In Tune With My Art - Högskolan för scen och musik · In Tune With My Art by Michele Collins Master Programme in Theatre ... lived together and played music together; there was

In Tune With My Art

by Michele Collins

Master Programme in Theatre

with a specialization in acting

Spring 2010

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Masters degree

Independet work, 60 hsp

Written Thesis

Official accounting with opposition, Artisten May 20, 2010

Title: ”IN TUNE WITH MY ART”

AUTHOR: Michele Collins

Springterm 2010

Institute: Academy of Music and Drama

Supervisor: Cecilia Lagerström

Assistant Supervisors: Per Nordin, Pia Muchin

Opponent: Henric Holmberg

Examiner: Per Nordin

Keyword Acting, Exploration of Ibsen,

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Table of Contents

Forword………………………………………..pg. 4

PART I Reaching into my bag of tricks ……pg. 5 My Aim with Master studies……………………pg. 7 My Own Performing Art………………………..pg. 8 How I see my work……………………………. pg. 9 Stay tuned………………………………………pg. 11 My Commedia Exploration…………………….pg. 13 Playing the Streets……………………………...pg. 15 Fear of making Mistakes………………………..pg. 17 Indoor shows……………………………………pg. 20 Moving on………………………………………pg. 22 Today……………………………………………pg. 24

PART ll Explorations………………………….pg. 26 Imaginary Creations……………………………pg. 28 World of Sound and Object…………………….pg. 32 Surrealistic objects……………………………..pg. 37

PART lll Explorations with Ibsen……………pg. 40 Inspiration………………………………………pg. 41 Atmosphere at the Academy……………………pg. 43 Cooperation with musician……………………..pg. 44 My Image of Nora……………………………...pg 40 My image of Torvald…………………………..pg. 45 My work with A Doll´s House…………………pg. 47

In Tune ……………………………………….pg. 50 A sudden insight (silence in Finland)…………pg. 51 ”Keepng Things Whole” Mark Strand………..pg. 52 ”Little girl becareful what you say”…………...pg. 53 Michele Collins CV…………………………..pg. 54-55

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the blue-eyed blackbird flies over the countryside, zeroing in on her catch that stands strategically still… a perfect target.

She returns to her hatched eggs, automatically identifying the tree where she had left them.

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PART l

REACHING INTO MY BAG OF TRICKS

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MY AIM WITH MY MASTER STUDIES

I am a multi-disciplinary performer. I think through images, movement,

and sound. In my work, I give each artform the credit it deserves. My

Masters research at the University of Gothenburg has focused on the

development of my work as a performing artist over the past thirty

years by:

• observing and taking part in the theater arts courses offered at

the university.

• sharing my ideas/experiences and expanding and presenting my

performances.

• learning to define my personal interdisciplinary performance

• finding new and innovative ways to stimulate my art of

improvisational performance.

I hope to continue my research to open doors to new fields of

communication and help the aspiring artists of my trade.

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MY OWN PERFORMING ART”I vilken ände det hela startar är inte lätt att säga. Först fångas man nog av en

upplevelse-eller lika gärna en inlevelse-och sedan söker man formen för den1

I have made many performances since 1980 (see attached CV). I am a

solo performer and I play in combination with musicians, film-makers,

dancers, set designers and other performers. One project has lead to the

next and I haven´t stopped to investigate the creative process behind

my work until now in my Master´s study research.

My performances are created in an effort to express myself, without the

actual words to say it.

I have no practical booklet of theater-making that I follow. I allow

myself to be inspired by sound, movement and space. I have never

found a name for my approach or ”technique” but as I learn to define

my personal style of performance I will discover new and innovative

ways to stimulate that creative process.

As I start struggling to dissect my process of thought and decision

making I ask myself questions as:

• What is the essence of my theater-making?

1 1 Birgerstam,Pirjo (2007) Skapande Handling om Idéernas Födelse (studie

literature 2007)

”Exactly where a process begins isn´t easy to explain. You are fascinated first by

an experience or a feeling and then you try to mold it into shape.

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• How are my ideas manifested?

• What is that abstract underlying structure that is accessible to

me?

• How can I describe it?

• How do I get to that special place that takes me there?

• Is my method sunken way down deep into my subconscious or

floating along the surface of my mind ?

I want to find that hidden structure that keeps me rolling, not wobbling,

through my working process, to purposely reach into my bag of tricks

when the time is right.

At the end of this discovery process I should have a pile of items that I

have tested, kept or thrown away.

HOW I SEE MY WORK

Avsikter och mänskliga handlingar är så nära förbundna att det ena är otänkbart

utan det andra2

I work rhythmically with my body and play with language. I tap dance,

and build my own sets that encourage motion, using myself as material.

I don´t use a written script. I write my own materal. I improvise text or

recite poetry to communicate to my audiences.

2 Molander,Bengt, (1996) Kunskap i Handling Daidalos:Gothenburg

”Our intentions and actions are so connected that one is unthinkable without the

other”

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Comedy has always been an element in my performances, often

without me being conscious of it´s impact. The audience reactions, in

turn, play a crucial role and I look to them as a gauge to find what

works in the performance space.

