“I don’t like crooks, and even if I did, I wouldn’t like crooks that are stool-pigeons, and if I liked crooks that are stool-pigeons, I still wouldn’t like you.”

I hope you have all had a very festive start to your holidays.  Now that all the Christmas socializing is over, I get can to the real reason we have holidays -- watching old movies, reading, and working on the script I'm writing.  I've got everything set up, I think.  I've got Shakespeare's family introduced and his mother and father's unhappy marriage, and Shakespeare's relationship with the Lucy family, especially Lady Anne Lucy (a bit of romance there) and I've introduced Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's future wife, not the present day actress) to Will on the bridge late at night, and I've also had the travelling players arrive at town, with a young Christopher Marlowe in tow.  He plays the ladies' characters, which I think is a stroke of genius on my part!  (An old writing teacher once told me that when you think something is written really well, you should consider cutting it, because it's a sign you're showing off, but this bit with Christopher Marlowe is really good, I think.)

I read a little Anne Perry mystery, called A Christmas Homecoming, about a troupe of actors who go to an English country estate to put on a play written by the daughter of the rich guy who owns the house.  The play is a mess, but the actors and director figure out how to save it, because they know how theatre works.  I hope some of you will perform the same magic with "For My Name is Will"!  (Anne Perry is an interesting person herself.  She grew up in Australia and when she was a teenager, she had a very intense friendship with a girl her age.  When the girl's mother announced that she and her daughter were moving to South Africa, Anne Perry and her friend decided to kill the mother.  According to the evidence at the trial, they hit her 20 times with a stone they had placed along a path on which the three were walking, and both girls were convicted of murder, but they were children so I believe Anne Perry only served five years for the crime.  They made a movie of the event with Kate Winslet playing Anne Perry's character.)

Last night, after we got back from our third turkey dinner (!), I put on the movie, "The Thin Man", starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the detective couple, Nick and Nora Charles.  I have never seen these movies, although they are classics -- based on the novels by Dashiell Hammett (who also wrote The Maltese Falcon).  I really enjoyed it -- Powell and Loy are great, wise-cracking, witty and playful and I loved the style and all the characters.  I think an actress named Ruth Channing plays the character who says the great line I started this thing with, and she says it with great gusto.  I wonder if Dashiell Hammett thought that was a really good line. . .

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We've been treated to another "snow day" and I've actually posted a picture from my walk in the park! (it's a Festivus miracle! {Seinfeld reference}).

 I met a man in the park this morning who said he'd moved here from Alberta in September and one of the reasons was to avoid the snow!  But he was quite positive about it and said that being in the park was like being in church, because it is so quiet and peaceful and you feel very closely connected to the beauty and power of the glorious world in which we live.  Daisy and I saw lots of beautiful things on our walk.  Flocks of gorgeous black and white Goldeneye ducks scooted along the smooth grey water and the trees are all laden with big gobs of thick white snow and all the people are bundled up and rosy cheeked and smiling.  Even people in their cars seemed friendlier, waving and shaking their heads in sympathy with us trudging along on the unshovelled sidewalks.  It is snowing heavily now and you can barely see across the water to the north shore.

I just wanted to send out my warmest wishes to the kids in the Drama Club for inviting me to the wrap party for Macbeth.  It was lots of fun and it was great to see so many of you and enjoy all the food and share some laughs and wipe the floor with all of you playing charades!  (Although I clearly need lessons in keeping up with popular music!  I listened to the original "Riders on the Storm" when I got home!)  If I can get "For My Name is Will" done over the holidays, we will have a little read through in January, so I can make edits and changes.

And to all of you, drama club or not, I wish you a very happy, safe holiday with all the things you like crammed into it and very few of the things you don't like (into every life, a little rain must fall, of course -- for example, I don't like vacuuming, but I have to do it and once it's done, it feels good to see no dog hair on the floor!)  Think of how lucky you are and be grateful for your good fortune.  Smile at people.  Give someone a compliment.  Help somebody out.  Have a laugh or two.  Be patient.  Get outside.  Happy holidays!

Spirit Week!

Have some fun this week for Spirit Week!

Monday -- Ugly Sweater
Tuesday -- Winterwear
Wednesday -- Whiteout
Thursday -- Dress your best (for New Year's Eve)
Friday -- Pyjamas

Bonus points for dressing up!  Bring cans for B Block -- that's the best spirit -- helping others!

Winter Wonderland

I hope you all had a chance to get out in the snow before it turns to slush!  If you don't want to play and frolic, you could always go next door or across the street and ask if the people need their walks shovelled.  Especially if it's an older person, or someone who's not physically capable of it.  Daisy and I did our walk this morning and even for us (we're a bit "long in the tooth {that means "older"} but still pretty fit, as is evidenced by my amazing performance on Friday in "Duck, duck, goose") it was rough going.  The roads and sidewalks were icy and slushy and really slippery and we actually cut our walk short, because it was so unpleasant.  Daisy doesn't like to get her feet cold (she's a very elegant lady) and her paws were widely splayed to get traction and after a while, she starts to lift one up to save it the sensation, and then sometimes, she just sits down and says (with her eyes), "I don't want to do this anymore".

I guess we will have to put up our tree today.  My youngest son is "champing at the bit for Christmas to arrive" (that's a line from "A Christmas Carol" which is a lovely story by the great Charles Dickens, who is credited with creating our modern Christmas traditions) and has been mentioning how many of our neighbours have their decorations up.  I like the decorations, but I wish someone else would put them up.  It's an enormous chore.

A friend of mine and I went to see "The Lady in the Van" on Friday night at the Port Moody Film Society.  It stars Maggie Smith (a great actor, who you probably know as Professor McGonagall, but who has created many great characters in her long career on stage, screen and television) as a homeless woman who convinces a playwright to let her move her van into his driveway and then lives there for fifteen years.  She is not a pleasant person and isn't grateful and they don't end up with one of these warm relationships, but he does care for her as she becomes more and more unable to care for herself.  I didn't love it, but I thought it was interesting and I liked that they didn't make her cute or wise or really appealing in any way.  She never said "thank you" even though the writer and his neighbours tried to help her in various ways.  I think that when you help someone, you can't expect to be thanked.  I feel like if I have the wherewithal to help, then it's because I'm lucky and the other person isn't and if I can give them something to make things easier, I should, and not with the expectation that they will give me something in return.

I mailed my packages to the people I send gifts to and that gives me a sense of accomplishment.  They will arrive before Christmas Day.  One of the people is my oldest friend in Calgary.  We have been friends for over fifty years!  We have had our ups and downs, of course, but it is an amazing relationship and I credit her with keeping it going.  She has the gift of friendship, I think, and has always been there for me -- through childhood and school and marriage and child birth and deaths of loved ones and heartache and happiness. It is a gift in itself to think that we have shared so much together (that's a cliche, but true!) and I always feel comforted to think that she remembers my two dear little parents -- one of the few people who do, anymore.

Well, I didn't mean for this to get sad, and I'm not sad, but I might be moving in that direction so I will sign off, and get the salt out for the driveway and haul out the Christmas decorations and see what I can accomplish.  Keep warm and see you all tomorrow!

The labour we delight in physics pain.

Oh, Shakespeare said it all, didn't he?

If you're thinking, "aw, come on, Ms. Kosar, I don't get this 'Shakespeare stuff' (it isn't "old English" -- it is considered modern English, although some of the words have changed their meanings in 500 years and some of it is so dense metaphorically that it challenges our intellect to understand {and challenging our intellects is good for us}), I'll explain that the line (from Macbeth, of course) means that if we love doing something, then all the challenges and difficulties we face when doing it are lessened.  I said to one of you last night that the play (and all the plays we do) was a "labour of love" and he said, "then maybe it isn't 'labour'."  It IS labour, because we all worked so hard and for quite a long time, but it is worth it when you do good work.

