutting it down was a complex process, because making it clear in the other languages obviously involves some loss of subtlety form a korean perspective - if you understand the language, the emphasis can seem overdone. These are the kinds of balance that are so fascinating in this project.

Another tricky balance was the ongoing debate about the beginning of the play. Mijeong has been very clear that she thinks the song that Ayako sings at the beginning is wrong, because it is in Japanese, and Iris is not supposed to be from any country in particular. Minato is equally adamant that it is right, because it is an expression of a child folk song which could apply to anyone irrespective of language or culture. He has used the rythms from the song through the play too, which complicates matters. I tend to feel Mijeong is right about it, but have been waiting for the debate to find its conclusion. This seemed clearly not to be happening, so after a heated debate, I made the decision to cut the song, and look for soemthing that everyone could agree on. This triggered a very long and interesting conversation with Minato. In the end he went away to think about it. Ultimately, these are the things that make this work worth doing, but along the way it can often feel very ambitious, to try and create a unified and coherent piece from such a diverse group.

We made good progress today, but it also seemed as if we have a long way to go suddenly. This is partly because of the shadow of possible lost rehearsal time if the visa thing does not get solved, but it is also because of the complexity of the process, and the slowness of waiting fro translation.

The back cloths are now finished, and looking great. Costumes too arrived today, and particularly considering the especially complex process through which So Young arrived at a design, with her many advisers in many languages, they are looking great.

I finished today pretty exhausted, working through e-mails in a smoky PC-bang.

The Lady with Three Hats

Today was officially a free day, although it started with a long meeting with Toyoko, where we talked through all her thoughts on the play. She is back off to Tokyo in the morning, and so I wanted to make sure I held onto her perspective on things while she is away. At the end of the day we had an even longer meeting with Mijeong too, with Yeon and Jakyoung translating.
In between was the company outing, or ‘Supong’, as we call it in these parts. It had been planned by Byung Ho and announced when we arrived, and turned out to involve us in joining a much bigger group of assorted artists and interesting people, on a day honouring the memory of the poet Chon Sang Byeong, who died 16 years ago today. He had a remarkable life, persecuted and severely tortured by the South Korean Regime, disappearing completely for several years at one time, and existing largely just on cigarettes and rice wine for chunks of his life. Never did him any harm, although he did die at 60 from liver disease…

His admirers are a really interesting group, and the bus trip to the graveyard outside Uijeongbu was a jolly one, involving most people on the bus, including me rather terrifyingly, having to make speeches of tribute and welcome over the PA. There were a number of poets present, plus theatre people and academics, and friends of Sang Byeong himself. I had my picnic with Brother Anthony, a professor at the Jesuit Sogang University, who is his translator, originally from Cornwall, attached to an ecumenical community in France, and resident in Korea for many years, as well as Mr Choi a friend of the poet who had originally run a theatre company, but had in the early 60s objected to it being used for propaganda work by the government, and left it to become a miner. I was also joined by a very friendly professor from another university, who wanted her photo taken with me on a big rock, and then appeared again later in the day in three different hats, but always with her loud, ‘Sexy Girl’ T-shirt.

In Uijeongbu we saw a play for children by Joyful Theatre about the poet, and two exhibitions, one by artists inspired by his work, and the other a wonderful collection of work by children. Then there was a long and impressive concert, agin focusing on settings of his work, several of which were versions of his most famous work. With apologies to rother Anthony this is my own translation of this, which is called Kwi Chon [usually translated as Back to Heaven].

