I managed to ask myself few new questions that hadn't came up to me yet...
Mina interacted with me via my SIG sharing similar situations, she is Japanese and trained in the UK as a dancer. Her comments and thoughts reminded me how the characteristics of British Musical Theatre training has benefited me personally, and how the fact that I trained here may benefit me beacuse of the reputation British training has. So hers was a more positive view compared to my more negative one.
I also agree with her when she says most productions word wile are sung in English so I can take advantage of that. I here want to share a video she sent me of the production on CATS in Japan, and another one I found of the production in Italy. She believes the rhythm feels uncomfortable, and nuances of the words are partially lost...it would be interesting to have some opinions from others that don't speak those languages. What are your feelings hearing these?
Also Mark Iles helped me with my thinking process, he suggested me not to focus too much on what my Award title may be as that could take the interest off my research and could lead to a non very interesting enquiry to investigate on. That seemed to be my big frustration lately as when I first started training I believed my hypothetical BA award would have been a BA in Musical Theatre, but now I wouldn't like to get type cast ONLY as a musical theatre performer, I would want to keep a future career open onto experimenting different things.
Mark, being a MT performer like myself, shared few concerns we both have; we both agree with the fact that musical theatre training can lead to not be taken too seriously by casting directors as much as straight actors, dancers or singers (who have been trained only in one specific discipline) do.
With Stephanie I argued the fact that being a non native English person trained in the UK, working here can be, for obvious reasons, harder anda restricting, but that I knew from the beginning, what I didn't know is how difficult it would have been working in my own country after receiving a different training from the Italian one, therefore feeling a 'foreigner' in my own country. Does that happen often or it has something to do with personal factors? Is the training system to blame or am I somehow trying to find excuses to my difficulties? Or could it be a bit of both?
These are the question I came up with after barnstorming and further analyzing what I've discovered through these suggestions, comments and own deepen reflection.
Mark, being a MT performer like myself, shared few concerns we both have; we both agree with the fact that musical theatre training can lead to not be taken too seriously by casting directors as much as straight actors, dancers or singers (who have been trained only in one specific discipline) do.
With Stephanie I argued the fact that being a non native English person trained in the UK, working here can be, for obvious reasons, harder anda restricting, but that I knew from the beginning, what I didn't know is how difficult it would have been working in my own country after receiving a different training from the Italian one, therefore feeling a 'foreigner' in my own country. Does that happen often or it has something to do with personal factors? Is the training system to blame or am I somehow trying to find excuses to my difficulties? Or could it be a bit of both?
These are the question I came up with after barnstorming and further analyzing what I've discovered through these suggestions, comments and own deepen reflection.
1.
Is British Musical Theatre training considered superior to that of
other European countries and what are the benefits/disadvantages of
training in a foreign country?
2. Is British Musical Theatre training limiting job opportunities for a performer in other
performing related fields such as theatre plays or TV?
3. To what extent has MT training become valuable for a different career path such as straight
acting?
2. Is British Musical Theatre training limiting job opportunities for a performer in other
performing related fields such as theatre plays or TV?
3. To what extent has MT training become valuable for a different career path such as straight
acting?
Hi Laura - I'm so pleased that the conversations on the facebook SIG have been useful for you. Your thought process seems a lot more clear now and I think you have really progressed in discovering what areas you want to research. I found it interesting to watch the videos of 'Cats' in another language - I did agree with Mina that the Japanese didn't sit very comfortably with the music. I was less troubled by the Italian - perhaps this is because English and Italian are more similar and therefore it 'fit' better in terms of syllables etc.? I actually was having a conversation with a friend the other day about how I find it easier was watch subtitled films in Spanish, French or Italian than Korean - I suppose with the European languages there is some familiarity.....weird, but that's what I find!
ReplyDeleteI think the questions you have identified at the bottom of this post are very strong lines of inquiry - we are going to spend a lot of time looking at this question, so I would say follow the line that you feel most passionate about researching and you think will be of most use to you. How are you feeling at this stage having reflected on the questions?
Yes interesting topic area - still very broad but very pertinent. Laura Weir has been in the US so she might be a source for some of these questions... Laura Beth Hill also looked into the CPD comparing London and LA. I think you will have more focus as you look into what area will be most helpful to you and be of benefit to others... interesting blog discussions about transdisciplinary practice - this could be useful when considering cross-cultural musical theatre practice. How much does culture play a part in international careers? How do other career paths cope with this need to change or transform training or practice? Seems like there should be some literature about that somewhere out there to make it a deeper discussion...
ReplyDeleteThanks Paula I will have a look on their blogs...seems I'm slowly getting there, I've realized what most interests me is Why some people do very well and some don't when working in a different cultural society than their own native one. What are the capabilities needed to succeed on that? Are there specific requirements asked by each different culture?
ReplyDeleteI am interested in what happen when a performer attent to work in a different country/culture environment and what are the benefits and disadvantages of being a professional away from they native country.
I just really need to find the good question for my final enquiry as I can feel a bit stuck and I cannot carry on with the tasks and the readers as it would be pointless without one...