George Bernard Shaw (another great playwright, but no Shakespeare, of course) said, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."  I know that performing Shakespeare is a mighty purpose and that lots of us feel thoroughly worn out this morning, and I hope all of you feel as proud as I do of what we did.

I feel a bit sad this morning, because the show is over, but it is a lovely day and the water in the inlet is as smooth as glass and the little buffleheads (what a pretty little bird they are!) are popping up after diving for tasty morsels.  We accomplished great things and I know all of you gave your best to the play and that is wonderful.  Thank you so much for the flowers and the sparkly card with all your kind thoughts.

Enjoy your long weekend, especially Monday, which is a great day for a Professional Day.  Someday soon, we will have a little get together in the theatre for lunch and pat ourselves on the back for all our achievements.  Stay tuned.

Journal for December 2

All classes:

Write about the play.  What did you think of it?  Choose one aspect of the production and write about it in detail.  You can select a performance, the set, the music, the costumes,  a particular scene or anything else that you remember.  Provide details.  Don't just say "I liked it" or "I hated it".  If you didn't see the play, there is still one performance left this evening at 7.  It is a wonderful opportunity to see a great production of a classic play for a very low price!

I am so proud of everyone involved in the show.  It was a difficult task to put it all together, as it always is, but it has turned out beautifully and everyone has exceeded my expectations.

Dress rehearsal notes

Act 1:  No t shirts under your witch costume!  Make sure whatever you say means something.  You need to understand what you're saying, in order for the audience to understand.  Witches!  Bare feet.  If you don't absolutely need your glasses, don't wear them.

Adelaide, project over the marching in.  Don't give the audience your back.  Cheat to them.

Act 2:  If you dried up, check your script.  We can't save you any more.  If someone drops something, deal with it (as you would if someone in real life dropped it)!

Check your props before the show.  Make sure all the things you use are where they are supposed to be.

Be aware of the stage picture.  If you clump up on one side, it looks unbalanced.

Chris and Jessie, kneel on your entrance and use each other to react.

Act 3:  Make your emotional choices strong.  Don't be unsure.  If you make a mistake, embrace it!

Act 4:    Project!!  Mean what you say.  Smile and pause on the stairwell landing, Leeann.

Witches, you have to be still.  Isaac needs a small mirror!  Crew, make sure he has one!

Think of diction.  Don't speak too quickly.

Quiet backstage, in the stairwells, in the prop room.

If you don't need your glasses, leave them off.

Bertina, review your scene and wear boots.

Act 5:  If you are not in hot light, move.  Get in the light.  Be ready for your scene.  Keep going!

Veronica and Farah will do the women's cry in Act 5, scene 5.

Be BIG.

Witches need to be fast on turning stage.  Arianna, make sure they go!

Think of what you would actually do in any of the circumstances.  That will help you figure out your reaction.

BREAK A LEG!

$5!!

A Block and D Block students!

Don't forget your $5 to pay for a ticket to "Macbeth".  It is going to be a great show with students from all grades participating.

More journals for November 25

Senior Drama

Write about your reality plays.  What went well?  What needed improvement?  What did you do to help your group create a worthwhile effort?  What could you improve upon?  Which reality play did you like the best?  Whose performance impressed you?  Say why.

A Block:

Write about the process through which you developed your commedia del'arte presentation.  What went well?  What could have been improved?  Whose play was funniest?  Why do you think the way you do?

Journals for November 25

Grade 8:  On a scale of 1 - 5, rate your ability to work in a group and explain why you rate yourself the way you do.  Are you a good leader?  Explain what qualities you have that make you a good leader, or what you need to do to become one.  Tell a story about an experience you had in a group and what you learned from it.  It can be a positive or negative experience.  Make sure you answer all the questions.

Notes on Acts 4 and 5 - Macbeth

Act 4
Scene 1:  Keep the energy up!  All witches need to speak the unison part!  Learn the lines!!!  Speak rhythmically.  PROJECT!!  Nice, Farah -- gestures good!  Use the audience, Macbeth.  Interrupt!  Speak before she's finished.  Second apparition, nice.  Come in on time!!  Witches, be still!! Don't move!  Don't touch your clothes or fiddle with your hair!  Cover your eyes on "I'll see no more".

We need to do this scene at lunch next week.

Pull on her lingeringly, witches.

2:  Great entrance, all Macduffs and Ross.  Nice with the wren, Lady Macduff.  Very moving, Ross!  Lovely.  Nice pertness, young Macduff.  Great family scene.  Great shift to traitor.  Great scene, all.

3.  Good on "bleed".  Nice -- "it weeps, it bleeds".  We need bigger reactions.  "But I have more .. . " make this darker.  Macduff, it's like someone thinking of what Trump will do to the US.  We can't have the same attempted exit twice.  Second time, Macduff, don't exit -- kick over a chair.  Challenge Malcolm.  When Malc. described the ulcerous sores, etc., Macduff, picture it.  Great announcement, Ross.  PROJECT!!  Macduff, shake Malc off when you say "he has no children".  Macbeth is the hell-kite.  Big on "Woman with mine eyes"

Act 5
Sc. 1:  Great on "fie" -- you brought yourself up very tall -- it looked great.  "Give me your hand" -- then recoil.  Great scene!

2:  Keep looking out at the enemy.  We need to run this scene, too.

3:  push harder, Macbeth.  Demand that Seyton come, not ask.  "Obedience" not "discipline".  James, on Macbeth's right, not left.  Be ready for your cues, everyone!

STAY IN CHARACTER.  No laughing.  No acting out of character on stage.  Play your person's emotions.

5:  OUCH!  Very rough.

6.  James, be still.  Very moving, Macbeth!  Great on "moving grove".

7.  Young Siward needs a sword.  "Thou" is pronounced "Th-ow".

CONCENTRATE!  LEARN YOUR LINES.  We need to practice the sword fights.

Malcolm, you've learned that you need to be sympathetic to those who serve you -- you say, "he's worth more sorrow..." etc., not like you were with Macduff.

After school on Monday -- we will do Act 5!

Notes from rehearsal on November 16

Firstly,  it is pretty disappointing that some people continue to miss rehearsals, especially when we only have two weeks left.  You might think, "oh, I know my lines," or something like that, but that is only the start of a performance.  If you are not at rehearsal, someone else is doing your blocking and the other actors are working with them, and you are not progressing and you are making it very difficult for the rest of us.  SHOW UP, or you will have to be replaced.

On Monday, bring in any clothes that you think might be suitable for your character.  If you don't know what a tunic is, ask me.  We have a few pairs of boots.  Value Village is a great place to find gear -- if the cost is an issue, bring your bill in and Ms. Kosar will reimburse you.

You need to be off book now.  You can't really act, if you are looking for your part in the script.

Think of how you would react in the situations in the play.  You need to think of REACTING to what is going on around you, not just waiting for your chance to speak.

We ran Acts 2 and 3.  If you have scenes in these acts and weren't there, you need to be sure you don't miss any more rehearsals.  In three weeks, the show will be over and then you can do whatever you like with your free time, but now you have a commitment to this show.

Scene 1:  Fleance, laugh at your Dad's joke -- he's always talking about the weather!

Everyone, if you bump into someone in your scene somewhere other than the theatre, act it out.  You can't practice enough!

DO NOT DROP YOUR VOICE.  Some of you are acting greatly, but if no one can hear you, it doesn't matter!

