Performances

So..Looking for Yoghurt finished its run of performances in England. There is currently a gap in the blog from towards the end of rehearsals, so there is a lot to fill in. Apologies, but it was just too busy during that time.

At some point I will fill in an account of the two weeks of performance in Birmingham, and our week at the SPARK Festival in Leicester, but for now it is enough to say that the play went really well - response was mostly fantastic, and it got tigher and tighter by the end of the UK run. There is now a pause, before the tour resumes in Seoul early in July....

World of Yoghurt

World of Yoghurt….the Game


Background to the World of Yoghurt

LearnPlay Foundation and Looking For Yoghurt Director Peter Wynn-Willson of the Hanyong Theatre Company having been working in partnership with Reaside Junior School to develop a game level in Sony’s Little Big Planet on the PlayStation 3.

Game Designers of the Future!
The game development compliments the theatre production and has allowed the children at Reaside Junior School to become game developers for a term. The children developed a range of creative skills in a fun and engaging environment. They learned how to map out creative concepts, sharing and discussing their ideas and drill down to the chosen idea. They story-boarded their ideas and produced functionality specifications whilst letting their imaginations run wild with the design of crazy and treacherous puzzles within the game level. The result being a fully playable (be warned, it is not easy!) game level published to the Little Big Planet community. See access details further on.

Teachers on Board
If you are interested in developing a game within this environment in your school or to bring a subject to life, please contact us or send us an email.

Instructions for Getting to The World of Yoghurt

Firstly you will need the following

PlayStation 3

Little Big Planet game

Internet connection

Make sure you have signed up to the PlayStation Network and created your self a user account and that the PlayStation has been updated to the most current version, see PlayStation 3 manual for help.Once you have completed these steps then insert the Little Big Planet disk and allow it to load the game. If this is the first time you have loaded Little Big Planet you will be prompted to update the game. Upon loading Little Big Planet you will be required to play through the first story levels called ‘The Gardens’. By completing The Gardens you will unlock a wide range of new content which will be explained to you by the in game narrator. When you are in your Sack Person pod you will be able to navigate to the Little Big Planet main menu and have four options available to you.

Story

Quick Play

Community

Little Big Store

Using your controller navigate down to the ‘Community’ option and highlight it, then navigate to the ‘search’ option on the right.You will now be presented with ‘Search Options’, if you now select ‘Search Text’ and type in ‘WORLD OF YOGHURT’ and press select you will be taken to the level. By highlighting ‘World of Yoghurt’ and then selecting it you will enter the level.Upon successfully completing World of Yoghurt you will open up ‘World of Yoghurt: Curtain Call’ and get to see more about the play Looking for Yoghurt and the project.

We hope that you enjoy playing and please be sure to rate the map after playing.

Please keep checking for updated versions of the level for extra content coming soon.

Have fun and remember to play responsibly

In Performance

You may have noticed that the blog stopped just before performances started. Things got very very busy, and I just did not have the time. But now the run in Birmingham is coming to an end, and I will catch up with a few reflections on the performances soon. I hope some other people will also contribute their thoughts now, and please if you come and see the play, feel free to add comments here.

The teachers pack is now online at http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/participate/students-and-teachers/resources/looking-for-yoghurt/welcome/

The play is going really well...a long process is ending, and another we hope is beginning.....

Birmingham Post article

This is Terry Grimley's Article in the Birmingham Post about the Looking for Yoghurt process.... click HERE

Anyone got a light?

This was always going to be a long tough day, with technical rehearsals continuing, and a dress run in the evening. But events conspired against us today to make it longer and tougher. The main lighting board in the REP failed, and because there was a performance of Serious Money in the evening, they took our board, and although Simon struggled manfully with a replacement, w eended up doinbg a delayed run with only a skeleton lighting plan. Considering that, and the fact that they were tired, the performers produced a decent run, but it was hard not to feel a little flat at the end of the evening.

