set again!!!

oh I have had a really good idea (thanks to inspiration form thomasin) urm basically if we had a main framework to the set such as the model theatre yet have bits of it that allow the audience to see through round or behind the scenery to show a kind of back stage setting which would allow for the actors to be constantly on stage and which would tie in well with those backhanded comments of the characters.it could give the impression that we are whatching a play being made (in a similar vein to Noises off) one thing I would really like to get across is the feel of old age theatre if you watched Phantom of the opera you know what I mean. I want to use some old stage technolegy and techniques "tricks of the trade"in the design such as the use of backdrops and stage hands?
what the set should be made out of is things such as canvas and old looking wood timbre frames
and use one of those white cloths as house tbs that can have a warm red shone on to it and plenty of swags and fringes and you could play the whole show like a panto when you have scene changes behind frontcloths yet because it is a gauze you could have dim lighting that would show the stage hands at work or for any short scenes you could have them behind ?

and to add to the whole we could also have those old limelight shells at the front of the stage!!

New Pictures Arrive on Clayesmore Blog!

Well done to Mark, Michael and Thomasin for getting some of their pictures up. An inspiration to us all. If you click on the picture itself you'll be directed to Flickr.com where you may zoom in or rotate or otherwise mess about with the image and maybe find more that are not yet on the blog. A very good thing you can do here is see a slideshow of all the photos on UploadBot's Domain of Goldoni! If you click the time underneath or the word 'comments' you will go to that post's page where you may say your piece on the post and read other peoples. The comments will only appear on that page, not the main one but they will be emailed automatically to the poster. Remember that this blog is PUBLISHED on the web in real time so if you notice awful errors or worrying signs of mental imbalance in one of your own posts you can click the pencil to edit it. You can email any post via the little picture of an envelope.

Set4 - Mark Stiven

Set4 - Mark Stiven
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Set - Mark Stiven

Set - Mark Stiven
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Book cover

Book cover
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

This is the cover of Mr Fraser's book
It must have scanned itself inadvertantly
UploadBot is just a machine and cannot tell good
from bad
although it has learnt
to refer to itself
in the third person
from reading blogs on the internet.

Michael Miller 5

Michael Miller 5
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Michael Miller 4

Michael Miller 4
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Michael Miller 3

Michael Miller 3
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Michael Miller 2

Michael Miller 2
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Michael Miller

Michael Miller
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Pantaloon - Thomasin Bailey

Pantaloon - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Smeraldina - Thomasin Bailey

Smeraldina - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Clarice - Thomasin Bailey

Clarice - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Beatrice - Thomasin Bailey

Beatrice - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Truffaldino - Thomasin Bailey

Truffaldino - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Silvio - Thomasin Bailey

Silvio - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Florindo - Thomasin Bailey

Florindo - Thomasin Bailey
Originally uploaded by Clayesmore UploadBot.

Posting Pictures

Firstly go to http://help.blogger.com/ and on the right are popular problems and posting pics is near the top.. it will explain..

Mac users can export direct from iPhoto..
Windows users can post from the 'hello bloggerbot.. '

I use my Flickr account. Flickr is an online storage and sharing site that's free and very cool - you can also use any other pictures from other people there, but there are only about 40 million so.. Flickr can search using meta-data tags..

A good thing to do is to open a Flickr acc. then put ALL your intended pics on it..

Then you can set up your Flickr acc with our blog address and there is a 'blog this' above all you pics which sends them directly and lets you post the words too [have a sensible name as your Flickr username will append each pic and act as a link to you personal Flickr page!] The Clayesmore UploadBot will upload for you if you give the images on disc to Mr Fraser or Toby Yarwood. Originally uploaded by the Clayesmore UploadBot means that she has put the pics up here from Flickr. Happy now?

Last Man Standing

last ma standing
Originally uploaded by Tobias Yarwood.

This movie, like Per un pugno di dollari (1964), is a retelling of the story in Yojimbo (1961), which is itself based on Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest" from 1927.