I try to keep an element of surprise in my performances by:

• Continually reconstructing the playing space to be able to

observe the work from different angles

• Constantly rearticualting my goals

• Bringing ordinary objects into new contexts through the peculiar

unexpected realm of theater (like using my vacuum cleaner as a

pet dog or my ironing board as a lover! )

• Breaking down the conventions of linear narration

• Making space for improvisation. It is a great way to challenge

myself and face the unpredicatable

• Abstracting sounds from words to release them from their own

confines

• Experimenting in different emotional and physical directions

with sound, space voice and movement

My inspiration for performances come from:

• a love of a painting, photograph, poem or object

• a love for a color

• an image in a dream

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STAY TUNED

I grew up in a big family with a black and white televison set. My

childhood was filled with episodes on and off the TV screen. I took in

all the impressions and sorted them all out in my head.

After school and while eating dinner, I tuned into the TV, ”Turn it on!”

”Turn it off !” We were always watching television and laughing; there

were so many kids and laughing was best.

At night in my bedroom, through my wall, I could hear the muffled

sounds of the more serious programs on TV. Scores from eerie science

fiction series, dialogues from the great 1940 movie classics and

gangster spy series like ”The Untouchables”, that kept my parents

watching all night. I tried to keep the light off and sleep with sounds

and images swirling round my head but it wasn´t easy.

Those TV images were real to me, as real as life.

I did have dreams though, dreams of being a star on the silver screen

but they were only dreams because the silver screen was an illusion…

wasn´t it? It was only made to tempt catholic school girls like me with

the star´s angelic faces, silken slim figures and beautiful glittery

costume.

It seemed impossible to question those Hollywood ethics

While dreaming of those nighttime classics my reality was the

comedians. They were real, no illusions there; they were straight

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forward and earthy, instead of being thin and glittery. They each had

their own unique clumsy personality.

I could relate to the comic rhythm that the comic stars like Jack Benny,

Red Skelton, Dick Van Dyke Jerry Lewis, Carol Burnett and Lucille

Ball all had in common. Each one of these stars had their own TV

show and I watched!

The shows included variations of slap stick routines to monologues.

Through their characters I could laugh at myself.. It was entertainment

free from any animosity.

Today I can laugh at my serious silver screen dreams and those candy

coated smiles (even though I still think my mother should have been a

Hollywood star and I know my sister was close to being one). I don´t

have a whiter, wider smile like the stars but I have the freedom to make

my own impressions of the world and an opportunity to take an

audience along with me.

Who knows, I might be in the middle of my ”silver screen dream” right

now; closer to touching the ”Untouchables” than I had ever imagined!

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MY COMMEDIA EXPLORATION

”Action must always precede anaylsis. The first step predetermines the ones to

follow.” 3

It is the intuitive sense of my body that keep me on my toes; I always

surprise myself when I am in tune with it. I attended The Dell Arté

School of Mime and Comedy in 1979-80, founded by Carlo Mazzonni

Clementi where we trained that intuitive sense. Carlo´s dream for the

school was to bring the European tradition of Commedia Dell Arté to

USA. The school, in the little northern California town of Blue Lake,

in its beautiful settings in the Humboldt county, succeeded in

introducing the art of Commedia Dell Arté to performing artists

through USA and Scandinavia (many of the students came from

Sweden). Before attending the school, I studied acting with

Stanislawski´s emotional recall methods. In that training class, we sat

in chairs to reach the emotional state of mind needed to play a role. The

excercises stirred up emotion in my head by tapping into memories of

my past. Those recall excercises didn´t move me the way the

Commedia Acting ”method” of emotional recall did.

The Commedia training was focused on the emotional recall sensations

of the body.

We discussed through movement and space, not words. Associations

were made while moving that led to even more discoveries. It was all

about following your body´s instincts and relying on the fact that the

3 3 Mazzone-Clementi, Carlo..Commedia and the Actor pg. 61…

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head would eventually follow. The excercises I remember best were

lead by Jon Paul Cook, who taught together with Carlo, done in nature

with a neutral mask; a neutral mask over my face and my personal

flowing energy, bursting through the fields, creeping in the mud,

running through the trees, crawling under thick bushes or climbing up a

steep mountain. Each step brought me closer to myself and the

awareness of how vulnerable I am to the world around me.

I worked with the other students (some of them from Sweden) We built

up shows together and built up our relationships through our art. We

lived together and played music together; there was no separation

between life and art. We didn´t want to lose that energy we had built up

at school by each going their seperate ways; we were too connected.

One of the main reasons we succeeded in staying close was because of

our love for music. The music connection/communication was a

language that kept up an energy and vitality that words might have

killed. It was the music that kept up the flow!

”music breaks through our chattering minds” 4

4 Wright,John (2006) Why Is That So Funny? A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy, Nick Herns Books Limited:London

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PLAYING THE STREETS

We had no money to speak of, no stage we could call our own, so the

best solution for us to continue working as a group was to make the

street our stage. The streets were full of energy and so were we; we

called ourselves Tajphoon Tivoli. We made music and rhythm that

became theater. We made a point of our independence and steered

away from any funding or employment that might leave us dependent

on any other source than ourselves. We didn´t follow any written rules.

