I should have

In the last weeks we decided to have a open discussions with the audience, right after the show.
It's great to have some feedback: each time I discover or realize something new. This script has so many diffrent levels.... it's an entire world!!
:)
I should have kept a diary!

Z U M B I A

Every day somethings changes.
I love theatre also for this. it's never the same.

today the actor's performance was just great
I like when they surprise me.
It's 2 weeks that I've been seeing our show
and I think it's great if you guys manage to surprise me ! !


I have a thing to tell to the WORLD :
today Threeweeks sent me to review a workshop, but actually the workshop was a fitness class, called ZUMBIA..................
I h a d t o z u m b i a a s w e l l
why is the zumbia thing in the fringe programme?

Stories to be told...

Today whilst I was on the Royal Mile, I spoke to a mother and her two sons about coming to watch Wealth. Unfortunately, she was only in Edinburgh for the day but planned to return later in the month.

Wealth is such a unique play that people are always intrigued and fascinated by the plot when I explain it to them but today, it was my turn to be fascinated. The woman I spoke to was called Hilary and had been born in Kenya. During the 60's there was an uprising in which all white Kenyans had to flee the country. Her mother tried to smuggle both herself an her brother out but was unable to. Instead she was only able to take one child (Hilary) and flew to England with barely the clothes she had on her back. The other child (Hilary's brother) was taken to a hospital refuge and smuggled to England by a random stranger.

I was astounded by the story and urged Hilary to note it down but alas, her mother passed away last year and so it is a story that may never have a chance to be told.

It just makes you realise how many stories there are out there waiting to be told and shared and understood.

Tomorrow Amnesty International are coming to see the production and they'll be a post show discussion afterwards. I'm excited; this is such a powerful, universal story- my interest is piqued to know what Amnesty have to say about it.

Until tomorrow!

1st

First of all I'd like to entroduce myself. I mean...
No.
First of all I'd like to thank Elephant Foot. Thanks to all of you. I have many different reasons to do this, and one of them is called
E D I N B U R G H ! !

Life should be allways like this.
Theatre, dance and music from 9 am to middnight.

I have the feeling that the Festival is feeding me.
My eyes, my stomach and soul.

So my name is Giulia my English is bad I met Laura and Ben at the Picture House for an interview in May today i took great pictures of the show

Wow what a great audience!!

Great audience today! Big thank you to Marina Calderone for her lovely support and feedback!! Our performance is just getting better and better!! Spread the word: 'Wealth' is a brilliant must see show!

Today we saw 'Stationary Excess' in the Udder Belly-it was entertaining, fun, visually intriguing and poignant.

Saw TapOle an hour ago- My goodness it was fantastic! Mixture of tap, flamenco and spanish guitar; absolutely mind blowing skills!

We're off to see an improvised comedy musical; different every night so it should be fun- wahey!

Stephen K Amos was superb, last night, - such a warm, witty comedian- I definitely recommend!!

Edinburgh is just a wonderful place to see everything and anything...a whole month of pure enjoyment, discovery and opportunity!

Ahoy from Edinburgh!

It's the 6th; the official beginning of the Edinburgh Festival. The air is crackling with expectation and we wait with baited breath for the impending chaos that will soon engulf the city... YAY! I CAN'T WAIT!!

'Twas our 3rd performance today and I'm loving every minute of my experience here. The play (Wealth) is great (and that's not just because I'm in it! Whoop Whoop!) A great man once said: 'It's good to talk' and that's certainly what occurs after our show. Definitely a 'food for thought' production!

Anyhoot, I'm off to see Stephen K Amos (yipee!) See you soon!!

I've had a blast.

Well, there you go, my time in Edinburgh was short but sweet, but I definitely made the most of it.

I think I managed to cover all genres while I was here, apart from seeing some music. But perhaps after some physical fast paced Dance and some saddening Phsyical Theatre, the background music in the pub while supping a small red may count? Or more appropriately, the live music in the street when the sun is down and the street lamps are creating their own spotlights? Either way I love the atmosphere here in Edinburgh and I'm sorry that I won't be experiencing more of it.

