{"id":1023,"date":"2015-10-02T10:40:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T08:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2015-10-02T10:40:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T08:40:42","slug":"unmoving-still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1023","title":{"rendered":"Unmoving STILL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>What I want to say I hope can be helpful to the young theatre makers and actors, Jannes Erasmus and Blyde Smit, of STILL<\/i>. Ambition is a good thing \u2013 you\u2019ll need it in the theatre industry. But you\u2019ll also need to tighten up, slicken up and make some changes if you\u2019re going to compete in this only-the-best-make-it industry.<\/p>\n

Although the idea and story have some potential, the execution, performance and crafting needs work. It\u2019s always risky to act in your own show, so perhaps the problematics could have been avoided with a few outside eyes giving guidance.<\/p>\n

My observations:<\/p>\n

Show, don\u2019t tell. It seems you\u2019ve sidelined the theatrical for the \u2018message\u2019 you\u2019re trying to get across. As if you don\u2019t trust that we will understand through the characters and story alone that kidnapping has dire effects on the direct victim and the people who love them. It becomes didactic and audiences immediately disconnect when we\u2019re being told what a show is ‘about’ instead of letting us figure it out for ourselves.<\/p>\n

The \u201cwhat if\u201d questions \u2013 \u201cwhat if we didn\u2019t let society control us?\u201d etc., social acceptance, identity, we all wear masks. This philosophising has been done since the beginning of thinking, and usually drama students get it out of the way in undergrad. If you are to tackle these themes, you must find nuance within a heartfelt story (or a poetic reflection or using juxtaposing imagery \u2013 whatever you like) so it doesn\u2019t manifest as a series of clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

\u2018Experimental\u2019 staging needs to be just that. You need to experiment. We\u2019ve seen flashing lights meant to make us uncomfortable. We\u2019ve heard distorted sound recordings meant to make us feel on edge and disturbed. We\u2019ve seen a bucket of water that invariably someone gets dunked into, to make us feel shocked and panicky. In STILL<\/i>\u00a0it feels stuck on in a last attempt to make the work \u2018cutting-edge\u2019.<\/p>\n

I guess you are probably trying to keep the show rhythmically still, calm, to work within your concept but it simply doesn\u2019t translate. The rhythm is flat, there is no phrasing, no shift that allows us to shift with you. That\u2019s why it feels like an abrupt ending. You haven\u2019t guided\u00a0us to it.<\/p>\n

The biggest reason you need an outside eye is the performance quality is subpar. I\u2019m sure you have the potential in there but someone needs to help guide it out. It felt like you were reciting lines and everything was pitched at the same level. This affected the overall rhythm and pace and so we never reach a climax.<\/p>\n

These unattended to elements, in total, leave\u00a0STILL<\/i>\u00a0one-dimensional. There aren’t enough redeemable qualities to make it ok. I believe that all theatre is ‘worth a watch’ because we’re subjective beings.\u00a0STILL<\/i>, <\/i>however,<\/i>\u00a0needs a significant shake up before it is.<\/p>\n

– Sarah Roberson<\/b><\/p>\n

Still is on nightly @21.30 @ Alexander Bar for the rest of the fringe. Click here for production info & bookings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I want to say I hope can be helpful to the young theatre makers and actors, Jannes Erasmus and Blyde Smit, of STILL. Ambition is a good thing \u2013 … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[52,133,152,365,785],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}