I will go back to the sky again
With the morning dew that melts
At the touch of the dawning day, hand in hand

I will go back to the sky again
With the twilight together just we two
After playing on the hills, at a sign from a cloud,

I will go back to the sky again
At the end of my picnic in this beautiful world
I will go back and I will say…it was beautiful

The end of the day meeting was back at the Tous Les Jours coffee shop where it all started with our very first writers meeting in 2008. The symbolism of this seemed nice, it was a good moment to get back in touch with the soul of the project. There is now a tree growing in the centre of the upstairs room where we sat at the same table as before. OK, I expect it is a pretend tree, really, but I was feeling faintly tearful after the stress had built up a little this week, so was ready to believe that this tree was a sign. The centre of our project is strong, and really all the things that we have to crack next week are relatively superficial. I finished the day with a speech aimed mostly at myself, about keeping our eyes on the real task, and maintaining our confidence as we navigate the minefields of set props costumes, cuts, translation errors, visas visas and visas over the next week. We have a good play on our hands, and all the stuff is only what we need to get through to put it on.

We finished our meeting on our ‘day off’ at 11.00.

Hospital Visiting

Another day gone not quite smoothly, but we wouldn’t want anything to get too simple would we?

Judy’s face had swelled up inexplicably in the night, and she woke up with her right eye totally closed up, looking like a still from Million Dollar Baby. So the morning was spent making a fascinating tour of the impressive facilities of the Seoul University Hospital, which involved emergency reception, foreign clinic, the Dermatology Resident, referral to the Professor of Dermatology, then across to Payments, before going to the Dispensary to get some drugs, and taking them to the Injections-in-the-Bottom department.

The main doctor had a rather unusual approach to diagnosis, which involved no touching, a long stare from some distance, and a period of inscrutability, looking slightly as if it involved suppressed laughter. Then he said, ‘very unusual’ rather meaningfully. But through this he did seem to arrive at the right diagnosis, because by the evening her eye was reopening and the swelling had gone down, although she has cancelled or shifted meetings in Tokyo, where she is due tomorrow. I shouldn’t make light of it, because it was really pretty horrible and worrying for Judy, and in fact the rest of the company were very concerned, but the whole process in the hospital actually only took a couple of hours, and it is hard to imagine that she would have got such efficient treatment at home. They did say they thought it was related to stress, tiredness and overwork, which on the surface sounds pretty plausible…..

The actors had continued music rehearsals and worked a little on the Brazil scene in the morning, instead of the planned run-through, which we did get to later in the day. It was an achievement to get to that point, and much of the run was very good, but we were a little taken aback by the timing, with it running at 85 minutes, as opposed to the target of 60. There was another very long discussion afterwards, and it is very clear to me that I have to adopt a different style next week, because we now have quite a bit of stuff to get through before our showcase on Wednesday, in front of an audience. I have asked Mijeong and Toyoko to give notes just to me, so that the actors are only hearing one voice [well, one voice translated a few times by others!]

Translation was again an issue today, because the level of skill involved in translating ‘notes’ for actors is so high. You choose words carefully and then when the response of the actors is not what you expect, you are left wondering if the nuance of what you have said has been lost. To get this right, the translator needs not just wonderful language skills, including theatre terminology, but also an understanding of the theatre process, and ideally a good reading of body language and tone too. We have been lucky to have that done really well through a lot of this project, but when it falls short it is frustrating… Ayako Funakawa, who is here now recording every session, is compiling a detailed account of this project, with particular reference to translation. It should be a really fascinating read – but of course it will be in Japanese, so it depends on the translation!

Everyone tired and a little subdued tonight, but Judy was feeling better, and days like today do put what we are attempting into some perspective. The weekend looms just at the right time, although we are also very aware of how much we need to do.

Now try it without the interpreter....

The day started with a music rehearsal, which gave us a chance to go over the events of the last few days with Nishidasan, [the Japanese writer] who is back from Tokyo. She has to teach a class on Tuesdays, and can only miss so many, which is why she flew back on Sunday. It was good to have her back, and her perspective on some of the thorny issues of time she missed was wise and valuable.

There was no English translation today, because Deong Myon has a civil service exam on Saturday and needs to prepare. So the photocall was a little chaotic, with contradictory discussions in a range of languages. But we had the run of a theatre which gave Simon a chance to do his first lighting in Korea, and we posed the actors in a range of positions, which will be photoshopped onto images of building sites.

