We began today's lesson by running our final scene of "Fantastic Mr. Fox", the song. Oliver and Charlie had already worked out their movement section last lesson, but James and I established ours today. We began our section by skipping in and being playful. We then did a turn to the left and then a turn back to the right. Charlie joined us both, putting his arms around our shoulders on the line "there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for you". On the next line the three of us do a little hand shake, then Charlie starts "dad dancing" so James and I look at each other and run to the side laughing. Everybody else worked out there little movement sections as well, whilst James and I choreographed ours. Whilst it is not our time in the centre, we stand at the sides and step from side to side smiling. The piece ends with a final position, as if it was a family photograph. We all end waving to the audience.
After this, we altered the farmers first scene. They shall now begin their scene with Bunce running on with a Boggis's chicken leg. Thinking that Boggis can't see him, Bunce begins eating the chicken. Boggis spots Bunce and is not happy. They are fighting over the chicken leg when Bean then enters. They then have a moment of bobbing up and down at different times to the music. The song we are using for this section is "I've got a brand new combine harvester" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjvffx-h2KM).
After developing this scene, we began our first full run-through. This run was used to see what scenes needed the most work, which ones we weren't confident on, what transitions needed sorted and to see if our music choices worked. The scenes that need the most work are "The Great Feast" and "The Chase". All doubts that we had have now been sorted (e.g. where we need to come in from, and how we are going to end a scene to go into the next one). The transitions were better than we expected today, despite a lot of them being guessed! The music we chose was very effective! We decided to have some eerie music for whenever we dig towards the farms and back and a choir singing the sound "ah" as if being enlightened/rejoicing whenever we arrive in the right place and see what we've been longing for (e.g Boggis's chickens!).
What we need to work on as a group is having more energy throughout our performance (as our audience is very young so have a short concentration/attention span) and getting off of scripts by next rehearsal. We would also like to start rehearsing with all our props and costumes as soon as we can as to get used to them and to sort any problems we may have with them sooner rather than later. We also set ourselves and each other some individual tasks and improvements. What I need to do is learn my lines for "Bean's Cider Cellar" scene, make my voice even more exaggerated as Rat to have a bigger contrast to the fox cub, and to finish making the props.
Friday 27 November 2015
London Riots Devised Piece (Performance Evaluation)
On Monday 23rd November we performed our London Riots Devised Piece. Overall we were pleased with our performance, although there were areas for improvement. Below is an evaluation of what went well, what didn't go as well as planned, and what we would do differently next time if we were to do it again (and time and money were not an issue). The numbers refer to what scene the comment fits with (1 = "ill Manors"; 2 = Tom & Rhi duologue; 3 = Lew & Ash duologue; 4 = Emotional turmoil scene; 5 = Dan & Tom duologue; 6 = Toby & Lorna duologue; 7 = Consequences; 8 = MP speeches; 9 = "ill Manors" reprise; G = generic / the piece in general).
WHAT WENT WELL:
WHAT WENT WELL:
- 1) Lew's fall down the stairs was very convincing.
- 1) Transition from "chavs" to gorillas was very smooth, making the scene run more seamlessly.
- 1) I did this movement scene to the best of my ability. As my toe was still painful, I decided to stay sitting on the table, and use my upper body to show that I was acting as a gorilla.
- 1) The whole of our performance space was used well.
- 1) Siren integrated into the music track was very effective. Gave us the cue to exit, so we all left at the same time, making the transition smooth. The siren also gave us a reason to leave, we didn't want to get caught by the police.
- 2) Tom & Rhi's body language was very effective and convincing.
- 2) The contrast between moments of quiet compared to when they both spoke over each other added to the audience's feeling of being uncomfortable and confusion.
- 3) Lew used his shuffling body language to portray that the police felt uncomfortable.
- 4) Animation was effective and timing was strong between movement and lighting.
- 4) Mine and Tom's duet scene went well regards my broken toe. This scene was VERY painful, but I continued to the best of my ability.
- 5) Tom & Dan's use of pauses were very effective. They allowed the audience to take in the situation and reflect on it themselves.
- 6) I thought my questions made my character believable as I had researched these to make my character as believable and as convincing as possible.
