I have sourced this from different websites including Wikipedia & Google.
Simon Armitage is a British poet, playwright, and novelist, who has been writing for over three decades. He was born in West Yorkshire, England, in 1963 and grew up in the village of Marsden. Armitage has written numerous collections of poetry, including “The Unaccompanied” and “Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989-2014.” His work has won several awards, including the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Forward Prize, and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.
Armitage’s poetry is known for its accessibility and humor, often exploring themes of everyday life, nature, and the human condition. He has also written plays, including “The Last Days of Troy,” which was performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2014. In addition to his writing, Armitage has worked as a broadcaster and presenter, and has taught creative writing at several universities.
One of Armitage’s most well-known poems is “Out of the Blue,” which he wrote in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The poem was commissioned by the BBC and was read at a memorial service in New York City in 2002. Armitage has also written about other historical events, such as the sinking of the Titanic in his poem “The Convergence of the Twain.”
He has been described as a “poet of the people,” and his work has been compared to that of Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes. In addition to his poetry, Armitage has also written several novels, including “The White Stuff” and “Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock Star Fantasist.”
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Overall, Simon Armitage is a talented and versatile writer, whose work has resonated with readers for over many decades. making him one of the most celebrated poets of his generation.
Here I will provide with you some information about the play, “Eclipse”.
Simon Armitage was commissioned in 1996 by the National Theatre in London to write ‘Eclipse’ for the BT National Connections Scheme for young people.
**Sourced from google
“Eclipse” is inspired by the real-life disappearance of a girl in Hebden Bridge, a town in West Yorkshire, England. The play is set during the time of the solar eclipse in Cornwall in 1999, which serves as a backdrop for the events of the story.
The play is described as a “poetic drama” which suggests that the language and style of the play may be more lyrical and evocative than a typical prose drama.
The use of character names like TULIP, Klondile, Midnight, Glue Boy, Polly, and Jane suggests a playfulness and imagination that could be characteristic of poetic writing.
The plot revolves around six friends who find themselves grappling with the disappearance of a girl and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it. As they come to terms with the situation, the play explores themes of friendship, loss, and the search for meaning. It delves into the complexities of adolescence and the impact of a tragic event on a group of young individuals.
Given its origins as part of the National Connections Scheme, “Eclipse” is aimed at a young audience, providing them with an opportunity to engage with and experience live theater. The play addresses some themes and issues that maybe relevant to young people, such as friendship, identity, and the challenges of growing up.
I came across this review online that perfectly captures the production and described exactly how I felt when I watched it. It also seems to align with the intention Simon had for his audience, based on the research I’ve done.
Here is the part of the review that resonated with me the most:
“I confess I left the theatre amazed and somewhat bemused. I was not at all sure what to make of the play yet I was quite sure I had just seen a young cast perform something enigmatic and difficult with a huge amount of skill and maturity. For the first time in a long while, I came home and looked up a play to find out what had already been said on the subject. And I find that it is all about the uncertainty, the not knowing, or the maybe knowing. Change affects everyone in different ways, reality is perceived by everyone in different ways. Maybe Lucy Lime existed and something terrible happened to her, or maybe none of it was real after all.”
Reference: https://spikemikeisbreakingaleg.blogspot.com/2016/02/eclipse-review-peoples-theatre.html __
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The play was based on the evening of on a solar Eclipse – this is when the sun and the moon is aligned perfectly, it makes anything and everything dark. What the moon does is block out the suns light that points to earth.
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“The whole play is about occlusions, what is behind and what is in front, and I tried to write it so that some motifs came up constantly: disguise, masques, being in the dark, future-present and future-past.
I have sourced this from a interview Simon had in 2015
What we have done in the show is trying to confuse the audience, make them feel uncomfortable by sitting on the edge of there seat.
In this show there are very different characters that are.
Klondike is the leader we’ve assumed he’s the oldest he’s sort of a ‘player’ very flirty and confident likes collecting different things from around the world because he uses them to perform magic
Tulip is the like second in command she has a crush on Klondike very bossy and fiery tomboy her mum left when she was 9 or 10 so she grew up with all male family members
The triplets are pretty trampy chavvy girls they overdress and are quite mouthy and rude, practically psychically linked always finish each others sentences.
Glueboy is a massive stoner constantly sniffing glue never properly makes sense a bit weird and confusing
Midnight is blind a big believer of Jesus before he meets Lucy always listening to music.
Lucy is a trickster she comes into the group and messes all the stuff up she’s the only one that can see the siren kinda spiritual.
The singer is the siren she’s a mythical creature watching over them all everything she says or sings is linked to astrology moon, sun, planets etc
The police are just the police that are working on Lucy’s missing persons case. They all are silly police alcoholics.
Each off these characters have there own unique story that comes to together to make the whole show what it is today.
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- Record everything in a script during the rehearsals for the Directors and Actors to keep an accurate record of everything an Actor does or needs in the production.
- Recording any changes made to the script
- Help coordinate a technical rehearsal of a production
- Coordinate the dress rehearsal alongside the Stage Manager to ensure the performance runs smoothly.
I have sourced this information from GETINTOTHEARTE I will leave the link underneath for you to check out.
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Theatre of cruelty is a movement-based performance style, In the technical area it uses of mainly sound & lighting to bring the audience closer to the action as much possible, and included them in the performance as much as possible.
“Movement-based performance style, Theatre of Cruelty in the performers side is aimed to shock the senses of its audience, sometimes using violent and confronting images that appealed to the emotions. Word of speech was reduced in Artaud’s theatre, as dance and gesture became just as powerful as the spoken word.
I have sourced this from thedramateacher.com, I’ll leave the link below
Artaud’s Frightening Theatre of Cruelty Techniques – 63 Explanations | The Drama Teacher
Theater in the thrust is a very popular stage design and a good alternative to Proscenium arch in the industry. I’ll be explaining all the, advantages and disadvantages that you can have while working in this theater style.
Advantages.
The advantages you can have from working in the thrust is sound variations you can bring so much echo to the stage via working in the “thrust” just by having for example what we had was a jet go from one speaker to the other, it makes you feel like you are right in the action feeling it live. The audience are more immersed in the performance you have that feel of the round but the spaciousness of the thrust.
The lighting side of it can help in so many ways where you can light a actor in everyway possible this helps with the audience being able to see your every angle.
The disadvantages of this is positioning the lights in the exact spot where the actors can be if they decide mid show that they don’t want to be in that spot and move then they wont be lit and the blame then falls on the techies shoulders.
Disadvantages of the thrust itself is you don’t have much room to work with in the area, it can be quite difficult at times with the adjustments you need to focus on. The thrust is a very timed layout everything in every department needs to be at the right time in the right moment, if one things doesn’t work it can mess up the whole production itself so you need to have a team that knows what they are doing, one they need to be confident that they can rely on each other, two can communicate with each other at anytime.
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