Remember, you're a soldier, Macbeth.  You need to try to pull yourself together.  Don't give in to fear, even though you're terrified.  Let us see both sides of it.

Great on "nature seems . . . "

"Horror" -- pronounce the end of words.

Scene 2:  Figure out where you should be to make the next entrance.  Plan ahead.

"surfeited" is pronounced "SERfitted"

Both listen at "hark"

When Macbeth yells, quash him.  You are afraid someone will hear!

Lady Mac -- a bit of panic in this scene.  What if Macbeth LOSES it completely?

Don't turn upstage!

"make us mad"  -- he is mad!

great hand rubbing.

Spin stage for porter scene -- available witches.

Great with audience, Porter.  That's going to work terrifically.
The joke about the English and French is that the English think the French are somewhat prone to STD's.  The line "what are YOU?" -- use one last person from the audience before you stop "portering".  "Requited" is pronounced reQUITE-ed.  When they leave you, Porter, give the revolve a turn and then exit upstage.

Find low notes, Macduff, when you discover the body.  Remember, you're a soldier, too.  Everyone should be shocked that Macbeth killed the servants.

PROJECT!  You must speak loudly enough to be heard.

Use words like "gore".  You all need to be concerned about Lady Mac when she faints (except Macbeth).

Use words like "manly" and phrases like "then you were a man" or "I could play the woman".  That's a theme of this production.

Think about DICTION.  Clarity is VITAL.

Lady Mac and Mac, there is a dance here (not literally).  When one is weak, the other tries to be strong.  Let's see you support each other.  I think they love each other a lot!  We should see that.  You should touch each other whenever you think about it.

At the banquet, lords, think about what it would be like to be at a dinner party when the host is acting like Macbeth.  He clearly sees something but you don't see it.  It's not funny -- he's in charge!!!!  It's concerning, scary, shocking, worrying.  Let's see that in your reactions.  Act like you're not listening when Lady and Mac talk -- you are listening, but ACT like you're not.

Pick up cues at banquet.  That will come when you KNOW YOUR LINES!!

Sit right down and lean on the platform for the table.

Listen to him after the banquet, Lady M., and try to comfort him.  "You lack sleep".  Macbeth, listen to your wife.  You need to sleep.  (But you can't.)  Think about trying.  It is stressful to think about lying there not sleeping, but you have to try.  You'll go mad if you don't sleep.  This is important for both of you.

Scene 5:  Witches that were there, you were great.  The scene looked really great.  I wonder where the rest of you were!!  Hecate -- that sounded and looked great.  With a big speech like that, actors divide it into "beats".  You move from intention to intention.  Ask yourself what you want and that will change over the course of the speech.  Each time your intention changes, think about what you want at that point.  This is true of any long speech, actors.

Scene 6:  This scene went well, but you could develop a more gossipy tone and really react.  Mactavish, you want to be right, but Lennox, she always interrupts you -- you're used to it and you don't like it -- really try to quash her.  How do you deal with people who interrupt you all the time?  Do you get mad?  Speak louder?  McT:  Make "holy King" and "warlike Siward" VERY DIFFERENT.

Everyone:  Don't look at me in the audience.  Make eye contact with the person to whom you're speaking.  The audience can tell when you're not looking at the person you're on stage with.

Tomorrow, we are doing Act 4 and 5.  We will start as soon as possible at the end of the school day.  You need to be there.

Next week, we will run a long dress rehearsal (bring costume ideas to wear on stage -- black, red, grey, silver, white) on Wednesday as soon as classes are over (I think that's at one.)  We will be incorporating light and sound.  It will be slow.  You need to be prepared to stay a long time.  We will do notes at the end.  You need to be there to hear the notes.  We might have to do another run on Friday.  Be prepared for that.  It might take till after six.  That is a long day.  I will ask if we can have pizza afterward.

Don't miss any more rehearsals.  If you know someone who has, tell them I am not pleased about it.

Lest We Forget

I hope some of you got to the Remembrance Day ceremony in your community.  We went here in Port Moody and it was well attended (the crowds seem to get bigger every year) and it is comforting to hear the same words and see the same veterans and listen to the magnificent Simon Fraser Pipe Band every year on the 11th of November.  There is always an old cannon that they shoot off twenty one times and although I think it has a powerful message about the horror of war (I always imagine young men, like my own father in World War 2,  having to climb out of their trenches and run into a noise and an earth-shaking impact like that), but of course, our poor girl, Daisy, is very frightened of loud noises and I worry about her.

My sister tells me that the ceremony in Toronto, where she lives, is very militaristic and so she doesn't go until after it's over.  She likes to have a bit of time to think about our father and what happened to him, and of course, about all the other fathers, and sons, and grandfathers, and people who served in all the wars over all of human history.  I know that some people wear a white poppy because they feel that the red poppy has become militarized.  The white poppy is primarily a symbol of peace and is worn to remember all people who died as a result of war, not just members of the military.  But I think the red poppy serves me in the exact same way.  I wear it as an acknowledgement of history, as a remembrance of what happened in war, not just the wars that Canada was a part of but all the wars that stained the earth over and over again with young people's blood.  I think the phrase "lest we forget" goes with the red poppy -- if we forget what happened, if we deny the past, we might not be able to move forward and learn from our mistakes and make progress as human beings and as a collective.

I guess I can't really write at the end of this week and not mention what happened in the United States earlier this week.  I confess, I find it very troubling that a person who appears to pander to the lowest fears and animosities in people has been chosen to lead a very powerful country, and I'm worried about what will happen in the next four years. I heard that one of Trump's first initiatives is to "end the war on coal" and to remove the regulations implemented by the Obama administration to limit the use of coal.  Coal is a very dirty fuel, and most people agree we need to seek out other forms of energy and leave coal behind.  But Donald Trump doesn't believe in climate change and that is scary (and apparently does not reflect what most Americans believe).  But there is very little we can do here in Canada to manage the direction the United States decides to go.  We need to have faith that people of good will are going to be able to win out in the end and then we need to be people of good will ourselves!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.

Grade 8's -- Welcome to Drama!

Practice this out loud to help you memorize it!

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.

We are doing a journal tomorrow, because we are missing school on Friday for Remembrance Day.  The journal topic is:

What should Ms. Kosar know about you?  You can write about your experience in Drama (if any), your expectations for the class, whether you have stage fright or not, what your hobbies are, whether you have experience performing (music, sports, public speaking, etc.)  Share anything you would like with me!

Thanks for the memories!

Journals for this week:

Grade 8:  No journal, as I won't see you in Drama class after tomorrow!  I have really enjoyed meeting all of you and wish you all the best in Art.  I hope to see you back in the theatre next year -- Drama 9 is a full semester, so there will be twice the fun!  Thank you for working so hard on the Aesop plays -- you did splendidly and I really enjoyed watching them -- I am really impressed with how well you all spoke and how many of you incorporated tableaus, mime and choral speaking in your final project.

Drama 9/10; Theatre Production 11/12

What still needs to be done in your comedia del'arte play?  How do you plan to advance the work of your group?  Who is leading the group (if anyone is)?  Is anyone hindering the progress of the group?  Explain why.

Acting 11/12; Directing and Scriptwriting 12:

What have you accomplished in your reality show?  What needs to be accomplished?  Who is leading the group (explain)?  Is anyone hindering the progress of the group (explain)?