One thing that made me curious was the different warming up techniques I experienced in the dressing rooms; from humming and singing, massage and shrugging, to crouching and counting. We artists are a funny bunch. I find it fascinating to see the various ways in which to prepare your body and mind for performance; to focus in on how and what you are about to present to an expectant audience. You can feel the nervous excitement and tension in the air. All I can say is to keep it varied, personal and fun: after a month of shows even warming up is going to be tiring.

Elephant Foot have had a great opening so far and I wish them all luck for the remainder of the festival. Of course, quite biased, I recommend a viewing. It's a powerful play and one not to miss. I shall look forward to hopefully returning with the company for next year's festival, but I shall ensure it's for the whole month! Otherwise I'll look forward to more projects with this company as it grows and grows over the next year and beyond.

Ciao for now xx

A warm hello from a Fringe virgin.

After a short flight up from Bristol and a leather seated bus ride into Edinburgh's city centre, at last, I was here in Scotland, ready for the Fringe! As Adanna rightly said flying is rather glamorous, but if it's cheaper than the train, what ya gonna do?

I'm really excited to be here for a few reasons.
1: It's my first time to Edinburgh
2. It's my first time to the Festival
3. I'm really pleased to be working with and supporting Elephant Foot

So as an Edinburgh V I'm, gonna make the most of it! I've already been walking around, enjoying the sights of Edinburgh and I'm hoping to catch some Dance and Physical Theatre while I'm here. I'm only here for a couple of days but It's great to help prepare E.F for the mega month ahead.

We will be tweaking movement today in preparation for curtain up tonight. As Elephant Foot's Choreographer I've been working with 'Third', Saskia, most recently. We have been trying to find organic movements using the motion of Swing and an ABA structure. Her movement has a subtle weighting in the play that develops before us. It's important to fine tune even the smallest of shifts in her powerful silence.

The power of gesture is also something else that the whole group and I have been investigating. How much we say with our bodies is sometimes overlooked. We register meaning in movement and placement of movement beyond what is actually said. We are so used to reading body language subconsciously that what we think means something, can mean something else to another. Trying to find a harmonious balance between these associations and communicating a specific meaning is the fun of it all!

Ok, more to tell tomorrow. I'm off to enjoy a trek around the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Here's wishing Elephant Foot the best of luck for tonight!

Blog No. 1

They call it 'the Edinburgh pace', and we've been at it since London. Vehicles, desks, chairs, makeup, sunglasses, gear shifts, decisions on communal food, a rota for the new Hotel Viewforth, wristwatches, windows, flyers, screams, keymasters, bad breaths and "where's my's"... Have any idea what I'm talking about? That's right. This is 'Wealth'.

We were up in the living room for hours last night, working through the oft-quixotic moments of that day's dress rehearsal, and discovering how each superficial concern has a root; and that root is often the same. Of course, it all comes down to the ending.

Today we open our show at the C Soco, and we are ready, thirsty even, to have an audience. So this is Fringe Blog No. 1. And whether the Edinburgh pace quickens or slackens, watch this space! We'll be here.

WEALTH

ELEPHANT FOOT IS...

Rwanda, 1994. A young girl is stranded amongst bodies on a dusty road. She clutches her faded American doll. She steps in front of a car carrying a western diplomat and his family. They take pity on her. She sits in the back with a boy, she lends him her doll, sharing stories of its future. The car arrives at the border, but the guards refuse her escape. The boy leaves with her doll. She stays.

Sixteen years later. Nathan designs dolls of his own: action figurines into whom he pours his hopes, his dreams, his narrative of the perfect life, and by whom he has won fame and fortune.

Today Grace returns. She wants her doll back.

Wealth is a virtuosic performance event that crosses discipline and convention, a deeply important and riveting play about the collision of culture, memory, story and hope on the precipice of the End of History.

Written by Ben Charland
Directed by Laura Burdon-Manley

Performed at the Zeppelinne
566 Cable Street E1W 3HB
London

16 - 20 & 23 - 27 March @ 8 pm
20, 21 & 27 March @ 3 pm

Visit http://www.elephantfoot.co.uk