After lunch we had a costume discussion, which was also slow, but very valuable. When So Young spoke, she spoke in Italian, which Judy translated into English, which Nishida translated to Korean, and Jagyoung put into Korean This was the best way of getting English into the equation. You can see why it takes a while though. We had this meeting in the wonderful Mindellae Coffee House, which is like a collection of Wendy Houses for hire for meetings, with pastel-painted wood panel rooms and frilly curtains. In these eccentric circumstances we made further progress towards the costumes. So Young will I think be glad when Yoghurt rolls out of town, although she is resolutely cheerful through all the twists and turns of the evolution of the costumes.

While this was going on, Minato was working on the Brazil scene, and some suggestions for the end of the play. We were going to have a run, but the energy level was low after the translation free day, and we had a writers meeting instead, although the actors stayed and in fact did a walk-through which turned into a run.

Tonight Byung Ho took everyone for Ssam Gyeop Ssal , the famous Korean Barbecue. Even among many glorious evenings this was a good one, with the thought that we are very lucky to be working with such a great collection of people constantly coming back to mind.

The jigsaw is complete

We had a late start today, and an evening rehearsal, which was fortunate for some of the company who had enjoyed themselves noticeably, late into the night on Tuesday.
We started at the beginning again this morning, looking in detail at Iris’s section before the play proper, which is lovely, and then working through Norang and Aka’s arrival, and then discovering Blue. This time through the plan is to block everything finally, although pinning these inventive actors down to doing things one way is very hard. I suspect they will still be making plenty up when we get to performances.

Ayako has a great engaging quality as a performer, and in spite of her reticence, I think she will start the performance very well. There was a fascinating argument about this scene though, with Mijeong not liking the fact that her first piece of music is Japanese, because it upsets the balance of the piece, and contradicts our idea of Iris as not being specifically attached to any part of the world. Minato felt that the arrangement of the music was not very Japanese, but the discussion remains unresolved while we see what we think when we have had a chance to see it all in context. It is an illustration of the complexity of our project, because this would not be seen as a problem by an English audience, who would not recognise the provenance of the song, or by a Japanese audience which would, but it would very likely be seen as quite a problem by a Korean audience with a very particular relationship with Japan historically. Ultimately these conversations are one of the reasons we do this project.

Half way through the afternoon we were joined by Simon, our lighting designer and production manager, who is really the final piece of the jigsaw. He is making his first visit to Korea, and was brought up to the rehearsal room by Daniel, who of course is now an old hand here. It was good to have the team complete, apart from Nishida, who arrives tonight.

After our supper break, there was a music rehearsal, which centred on the scene where the children explore the building site, which now has a strong drum accompaniment. Then So Young brought some costumes for the photocall in the morning.

After rehearsals we went for beer and met a locally based opera group…I don’t quite have the energy left, or the words to do justice to the quirkiness of this encounter. Ask us when you see us…

The beat goes on...

I hadn’t had a chance to look for my phone before it was brought back to me in the rehearsal room. I told you so. By then we had already got the 8.00 producer’s meeting part 2 meeting out of the way, and Judy and I had shared a sneaky coffee on the way to rehearsals. This turned out to be a good move, because by the time I got there, Mijeong had reworked the whole grandmother’s story scene very effectively. Minato is now working hard with Ayako on the music, and every day while he is here the actors are doing a couple of hours of music work. His work since Birmingham has really paid off, and the music should end up as a well integrated and effective element in the play. Ayako gains in confidence every day, and also grows her pile of instruments. Minato wants to go shopping in the morning for more. Already we are stretching the credibility of her role as a travelling street musician, unless she is travelling with a horse and cart. But there is a real dividend in the range and interest of the music itself.

In the afternoon we worked on the ending scene, leaving some key decisions for a while, because it seems best to make them when we have pieced together the whole play and can get a stronger sense of exactly what the ending needs.