In addition, being involved in Drama means that sometimes you have to move beyond the limits of your comfort zone.  (Think of kids in other classes and how they might have to speak French in front of the class and they feel nervous, or answer a math question and they feel uncomfortable -- that they might be wrong.  Some people are terrified of public speaking.  Most of us in this class have no fears in this regard.)  Yesterday (Thursday), one of your classmates who was leading the warmup asked that each of us dance for eight counts.  Several people felt very uncomfortable doing this (I felt a BIT uncomfortable [remember my difficult tap dancing experience] but I think it's good for people to take creative risks and I wanted to try it).  The people who did do it said they felt good about what they had contributed and that everyone did surprisingly well.  I would like each of you to write your thoughts on what happened.  These are mine: When I don't do something creative because I'm afraid, I always have a sense of regret.  I ask myself what I was afraid of.  I see other people doing the thing that scares me and I think, "gee, they seem like they're having fun.  I could do what they're doing.  Why am I making a big deal about it?  I can do it."   But then sometimes, it's too late to jump in. The people in this class won't mock you.  We're all in the same boat!  If you can't dance, then maybe it's time to learn! I feel uncomfortable in lots of circumstances -- next week, I have to speak in front of the PAC and I feel nervous -- what if I say something silly or forget what I'm talking about or sound foolish?  But I am going to do it -- it will be good for me and good for the drama program at the school and the parents that attend will be interested and happy to hear from one of your teachers.  Whenever I have to do anything sportsy, I feel really uncomfortable and embarrassed.  I'm so BAD at every sport.  But is there shame in that?  No one is good at everything.  One of my big regrets in life is not learning to skate when my mom so wanted to teach me.  She was a terrific skater and she wanted to share her enthusiasm with me and I was embarrassed because I wasn't good at it (of course, I wasn't -- I didn't know how) and I refused.  And now, I see people skating and I long to be able to join them on the ice and I can't.  Just write whatever you think or feel about the issue.

The two parts of this journal will be worth ten marks instead of the usual five.

Journals for October 28

My wi-fi is off and on and I am on hold with Telus (have been for a looooong time) so I am trying to get these in before I'm out again!

Grade 8:  Whose speech did you like the best?  Explain why.

Grade 9/10:  Think about the character you described in your last journal.  Is there a role for him/her in your comedia play?  Explain.  Describe how you plan to incorporate romance and money into your plot.  What assets do you bring to the group?  How can you improve as a group member?

Theatre Production:  Write your comments about the Vitruvian man drawing design for Macbeth?  Write your thoughts on the poster mockup.

Senior Drama:  Why are "reality" shows so popular?  What aspects of high school are you going to focus on in your show?  What do outsiders need to know about what high school is like?  What misconceptions do people on the outside have about high school?

Instructions for Comedia Del'Arte

These are the components for the Drama 9/10; Theatre Production 11/12 comedia del'arte project:

at least 10 jokes incorporated in the play's plot
a dynamite start and NO DULL MOMENTS IN THE ENTIRE (less than 10 minutes) PLAY
stock characters (you can use a mixture of traditional and modern stock characters)
physical comedy (pratfalls, spit takes, etc.)
current events spoof
romance and money plot
3 sound effects
at least one spotlight
one projection

Have fun!  Remember, you must have a lot of energy and must project your voice clearly in order to perform well.

The pen is mightier than the sword!

Yesterday was the province-wide professional day for teachers and it seems like thousands of us attended the Writers Festival on Granville Island.  It is a great event for readers like me -- sometimes you get to see writers who you've loved forever (like years ago, I saw the poet Al Purdy, who was wonderful) or you discover writers that you will love in the future (like this woman yesterday, whose book I obviously haven't read yet, but who was really interesting -- her name was Yaa Gyasi and her debut novel is Homegoing about two sisters in Ghana).

The first session I saw was called "Conceit" and the theme was that writers get the seed of an idea which they can extend throughout a huge work, like Andre Alexis, whose book Fifteen Dogs tells the story of a group of dogs who receive human intelligence.  I didn't like the book very much -- I thought the conceit was interesting and some of the ideas (like the conflict between the dog's nature and its new-found intelligence) were thought-provoking, but the book seemed cold, in a way.  Except right at the beginning, it was very upsetting, which, of course, many animal stories are.  I am not saying that a book shouldn't be upsetting, and in fact, I think the beginning of the book was the only part that I thought was great.  The only one of the authors whose book I would want to read is Catherine Leroux, whose book, The Party Wall, has four stories about family relationships which ultimately interconnect.  But the conversation about how writers get an idea and where they go with it was exciting.  And I got an idea during the conversation about our next play -- I thought it would be fun to try to write a play about Shakespeare's early life, like when he was caught poaching on a local noble's property and his parents, John and Mary Shakespeare (Mary was apparently from a higher social strata than John) and his first meeting with Anne Hathaway and why he ran off to London to seek his fortune.  I'd like to have him meet Christopher Marlowe because Christopher Marlowe is such a wild and crazy guy!  I'm going to try to write it by next semester and maybe we can do it for the spring show.

The afternoon session was called "Grand and Monumental" and the four writers had chosen epic times in world history, Peter Behrens -- from Edwardian England to the Second World War, Madeline Thien -- the modern history of China, including Tiananmen Square, Colson Whitehead -- the Underground Railroad, and Yaa Gyasi -- three hundred years of the African slave trade.   I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, which is more something I might listen to in the car as an audio book, but I might try Gyasi's book, just because I don't know much about Africa.  Madeline Thien made a remark that stuck with us -- she said traditionally in Chinese culture, people live their lives facing the past and she contrasted it with Western culture, which she says seems to face the future.  I have been wondering about that remark ever since and trying to figure out what it means.

Now, the weekend is upon us -- today, we're out to Delta for soccer (hope it doesn't rain) and then I plan to spend some quality time with Armand Gamache (the detective in the book I'm reading) in Three Pines, Quebec.

In The Dark

The journal this week is about the play we saw on Tuesday.  Same for everybody!  Answer all the questions.

What was the play about?

What did you learn from seeing the play?

What was your favourite thing about the play?  What didn't you like about it?  (Think of something for each.)

Write about one of the symbols from the play (the darkness, the light, the finger puppet routine, the chairs, their costumes) and what it meant to you?

Reminder about the field trip!

Okay, everybody . . . we can't forget this important thing!  You MUST have your signed form for me tomorrow morning!!  Without your parents' permission, we cannot let you go on the field trip.  You can pay me later, but you can't forget your form!!  If you didn't get your form signed by your teacher, make sure you do that as well.

It is very important to understand the value of proper audience behaviour at a professional performance.  You don't get up to throw out things or go to the bathroom or wander around or talk or stare at your phone.  Obviously, you can laugh and enjoy the performance and when I saw "Two for Tea" (their Fringe show), James and Jamesy chose people from the audience to participate, so if that happens, volunteer!

After the show, I believe there will be a bit of time for questions and answers, so if you have any questions about how they got started in theatre, or how they thought of the show, or anything like that, make sure you ask.

We will leave at about 10 and return at around lunch time.  I think we will be back before the end of lunch, so you might be able to eat then.  You can't eat in the theatre, and I don't think you are allowed to eat on the school bus either.

DON'T FORGET YOUR FORMS!  (If you lost your form, just get your mom or dad to sign a note that says you can go on the trip.)

Write out your thoughts . . .

Don't forget your money and your signed form for Tuesday's field trip.  You will need the form to be able to go on the trip!

Journal #3 (Drama 8)

Write about how your fairy tale mime/tableau performance went.  What was the best thing about it?  What needed to be improved?  Did any group member particularly help with your progress towards performance?  Did anyone hinder the group's progress?

Drama 9/10

Describe a character you think you could play.  Give the character a name (that is believable) and provide details about the character, like age, physical attributes, personality traits, job, family situation.  (Make sure to include all five.)

