The slow drift of feathers …

If I mentioned the word ‘butoh’, what comes to mind?

I suspect for many the response is ‘bless you’ but rather than being an sneeze, butoh is actually a Japanese avante-garde physical theatre dating back to the aftermath of WWII.

It’s a very stylised form of movement with little exposition, often slow and precise movements and repetitions some very striking visuals.

Wikipedia has more for the curious here

One of the main companies was in for a week, first with a piece dating back three decades, following that later in the week with a newer work.

[Shop talk]

The set for the first piece was a raked stage covered in black marley. 3 metre flats covered with dead boomerangs lined the wings and the upstage wall. The centre flat was on a traveler and was moved out of the way to reveal a large inverted red plastic triangle. Downstage right was a smooth pile of rice and flour.

Lighting was all conventionals and had lots of profiles on floor stands angled just so to pick up the three-dimensionality of the flats. Otherwise was mainly overhead washes and some specials.

Sound was from four CD players running through a Soundcraft LX7 and then into our in-house system. (remember the Midas is poorly sick after a little smoke releasing incident …)

[/shop talk]

The performers were all whitened up and dressed in a selection of tunics (or sometimes, not really dressed at all).

Actually, that’s not entirely true.

One of the performers was naked but for his tail feathers.

Which were moulting.

Yep, one of the performers was a real live male peacock, bought on stage during the piece then left to it’s own devices for the rest of the performance.

It was surprisingly docile – only becoming agitated when it was inadvertantly pursued by a man dancing frantically to a bagpipe serenade. I think that I’d become agitated in that circumstance so I can’t blame it.

Besides, we had an understudy peacock, just in case.

No, really.

[Shop talk - staging only]

The second piece had seven black monoliths standing proud in a impeccably raked sand covered stage with black box masking. A long metallic spike and hoop raised and lowered themselves centre stage as the action progressed

[/shop talk]

Both pieces switched pace and had arresting images – the man spinning from his heels under the red triangle; the mess opening into four performers at the top of the second piece.

But, to my mind, it dragged a little – actually no. It didn’t drag – rather there was a little too much repetition of movements within a section, something that seems to be an age-old complaint for physical movement pieces.

The peacocks refrained from comment.

Grumble mode on

Yet again I’m skipping over the shows from the last couple of weeks. That’s not to say they’ve been bad.

On the contrary since my last post, we’ve had a childrens show that was actually very well done – including taking over the foyer to provide entertainments (crayon pads, paper figure mobiles and shadow tents on real turf); one of the UK’s top ballet companies; and currently have one of Europe’s top ballet companies in doing a Forsythe programme.

We also had our 10th anniversary gala which went very well – which was lucky as some of the magic smoke escaped from the Midas …

I will post more details shortly but you are going to have to indulge me dear reader. I’m feeling like a rant.

No, I’m feeling like having a rant.

Nothing particularly has sparked this – but several weeks of nursing a head cold that just won’t quite go have made things nark me that little bit more.

It started with the whole CCL/Citylink thing. (Posts here, here and, oh, here)

And it’s still going with that.

Though we got the TX2550 working, it began to crash on a regular basis. And not just restarting, or freezing but actual hardware glitches where the screen would do a wonderful impression of static until the power button was held down.

CCL reluctantly called, an umpteenth returns number given, Citylink actually turned up in the two hour slot that CCL gave us and the tablet is back in the warehouse.

Either the tablet gets fixed this time or my credit card gives a cash injection.

And staying on the computer theme, for the first time in a blue moon, I ran Windows Update on the desktop PC.

A quick note here – for a good few years I had Windows auto update turned off and checked the website regularly. The last couple of years I switched it on but only allowed it the notifications – I still check each update before I allow Windows to run it. 

After having to run and install the Windows Validation Tool, I was given three optional updates – Silverlight which I know can’t be removed once installed and I’m staying away from, the next update of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MS like their capitals!) and the latest version of windows search. Not seeing anything particularly wrong with the last two so I ticked their boxes and installed them.

Almost immediately, Windows Search began indexing (fair enough) and required access to the internet. I clicked allow access through Zone Alarm and went on with what I was doing. A few minutes later the same warning popped up – whatever I was doing had engrossed me enough that I just clicked allow access.

Then it appeared a third time. This time it was denied.

Then it appeared again. At that point, windows search was turned off. I get that it was indexing the computer around me working on it and that it was struggling because there wasn’t a lot of idle process time. But to tell me that it feels miffed and to keep requesting access tends to imply that the programming is, well, not as streamlined as it could be (diplomancy mode engaged).

It also taps into my hatred of things that auto-run (Diplomancy mode rapidly disengaged).

 Apple Quicktime, Apple iTunes, Nokia Desktop, any Norton program are all high on that list of programs I will avoid where-ever possible, as I know that they seem to think that running them once means that I want them in the background the next time I switch the computer on.

The only programs I want to auto-run are the ones that are needed to prevent the computer falling over, otherwise wait until I click on you.

If I have to go into msconfig to turn off a program, then I’m going to think negatively towards it – which is why Apple is high on that list. If I had an iPod I may think differently but then I still think that iAudio or Cowon do better MP3 players …

And on the subject (vaguely) of iTunes, how about Digital Rights Management?

Rather than add to the diatribe in the blogosphere I’m just going to refer you to this page on Escapist:

Stolen Pixels #20 Not all change is progress

EA’s viewpoint is fair from unique and even the little things like Sony not saying what’s in an update on PS3 before you run it just grate after a while.

I could stay on the computer theme and go into video game control schemes that don’t work but that’s already several hundred words on computers and the funny pill is yet to kick in

Instead, a question for you.

Count on the toes on one hand how many top execs from any travel company have actually been on their own transport during rush hour?

I’ll need documented proof. And for it to count, they’ll need to have made the journey more than once

Maybe if their earning were actually nearer to what the real world gets, you know, capped at five times the average or something and with no shares options, they might actually think improving the service might bring more customers from the car and reduce the amount on dealing with complaints.

I know, I get these ker-razee ideas sometimes …

And a bank related woe (as if we don’t have enough)

Why don’t Smile let you know when a Direct Debit is next due?

They’ll tell you when it was last claimed, by who, how much, the reference info but won’t give a date for the next withdrawal. Don’t they know? Or are they being a little sneaky?

You know, in the same way that when you click on ‘make payment’ it lists everything you need to pay the credit card bill except the total amount currently owing on it – the information that’s on EVERY other page that your credit card account appears on.

We know they can make changes (they added drop down lists for the log-in – albeit an age after everyone else had down it) but sometimes you get the impression that Smile are too busy going ‘aren’t we morally superior’ to remember that they are a service provider first.

They aren’t the only co-op bank out there …

Deep breath

…

And relax.

Okay, now I’m off to source a live Peacock for a show.

Yep – you bet I’ll be writing about that one when it gets here …