At lunchtime, I had a nice meeting with someone Byung Ho has lined up to take on the Playstation project, which I have been working on in Reaside School. This involves a group of Year 6 pupils who have created a level for the game Little Big Planet, which will be published online, and can then be played in Korea, and Japan, as well as everywhere else in the world. It was a little hard to explain what we wanted form him, but I am hoping that his role will be to involve children here in playing the game, and then communicating with those in Birmingham who have made it up, alongside seeing the play, and comparing notes.

At the end of rehearsals, So Young arrived with a costume update, and she had a long conversation with Judy in Italian, as if things weren’t complicated enough in terms of language. The costume is proving quite a complex process, because perceptions of the clothes of young people is so different across our nations, as well as attitudes to young people’s theatre. I feel some sympathy for So Young trying to find her way through the range of ideas being thrown at her. I feel guilty for not somehow being as decisive as is expected of a director in these parts, but everyone in the team knows by now that our route will be a long and slow one of talking things through until we achieve something which we can agree on from at least three perspectives. We will meet her again tomorrow, because she needs to bring some clothes to dress the actors for a photocall, creating an image for Mr Shimoyama’s brochure.

In Manila Envelopes

Well, the UK visa office lived down to expectations on Monday morning. The whole enterprise has been privatised, and the office is in an office block in downtown Namdaemun, on the fifth floor. We trooped there first thing, having been joined now by Minatosan, who is in very high spirits, to find a neat waiting room with rows of empty chairs and two people waiting for custom. The electronic queuing system was registering 0 and 1 respectively for the two lines, and although the office had been open for an hour it seemed that we were their first customers. Any thought that this might make it a quick process was short-lived though. It turns out that the passports will all be sent to Manila, and the time it takes was now stretched to a possible 15 days, which takes us a week into Birmingham rehearsals. So we have a nervous wait. It is frustrating, because it is hard to see what possible threat this wonderful group of artists pose to our shores [MI5, if you are reading this please note] but of course that is not really the way these things work….

Judy arrived this afternoon though, to take on the job of worrying about all that. She had to hit the ground running rather, after 48 hours travelling from Truro via Tokyo. Without even time for a shower, she was in the first of two producer’s meetings. Mr Shimoyama is also here on his even more flying visit, and I had a meeting with him in the morning about the next Hanyong Project – a “Babydrama” project planned for 2011.

Because his visit was so short, the meeting concentrated on arrangements for Japan, which are interesting, because they are the opposite extreme from the Seoul venue we are rehearsing in, being very small and non-theatrical venues [in Tokyo, at least – the Okinawa venue is bigger]. The schedule is fixed, and particularly considering Judy’s schedule, the meeting was very productive, and as goes nowadays without saying was also wonderfully positive, amicable and enjoyable.

In the evening Mr Shimoyama hosted a special party to celebrate the fact that Byung Ho has been elected the Chair of ASSITEJ Korea, which is causing him to look very smart these days, always in a sharp suit, and to be even more busy than usual, always with a phone to his ear.
Oh yes, rehearsals. We did fit a whole afternoon in at least, between bureaucracy and celebration. In that time we tackled the legendary Brazil scene, which is really the big gap in the play at the moment. It is in a different style from the rest of the play, and will be significantly assisted by music and light, but we did a good deal of work this afternoon deciding things about it, mapping it out in effect, and it was a good job that it was such a satisfying session in view of the frustrations of the morning.

For me the day was lengthened by leaving my phone in the restaurant, only realising back in my hotel room, and having to walk back. It was closed, so I will go again in the morning, but it is a tribute to this city that I am not for a moment concerned that it will not turn up. I was in bed by 1.30…getting too old for this.

Are you now or have you ever been...

The first moderately major crisis hit late on Friday night, with a call from Stuart at the Rep and a potential obstacle to negotiate. It has emerged that all of the company working in the UK will need to go in person to get their visas here in Seoul, and there is a maximum turn around time of ten days, which is very tight. But Stuart has worked through the tortuous paperwork [or cyber-work] of the process, and sent everything we need to get through it. Eight people need photos, complex filled in forms, letters of invitation, proof of marital status, passports, photocopies of passports, notes from their mums [alright I lied about that one] and 260,000 won in cash, and we need to go to an office in Namdaemun at 8am on Monday.