Theatre Production:

In commedia del'arte, there are a number of "stock characters" that the audience would have recognized in the 15th century (il dotore, il capitano, Pantalone, Columbina).  Describe how you would dress each of these characters in order for the audience to identify them.  You can draw and label each costume.

Acting 11/12:

Imagine a scene in which you are in love with the other character on stage.  Using emotional memory, describe how you would play the scene.

Then imagine a scene in which the other character is in love with you.  You do not reciprocate the feeling.  Describe how that scene would play out.

Directing/Scriptwriting:  What emotion is the strongest in Lord Randall?  Describe your dream cast.  Explain why you choose the way you do.

James and Jamesy "In The Dark"

Performed in the dark, lit by the performers themselves, it’s like a “painting come to life.” With masterful physicality and quick-witted wordplay, James & Jamesy conjure answers to the age-old questions ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Why are we  here?’. The result is laugh-out-loud hilarious and surprisingly illuminating.

"Hilarious theatre with fearless players." 
            London Free Press

Drama students from all the drama classes at Steveston-London are getting a great opportunity to see a command performance of professional actors and comedians, James and Jamesy, in their latest show, "In The Dark", presented at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island on October 11, 2016. The performance will be followed by a question and answer session with the creators of the show. We will take a school bus to the theatre, leaving the school at 10 a.m. and then returning to the school at 1:30 p.m.  Students will miss B and C Blocks.  Cost of the trip is $18.00 which will pay for the theatre ticket and the return bus trip.  If you have any questions, contact Ms. Kosar.

Instructions for Show and Tell

Drama 8:

Here are your instructions for the "Show and Tell" presentation.  We will be presenting these speeches in the first week of November.

1.  Choose an item that is able to generate two minutes of engaging, interesting material.  Tell a story that relates to the item (something like when you tell stories for the question of the day).  The story should be something that the audience can relate to.  If you are interested and enthusiastic about the item, the audience will catch your enthusiasm and enjoy your speech.  Any item that is acceptable at school is fine for your speech.  If you would like to speak about a pet or about something valuable and you don't feel comfortable bringing it to school, a photograph or a drawing is fine.

2.  Start with a question ("Have you ever been lost in a foreign city?") or a quote ("neither a borrower nor a lender be") or a joke ("when a frog's car breaks down, it gets 'toad' away") to get the audience's attention.  End with a conclusion -- this is the lesson you learned, or why you decided to share the story, or what you would like the audience to take away from your speech.  Do not start your speech with "so".  Do not end with "yeah".  You don't need to introduce yourself.  We know you.

3.  When you are planning and practicing your speech, make sure you have two minutes of material.  It should not be less than two minutes and should not be a lot longer than two minutes.

4.  When you are practicing, make sure you speak clearly and project your voice.  Ask someone to listen to your speech and tell you honestly if they can hear and understand you.  Do not speak too quickly and think about being still -- do not move unless you have planned it.  Pacing and repetitive gestures can be distracting to your audience.

5.  When you are presenting your speech, be sure to make eye contact with the audience.  It is fine to have notes or cue cards to help you stay on track, but you need to look at the people in the crowd from time to time to make them feel like you are sharing something important to them.  Let us see that you are enjoying telling us your story.

Any questions?  Let me know.  Kristian can really help you, too.

Early to rise

There are benefits to getting up early in the morning.  I didn't want to get up this morning at 6:55, but I have to walk Daisy AS SOON AS I GET UP (her capitals) and Will had soccer pictures at 9, so up I got.  We walked down to the park as we always do on the weekend, and what a sky!  When we started out, it was brilliant red and as we went along, it turned golden and then blue with pinky-peach clouds.  The tide was in and the water was like glass and the trees are turning colours and it was really lovely.

Yesterday, Ant and I joined the Lower Mainland Green Team to pull out invasive ivy in Rocky Point Park.  It was a good day.  We worked hard but everyone was in good spirits and we helped the trees.  It felt good to peel off that sneaky ivy from a tree trunk and imagine the tree breathing a sigh of relief.  Ivy can kill a tree within ten years.

I am reading this mystery series by Louise Penny featuring a detective with the Quebec Surete (I can't get the right accents -- I hope you know what I mean) called Armand Gamache.  I discovered it by listening to one of her books in the car -- The Beautiful Mystery -- about a murder in a monastery.  I am now reading the first book in the series -- Still Life.  In the intro, she thanks a whole gamut of people -- friends, family, book club members, her editors, other writers.  I was reading it and thinking, "gee, she has a lot of friends" and feeling a bit envious.  Then at the end of the intro, she says, "I went through a period in my life when I had no friends, when the phone never rang, when I thought I would die from loneliness.  I know that the real blessing here isn't that I have a book published, but that I have so many people to thank".  It's like she read my mind!

Drama club - Synopsis of Macbeth

Cast Handout for Macbeth

Synopsis of the play:

Scotland is at war with Norway and Macbeth and his friend, Banquo, are great generals for the Scottish army.  Macbeth battles heroically for his king, Duncan, and the Scots are victorious.  On their way to meet the king, Macbeth and Banquo encounter a coven of witches who predict that Macbeth will become the Thane (Lord) of Cawdor and then, the King of Scotland.  They also predict that Banquo will father a “line of kings”.  Macbeth sends a messenger to tell his wife about the prophecy.

Macbeth and Banquo meet Duncan and his lords and Duncan declares that Macbeth will take over the title “Thane of Cawdor”, because the original Thane of Cawdor has betrayed the Scottish cause.  Macbeth and Banquo are shocked, because it appears the witches’ prophecy is coming true.  Duncan tells Macbeth he plans to visit him at his castle.

Macbeth has sent a letter advising Lady Macbeth of the witches’ prophecy.  Lady Macbeth starts to think about how they can make the prophecy come true.  The Macbeths welcome Duncan to the castle and in the night, they kill him.  In the morning, after Macduff discovers the body of Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain run away, making it look like they killed their father.

Macbeth discovers that his crime cannot end.  He needs to get rid of Banquo, so that he can ensure that his children inherit the throne.  He hires murderers to kill Banquo and his child, Fleance.  The murderers kill Banquo but Fleance escapes.

Macbeth returns to the witches for more information.  They give him three warnings – he should beware of Macduff, he need fear no one “of woman born”, and he will reign until Birnam wood moves to his castle (Dunsinane).  After hearing these predictions, he feels confident, but tells his associate, Lennox, that, just to make sure, he will kill Macduff and his entire family.  His henchmen go to Fife, Macduff’s castle, but Macduff has fled to England, leaving his family behind.  The murderers kill Macduff’s family.

Macduff and Malcolm have assembled an army and they attack Macbeth at his stronghold in Scotland.  Lady Macbeth, consumed with guilt, has gone insane and commits suicide. Malcolm’s soldiers decide to use the branches from Birnam Wood to camouflage their arrival at Dunsinane and Macbeth’s servants tell him the forest is moving towards the castle.  Macbeth fights bravely and ultimately encounters Macduff.  “I’m not afraid of you, because I cannot be harmed by anyone ‘by woman born’,” he tells Macduff.  But Macduff has the last laugh – he was delivered by Caesarean birth (“ripped from his mother’s womb”) and he defeats Macbeth and Malcolm takes over the throne of Scotland.

Strange Garments

Journals for the week!  Remember to answer all the questions.

Theatre Production:  I hope you have read the play by now.  Choose one character from "Macbeth" and write about how the "gender-fluid" idea might play itself out through that character.  How would you costume that character?  Would you try to make that character look like the character's gender or the actor's gender?  Think of the colour palette we have been discussing -- black, grey, white and red.

