The Music Of Our Play
Hamlet Rehearsal Log 1
Today we had our first rehearsal session for Hamlet. We started by doing some physical work with our movement director. We looked at different kinds of movement such as: jumping, running and exploring our own bodies without contact. We did this to Twenty Four Hours by Joy Division. Our play will be focused a lot on the music of Joy Division and Nirvana. This is mostly because Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain (Curtis - the lead singer/guitarist of Joy Division and Kurt Cobain - the lead singer/guitarist of Nirvana) both ended their own lives due to mental health issues. This is similar to Hamlet's life so it is quite a relevant topic.
Ian Curtis, 1956-1980, was the lead singer of the post-punk band Joy Division. Curtis began suffering epileptic fits around 1978, and his condition worsened throughout 1979 and 1980 amid the pressure of performances and touring. There were several incidents when he collapsed while performing and had to be carried offstage. Curtis' last live performance was on 2 May 1980, at High Hall of Birmingham University, a show that included Joy Division's first and only performance of "Ceremony". The last song Curtis performed onstage was "Digital". The recording of this performance was included on the compilation album Still. In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis killed himself by hanging himself in the kitchen of his house at No.77 Barton Street, Macclesfield, at the age of 23. His wife found Curtis's body the next morning; he had used the kitchen's washing line. Deborah claimed later that he had confided to her on several occasions that he had no desire to live past his twenties.
Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994, was the lead singer and guitarist of the Alt-rock/Grunge band Nirvana. Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. His first drug experience was with marijuana in 1980, at age 13. He regularly used the drug during adulthood. Cobain also had a period of consuming "notable" amounts of LSD, and was "really into getting fucked up: drugs, acid, any kind of drug". Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986, He used heroin sporadically for several years, but, by the end of 1990, his use developed into a full-fledged addiction. Cobain claimed that he was "determined to get a habit" as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition. His heroin use began to affect the band's Nevermind supporting tour. One such example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a photographic session with Michael Levine. Having taken heroin beforehand, Cobain fell asleep several times during the shoot. Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with naloxone to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public no indication that anything out of the ordinary had taken place. On March 18, 1994, Courtney Love phoned the Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. On April 8, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington Boulevard home by an electrician named Gary Smith who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin.
Buckley's autopsy showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system, and the death was ruled as an accidental drowning
We also showcased our short speeches we had learned. I feel like mine went well and I characterised Hamlet in my own unique way. I was told that I was physically aware and intelligent with myself and I was emotionally committed to my role. One of my favourite other speeches was Lloyd's. There was such a sensitivity in the way he presented his speech and it really connected with me.
Today we had our first rehearsal session for Hamlet. We started by doing some physical work with our movement director. We looked at different kinds of movement such as: jumping, running and exploring our own bodies without contact. We did this to Twenty Four Hours by Joy Division. Our play will be focused a lot on the music of Joy Division and Nirvana. This is mostly because Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain (Curtis - the lead singer/guitarist of Joy Division and Kurt Cobain - the lead singer/guitarist of Nirvana) both ended their own lives due to mental health issues. This is similar to Hamlet's life so it is quite a relevant topic.
Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis, 1956-1980, was the lead singer of the post-punk band Joy Division. Curtis began suffering epileptic fits around 1978, and his condition worsened throughout 1979 and 1980 amid the pressure of performances and touring. There were several incidents when he collapsed while performing and had to be carried offstage. Curtis' last live performance was on 2 May 1980, at High Hall of Birmingham University, a show that included Joy Division's first and only performance of "Ceremony". The last song Curtis performed onstage was "Digital". The recording of this performance was included on the compilation album Still. In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis killed himself by hanging himself in the kitchen of his house at No.77 Barton Street, Macclesfield, at the age of 23. His wife found Curtis's body the next morning; he had used the kitchen's washing line. Deborah claimed later that he had confided to her on several occasions that he had no desire to live past his twenties.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994, was the lead singer and guitarist of the Alt-rock/Grunge band Nirvana. Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. His first drug experience was with marijuana in 1980, at age 13. He regularly used the drug during adulthood. Cobain also had a period of consuming "notable" amounts of LSD, and was "really into getting fucked up: drugs, acid, any kind of drug". Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986, He used heroin sporadically for several years, but, by the end of 1990, his use developed into a full-fledged addiction. Cobain claimed that he was "determined to get a habit" as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition. His heroin use began to affect the band's Nevermind supporting tour. One such example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a photographic session with Michael Levine. Having taken heroin beforehand, Cobain fell asleep several times during the shoot. Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with naloxone to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public no indication that anything out of the ordinary had taken place. On March 18, 1994, Courtney Love phoned the Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. On April 8, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington Boulevard home by an electrician named Gary Smith who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. 
Jeff Buckley
Buckley, 1966-1997 was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His biological father, Tim Buckley, was a singer-songwriter who released a series of highly acclaimed folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and whom, he said, he only met once, at the age of eight. After his biological father died of a drug overdose in 1975, he chose to go by Buckley and his real first name, which he found on his birth certificate. Buckley was brought up around music. His mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist. On the evening of May 29, 1997, Buckley's band flew to Memphis intending to join him in his studio there to work on the newly written material. The same evening, Buckley went swimming in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River, while wearing boots and all of his clothing and singing the chorus of the song "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. Buckley had gone swimming there several times before. A roadie in Buckley's band, Keith Foti, remained onshore. After moving a radio and guitar out of reach of the wake from a passing tugboat, Foti looked up to see that Buckley had vanished. Despite a determined rescue effort that night, Buckley remained missing. On June 4, two locals spotted his body in the Wolf River near a riverboat, and he was brought to land. Jeff Buckley's death resonates with Ophelia's which is why I think Jeff Buckley is a very important part of our play.Buckley's autopsy showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system, and the death was ruled as an accidental drowning
We also showcased our short speeches we had learned. I feel like mine went well and I characterised Hamlet in my own unique way. I was told that I was physically aware and intelligent with myself and I was emotionally committed to my role. One of my favourite other speeches was Lloyd's. There was such a sensitivity in the way he presented his speech and it really connected with me.
Max Richter
Richter is a West German-born British composer who has been an influential voice in post-minimalist composition and in the meeting of contemporary classical and alternative popular musical styles since the early 2000s. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the Royal Academy of Music and studied with Luciano Berio in Italy. Sleep is an album by the neo-classical composer Max Richter. Released in September 2015. The album serves as a concept album based around the neuroscience of sleep, hence its length of over eight hours (in total, eight hours, twenty-four minutes, and twenty-one seconds). We used this album quite a lot as rehearsal music.
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