Yesterday the Cast had a lesson in some of the finer points of stagecraft. Teaching 11 Indigenous tribes members, and one white guy from Kimberley the techniques of stage makeup was interesting to say the least, and frankly, one of the many factors that make this project by turns, unique and delightful or ridiculous and exhausting. Nothing can be taken for granted. Throw all assumptions out the window.
There were several reasons for deciding to give this class. One, it’s a lot less expensive than having a makeup artist come in for 12 performers every night. And last year at the Gala, poor Benjamin ended up looking more like a white faced monkey than an old man, and Wesleigh, who plays Jackal, looked like a heroine addict. I took a year of makeup when studying at DePaul Theatre School so I was pretty certain I could at least teach the actors to do a better job than that.
Additionally, the whole project is about skills development and empowerment, so stage makeup is one more skill that can be transferred, giving them more independence. But most importantly, the time the actor spends in front of the mirror before a performance is a kind of meditation, it is in those moments that the quite transformation happens.
The younger women in the cast, Elsabé and Marlene, were quite excited about the whole process and some of the younger guys were also more interested than I thought they’d be. But the older members’ of the ensembles’ response to a class in stage makeup was tepid at best.
Rebekka, who is, I’d wager, in her 60’s, though there’s no way to tell exactly, kept squinting in the mirror and giggling with embarrassment, then haphazardly passing the powder brush around her face. Eventually Marlene took over.
I honestly don’t think Rebekka has ever owned a mirror in her life. Can you imagine? She grew up in the bush, still speaks only !Xun and cannot read or write. Joao, her husband spent time in the military so he understands more and can write his name, and probably more. Belinda is in the same situation as Rebekka and although I speak to them via a translator, we enjoy each other completely and they are a vital contribution to the show.
We had a messy stumble through after lunch. As I said, it was messy, but I was really impressed by how much everyone has retained from a year ago. I am often still amazed by the whole situation the cast, the production crew, the people of SASI, all of it…. Who does multimedia theatre with “Bushmen” and why have I been so lucky as to be trusted by them?
No comments:
Post a Comment