Hye Jin took matters in hand this morning, after I had printed off the forms, and Byung Ho is organising the money, so it has not interfered with our process at all, and we are confident that we will get the visas processed - the only issues being whether they will really need to see Minato's wedding certificate! The company spent a happy hour after lunch answering questions like ,'have you ever expressed public support for any terrorist activity, if yes please give details', and 'is there any other way in which you might be considered not to be of good character, if yes please give details'. I suppose it is an indication of the times and countries in which we live, that everyone seemed to approach this with a shrug, and the forms are all filled. We will see what the British Foreign Office has in store for us on Monday. I am promising to avoid inappropriate jokes - always my potential downfall in those kind of situations.

Anyway, back to the important stuff..... Dong Myeon and Yeon were not in rehearsal today, so we were without english translation, and with Mijeong away at a wedding, and Hye Jin caught up in visa stuff, the rehearsal room was much more thinly populated [although nowhere in Seoul ever actually achieves much of the 'bliss of solitude'] Actually this was quite nice, and we got a great deal done, across our language barriers. Today it was the machine monster, and the digging for Brazil. There is a kind of rythmn exercise around the digging scene now, and Mijeong had suggested a nice linking moment, when Norang finds seeds as they scrape away the soil.

Toyoko is away for a few days now, and Milorad is back to Birmingham tomorrow. In the afternoon, we had a final production meeting with him, and went through all the elements of the set and so on. It does seem to be in hand. The final simplification has now happened, whereby there are two scaleable fence posts, with wire between them, which come together to form a ladder for the end of the play. Two posts and a pole [to be built in Birmingham] two sheets of plastic, 10 crates assorted, a danger sign, a length of wire, three silks and three patchwork backdrops, and that is our play.

After the production meeting, the UK lads [PWW and Daniel and Milorad] went via Dongdaemun, over to Yeon's studio, to see the backdrops being made. Then off out into the night for more barbecued pigs, more beer, and a descent into a Moroccan bar with rose petals and floor cushions and strange-smelling smoke, and the week disappeared into a hippyish haze. Tomorrow is Sunday [well today is Sunday, it being 2.30am and time for bed] There may be a brief pause in the blog, before I return to let you know who made it through the terrorist test.

The serious business of getting on a play

Friday already..... The beautiful weather has returned, and it seems a shame to have a full day of rehearsals down in our basement room, but the game is afoot, and we have some real momentum, and plenty of work to do. There are now so many people in the rehearsal room, with all of the translation and production elements, that asking Ayako to practise her section before the play is putting her pretty much on the spot, but she rises to it, and we map out the way that her beginning will work. Iris, once she is established, remains outside the site, and watches the story unfold, along with the audience. She maintains her ability to communicate with the audience. Norang, who is looking for Yoghurt front of house before the play, can communicate with the audience then, but once she is inside the site, that line of communication is broken. We have come to the conclusion that we should think of the audience as the people of the city, and the characters view them in this way.

The morning rehearsal is working out the structure and shape of the first section of the play, and practising it. There is a slow rythmn inevitably, to which people are adjusting. It is a little like a film set, with every 'take' being followed by a number of simultaneous discussions, before being pulled together for the next one, so these gaps between are long. But the decisions being made feel right, and we are lucky that the level of agreement between the creative team members is generally very high.

The set gets nearer to finality bit by bit. In the afternoon, Yeon had arrived with the wooden mock-up version of the fence arrived, and there was a long discussion while the actors worked with Ayako on the Brazil song, and the digging songs. The idea gets simpler and simpler, which feels right. It is very clear that we don't need a whole fence panel now, because we have worked out a way of using just wire and posts and plastic for the beginning of the play. Every time we use something in place of the real version, the actors make the substitute work so well, we start doubting that we need the 'real' one. Today it was a danger sign, 'borrowed' from the entrance to the theatre, which Yudai made so funny, that it seemed wrong to lose it. But this keeps on happening, and we are all aware that we are in the narrowing down stage now...