Elmer Bernstein was originally hired to compose the music but he was fired by director Walter Hill, after writing half of the score, on the basis that it wasn't what he was looking for.

Per un pugno di dollari

a few dollars more
Originally uploaded by Tobias Yarwood.

Eastwood helped in creating his character's distinctive visual style. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm, and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills' store.

Because this was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Eastwood communicated with Leone and the Italian crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production.

The film's US release was delayed when Yojimbo (1961) screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won and as a result received 15 percent of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

When the film was shown on American Television station ABC in the early 70's, additional footage was shot to give the "Man with no Name" character a motive for going to the town (San Miguel) featured in the film. Neither Eastwood nor Leone were involved in the shooting of this additional footage. Harry Dean Stanton (uncredited) played an unidentified lawman or politician who orders Eastwood to get rid of the gangs of San Miguel in return for a pardon. Stock footage of Eastwood was used. This footage apparently no longer exists, although a copy of Dean's script did survive.

Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.

The trailers and promo material in the United States list the title of this film as "A Fistful of Dollars". The on-screen title on the film itself gives the title as simply "Fistful of Dollars".

Sergio Leone was not keen on using composer Ennio Morricone for this film. He simply had not been impressed with the scores that Morricone had done in the past for other directors. The initial scoring made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.

This has been described as the first "spaghetti western". When this film was made, there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy. This was the first to receive a major international release.

This was the first time that Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone worked together. As children, they were classmates in school.

Originally called "The Magnificent Stranger", the title wasn't changed to "A Fistful of Dollars" until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later.

yojimbo film poster

yojimbo
Originally uploaded by Tobias Yarwood.

• Later remade into the western Per un pugno di dollari (1964) or "A Fist Full of Dollars" (1964) with Clint Eastwood.

• "Yojimbo" is an uncredited film version of Dashiell Hammett's novel "Red Harvest". "Red Harvest" is about a detective who comes to a small city and sets two sides of a gang war against one another until both are almost completely wiped out.

• Tatsuya Nakadai, who plays the flamboyant, pistol-waving Unosuke here, also plays the main villain role in the Yojimbo sequel, Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962).

• "Yojimbo" means "bodyguard" in Japanese.

• Based on the novel "Red Harvest". George Lucas, a known Kurosawa fan, filmed Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) under the false name "Blue Harvest" to maintain secrecy and to make an inside reference to his favorite director, Akira Kurosawa.


If you have posted an entry and you notice spelling mistakes or if you just want to change it, click on the entry in the right hand bar and it will open in its own page and give you an edit option. You can also read the comments here. Oh, can everyone sign in and post something nice and researchy as i'm inviting the HeadMaster round to the blog for a cuppa next week and we don't want him any less than bowled over by your keen dramaturgy.

Goldoni Two

Goldoni Two
Originally uploaded by Tobias Alexander John Yarwood.

Sergio Leone

Thanks to Mr Carpenter for putting me on to this.

I think there is quite a lot of mileage in pursuing the Leone link - more than this writer seems to think. Let me know if you agree.