We made our own way through the maze of theater art and fools

festivals, nightclubs, art galleries, pajama parties, insane-asylums,

theater spaces, performance art gatherings and happenings with our

own name and unique style. With our old vintage Volvo Starke truck,

we went on tour. Driving into a new towns through Europe, we chose

the right spots to play. We looked for a place on the street big enough

to fit ourselves, our truck and a big crowd.

In the early summer evenings, was the best time to play, after a long

warm day. We´d unpack our parked truck, I´d carry the bag with the

smaller percussion instruments and the juggling clubs over my

shoulder while the others carried their music instrument. Crowds would

gather as we set up our things. We all thought for ourselves, tuned

instruments, gathered shoes, costumes etc... I didn´t have one

instrument in particular like the guys did. I used a tambourine and my

tap shoes to keep up the beat.

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(A thought)

What was it that made me the only one who didn´t play an instrument?

Did I have difficulties listening or difficulties focusing? Could I have

made a choice in my life to say: ”yes this is what I want” or ”no this is

not” or did someone else decide that I wasn´t going to play a certain

instrument? Looking back at my childhood, I suppose I fell into a

social tradition, an unspoken role or rule that was inbedded in my

cultural heritage that stated that girls don´t play saxophones. I had no

choice so I stayed with the fine motor skills like piano and dance!

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FEAR OF MAKING MISTAKES

Where is the cable to the amplifier? Is there electricity? Do we have all

the juggling clubs this time? I scan over the order of songs written on

the notepaper, at the same time scanning over the audience as it grows.

There was always a moment of hesitation before I started, about

whether the show would be different than the last one.The show was

never the way it ”should be” and each one was different.I was fooling

myself to think that two shows could ever be the same.

(another thought)

I want to take that unpredictablity seriously on stage (and in life) and

not be afraid of making mistakes. I want to purposely make room for it

in my work. After all, isn´t the unpredictable always an inevitable

element? Is it possible to envision a theater-making process without

acknowledging the unexpected?

Picasso explains: ”A picture is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done it

changes as one´s thoughts change. And when it is finished, it still goes on

changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it5

No time to think.

One scenerio: two other members of the group suddenly wander off. I

look at the third, leaning over to pick up his horn. Suddenly, I hear

sounds from the other two, who are in the traffic, aiming their

instruments toward the sky, as if shooting for birds. I run towards them

5 Brassai,Conversations with Picasso,1999 The University of Chicago Press:Chicago Illinois

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and think ”have we started?” Yes, I am in their game and suddenly all

four of us are shooting toward the sky, running towards different parts

of the ”stage” and through the audience that open up like a flock of

birds to give us space. The horns turn gradually into the chords of the

first tune and we have placed ourselves in front of our audience. I

didn´t play an instrument but I was good at timing and rhythm, I used a

cow bell and a tambourine on the first tune. The round frame of the

tambourine was bent out of shape and the many tin silver rattles were

missing around the edges after being pounded repeatedly night after

night in a rhythmical frenzy!

It was hard to improvise with the guys in my group. They seemed to

have their special language between them (it could have been

Swedish?) I didn´t understand it. It was a social language, a social club

and I didn´t know the rules or I wasn´t invited to join, so I chose to

open my own club and invite the audience; there was an honesty

between us. We had a mutual commitment to one another.

”There is only one audience to please at each performance. The piece is shaped

and colored by the local audience, their moods and responses, audiences

themselves became an ”improviso” element, shifting moving and responding”6

I was playing for the audience but I didn´t expect anything in

return.(except maybe for money) We were sharing this common

experience. I had no fear because I used the audience as my security

blanket. They were warm and reassurring, they sensed when they were

6 Mazzoni-Clementi, Carlo (1976) Commedia and the Actor, pg. 60

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needed and more than often their reactions were a definite part of the

show.

They lingered afterwards, wrapped in the feeling we generated, curious

as to who we were and where we came from. We continued playing

with that vital bold energy that made the crowds stay and pay.

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INDOOR SHOWS

We had developed a theater piece through our music. The show moved

us into the theaters. It gave us the possibility to reach a more discreet

level of play. I found time to ask myself questions about my role

interpretations that might add quality or depth. There was even time to

discuss the possibility of writing dialogue between one another and

developing the set. We played in a cabaret-like style combining new

music tunes, comic skits and set design. We worked with

improvisational movement. We were able to benefit from the

spontineity we learned on the streets.

If the audience laughed, I still had a habit of looking behind me, to see

if there was anyone else making faces, but there wasn´t anyone behind

me. I made them laugh. I was the funny one! (the guys hadn´t even

entered yet)…but was it just my costume?

”You´ve just got to believe in that fall. If the fall looks even slightly premeditated,

even slightly hesitant or set up, then nobody is going to laugh. If your impulse is

strong enough, your movements will be instinctive. You won´t know what you

looked like and won´t need to know”7

7 Wright, John Why Is That So Funny? A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy

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We worked around themes,

discovered dreams,

in different teams discovering

stream

of consciousness prose, on our toes!

