Below is a test shoot of the first chunk of Ares and Aphrodite followed by Children’s Games. I don’t like caveats or disclaimers before artistic showings, so I won’t give any, but I will follow up below the break with some things I think were successful and those that need to be improved upon.

So there it is! Not as amazing as I might have hoped, but definitely not as unsuccessful as I might have feared. First, some things I think were successful:

• The general concept of transitioning between the Ares and Aphrodite myth and personal narrative. I was pretty sure this was where I wanted to go, but seeing one following the other in what I think was a sensical fashion was reasuring.
• The language itself. I definitely need feedback and to do tweaks, but much of the language that worked on the page (or the blog…) worked pretty well as spoken text. There were some awkward parts, but nothing I’m just inherently unhappy with.
• That I did it at all. This mentorship and the concept of performing as R has been a big leap outside my comfort zone (both personally and artistically) and I want to give myself kudos for moving forward with it in the first place.
• Some of the pantomime concepts, particularly the bow and arrow. I need to go much further with this, and was hindered by lack of paper (see below…) but I’m very much pro-pantomime in theatre in general, and think that it’ll serve this piece very well, especially moving with the oral storytelling/myth concepts.

Now, some things I think were less successful:

• An utter lack of video editing! This isn’t really a flaw with the piece so much as my technology, but my editor died so I had to make do with posting the raw footage directly from the camera to YouTube. Boo!
• The ‘set.’ The location was a result of the space that was available given my time constraints. I’m still trying to figure out what (if any) video projection in the final piece makes sense, but the backdrop certainly won’t be a blackboard, so don’t worry!
• Having paper in my hands! This was a result of having never spoken the pieces out loud before, and it very much hindered my ability to play with movement.