Post 5: Music

Questions for the team:

What did you think of the music I sent you? Helpful? Any suggestions?

Notes:

The team were sent a mix CD of various Artist's music, including: Pacabel, Philip Glass, Radiohead and Thom Yorke.

Best,

Phil.

Post 4: Encyclopaedia

A question for the team: How have you responded to the Encyclopaedia?

Notes:

The Encyclopaedia is a working document created to introduce the team to the ideas behind the project, and the history of its development. It explains: Some of the inclusions in the Atlas, the structure and content of the piece, its themes, what it might look like, some very loose strange ideas, and some concrete ones. It contains anecdotes, ideas, explanations, speculations, images and diagrams.

Its purpose is also to inspire to team to have ideas, to begin to take ownership of the project, find a language to describe and develop the piece, and to articulate and test some thoughts on paper. Like the Atlas the Encyclopedia is constantly being updated. 

Best,

Phil. 

Post 3: Atlas

A question for the team: How have you responded to the Atlas?

Notes: 

The Atlas is a list of sources that have, and continue to influence the creation of the show. It includes many different inputs; books, music, films, art, locations, events. As such, calling it a bibliography or a list of sources would not suffice. The list maps out the field of cultural influences, therefore, Atlas. 

The Atlas, like any good map, is constantly being redrawn to include new items, a second draft is being composed at this very moment.

The Atlas, is also named after the 'Atlas Room' produced by Societas Raffaello Sanzio, to accompany the London performance of Tragedia Endogonidia.

I include here the first draft of the Atlas:

Gratitude of Monsters: Atlas.

All recommended, none essential, discussion and additions welcome.

Book list. (All books can be requested and posted to you.)

*JG Ballard: Crystal Forest, Supercannes, Drowned World, Crash, The Atrocity Exhibition.

Gilles Deleuze: Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation.

*John Gray: Straw Dogs.

Peter Handke: Offending the Audience.

John Russell: Francis Bacon.

Carl Sagan: The Dragons of Eden.

 

Record list. (Sample CD to follow.)

 

*Philip Glass: Facades.

Pacabel: Cannon in D.

*Radiohead: Kid A, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows.

Thom York: Eraser.

 

Film list. (Screenings to follow in rehearsals.)

*David Cronenberg: Crash. The re-enactment of James Dean’s death.

Michael Lesy: Wisconsin Death Trip.

*Chris Marker: La Jette.

Bella Tarr: The Werckmeister Harmonies. Opening scene.

James Whale: Frankenstein: Introduction/warning.

Richard Kelly: Donnie Darko. The Rabbit.

 

Art list. (Please search internet for images .)

 

*Francis Bacon: Study for three figures at the base of the crucifixion (a triptych which is central to the piece, also see all other works by Bacon).

Jake and Dinos Chapman: Insult to Injury.

Francisco Goya: Saturn devouring his Children.

 

Event list. (Merging corporate/military/governmental consultants with celebrity)

 

Think tanks, conferences, award shows, product launches.

 

Location List.

 

Bunkers.

---

Phil.

Post 2: FIrst Steps

Hi all, 

So where did the project come from and where does it stand at the moment? The initial idea for the show cropped up in 1999 but then really came to the fore in 2003. Since then I've been thinking about it, and in 2005 I started to practically develop it.

The piece is a triptych of three pieces: Appreciation, Repeat After Me, The Nominees Are. The project had originally been conceived as a single piece, but soon split into the three parts, for reasons of structure, content, and development.

The parts were then tested out in work-in-progress form at various venues. Appreciation has been tested twice at Leeds Met Studio theatre on heir scratch nights. Repeat After Me was tested as a solo at the 'Performing Literatures' conference in Leeds and then as a duet at Emergency in Manchester. The Nominees Are was tested as a piece called There are a few people I'd like to mention at Perambulator in Bradford.

I then put out an open call for collaborators, which attracted a really strong response and I asked the following people to become involved in the project: Kevin Egan, Rachel Gomme, Suzy Harvey, Gillian Lees, and Michael Pinchbeck.

A number of documents had then been supplied to the team including:

• Atlas (List of books, films, music, fine art, and other influences on the project.)
  
• Encyclopaedia (Document explaining where the ideas for the project came from and how they developed.)
  
• Script for Appreciation (Part 1)
  
• Script for Repeat After Me (Part 2)
  
• Draft funding application.
• DVD of works in progresses of Appreciation and Repeat After Me.
• CD of music.

So now the project is seeking funding and partners, and the creative team are looking at the material sent to them in their spare time. 

Best,

Phil.

Post 1: The Gratitude of Monsters

Welcome all, 

The Gratitude of Monsters is the new project from the Strange Names Collective.

This blog has been set up to allow the creative team to talk through ideas connected to the project in advance of rehearsals, record our thoughts on the rehearsal process as it happens, and our reflections on the project as a whole when it is completed.

However, it is also a public blog, accessible for anyone who might be interested in the generation of a new contemporary performance piece. 

As such, it is a bit of an experiment, in writing and publishing our thoughts in the generation of new work. 

Hopefully the blog will be useful to us as a team, and interesting to those who read it. 

Yours,

Phil.