Themes of Shanghai,

themes of the Sea,

themes of Paris and of Greece,

of Stormy Grey Weather

and a vist to my Niece in Nice…which was nice…and

Mountains of feathers long and leathery

which later became poetry…Not theatrically…necessarily…

But with rhythm and song…you can come quite long.

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MOVING ON

The absurd repetition of household chores put me on an endless

mission to explore the institute of the home when I had my children. I

was amazed at what motherhood offered me. From kitchenware to

closet hangers, especially those that made strange and surprising

noises, were used as props or instruments. I suppose it was almost a

therapeutic way to heighten the mundane of the ”everyday” to a level

of play (not just work).

• I cut out pictures in cookbooks for inspiration

• I took toys away from the kids to use on stage

• I collected strange utensils, played wild guessing games of how

they were once used.

• I made them into mobiles that hung above our heads at home,

blew in the wind and chimed their way onto the stage.

That type of exploration has been incorporated into my work today.

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”The Joy of Cooking”1993

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TODAY

My life and my art are inseparable. My shows often develop when I am in

situations other than those in the ”theatrical space” …for example:

while on a walk in a park or the music from a lark or an unexpected meeting

with an old time friend or a moment while washing that makes me pretend

that I could be a woman from way-back-when. Then a line from a poem or a

play pops up or a song from a band that reminds me of another land where

they had such a beautiful tan and colored clothes that I´d like to use in

shows where costume glows like street lights in rows. While I lye in bed at

night or drink my coffee in the light I am aware of the process that guides

this flow and I know I can grab those moments and put them in a show.

I am conscious of the fact that this is how creativity evolves, that it is an

important part of the creative process of all artists, but for me, it is so evident

because of the lack of a working space to make those definite decriptive blue

prints that are important to the developments of many works of art.

I have the tools to build a structure for my performances, but the blue print is

locked up in my head and I have the key to open it when needed.

I´m like a crazy restless architect who can´t stop building,

rebuilding, adding on, tearing down,making stairways that lead to nowhere,

hallways that have no end (they just go around) rooms with no ground.

Walls with no sound, ladders too tall, kitchens too small towers made of

stone, statues of bone that look over lakes… there are no mistakes

just an irresistable urge to create

my own, not alone, but inviting the world in for tea

and celebrate life as a big party!

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I understand the french actor, mime and acting instructor Jacques Lecoq,

who encouraged his students to investigate ways of performance that suited

them best:

”let the world make it´s impression on us. The less we do the less conflict we have, the

less resistance we put up against the world the more reactive we appear to be to

everything around us. Economy is a hard lesson. Do what is required and no more”

P.S. Don´t miss www.youtube.com ”Lucy Lucy Lucy”

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PART II

EXPLORATIONS

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IMAGINARY CREATIONS

Comparing picture-painting to theater-making

(an approach I use to get closer to my working process)

I´ll start with a color.

I choose a color scheme theme for example red… dark red, and after I have

played around with it (investigated it) all kinds of associations arise: a

tropical sunset scene, a pulsating heart beat, a rose in full bloom in a room,

then the scene transforms into a blurry Arizona landscape and a woman´s

face appears and the color scheme changes to a brighter tone of red and the

eyes become someone I know and they dart out at me… should I continue

with her and go on painting or erase her? Wait! I can see the other eye which

seems slightly sad and injured. Her hair covers that one eye, she is probably

purposely hiding that side of her face with her hair; her hair .., yes, it´s wavy

and very thick and very black, deeper into the color of her hair into the

waves that seems to somehow fall down over her shoulders and then grow

up into the reddish-violet color of the desert sky. Like bare black branches of

a tree her hair grows competing with the colors of that sky. The blackness is

deep and it twists and tumbles turning into tunnels that swirl deeper inwards

towards the middle.

A horse´s mane suddenly appears along with his head too, softly hidden in a

corner of a tunnel. The sensation of the tender nose like a black velvet…She

escapes from the tunnel and is set free … to a party she was invited to where

colored lights hang, strung over the roof of a wooden porch and laughter is

heard and a band plays from the distance the bass tone is heard a light-

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hearted sound of a fiddle bursts out as she rides closer She´s on her horse the

first time this Spring after a long cold winter. She takes deep breaths and the

fresh country air makes her hum a tune…a tune she hadn´t sung for a long

time.It had a high tone with a ”folk-lorrish” touch, reminding her of a

lullaby with minor tones yet playful and full of light!

Finding the right costume

(a process that puts me in tune with a role)

”Can a costume make the person?” I like to think so.

I usually like to start my role interpretations/investigations with the costume.

I look for clothes that can inhibit, alienate or compliment the character,

depending on the situation.

Let us start with the shoes and the character blooms! It is like I step into the

seed of the character from the ground up and the body follows.

This character I am studying here is probably wearing penny loafers, shoes

made of leather with a feathery-like flap in the front where a copper penny

can be slid into for luck. That copper penny in her shoe matches her

earrings, by the way, subtly situated behind her hair that is neatly placed

over her ears. She doesn´t wear high heeled shoes becasue she´s got to feel

the earth under her feet while running for the bus almost every morning. (A

bad habit she´d accustomed in the last few years)

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She´s often a little unsure of her appearance before leaving the house… ”Is it

right just for that day? No. Yes. No.” So she spends one too many minutes in

front of the mirror to convince herself it´s okay before dashing out.