Minato has joined us, having been given an embarassingly hard time by the immigration department at Birmignham Airport. [If you are reading this blog, MI5, please bear in mind that Minato is a very nice man, and a professional musician, we are not paying him for his presence here, he is visiting the play on which he has worked, and he is not out to steal our womenfolk or blow up our buildings.] He has given the OK to the radio mike, and he got straight to work polishing up elements of the music. Aline too returned, and watched the tech run, with both of them chipping in to work on sections.

We got rid of the troublesome 'clearing up' section at the beginning of the Brazil scene, and that left us with the need for something to replace it, which Aline worked on a little, but will need more tomorrow.

After the run we sat and discussed what is left to do. Even through the tiredness this was ultimately encouraging.

Our sound effects sound great through the system, and I am feeling now that almost every moment of the play has worked well at some point. If we can string them all together, the whole play will work...but this was a slightly nervous day, as might be expected, with our technical hitches..... Two days to go.

Getting all Technical

Technical rehearsal Tuesday came and went pretty painlessly. Simon, the LD is so calm that it is hard to know whether everything is going as smoothly as it seems. Generally, each day we have ticked off another section that has been an obstacle, and today we seemed to notch up a couple more. Yesterday it was the ending song. Today, the machine-monster. This section, where Blue disappears, and comes back with a machine to help dig to Brazil, had never been right. But today during the tech runs, we seemed to crack it.

We also made some real progress on the remaining issues with the Brazil scene. Part of this was giving Ayako a radio mike, which is very subtle, but just gives a little extra support to her voice, so that she can rise above the three actors charging around as they do. Aline will be back tomorrow, and there will be a few issues she can contribute to.

Overall, to see the play with theatre lights for the first time was a real excitement. The backcloths take the light very well, and although Yeon is offended by the creases, everyone else loves the slightly eccentric way they look. The sound effects are nearly finished too, and Clive, who has been doing those has found some very convincing machine-monsters.

We made good progress through the technical rehearsals, and although Simon has a lot to do, we were able to release the actors at 6.00, having booked them until 10.00. I am really relieved, because preserving their energy is one of my main priorities this week.

Minato was due to arrive this evening, but missed his connection in Paris, so he will be coming late tonight. I am looking forward to him seeing the play - I think he will be pleased with the way it has progressed.

Yoghurt Unplugged

After a rare day off, the performing team assembled in the rehearsal room on Monday morning, while Simon started the main rigging and focusing of lights in the studio.

Free from all of the paraphernalia and complication of the props and scenery, the company had a really good run-through in the morning, watched by Caroline Jester, the REP's Dramaturg, and Ali, my partner. Maybe it was something to do with the weekend, or the freedom of being back in the rehearsal room we had done so much in during October, but there was certainly a spirit of fun in the air, particularly during the afternoon.

We finally tackled the ending song, which will happen during the curtain call in effect. I had not been sure about this up to today, but it suddenly seemed clear that the simplicity and catchiness of the song would work very well in this context. Also, Young Ju, who loves working an audience, had been restrained all through the play, wanting to work the crowd, with me telling her that it is not right for this particular play. Giving her permission to play with the audience during this song at the end is unleashing a force of nature. Not that Yudai and Daniel won't hold their own, too. We all ended the day laughing.

Today may prove a key moment in tracing the meaning of this play. When scholars in years to come are reading this blog as part of their analysis of one of the great pieces of 21st century poetic drama, let them note that it was on this day that the team decided that Yoghurt will indeed be found at the end of the play....well, almost. We decided that there will be a tinkle of Yoghurt's bell, just as the lights are going out, suggesting at least that there will be a reunion soon. Ha ha... eat your heart out, Monsieur Godot.

At lunchtime, Terry Grimley of the Birmingham Post came to watch some rehearsal and interview the writers. It was interesting to hear how the different people described our project to him. Listening to Toyoko and Mijeong giving their views brought the play in even clearer focus for me, and emphasised the magic of the combination we have enjoyed. Toyoko said that she had found it very easy because usually she has to hold so many people in her head, but in this project they had all been shared. The actors had held the people, and I had provided a male perspective, while Mijeong had provided a young perspective. We also had an interesting discussion about acting style. We decided that in this production we are not interested in realism, only in truth. That is a litle deep for a Monday lunchtime.