- 6) Toby's use of breath was effective to show how difficult the situation is for his character and how much he is struggling.
- 7) We were all still when the lights came on, rather than still moving into our freeze frames.
- 7) I think mine and Rhiannon's facial expressions were effective in this scene.
- 8) I maintained my voice and attitude during my speech and used my body language to suggest that I am sympathetic yet am demanding action to be taken.
- 8) I managed to maintain a straight face during Toby's comical mini monologues.
- 9) We achieved the combination of gorilla movements and MP voices.
- G) The lighting was very effective, creating the appropriate atmosphere for each scene.
- G) The majority of our transitions were smooth.
- 1) I physically couldn't do as much as I would have liked to in this scene because of my toe, but I did what I could to the best of my ability.
- 3) Lined paper (preferably that had been written on) should have been used to represent the witness statements, as from where I was standing (at the opposite end of the room) I could see that it was Lewis's class work (due to the ginger bread man outline!).
- 4) The music was played four counts to early, so the boys had to rush a little bit (and do weren't in time with each other all the time) as so the rest of the piece would be in time.
- 4) During the duet with Tom, I ended up limping a little bit due to the amount of pain I was in, but I tried my best to continue without making my pain obvious.
- 6) Although Toby put in so much emotion into this scene, he could have spoken a bit louder as to ensure he was audible at all times. I was probably too quiet as well as I got engrossed in his emotion and forgot about the volume. Although we could hear each other, the audience may not!
- 7) In this transition into the MP scene, Rhiannon's top came off as she removed her hoodie. Thankfully she was wearing my vest top underneath, but the idea of the top (that came off) was to make her look smarter.
- 8) Not everyone managed to keep a straight face during Toby's monologues.
- All wear zipped hoodies to make changing easier.
- Ensure we have all appropriate props pre-set before the performance.
- Ensure timings for music and cues are all written down.
- Make sure that we project enough so that everyone can hear.
- Not get injured before the performance!!!
- Keep rehearsing scenes we have a tendency to laugh in when we shouldn't.
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (13) (Songs)
Today we continues working on songs. However, this time we found some backing tracks to try them to.
Rhiannon and I sang through our song "A Way To Kill Mary". It is to the tune of "Away in a Manger", which my character sings the traditional lyrics, whilst the character of Gabriel sings/speaks her own alternative lyrics. I have to sing the first two verses, then I play the next verse on my recorder, and then the verse after that I "la" and dance to, and the final verse I sing again. We tried this to two different backing tracks, both in a different key, but I realised that it has to be the original key as I am playing it on recorder and can only place it in that key.
Afterwards, Robert and I sang our song "Watch How Mummy Does It". This parody is to the tune of "Once it Royal David's City". We managed to improve our song a lot from last lesson, as we managed to make sense of more of the song, and almost got the ending correct. However, we still aren't confident on the ending, so will go through this together.
Afterwards, we sang through the song "Massive Newt", which is to the tune of "Silent Night". We also staged it this lesson too. We didn't have much to do on this song as we did this last lesson.
Finally we did the adult song "I Wish", which has choruses from "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and the solo parts are to the tune of the characters child's solo. We managed this song okay last lesson, so today we decided to stage it. We worked out that during every chorus, the cast will move around, perhaps getting a mince pie or pouring another glass of wine. Whenever someone has a solo they move forward into a particular one of the three spot lights. When everyone leaves just before my solo, I end up on stage and sing my solo sitting down, depressed. The scene between Ollie and I then takes place and then there is a little bit more of the song, however, we didn't have time to stage this part today.
Rhiannon and I sang through our song "A Way To Kill Mary". It is to the tune of "Away in a Manger", which my character sings the traditional lyrics, whilst the character of Gabriel sings/speaks her own alternative lyrics. I have to sing the first two verses, then I play the next verse on my recorder, and then the verse after that I "la" and dance to, and the final verse I sing again. We tried this to two different backing tracks, both in a different key, but I realised that it has to be the original key as I am playing it on recorder and can only place it in that key.
Afterwards, Robert and I sang our song "Watch How Mummy Does It". This parody is to the tune of "Once it Royal David's City". We managed to improve our song a lot from last lesson, as we managed to make sense of more of the song, and almost got the ending correct. However, we still aren't confident on the ending, so will go through this together.