Does she like colors? Or is she colorless? Does she wear tight or loose

garments?

A tan skirt below the knees? Yes, below the knees is better! Tight skirt! Yes,

and a tight buttoned beige nylon shirt tightly fitted around the breast and

buttoned up to the neck… with a little scarf tied around her collar perhaps?

She has such an upright posture!

A tight skirt… and her jacket? Let´s see, a light but warm fitted tweed

jacket, tight around her waist. A thick belt perhaps, that is swept around her

slim waist.

She has two jackets in the hall, one for work days like today and one for her

walks. Her purse is large and has a tendency to get heavy. She has to carry

her mini hairspray and a perfume bottle so she´s able to ”touch up” in the

middle of the day. The bag is black, like her shoes.

Her small face and close-set eyes (she needs reading glasses) makes her

squint and her small tight lips make her seem uptight and tend to hold back

her character. She doesn´t talk too much. She is soft-spoken so you have to

be close to her to hear what she has to say. She gets disgusted easily over

certain matters but not angry.

Her name is Kimberely but I think I will call her Kim. She has few friends,

works in a bank and is good at accounting. She once met another banker at a

office party, but he turned out to be strange. She is thrifty but bought one

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lottery ticket on impulse and won a weekend alone in Hawaii. She decides to

go.

”Waves” the play about Kim

(a possible set design)

Hotel room door, balcony window, a double bed, bright colored bedspread, a

mirror, a chair, fake flowers on a little table

(sounds of the sea )…(children and adult voices from the beach below)

Props

Suitcase, box, clothes, and a hat.

Action of the play: at a Hotel

She dresses in front of the mirror, taking out dress after dress but nothing

seems right. All the dresses are colorful with loud patterns like palm trees or

tropical fruits. She has two bathing suits a bikini and a one-suit. Suddenly,

there is a knock at the door; She is chocked, standing in her underwear. She

pulls on one of the tropical dresses and rushes to open the door. A box is

lying on the floor with a note attached. She looks around the corridor but no

one is there. She hesitates, takes the white box quickly into her room,

doesn´t read the note, she just opens it. Inside is a yellow hat, with a big rim

and a white flower placed in the front above her forehead, she reads the note

that says: ”don´t get burned” she looks in the mirror ”don´t get burned”

repeating the words while trying on the hat. For the first time in a long time

she feels good about herself. She runs to the balcony and looks down…(to

be continued)

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WORLD OF SOUND AND OBJECTS

The Sound of Words

In my work there is no separation between performer and musician. The

energy between us is passed back and forth creating a space for play that

transcends identity: at one moment I am the musician, the next I am the

actor.

In many forms of music there is a chaotic order that appeals to me. It feels

reassuring to be a part of that ”order.”

Transformation experience

I was portraying an airline stewardess on stage introducing the safety

instructions to passengers, I spoke in a headset (I was accompanied by a

drum) I felt very present and in tune with myself. Images came to me while

speaking. I heard my voice being transported to another place besides the

stage I had no control over it, I could only follow the flow and the urge to

sing. I was using my intuitive sense as a guide.

I realized that my voice had opened doors to a sound landscape filled with

imagery. The words flourished surprisingly beyond my usual ”speech”

I could hear the voice coming from outside myself, yet the sound came from

a place deep inside. I could hear the words/tones before I said them, perhaps

the same way a musician hears the tones in his head before actually playing

them. Language is music. I was connected to the transformative power of

sound.

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Concert in Oakland, California 2008

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My approach to text

My approach to text seems similiar to surrealistic automatic techniques.

”These techniques are used in the beginning of a creative process to stimulate and

encourage spontaneity, free of conscious intension and open a window onto the

marvellous that lies concealed behind the everyday”8

There are enumerous excercises to encourage that spontineity and exploit the

unpredictable outcomes of chance through writing surrealistic texts, evoking

surreal visual imagery, or creating surreal automatic sculpture. Playful

procedures and strategies unlocked the door to the unconscious and release

the visual and verbal poetry of collective creativity.

”Proverbs for Today” from Surrealists Paul Eluard and Benjamin Peret

”Never wait for yourself”

”Cherries fall where texts fail”

”I came, I sat, I departed”

”A crab, by any other name. would forget the sea”9

My own proverbs:

Because I am a woman I can make someone … a meal

I am bored with the thought that all others are bored.

Picking flowers way down low and carrying them home very high

I have a faraway dream that is very close to me.

The magazine was filled with Paris but without the map 8 Brotchie, Alastair (1995) pg.48 A Book of Surrealist Games,Shambhala Redstone Editions:Boston &London 9 Ibid pg.128-129

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All Saints (a song)

Where are all the saints?

They are marching in rows

But no one sees them

They are in rows

like pews in a church or

Rose beds or Rosery beads

Up and down the aisles of alleys

But no one sees them, Nobody wants them at all

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”a picture is worth a thousand words” (Confucius proverb) These are some of my visual images.