The Weekend

We worked a full day today even though it was Saturday, to make up for the Bank Holiday on Monday, which felt a little cruel considering the tough week the company has had. So in the end it became just a slighlty long morning for the actors, and the afternoon was taken up with a long writer's meeting.

In the morning we did a run, and Judy finally got to see the whole play, having missed one chance while in Casualty in Seoul! Nisha, the Programme Co-ordinator at the REP also watched, and Simon has set up his lighting desk in the auditorium, so he sat in on the run too.

The play still ran a little too long, [70 minutes] but it also ran quite smoothly, and we still look pretty much on course. The fence this time fell down when Yudai touched it, and there was a bit of a pause during the section where he clears everything up, while searching for monsters, and also while Young Ju built the tower to climb at the end, but except for those three bits we could begin to concentrate again on the acting.

Everyone seemed pleased with how it had gone, and we went together for a lunch at Woktastic, where they remembered us from October.

The writers meeting was also encouraging. We spent a long time discussing the beginning of the play, and the Brazil scene, but we were very much in agreement on most aspects, and we ahve a clear plan for what still needs doing. For me, in a project where much of the focus is often on the complication of holding all our different perspectives, what was very strong today was the other side of the eqaution. That is the fact that having Toyoko and Mijeong involved throughout the process is a fantastic resource. Anything I miss is picked up by them. Or if anything seems to be going in an unhelpful direction, they are there, watching, thinking all the time, so when there is a problem, there are many possible ideas to solve it.

It was a long meeting though, and by six o'clock we are all tired. Yudai and Young Ju have been prectising the fence business in the studio, and Yeon and Hye Jin are still painting crates and plastic when I leave for a day off which I will enjoy.

So, what do the children in Birmingham think?

This was an important and very positive day. The children from Reaside and Chandos, who came to our sharing back in October, came to watch rehearsals again today, and we showed them most of the play, during a stopping run. Then we had a chance to talk with them during lunch time, as well as a first chance for most of the company to see the Yoghurt World level for Little Big Planet, the Playstation game which the Reaside children have designed.

The actors rose to the situation of having an audience, and the response was certainly encouraging. Obviously these children know the story already, so they are not a proper test of how easy it is to follow, but there were indications that the clarity is about right. They really enjoyed it too, and it was encouraging that one of their favourite bits was the Brazil section, which has provided us so much anxiety over the last few months.

Steve Hands, who has been working with the Reaside group, came in at lunchtime and spent time going through the most recent version of the game with the group. The actors anjoyed their first taste of the game too. Clive Chandler, who will be doing a puppet project with Chandos over the next week, watched the run too, and they did some planning for their project.

After the kids had gone, we ran the rest of the play, and then went over the Brazil scene. There was another run scheduled for the aftrenoon, but it felt like that would have constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and we just did some bits instead.

I'm Still Hungry

The idea today was to finish the work on the Brazil scene, and then run through the rest of the play to look at improvements Aline could make. In the end we spent more time on Brazil than anticipated and we never got to going through the rest of the play, but this seemed like the right decision.

The silk cloths which are the centre of the Brazil scene have all needed re-sewing, because the treatment they get causes them to fray, so Yeon has been very busy with that, and looks as if she would be happy never to see another sewing machine right now. But the impact of that scene is growing.

The stress level has also been growing for me in the last couple of days, not because of the core process, but because of all the other stuff. Perhaps it is because Aline is leading the rehearsals, it frees up enough of my time to make me feel daunted by how much there is still to do. It is things like the notes for the programme, the sound effects, the organising of the school projects, the per diems etc. Today I had to fit in two sessions in Childrens Centres, and a visit to the bank around the rehearsals, so perhaps it was not surprising that it felt particularly stressed. Suddenly it felt as if there was too much to do aftre all. But I think it is only to be expected at this stage.