The following is quoted from www.geocities.com/ug97057/fistful/myview.html


A Fistful Of Dollars is a film with a long genealogy. Sergio Leone's script was derived from Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo, and was enough like the earlier film that Kurosawa sued for plagiarism, and won exclusive distribution rights in Japan, and 15% of the world-wide take.
Kurosawa himself had adapted the story from an earlier work, this time a novel by Dashiell Hammett (author of The Maltese Falcon called Red Harvest. Curiously, Kurosawa cites the Westerns of John Ford as stylistic inspiration for Yojimbo, so the genre has gone full circle by the time we reach A Fistful Of Dollars.
Thirty years later, Bruce Willis starred in a Hollywood rehash of the story, this time returning to its stylistic roots as a 1920's gangster film. In this instance, however, some of the moral ambiguity is lost, as it is clear from the beginning that Willis' character, John Smith, is on the side of "good" even though he isn't a nice guy at all.
The story itself is reasonably straightforward. A mysterious lone stranger arrives in a small remote town, to find the place half-deserted. Acting as his nominal host is an innkeeper, bar owner, or something culturally similar. The stranger learns that the town has two bosses, which is normally a recipe for disaster, and this town is no exception. The stranger works for both sides, back and forth, and successfully disrupts the balance of power, resulting in the destruction of both sides.
In all three films, there is a woman held by one of the two sides, and the stranger rescues her from this situation, allowing her to escape with or return to her family, a husband and a child. Doing this exposes the stranger to the wrath of the woman's former captor, but he eventually escapes with his life, but little more than that.
The Servant Of Two Masters
If you thought that a genealogy featuring one earlier and one later film, and a 1920's American detective novel, was long enough, you were wrong, maybe. In the plagiarism dispute with Kurosawa, Sergio Leone claimed that the inspiration for the story came ultimately from The Servant Of Two Masters, by the 18th Century Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni, and therefore his estate should benefit.
Goldoni was an early proponent of a new style of Italian comedy drama, as the commedia dell'arte form was fading away. The new form featured many of the same stock characters, but in a more recognisably modern structure. Commedia dell'arte was a form based on stock characters and scenes, with a high degree of improvisation, which makes it sound very much like British pantomimes. The newer form had a higher degree of input from the script-writer, and more closely resembles modern farces, where there may be scope for the performers to, in effect, customise the play for their own place and time, but the bulk of the script is pre-set by the writer.So, did these films owe their inspiration to an 18th Century Italian play-wright? My own opinion, having read A Servant Of Two Masters, is that they did not, except on the most superficial level. The servant in Goldoni's play serves his two masters at the same time, while the stranger in these three films serves one, then the other, back and forth, while actually attempting to pursue his own interests more than those of either of the town's bosses.

Luke

Chapter 16

1 And another time he said to the disciples, There was a certain man of great wealth who had a servant; and it was said to him that this servant was wasting his goods. 2 And he sent for him and said, What is this which is said about you? give me an account of all you have done, for you will no longer be the manager of my property. 3 And the servant said to himself, What am I to do now that my lord takes away my position? I have not enough strength for working in the fields, and I would be shamed if I made requests for money from people in the streets. 4 I have come to a decision what to do, so that when I am put out of my position they will take me into their houses. 5 And sending for every one who was in debt to his lord he said to the first, What is the amount of your debt to my lord? 6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said, Take your account straight away and put down fifty. 7 Then he said to another, What is the amount of your debt? And he said, A hundred measures of grain. And he said to him, Take your account and put down eighty. 8 And his lord was pleased with the false servant, because he had been wise; for the sons of this world are wiser in relation to their generation than the sons of light. 9 And I say to you, Make friends for yourselves through the wealth of this life, so that when it comes to an end, you may be taken into the eternal resting-places. 10 He who is true in a little, is true in much; he who is false in small things, is false in great. 11 If, then, you have not been true in your use of the wealth of this life, who will give into your care the true wealth? 12 And if you have not been true in your care of the property of other people, who will give you that which is yours? 13 No man may be A SERVANT TO TWO MASTERS: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other; or he will keep to the one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.

Notes From Meeting One

Friday 6th May

A Servant to Two Masters – Design Meeting

A few notes from the meeting…


Important that the play is funny, bright, sexy, light and, crucially, fast-paced

Locations must be clear to the audience (anything to help them understand the plot!) but we must be able to make transitions really quickly – the plasy depends on its pace and we can’t afford to break it for lengthy set changes etc.

Venice itself is an important character in the play – I’d like to suggest the time and place in which the play is set – but no gondolas, please!!

I quite like the idea of creating the impression that the play is going on against a ‘backdrop’ of Venetian life – are we talking about ‘extras’ eating at cafes, waiters bringing food to them?

Do we want to create the impression that the audience is walking into a Venetian environment? – or are they watching a slice of Venetian life from a distance?

How many in the audience? – I reckon we ought to work on about 130-140 per night – I’d rather do an extra night than compromise the set by cramming too many punters in!