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SURREALIST OBJECTS

10 11 12

13 The object in Surrealist manifestation no longer maintains its identity within the banal categories of the ordinary and the everydaySurrealist experiment with the object transforms it and confers upon it the properties of the marvellous. There are different categories of objects: objects from dreams, natural objects from nature, manufactured objects that has undergone some deformation, book objects, mobile and mute objects and more.14

10 Ernxt,Max 1921 11 Man Ray 1921 the gift 12Salvador Dali 1936 the lobster telephone 13 collins,michele &wartel,jonny 1998 hihatpot 14 Brothchie,Alastair A Book of Surrealist Games pg.105-107

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Not only surrealists experiment with objects, I do too.

My investigations begin by making my own collections of objects.

Postcards, envelopes, jars with a lid, pictures of kids, small decorative boxes

with foxes, small figurines with wings, lamps on a stand and souvenirs from

other lands, dresses in yellow, stockings in red, pens and pencils, frames

made of gold, mirrors in silver, jewelry that shine, watches that hold time,

tea cups that are round, coffee cans in brown, candles that are square, cloth

that won´t tear, movies from the 30´s, shoes size 40´s, gloves from the 60´s,

coffee cups, sugar lumps and skeleton keys.

An object can have a particular presence that attracts me. I discover new

irrational uses for it and I am able to give it a whole new meaning in my

performances. The form and structure of an object keeps me on the right

track. Often an object is the reason for doing a show from the beginning.

I´d like to do puppet shows where objects come to life and explain their

existence… I have tried to play without my toys; it just isn´t as fun!

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Objects are clues to stories I need to tell.These pictures give a few hints.

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PART III

EXPLORATIONS INTO IBSEN´S WORLD

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INSPIRATION

On tour in Norway with a children´s performance ”Gadusch” in September

2008, I watched a 1973 film version of Henrik Ibsen´s ”A Doll´s House”

staring Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins. I was inspired and amazed by

how contemporary Ibsen´s play seemed.

I presented an idea of Nora for the first time at the 10th annual Elia

Conference in October 2008 and that began my journey with Nora and her

new identity. My research had begun.

At the same time, I worked with Ibsen´s play ”Ghosts”. It had some of the

same atmospheres as in ”A Doll´s House.” I tested my directing skills with

the other Master students and the professor, Fero Veres using different

scenes from the play. He reminded us of respecting Ibsen´s text as a work of

art.

Act III, from the play, impressed me the most; when Torvald gets angry at

Nora and then apologies. It was the turning point for Nora. She decides to

leave him and the children. I decided to make that scene a part of my project.

It was a perfect chance to use the images, with help from the film-maker

Karin Flodhammar; we share a common visual language. I had a two minute

homemade movie of my parents at a wedding in 1953. The films made it

easier to relate to Nora´s life.

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New Nora

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THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE ACADEMY

I wanted to experiment with the resources the school offered.

I thought that a classical play written by Ibsen would suit the temperment of

the theater department at the university. The school works with the analysis

of a play and interpertation of character with links to the school of

”Stanislawski”.

The theater research of the 19th century is deeply respected and rooted into

our western culture and it´s influences are obvious in the theaters and in the

theater schools all through Europe, North America and in Gothenburg´s

University too.

The same atmosphere is in the classical music training too. The Opera

students have their class rooms next door to the actors and you can hear

them warming up in Artisten´s wide corridors.

There are grand pianos, in different sizes, in almost every room and parked

in the hallways. They give a hint of the bourgeois atmosphere that Ibsen

seems to write about. I have never tried counting them but I can imagine

there are at least a hundred! I wanted to use one of them in my version of

Henrik Ibsen´s ”A Doll´s House”.

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COOPERATION WITH MUSCIAN

The violinist Ida Lod, a Master student at The Academy of Stage and Music,

was also working on a music piece from the 1800´s. The violin, is an

instrument that seemed relevent to the time of Ibsen too. We discussed ”A

Doll´s House”as a theme. I knew she liked to improvise (she helped me with

my workshop with the 4th year students). I decided to work with different

”islands” on stage which made it easy to move from one scene to the next.

• We experimented with the possibilities on the islands, playing,

singing, dancing or speaking. There were instruments and props in

each area which I felt were significant to the play.

• I tried to stay away form any direct dialogue with the musician

because I was aware of the fact that we might end up in some wierd

theatricality or drama that wasn´t relevent or that we were not ready

for yet. I was more interested in building up atmospheres and later be

able to get deeper into those atmospheres and relate them to the play.

• The violinist played first and I danced and said my lines. Later, she

wanted to dance too and I wanted to play so we gave up our ”roles”

and danced played and recited together.

• We had a good musical/emotional communication with each other

that helped keep up the pace in the preparational work for the play.

I continued my work alone being inspired by our work together.

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MY IMAGE OF NORA

Torvald has turned Nora´s world upside down with the glamour of their

home (his castle). The house is filled with magnificant artifacts from his

travels including oriental rugs and chandeliers. His love for clothes makes

Nora dress in the style that matches the grandeur of their home and that

certainly pleases him. Her dresses are long and sweep down to her ankles.

(Torvald seems to think her legs are too tempting for another man´s eye).

