For the last 5 weeks i have been away performing at the Shanghai World Expo 2010; an amazing opportunity and experience and one that i am now, strangely, finding hard to put in to words.
It feels like months ago that we were all huddled at Heathrow, praying the piccadilly and victoria lines would take pity on us and successfully deliver each member of the cast to the terminal 3 platform. Flying on the 16th June after 2 weeks of rehearsal in London we were excited to say the least!!!!
Met at Pudong airport by the AMAZING-banner waving-csm cheering, Evonne and Lulu, we were escorted to our hotel in Song Jiang; a town of 7 universities based on the outskirts of the Shanghai metro system. The 8 chinese actors who we were collaborating with on this project all attended Shanghai Institute of Visual Art ... SIVA... our rehearsal location for the next two weeks.
Our first night in Shanghai was a big get-together for all cast and crew involved in the project. Luckily we had our beautiful translator Shi, as none of us English folk could speak a word of mandarin... yet! Kareoke followed... obviously..... and we started the two weeks of rehearsal riding a massive positive wave.
Our time in Song Jiang was a real melting pot of experiences. The opportunity to meet and work with actors from a completely different culture was one that i thoroughly relished! The rehearsal period was intense and extremely fruitful, and despite our many differences in approach we also found we had a huge amount of similarities. Language became less and less of an obstacle the more we got to know each other, and as our trust in each other became stronger, so did the performance we were creating. There were also frustrating times during those first two weeks, an inevitable occurrence in such an intense period of time. I personally believe overcoming those obstacles made the whole experience more rounded and true and as a result much more fulfilling.
Toothpaste oreos, bullfrogs, home-made sushi and rain dancing will ALWAYS remind me of song jiang....... oh as well as the love/hate relationship with squatting toilets that i seemed to acquire!!
Then off to the Expo!!!!!! so we moved from Song Jiang to Hong Kou on the 1st July. What a difference!!!!! We went from suburban to city life in a day and i for one loved it! We could stroll down the street for breakfast, there were markets and a swimming pool, the tube was a 10 minute walk from the hotel and from there you could go anywhere in Shanghai!
The first day in Hong Kou was the most relaxed i had been the entire trip we had breakfast, and wandered around the markets and local streets then headed to the pool and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the poolside... Perfect! Then we went to the expo to tech the European stage........ Not so perfect. The next 24 hours proceeded to be possibly the most mentally trying and professionally frustrating experience of my life ... not even exaggerating... BUT ... at the end of it, we were the first British act on the European stage at the Shanghai World Expo 2010... and we SMASHED it!!!!!!!!!!! Never have i had a feeling like that and i think it'll be a long time until anything matches it.
Overcoming everything that was thrown at us to make it on to that stage was a real testament to everyone involved in the project. Determination and a will to succeed are strong traits of both Chinese and English culture, and both came in to play at that point of this project. We continued to perform twice a day (1x european stage1 x UK pavillion) for the remainder on our time in Shanghai to audiences ranging up to approx 500 people. Seeing the enjoyment of all the little children sat on the edges of the stage or singing along to the chinese songs (sticking their tongues out at the english :) made the whole experience .. just... unforgettable.
I feel extremely proud be have been a part of the collaboration between CSM and SIVA, and i hope that in the future other people will get the chance to have that experience. For me China has ignited a little something in my heart and i will undoubtedly be returning there in the near future. I am about to start mandarin lessons with another member of the UK crew so as soon as my communication levels are up.... i'll be on a flight... maybe this time Beijing???? x