At the end of the day we say goodbye to Aline, or in fact 'au revoir' because she will be back for a day and a half next week, by which time the actors may have recovered from these two days!

Most of the company went off to a school at the end of the day, to watch the Moby Duck production of 'I'm Still Hungry', which is based on a famous Korean story. It was at St Mary's, the school in the Korean community in Birmingham, and by all accounts it was a wild nioght. Yerang leafleted the 300 people crammed into the school hall, and our audience should be swelling as a result. In fact the theatre is very happy with the level of sales.

Yoghurt, the musical

A long hard physical day for the actors today, being put through their paces by Aline.

It was nicefor me, to sit back a little and watch her working with them, and she provided a fantastic input of different energy, which everyone responded to. Having seen the whole play, she got to work on the areeas which are most in need of this kind of injection, the machine-monster section, the ending and principally of course the almost legendarily problematic Brazil scene.

Toyoko has arrived in Birmingham, and it was truly great to see her. After missing her during the great debate about the opening song, it is very reassuring to have her calm positive presence back in the room.

Aline started with a session on the way the actors climb the tower at the end of the play, which by the end of the day had become very impressive, with them hanging off precariously, and helping each other up. The Machine-monster section has been improved by Daniel standing behind the fence panels, and 'operating' the machine with big elastic levers, while it alos now involves Hye Jin as a shadow machine behind the backdrops.

After the preview in Korea, Mijeomng had been in favour of cutting the fabrics that we were using in the Brazil scene, because they did not seem to work, but after Aline's input, the second half of the scene now seems to be getting to the kind of beauty and energy that we have been wanting for it. My role became to protect the meaning within the action, while she was suggesting movements. We made some important progress, and everyone was noticably energised by the end of the day.

Just what we need - un autre langue...

So here we are, on the final leg of the begiinning of our long journey in search of a little white cat that we all know we may never find. Back in Birmingham.



It didn't seem likely a week or so ago, while we waited every day for news from Manila of everyopne's passports, but everyone has arrived safely in Birmingham, and rehearsals are underway for the play openeing on May 15th. There were very few drama at the airports, although personally I had to jettison a good chunk of my luggage at Incheon airport, and then lost my passport and wallet in the Duty Free shop - but they were returned to me quickly, and that is just par for the course for me.



On Bank Holiday Monday we all gathered at our house for a celebration of safe arrival, of Mayday, of Blues promotion - as predicted in these pages - and our wedding anniversary. No amount of jetlag can dent the exuberance of the company, and there is a feeling that the possible excuses for failure are disappearing one by one, and a dawning nervousness at the responsibilty that brings.



Tuesday morning starts with Ayako taking the actors through voice work, while the set up is finished in the Door. The backdrops are already hung. though my first irritating director act is to change their position. The stressful aspects of the production for me now are all coming from the 'usual suspects' - the fence, the machine-monster, the ending scene and of course 'Brazil'. The metal fence pieces are now made, and we spend time constructing what will be the final version, with the real materials. In the course of the morning we make the decision which perhaps has been inevitable all along - that we will not attempt to move the fence in the change around from outside to inside the building site. We still have to solve the remaining problems of getting the wire to be released when the fence breaks, and dealing with the quantity of plastic sheet.



In the rehearsal room, the actors ran through the first half of the play during the morning, and then at lunchtime we all gathered to meet and greet the staff at the REP. At this point we were also joined by Aline David, a dancer and choreographer who will be helping us in the next three crucial days, as we crack the final version of the Brazil scene. None of us has met her before, but she is excited about the project, and leaps straight into work. Judy is speaking with her in French, just to add another language, when we thought life could not get any more complicated!



In the afternoon we moved into the Door, and staggered throught the whole play, partly to get used to the space that will be our home for the next four weeks, and also to show the play to Aline. My focus is on just how much needs still to be done, but the actors manage to do a good run, in spite of tiredness after all the travelling. In the evening we had a long talk with Aline, who has enjoyed watching and we planned together the way she will work with us over the next two days.

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.