She enjoys those flimsy, long tailor made dresses though, it makes her fit

into the crystal elegance of their home, especially the Timbuktoo-blue lace

blouse with crystal buttons around the nape of her neck. It is Torvald´s

favorite, especially when she secretly dabs a bit of her delicate French

perfume ”ces´t le toi ” behind her ear lobes sending Torvald into a

passionate frenzy!

At certain times of the day, she finds her exotic dress restricting, for

example when she needs to rest, it is difficult for her to just ”let go”.

Although, when evening comes, at last, she is able to slip into her silken

night gown that wraps snuggly around her body and lye between the linen

sheets that smell like fresh forest rain and dream. Ah yes, to dream!

When the morning comes, she slides into her silken slippers, glides ever so

softly over the shiny wooden floors so as not to wake her husband, who

sleeps in late because of his concentrated calculations in the evenings and

quietly feeds the children, dresses them and waves them goodbye for another

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day with ”Nanny”. It isn´t until Torvald´s breakfast is served that she´s able

to change into her daytime elegance for another long day at home.

MY IMAGE OF TORVALD

Torvald is dressed in the evenings in a thin robe and boxer shorts. He keeps

his thin nylon socks on and keeps them up with stirrups. He loves his old

slippers. His bare legs are seen sticking out from under the robe. He wears a

scarf wrapped around his bare neck. His favorite time of the day is dinner

time, after a long hard day at work when he can sip is liquor and read his

newspaper and watch the children play before their bedtime. (Once in a

while he does enjoy a good cigar) It isn´t until after 8 o´clock that he slips

into his housecoat and takes a last long look over his day´s business in his

office before retiring to bed once again.

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MY WORK WITH HENRIK IBSEN`S ”A DOLL`S HOUSE”

As a solo performer, I chose to play both the man and woman roles in my

project with ”A Doll´s House”. I felt compassion for both the characters,

despite their gender. I realized that Ibsen´s work transcends gender, he

writes about human values; commitment, trust and love. It is the human

condition that lacks the rigor to face what life offers.

I ´ve wanted to give myself the time to get inside a character; not to be

occupied with the audience and their reactions. I have never felt I was a

”real” classical actress. I am always in a rush on stage so I rushed through

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emotions (because I didn’t want to face the feelings myself or that the

audience wouldn´t have had enough patience with me) In Ibsen´s world, I

wanted to take my time and expand each scene, enjoying the sound of each

word, holding on to emotions, not rushing through the action of the play. I

wanted to convey emotion through stillness (which is unusual for me). There

is a suspense in stillness that interests me. The silence is like holding a poise

in front of an old time camera with a slow shutter lense; holding on to

moments that I usually throw away. There is alot of action happening but the

action is inside myself. Holding onto emotions in a scene opens a new field

of investigation for me.

Comedy

I have played alot of comedy. There is a delicate balance between comedy

and tragedy. I played with that balance in my project with Ibsen. For

instance, Torvald´s anger is so extreme that he could break out and cry in a

melodramtic style that could easily turn into comedy but I had to be careful

to stay true to the character´s feelings and reveal his vulnerabilities, not joke

about them. The audience should feel liberated by his actions and laugh or

cry along with me.

I discovered a fairytale-like atmosphere in Torvald and Nora´s home;

melodramatic, wicked, and beautiful. I´ve enjoyed communicating through a

classic theaterpiece. There is a certain freedom in the structure of this classic

play. The framework is stable enough to dare to experiment, without the fear

of breaking down the structure.

The film images I used reinforce the text. The film clips brought an

authenticity to each scene because they were from my personal family

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album and they had an old blurry scratch-like ”quality”. It is also a challenge

to compete with film images.

I wanted to focus on the musicality of the text and give myself the chance to

sing and work with the rhythms of the words, not just the psychology behind

them. I imagined both Torvald and Nora playing the piano during certain

times of the day and singing in a meloncholy tone, both envisioning a new

and better life. Ibsen´s texts are playful.

As a movement oriented performer, I wanted to find the moments for dance.

Discovering the character through movement brought dynamics into

character work. It is written in the script of ”A Doll´s House” that Nora

dances and I wanted to investigate that. Her particular way of walking or

dancing added a deeper insight into her character. Experimenting with

Torvald´s masculinity added insight into him as well. My tap shoes helped

me stay in motion. It was fun to climb on the piano and crawl under it and

make sounds with it. I lifted the lid and discovered new sounds with the

inner mechanisms. I wanted to limit the amount of props to a minimum and

find the essence of each scene instead. I didn´t need the relationships to

objects as much as the relationship to the play.

As I build up a relationship with the fictional characters, I build up a

relationship with myself and the playwright. I discovered Ibsen´s insight into

the human condition.

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IN TUNE

Nora observes the life ahead of her. Nora has chosen to put herself out onto the streets to fend for herself. It is her choice, the city is right outside her door. There is no time to make any definite plans for herself otherwise she would never have left her home.. Her first steps are taken as a child learning to walk, stepping away from the arms of a parent and onto the steps of the wide city square. She is a little unstable but determined to hold her balance and not fall. The buses she observes will take her where she´ll want to go, the library will have the books she´ll want to read, the theaters, the right play, the restaurants will serve good food. Each step forward, will bring her closer to herself, (almost like walking backward into herself). She might get an urge to sing aloud when she is so high above the city. Her voice will echo with a loud cry so that everyone will hear or she´ll whisper softly, but it is all in an effort to get in tune with herself and not turn back.