Macbeth says "I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none" and Lady Macbeth answers, "When you durst do it, then you were a man".  How does gender fluidity influence how the audience might understand that exchange?

Director/Scriptwriter:  What are your ideas about the adapted script?  You've chosen the poem.  What do you plan to do with it?  (It's not carved in stone, so just write your random thoughts about it at this point.)

Acting 11/12:    What emotion is the most powerful one?  What is your experience of that emotion?  (Tell the story.)  Describe how you felt (physically) when the emotion took hold of you.  What actions did you take when you experienced the emotion?

Drama 9/10:    What is the funniest movie or tv show or play you have ever seen?  Summarize the plot.  Try to explain what was so funny about it.

Drama 8:  On a scale of 1 - 5 (with 5 being perfect, and 1 being terrible), rate your ability to work in a group.  Explain your rating.  What qualities do you have to offer your group?  How could you improve?   Are you a good leader?  Explain why or why not.  Write about an experience you had working in a group (it can be a good one or a bad one) and then what you learned from the experience.

Fight, Flight or Freeze

No journals this week, because we spent Friday out of class.  I hope all of you took some time to lounge around, read a book (yes, READ A BOOK -- not stare vacantly at your screens), walk in the park, or go to a play -- I went to a couple of plays -- more on that later.)

It was great to see many of you and your parents on Thursday night, although it was certainly the strangest "Meet the Teacher" night in my twenty plus years of teaching.  That European ambulance sound really tested my ability to project.  Ms. O'Neill and I had planned to see a "pick of the Fringe" show after "Meet the Teacher" and if we were going to make the curtain, we had to leave the school at 7:56, but of course, in all the kafuffle, our exit was delayed.  Please tell your parents that I'm sorry if I rushed out, and if they want to ask any questions or share any concerns, to get a hold of me in one of the ways that is listed on the handout.  If they email me, I will usually respond within the day.

We had an excellent presentation about adolescent anxiety on Friday morning.  All of us experience anxiety from time to time (it can be helpful -- long ago, when we were trying to survive in the wilderness, strong fear responses' increased adrenaline and heart rate helped us fight attackers, flee predators, or, like squirrels unfortunately do in the middle of the road, freeze in order to remain unseen -- of course, it doesn't work with squirrels in the middle of the road -- the cars aren't looking for them and kill them with impunity.)  However, if the anxiety becomes overwhelming, if it prevents a person from doing what he or she wants or needs to do, then it can be a problem.  But the good news is that it is a problem that has solutions.  One thing you can do, if you think you are having a problem with anxiety, is to talk to someone about it.  It can be a friend, or a family member, or your counsellor at school, or an adult you trust.  You can try to reduce the number of things you feel like you "have to do" (that's a lesson I had to learn -- to say no sometimes).  You can explore meditation and relaxation techniques (I think we'll do a bit of this in Drama).  The person who presented the session told us about an interactive website called "mindcheck.ca" and also a downloadable app called "Mindshift" which acts as a portable coach and provides you with tools to help with intense emotion, worry, conflict, panic, test anxiety and fears about presentations.  Anxiety is NOT a manifestation of weakness and it is important to know that, like anything that goes wrong physically, you can get help if only you ask.

I saw two more Fringe shows (the Fringe is over and these shows were chosen as the best of the Festival).  On Thursday night, we did make the curtain and saw "The After After Party" which was about two girls who don't get invited to parties in high school and how they deal with it.  The show was great fun and the actors were outstanding, very energetic and physical and funny.  I liked the characters and wanted things to turn out for them.  One lesson you can take from shows like this (and there are many of them) is that lots of kids struggle in high school to fit in and sometimes it feels like you are the only one on the outside looking in, but you aren't.  High school can be really hard socially, but it gets a lot easier as you get older.  I did not enjoy my time as a student in high school and felt like I didn't have any friends and would never figure things out, but once I got to university, I think I started to manage a lot better and now I am quite a happy person.  Anyone who tells you that high school is the best time of your life is not telling you a universal truth.  It's different for everyone.

Yesterday, I saw "Curious/Contagious" which was such a creative experience with shadow puppets and dance and movement and music and two overhead projectors!  The story was about a unicorn who sells his soul to a multinational conglomerate and then is infected by an insidious virus.  It sounds crazy and it was crazy but in a terrific way.  The actors were just fantastic and it seemed like there were about ten of them, but it was only two.  It really was the pick of the Fringe for me.  I love it when people go completely outside the box like these two actors did.  They wrote all the music and played the viruses extraordinarily and it was beautiful and poignant and funny and great for all ages and such a terrific theatrical experience.  The company that produced the show is called Mind of a Snail and they will be participating in the Vancouver Puppet Festival in October, so let's keep our eyes open for their shows next month.

I met "Jamesy" from "2 for Tea" in the lineup for "Curious/Contagious" and he mentioned that he and James have rented the Waterfront Theatre for a couple of weeks in October and might be able to do a performance for a bunch of enthusiastic drama students, so I am going to see if we can arrange a field trip to see their new show "James and Jamesy in the Dark".  That would be great fun.  They would be willing to do a little workshop as well, he said.  What a great experience that would be!

Falling into the Fringe

The Fringe Festival is almost over -- I hope some of you were able to take in some performances.  As I said before, it can be fun just to stick a pin in the program randomly and see whatever you get.  That's what I did last night.  Even if the show is putrid, you can still get something out of it.

Last week, I saw "2 for Tea" with James and Jamesy and it was great fun.  Jamesy is a great physical comedian with stunning control of his character and his physical attributes -- he is like a dancer (perhaps he has some dance training -- he can hold his leg out straight for a LONG time and he had this great shtick when he sat down that even the people they chose from the audience were able to incorporate into their little performances -- lovely) and he and James play very well together.  James is a bigger, beefier fellow with a big open face.  The premise is simple -- two friends get together once a week for tea.  They got people out of the audience to play the general of the British army (to whom they wanted to serve tea, with dire consequences) and Jamesy's parents.  It was very entertaining and just what my friend and I needed after a challenging week of back to school!  It was light and funny but also rather touching and sweet and I liked James and Jamesy's relationship -- I believed they were friends and even their conflict (which was based on Jamesy calling James "Jamesy"!) was handled with sweetness and a little bit of an edge.  I was gratified that, even though the story was simple and they were going for the laughs, they were able to give us performances that struck several notes, which is what life is like, I think.   I liked the contrast between the two characters and their precise movements and the use they made of the audience and their set and costumes and even the little jokes they made about how the stage was spiked.

Last night, we saw "The Dance Teacher" and this was the one I just chose randomly.  It was about a guy who is a dance teacher and how he molested his students.  The playbill said one of the things that was worth seeing about the show was that you would leave wondering if he had actually done it.  But in the play, they said they had video evidence to show that he had, indeed, done it.  And in fact, he confessed.  When I chose the show, I read that the cast was great, but afterward I didn't think so.  The guy who played Justin, the main character, was very handsome and he had some good moments -- mostly when he was quiet and just sitting there and you could imagine what he was thinking.  (Note to self -- you don't have to TELL the audience everything, and, in fact, you shouldn't -- let them figure out stuff for themselves.)  But the other actors played one note each (this might be the fault of the script which was very pedestrian, obvious, repetitive and solemn).  Even the gestures were repetitive -- everyone seemed to be grabbing each other's faces.  And there was no dancing.  I think when you call a play "The Dance Teacher" there should be dancing.   There were a number of moments when I think they were trying to shock us, but that's what it seemed like -- "oh, look how shocking we are!" and everyone seemed to be constantly in everyone else's personal space in a way that didn't work theatrically, but just made it seem like they weren't using the stage.  And there were lots of those "soap opera" moments, when someone would say something shocking or angry (there was NO HUMOUR in it at all -- none, nothing -- all super solemn) and then the other person would walk away and look out at the audience.  When you see a show like this, the best part is afterward when you can discuss it.  As you can sense, I hated it.