Key ideas in the play are to do with misunderstanding.

We all now that it’s a play that we are watching and the text revels in the fact that its plot is unbelievable and implausible. Equally, the characters have clear origins in stock Commedia characters. We can play with this fact and have fun with blurring the distinction between what is ‘in’ the play and what is ‘outside’ it – we might have actors ‘planted’ in the audience who seem to be watching but then start to take a role – could we stab a member of the audience in the sword-fight? Could we involve the ‘real’ audience in some way – get them to come in costume?

Food is a key theme in the play – it’s what drives Truffaldino – could we feed the audience somehow, could we make some money running a pizzeria during the show?!

Very much like the ideas we discussed about the theatres within theatres, toy theatres etc.

Goldoni One

Goldoni One
Originally uploaded by Tobias Alexander John Yarwood.

Hello Mark, you are now an administrator so you can delet and edit posts

lace349r

lace349r
Originally uploaded by Tobias Alexander John Yarwood.

Here is some 18th Century Lace

set

Hi there
Just put some ideas about what type of design features you would like to put in to the set things like good ideas or paterens and pictures that we should look at!
It will help alot if you could let me know where you got them from and if yuo give the correct name etc

Thanks

Gluttony

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF CARLO GOLDONI'S LIFE
Carlo Alessio Goldoni, his grandfather, dies in Venice, 1703.
Goldoni born in Venice, February 25, 1707.
Enters Jesuit college at Perugia, 1719.
Studies philosophy in Rimini, under Candini, 1720.
Runs away from Rimini with company of actors, 1721.
Lives with his family in Chioggia, and accompanies his father on his medical visits, 1721 and 1722.
Studies law with his uncle Indric, in Venice, 1722.
Admitted to the Ghislieri College in Pavia, 1723.
Expelled from college for a libellous writing, 1725.
Studies law in Modena, 1726.
Appointed clerk in the criminal chancellery of Chioggia, 1727.
Appointed to a similar position at Feltre, 1729.
Leaves Feltre ( 1730), and is with his father when he dies at Bagnacavallo, 1731.
Receives degree of Doctor of Law at Padua, 1732.
Mother leaves Venice for Modena, 1732.
Admitted to the Venetian bar, 1732.
Burns his tragedy Amalasunta at Milan, after it is refused, 1733.
Appointed secretary to the Venetian minister at Milan, 1733.
Goes with the Venetian minister to Crema when the French and Sardinians attack Milan, 1733.
Dismissed from his diplomatic position, and leaves Crema, 1734.
Imer engages him to write plays for the San Samuele Theatre at Venice, 1734.
Has love affair with an actress, who deceives him, 1735.
Goes to Genoa, and meets and marries Nicoletta Connio, with whom he returns to Venice, 1736.
Appointed Genoese consul in Venice, 1740.
From which position he resigns in 1744.
Practises law in Pisa, 1744.
Writes a play for the Medebach players who are visiting Leghorn, 1745.
Agrees to write plays for Medebach, of Sant' Angelo Theatre, Venice, 1747.
Returns to Venice, 1748.
At close of his second season at Sant' Angelo Theatre he announces that the next year he will present sixteen plays, 1750.
Contract with Medebach expires, 1753.
Signs contract with Vendramin brothers, proprietors of San Luca Theatre, Venice, 1753.
His mother dies, 1754.
Signs a second contract with Francesco Vendramin, whose brother Antonio has died, 1756.

Harlequin

Harlequin
Originally uploaded by bean MOST.

Here is a photo of a paper dress
it is a test to see if i can post photos directly from flickr

First Posting! Read me...?

Hello Everyone,
This is a Blog to collect and share the early research materials for next year's production of A Servant and Two Masters at Clayesmore School. All those involved should be able to post text and pictures, clever ones can even do it with their mobile phones! Please only post appropriate material. If you are really stuck, then you may be forgiven for sending pleas to; toby_yarwood@hotmail.com