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A SUDDEN INSIGHT… Silence in Finland

I presented a fifteen minute piece at a conference in Finland. The theme of

the conference was “Documentation”. I explained that I had trouble

documenting my work because it is associative and spontaneous and hard to

pin down. I wanted to use this conference opportunity to try and stay in tune

with myself. I was used to relying more on the audience than myself.

I started my presentation by mingling with the audience that stood in the

playing space.

I soon realized that I was reacting with the silence in the room. It was

transmitted to me almost as a language in itself.

I couldn´t ignore the silence and tried to fill it in with sounds as I usually do,

but it was too strong. It was a positive energy, but a little frightening,

because it didn´t promise me anything; no plans for what might happen next

or any possible reminders of what had happened a moment before. The

silence could be compared to the energy surrounding patterns in Tai Chi or

the feeling of floating in and out of clouds, but these clouds were supportive,

not as thin as air, but sturdy and gentle.

I made my way through the haze of silence with a kind of ”unconditional

love”, in awe of the audience, who stood like trees in a forest. (when you

love in this way you do it without expecting them to express love in return)

This was a new experience and the silence was a new sensation,... I want to

reassure myself of the security of not knowing what comes next and to grasp

the silence and play with it, not to race and chase it because it is served on a

silver platter!

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Keeping things whole

In a field

I am the absence

Of field

This is

Always the case

Wherever I am

I am what is missing

When I walk

I part the air

And always

The air moves in

To fill the spaces

Where my body´s been

We all have reasons

For moving

I move

To keep things whole15

---Mark Strand (1963)

15 The Contemporary American Poets,(1969) The World Publishing Co:Cleveland, Ohio

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”Little girl be careful what you say”.

Little girl, be careful what you say

when you make talk with words, words—

for words are made of syllables

and syllables, child, are made of air—

and air is so thin—air is the breath of God—

air is finer than fire or mist,

finer than water or moonlight,

finer than spider-webs in the moon,

finer than water-flowers in the morning:

and words are strong, too,

stronger than rocks or steel

stronger than potatoes, corn, fish, cattle,

and soft, too, soft as little pigeon eggs,

soft as the music of hummingbird wings.

So, little girl, when you speak greetings,

when you tell jokes, make wishes or prayers,

be careful, be careless, be careful,

be what you wish to be.16

—Carl Sandburg,

16 Sandburg,Carl (1950) Complete Poems, Harcourt Brace & Co: San Diego, New York London (I have always had this poem in my collections)

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CV MICHELE COLLINS MAY 2010 www.michelecollins.se

Education

• 1979-80 The Dell Arté School of Mime and Comedy,Blue Lake.Ca • 1990 Ecole Philippe Gaulier, Paris • 2003-04 Gothenburg´s Art School (Performance and Artistic

studies) • 2008-10 The Academy of Music and Drama,Gothenburg,Univ.

Master Program in Theater Arts

Performance

1981-89 Founding member of performance group Tajphoon Tivoli. (We played street performances and a variety of indoor productions participanting in International theater/performance festivals through Europe)

1990 Cabaret "Gas Egg" with Tajphoon Tivoli an Experimental Free Cabaret with Saxophone Quintet Position Alpha

1994 Sweden tour with a circus tent and group Varieté Vauduville

1997 Founding member of The Rainbunnies (Anna Gustavsson, percussion Karin Flodhammar, film) Performance/music /poetry/film

1999 The Miss Monica Show by the The Rainbunnies (winner of best muli-discinplinary work 1998 GP) with poet /author Pamela Jaskoviak

2002 " Nothing Makes Me Happy" The Isabelle Eberhardt Love Story

2006 "Towards a Bright Future" Tajphoon Tivoli production.

SOLO PERFORMANCES

1990 ……….. "Swan Lake /Swan Fake"in one act.

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1992-96 ……."The Joy of Cooking"

2005 Hollywood Haunts Me (Paperdoll Cutout Comedy)

2004 The Cage performance/installation

2008 ”Small Talk” with set design (Sebastion LeConte deBierve)

2009 Henrik Ibsen´s A Doll`s House (Master Theater Art Project)

CLOWN SHOWS

1988-1990 "Spaghetti" and "Mera Spaghetti" clowns BooBoo and Dotty (Tajphoon Tivoli Production)

1999-2006 "An Unexpected Guest" Baiba and Babsan

CHILDREN´S SHOW

2006-2011 GADUSCH! performance show for children in collaboration with ”Utrycks Labbet” and artist Putte Dal. Norway.

MUSIC PROJECTS

1994, 2001 Position Alpha Singer /Spoken Word (voice improvisational poetry and performance) with saxophone quintet

2002- 2006”Tinnitus Therapy Trip” singer /voice with improvised music

2008 ”Kong” and ”Lloyd” spoken-word/song with improvisational music group