The Fringe continues today.  If you have time, pop into Vancouver and take in a show.  Here are a few which have had some good reviews:

Space Hippo (at the Waterfront on Granville Island) from 1:15 to 2:15 (about saving the planet)
Marrow (at the Havanna Theatre on Commercial Drive) from 4:00 to 4:50 (about two sisters with a secret)
Curious Contagious (at the Waterfront) from 8:05 - 9:05 (about a virus taking over a unicorn's body -- appropriate for all ages, apparently)

Happy Fringing!

Journal #2 - Can we separate the art from the artist?

There is no journal this week for Grade 8, because most of them are at camp!  I hope it has been a heap of fun for all of you and that you come back as a unified class with lots of shared experiences and memories.   It was fun for me to meet the kids who participated in the in-house camp -- I hope some of you think about joining the drama club.

For all of the rest of you, here's a philosophical question for all of you to ponder.

Can you separate the art from the artist?  Many of you have probably heard about Nate Parker's new movie called "Birth of a Nation" which is about the Nat Turner slave rebellion in the southern United States in 1831 (I would highly recommend the great novel about it by William Styron called The Confessions of Nat Turner).  The movie was a huge success at the Sundance Film Festival.  After the festival, it was discovered that when Nate Parker (who directed, wrote and starred in the film) was 19 (about ten years ago), he was accused of rape.  It was when he was at college and he and his friend were at a party where there was a lot of drinking and his friend's girlfriend was intoxicated and unconscious and they apparently took advantage of her when she was in that state.  There was a trial and Nate Parker was acquitted and his friend was convicted, but later the friend was also acquitted on appeal when the victim did not testify.  She later committed suicide.  At first, when the story was reported, Nate Parker said that he had been a "dog" and was still learning about gender relationships and was sorry about the woman's suicide, but now at the Toronto Film Festival, Parker is deflecting questions about his past and trying to focus attention on the film.

Many people are now suggesting that they don't want to see the film because of Parker's past.  What do you think?  This question arises often, because artists are often not exemplary people -- many of them do bad things, many of them struggle with demons, sometimes of their own creation.

Should you not enjoy a work of art because it's created by a person who has done something you find reprehensible?  Is the work of art separate from the person who creates it?  What expectations do we have of artists?  Write your thoughts on this issue.

Welcome to the world of the journal!

These are your first journals of the new year!  (Resolve to answer each question in a complete and timely way!)

Drama 8:

What should Ms. Kosar know about you?  Obviously, you will want to share stuff about Drama -- do you have a lot of background in theatre or performing (even musical performances, dance recitals, speech contests,  athletic performances are of interest to me).  Do you have stage fright?  What do you look forward to in Drama this term?  Is there anything that concerns you about the class?  Whatever you'd like to share, I'll be interested to read.

Drama 9/10:

Write about a news story that you think would make a dramatic play.  It can be a specific story (like Justin Trudeau "photobombing" that wedding to Tofino this summer) or it can be something broader (like the American election or the concept of climate change).  Describe how you would dramatize the story.  Give details.

Theatre Production 11/12:

One of the things a theatre production person does is to solve problems.  Here's a problem we are presented with in Macbeth.  Macbeth is holding a dinner for a bunch of Scottish nobles.  Unbeknownst to them, Macbeth has just had his best friend, Banquo, (who is a Scottish noble, expected at the dinner) killed.  Everyone arrives and Macbeth's wife is welcoming the guests, and Macbeth sees the ghost of his friend arrive.  Only Macbeth sees the ghost.  How would you stage this scene?  How do you think the ghost should look?  (Think of what you'd do in our theatre, because that's where we're going to stage it.)  Have you ever seen a ghost in a movie or a play?  Does that help you imagine what you could do?

Directing and Scriptwriting 12:  Have you ever directed anyone before?  Describe the circumstances. What do you imagine are the most difficult things about being a director?  (Name at least four things.)  What skills and knowledge do you bring to the class that will help you work with the actors?

Acting 11/12:  Who is your favourite actor or actress?  (Don't say you don't have one.  If you've taken Acting at this level, you need to be aware that there are good and bad actors out there and you need to try to learn from their performances and think about how you can create real-seeming characters on stage like they do.)  Explain why you think they're good.  Describe their performance in a film, play or television program and focus on what they've done to impress you.

Try to remember to bring something to write with tomorrow and something to write in.

Drama 8, here is the Shakespeare we'll be working on over the next couple of weeks:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man, in his time, plays many parts.

Remember, "women" is pronounced "wimmen".

Tips for making society run smoothly

We went shopping yesterday.  Many of you know how much I love THAT (not.)  But it was relatively painless, except we bought socks somewhere (we always need socks, it seems) and now we can't find them anywhere.  Hence, your first tip!  Check your bag!  Make sure that everything you bought makes it into the bag!  (Because, especially since I hate shopping, you do not want to have to go back, especially on a rainy day like today when everyone will be lined up at every checkout (like yesterday even though it was a Friday) and people will be wandering aimlessly looking at stuff and I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that.  For me, it's go in, get what you want and get out!  (And then go to the bookstore or have lunch somewhere.) And of course, what is the point in going back to the store?  Will they trust me that I did not receive the socks I bought?  Why would they?  I could be a sock scammer, who takes the socks out of the bag and then returns the next day and says, "oh, I didn't receive the socks I bought" and then get two packs of socks for the price of one!

Next tip . . . identify yourself on the phone, when you phone someone.  Don't assume they know who you are, because they probably don't.  Someone phoned me this morning (and you probably know I hate the phone even more than shopping) and she just started talking and I thought she was one person and she turned out to be someone else.  I don't think she knew that I thought she was someone else, and I didn't tell her (I should have because she never says who she is) so I'm to blame for the situation as well.  And it isn't enough to say "it's me" because everyone is me to themselves.

Tip #3:  I'm not going to explain it, because you will all know what I mean.  Take a creative risk once in a while (like my French meal turned out pretty well and I'm reading Macbeth and thinking about how we are going to stage it this fall -- exciting!)

Final tip for today . . . and it's a very Kosar tip.  Try to see the silver lining.  It is easy to look on the dark side, but there is usually another (better) side to see that will benefit you and everyone around you.  On Wednesday, I donated my husband's tools (he had a huge number of tools and the boys and I don't know how to operate any of them and Mike decided they should be donated to Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses for people who might not otherwise be able to afford them) to Habitat for Humanity.  They came and took a truckload of stuff and are coming back in a couple of weeks to get the rest.  It was hard to see them dismantling the benches and things that Mike had used to build all the beautiful furniture that he made.  The men who did the pickup were very nice and the gentleman who was in charge was very sympathetic about Mike's death and our loss but it brought back a lot of painful memories, of course, and I knew it would, which is probably why it took me so long to have it done (over a year).  But after I felt badly for a while, I remembered Mike telling me to donate the tools.  He grew up in a family that always struggled financially and he appreciated the work that Habitat for Humanity does.  He wanted to help and not just let the tools sit there and gather dust.   When he was alive, he was able to use those tools to build beautiful things, many of which we have in our house and he was always very proud of the work he did, proud that he was able to do such creative and positive work, proud of being self-taught, and he loved wood and the smell of sawdust and planning out what he was going to build and how he was going to build it.  He would be proud and happy that the tools he used in his business were going to continue to be used to make people's lives easier and better.  Sad and tragic things will happen to all of us in our lives but we need to focus on the lovely things we experience.  We lost Mike but we had him in our lives and each day we think about him, his laugh and his smile, and his kindness and thoughtfulness, his enthusiasm and creativity, and we know how lucky we are.