Having decided another simplification, which involves the fence wire swinging round, so that the audience moves from outside the building site to inside, we rehearsed the first section of the play, which was looking in good shape. Ayako improvised along with the action, and that element of the play is evolving. The last section of rehearsal was a run of quite a chunk, taking us up to Brazil. So Young arrived to watch, and to update us on the newest costume designs. They are now much more everyday than the original designs, which were very beautiful but not quite right for our needs. There is still a quirkiness to them which we want to maintain.

After rehearsals the team divides for a range of events. Some are at a traditional performance, others at the concert for which Minato has come to Seoul. For me, it is off up into the mountains, to go to a party held by Buksetung Theatre, with a barbecue outside their new base - Jimin, In U and the newly-married Sori. They had taken the day out of rehearsals to climb Pukhansan, and welcome in the Spring. I am very jealous, maybe they made the right decision. AnywayI gatecrashed a truly wonderful evening with very special friends.

Iris is in the House

The rain has gone, but the air is a little colder today. But downstairs, in the rehearsal room, all is warmth….
Yet another beginning, because we welcomed Iris into the story today, first by discussion around the reason for her presence, and then by exploration of the music itself.

The concept of the character is that she is a street musician, a young woman arrived newly in this part of the city from another part. Her spirit is worn down by the pressure of the city, and her music is too often drowned by the noise of the city. She is seeking somewhere that is right for her to play.
The building site is noisy and makes a bad place to play. Iris tries different places. When she comes upon the playing of the children, she watches along with the audience, suspiciously at first, then with interest, then she provides support, and becomes their musical guardian angel. Finally, through experiencing the children, she rediscovers her musical spirit.

Ayako was initially concerned about not being an actor, but she has at the same time jumped into our team impressively, and very soon today, the new dimension which will be brought to the play by her music was strongly evident. Together with the actors, she plotted briefly the Brazil section, and then in more depth the digging section. Finally there was time to work on the beginning of the play, when Iris plays in the street.

The writers meeting was one of those where the table top is full of improvised models – paper cups broken and sellotaped, pens and torn tissue paper simulating poles and silk cloths. The set is taking shape, and simplifying, and much of the paraphernalia is already assembled. Yeon returned today and is as I write shopping for fabric. There are complicated comings and goings over the next few days, and so scheduling has been tricky, but we are getting there….

Singing in the Rain

After five days of beautiful spring sunshine, the weather broke at midday, and the glass walls of the Arko City Theatre flowed with rain.  Yudai kicked Young Ju on the way down to Brazil, and needed a carefully applied melon ice lolly to reduce the swelling under her chin.  Apart from that, it was a good day.

Certainly we worked hard.  We got to the end of the play working fairly briskly through it, so that Ayako could get a sense of the whole.  Tomorrow is really her day, when we introduce the character of Iris [pronounced 'ee rish'] the musician.   We did have a sneak preview with the drums though, both with a dance to warm up, and a usk through the digging section.

We have identified four keywords for this stage in the production.  We knew in October that we had created something good, but we want now to take it on to something, SIMPLE, BALANCED, BEAUTIFUL and SPECIAL.  The words are up in three languages on our rehearsal wall.  Much of this stage is about finding neat simple solutions to the issues that arise, and we have been trying to dispense with anything that has not got sufficient reason to be there.  The balance is between the three cultures, and this needs constant vigilance.  Also part of the mix is the constant search for clarity.  Everything has to be clear enough to the speakers of each of the three languages.  Sorting that out, while dealing in the three languages between us, can take some doing.