Let them eat cake!

I just finished reading Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette.  Of course, we all know what happened to her at the end.  According to Fraser, she never said, "let them eat cake" and was an amiable enough woman, not endowed with a great deal of intelligence or drive, really an ordinary woman -- who wanted to be a good mother, who tried to be a good wife, who liked pretty things and the theatre and music.  Her husband, King Louis XVI, was a bit of a buffoon -- not an evil man or a megalomaniac or a womanizer, like his predecessors.  But they are the ones who paid for the excesses of the monarchy.  At the end of the book, Fraser says that Marie Antoinette was a scapegoat -- she was a foreign princess (from Austria) and was hated by the populace and one of the revolutionaries said they had to have her head.   Yes, I guess so, but if she was a scapegoat, she was not alone.

When you see Versailles, you see the unbelievable indulgence of people who feel they have a divine right to money and power and beauty.  (One of you, you know who you are, pointed out that Versailles explains the French revolution.)  As a Anglophile friend of mine said, it puts Buckingham Palace to shame.  You can understand the rage of people who don't have bread and see other people who seem to have more than everything.  That's why it's dangerous to have these societies where there is such a discrepancy between the very rich and the very poor.  (And of course, it's wrong, in my opinion, for some people to have gold thread and pearls on their dresses when little kids are dying of hunger and drinking dirty water.)  Having read a bit about the French revolution, I see that the revolutionaries had many of the same goals as the Communists in Russia and they did articulate them quite clearly, too.  (I had always pictured them as rabid nuts before.)  But like so many of these violent upheavals, the revolutionaries lost control of their movement and then it started to feed on itself.  Robespierre, Danton, Saint-Just, Philippe Egalitie, all died at the guillotine during the Terror.  Anthony pointed out that once you remove the normal checks and balances and legal and political control from society, you're facing the possibility that anything can happen and anarchy can well prevail.  I guess it's fortunate that human nature appears to prefer some sort of order because it rears its head pretty quickly after a conflagration like the French Revolution.  In the case of France, six years after the Reign of Terror, Napoleon was in charge.

Well, in a week we will all be back in our own orderly lives, with almost no "unstructured" time.  I love unstructured time (although, human that I am, I attempt to structure it with lists!) -- long, lazy days walking Daisy or going to Aquafit classes, or having an impromptu meal in a nice restaurant, or sitting and reading a biography of Marie Antoinette all day, if that's what I like.  (That sort of describes my day yesterday.)

I'm going to try to make a French meal tomorrow for a couple of friends.  Here is my menu:

Entree (in France, that's the appetizer) -- lobster bisque
Plat Principal (the main course) -- sole meuniere, with roast potatoes and haricots verts
Fromage (cheese course) -- baked camembert
Dessert -- Clafoutis (which is like a cake with cherries, or in this case, blueberries, in it) and ice cream (French vanilla, of course)

I'm going to try to pair a different wine with each course.  If it doesn't turn out, we'll just bulk up on cheese and bread!  That's as French as anything.

Retour de la ville de lumiere

Back from the city of light.

Please, if you have the chance to visit Paris any time in your life, go there.  It is a wonderful, life-changing place and has something for everyone, no matter what you like to do.  I heard that Parisians were very snooty and cold, but that was not our experience.  I will say, they were very efficient, but even in their efficiency, they were pleasant and friendly and helpful and almost everyone was able to speak fantastic English (much to our shame and chagrin, because we did try to speak French, and they were quite encouraging about it, but many of them would say they spoke a "little" English and then go on to speak it extremely well.  We improved over the time we were there though and were able to order in French and ask for directions in the Metro and even have small conversations about the weather and where we came from and things like that by the end of our holiday.)

Paris is an astonishingly beautiful city -- our little hotel window had a killer view of old St. Eustache and the Bourse du Commerce and many little French apartment windows with red flowers in the boxes and Juliet balconies and French doors behind (and also the very ugly Forum des Halles, which is a modern mall sort of thing in this old neighbourhood which was the scene of the assassination of Henri IV).  We saw many sights -- all except the Musee d'Orsay from my list of to-do's -- poor William had a migraine on the morning we had set aside for the Impressionists.  We ate lovely food --- cheese and bread and pastry and chocolate (except for Anthony who can't eat chocolate) -- and drank lots of coffee and wine (me) and walked great distances (many Parisian woman wear very elegant shoes and of course, they generally look a lot more "put together" than someone like me, even on their worst days, but I thank goodness for sensible shoes).  We idylled away hot summer afternoons reading in different picturesque parks (while William caught European Pokemon, much to the envy of his fellow Pokemon hunters back here in Canada) and ate at sidewalk cafes and listened to music and hung out at the Paris Plage (the city brings in tons of lovely rose coloured sand and beach chairs and beach umbrellas and they have activities for children and dancing and ice cream on the banks of the Seine).  We shopped along the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue St. Honore and in the Marais (mostly window-shopped because, as you know, I am not a shopper) and we had a bit of a book-buying frenzy at Shakespeare and Company (and felt like Hemingway or Scott Fitzgerald, sitting on an old couch on the second floor reading Proust's letters {that would be me}).  We saw some political demonstrations (right outside our hotel, to Anthony's extreme pleasure,  the Communist Party of France held a meeting -- one of the pamphleteers tried to engage me in conversation, but my French was not up to the task) and rode the metro (which is efficient and well-organized and safe) all over the far flung reaches of the city.  I got to make a pilgrimage to Oscar Wilde's grave and that of Moliere (at Pere Lachaise Cemetery -- where there are lots of amazing people buried -- but my map was not easy to read and so I didn't get to see Sarah Bernhardt's grave and several others that I really wanted to see -- but it was wonderful to see Oscar Wilde (there were flowers there for him) and Moliere).  We went to an organ concert at St. Eustache, which is where Moliere was baptized and where Liszt conducted (and one of the pieces was a very dramatic composition by Liszt himself).  I can't describe how moved I was to stand in front of Botticelli's Three Graces at the Louvre or to visit Napoleon's tomb (where this inscription stands over the entrance to his very impressive coffin -- "I desire that my ashes repose on the shore of the Seine in the midst of the French people whom I have loved so much").  It really is impossible to list all the amazing things we got the chance to do and how happy we were to be able to be there and have these experiences.

I would go back in a heartbeat.  There is the Musee d'Orsay to see and we didn't take the train to Chartres because once we were there, I realized that there were so many things we wanted to do right in Paris that it would push us over the top to try to go to Chartres as well.  We didn't spend any time in Montmartre and I would like to go to the Cluny Museum and the Atelier Brancusi and the Centre Pompidou (which was close to our hotel, and visible from our window) and the Picasso museum and a gazillion other things.

Here I will end with a bit of Baudelaire -- not the sickly stuff from "Fleurs du Mal" but something more "upbeat"!

Treasure galore - ornate,
Time glossed -- would decorate
Our chamber, where the rarest blooms
Would blend their lavish scent
Heady and opulent
With wisps of amber-like perfumes;
Where all the Orient's
Splendid, rich ornaments
Deep mirrors, ceilings fine -- would each,
In confidential tone
Speak to the soul alone
In its own and secret speech.