Lunch today was delivered on a motorbike, because of avoiding a walk through the torrential rain to our restaurant.  We had an indoor picnic of chinese food, and then for the first time a full afternoon rehearsal session.  The actors were wilting by the end of another highly concentrated day.  But most of us still managed an evening visit to the Korean National University of the Arts, where I was doing a workshop, and a great late session in a well-known meeting place for artists and intellectuals called Ooh La La.  Makkoli [rice wine] and egg rolls and fishballs, in the company of some old friends.

Now We Are Four

It has felt like a real beginning today. For the first time we had our musician, Ayako with us, the fourth member of the performing team. At the same time we were joined by the Costume Designer, So Young and a new translator, Dong Myong, who is fluent in English and Japanese. This was his first experience of working within the theatre.

At the start of the day we played a wild game of Korean tag, just in case anyone had forgotten the level of energy of which this company is capable, and then got stuck into the play. Using the fact that Ayako is here for the first time, the three characters introduced themselves to her, in a long hot-seating session, and then we worked on the first three scenes of the play, getting used to the new mixture of working from the script. It was great to have Blue Aka and Norang back with us – we have somehow missed them since October. Having a script gives a different dynamic to the sessions, but there was as much fun and as much invention as ever, once we all shook off the rust a little.

For today and tomorrow, Ayako will be mostly watching, while we work thought the whole play, marking the script decisions, and fixing the exact production needs. She treated the company to a rundown of the instruments that she has with her at the end of the session, though, and by the end of a long day, including a barbecue in Insadong and a coffee and cakes, in Jongno, and she already feels part of the team.

In the afternoon, the writers meeting included So Young, who had new costume drawings to share, and we talked through the practicalities as well as ideas of detail with her. There was no time to plan the rest of the week’s sessions, before we lost Dong Myeong, so that conversation had to happen without translation – but then it is noticeable how much more we are managing across our language barriers these days.

Milorad flew off to Jeju Island for a few days today, he will be back for Friday. That night Minato gives a big concert in Seoul, before joining us at the weekend. We alos heard that Ayako [the other Ayako – assistant producer who was with us in Birmingham] will be here next week, when Judy and Shimoyama also make their visits and Simon arrives as well. So our lunchtime restaurant, which is proving a great success, will struggle to contain the company…..

The Story Continues....

After what has seemed like a very long wait, we are all back together, this time in Seoul. The time has come for rehearsals, for three weeks here, before we come to Birmignham, and the play opens at the REP on May 15th.

In the meantime, the script has undergone one re-write, and music has been written, and there has been a good deal of discussion between producers about the tour, and amongthe creative team about the musician, the design, the costumes, the play.... but nothing compares to being in the same place at the same time, and it was great to get to that point.

We are rehearsing in the rehearsal room of the theatre in which the play will open in Korea - the Arko City Theatre. This is a brand new, and absoluitely huge venue, which took us all by surprise.

There are a few crucial additions to the team at this stage. Hye Jin is our Korean stage manager, who will come to Birmingham, and then run the show in Korea and Japan. Jakyoung is our Japanese-Korean translator here, and Ayako is the new member of the cast, our musician. She arrived later today, after a big concert in Tokyo, and will start work with us tomorrow. Also here, by happy chance is Milorad - the Production Manager who is here as a bonus, with the REP's production of The Snowman, which we all went to yesterday, and enjoyed very much.

Another surprise but very welcome guest today has been Yerang, our Birmingham-based translator, who is in Seoul for a family visit, but who joined by tralslating our production meeting today.

Today we read through the play, and learned the company rules - Hye Jin will run a tight ship. We had a gentle day of sorting things out, really, and remembering why we like each others creative company. The play sounded good at the read-through, and the actors were funny even in that context. Every day we will have lunch at a little reestaurant in DaeHagno [the theatre district] and today we started that tradition, which promises to be a strong element of our time here. This evening the company is mostly out experiencing Seoul, while those ultra=hard-working few are writing blogs before a late meeting about designing a fence...but more of that later.

The main thing is.....WE ARE OFF! The final crucial laps of the project are underway.