Afterwards, we sang through the song "Massive Newt", which is to the tune of "Silent Night". We also staged it this lesson too. We didn't have much to do on this song as we did this last lesson.
Finally we did the adult song "I Wish", which has choruses from "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and the solo parts are to the tune of the characters child's solo. We managed this song okay last lesson, so today we decided to stage it. We worked out that during every chorus, the cast will move around, perhaps getting a mince pie or pouring another glass of wine. Whenever someone has a solo they move forward into a particular one of the three spot lights. When everyone leaves just before my solo, I end up on stage and sing my solo sitting down, depressed. The scene between Ollie and I then takes place and then there is a little bit more of the song, however, we didn't have time to stage this part today.
Storytelling (10) (The Snow Queen)
Today we continued working on the first scene. We have slightly altered parts of the scene but I added a lot more to it today. We didn't manage to complete this scene as we had to ensure that we all turned the same way to make our piece look professional. Below is what the scene now consists of and the reasons I made these choices... (Seven masks are in a straight line at the front of our performance space for later use in the scene)
- Start in a circle, facing in. Right hand on the person on your left's right shoulder.
- Intrigue audience. They have no idea what is going on and therefore may feel tense.
- "let us begin." - Move to random positions facing random directions.
- Audience are confused as to what is beginning. Also, no idea who's voice is speaking. Adds to eerie atmosphere.
- "reflected" - Turn 180 degrees (over right shoulder)
- Fitting, makes sense as the movement represents the word. Shows literal change.
- "poor and mean" - Two contractions.
- Body shape become uglier and shows progression of power of mirror.
- "magnified" - Exaggerate last position.
- Movement represents the word. Show increase/magnification of mirror's power.
- "In this mirror the most" - Walk to straight line at front.
- We represent the mirror's face.
- "their faces" - Pick up mask.
- "distorted that they..." - Put mask on.
- Represents how you can't tell who we each are. Identity disappears.
- "recognised" - Turn 180 degrees to face back (over right shoulder)
- Even harder to tell who each of us are. Emphasises the idea of missing identity.
- "and if anyone had a mole" - Move to circle, facing out.
- "magnified" - Form levels and reaches in different directions.
- Adds depth, magnifies weirdness. No longer uniformed and clean.
- ""That's glorious fun!"" - Walk quickly to line at front.
- Represents excitement, yet has an element of being sinister and threatening.
- "If a good thought passed" - Cannon of left arm sweeping from right to left.
- Symbolises the thought gradually coming to the sprite.
- "then a grin" - James smiles and points to his mouth
- Little bit of humour to release tension momentarily.
- "All the little sprites..." - Move to formation (RD & JBC front / LC, CS & RA second line / LF & OK back line)
- Represent school classroom. Formation specific to allow for next lift.
- "They ran about" - CS holds arms out strong, as LF & OK lift him, by his arms. RD, JBC, LC & RA split to make room for the lift to move forwards and back. CS moves legs to look as if he's running.
- "fly up to the sky" - CS lifted by LF (left shoulder and arm), OK (right shoulder and arm), LC (bottom) & RA (legs). RD & JBC mask lift.
- Symbolises flying.
- "that it flew out" - Drop CS (safely!).
- CS represents the mirror
- "dashed" - Everyone lies down.
- Represents the mirror being broken.
Wednesday 25 November 2015
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (12) (Script work // Songs)
24/11/15
To begin this lesson we ran through the adult section of the play; this was so we could develop our characters further by adding in what we had picked up on from our "character swap" lesson. This section went really well as we now understand our characters better and have a stronger understanding of character interactions. What did need altering in this run through was our blocking in some places. However, this has now been sorted.
After rehearsing the adult section, we did "speed run" of the entire children section. We were allowed our scripts for this run, as we had no time to think, we had to say our lines as fast as we could whilst being clear and understandable. The reason we did this "speed run" was so we got an idea of our characters emotional development throughout the day of their nativity. We were also able to get a pattern in our heads of where we go, blocking wise, throughout the play. Our slow-motion section was very comical as it ended up being almost normal-speed reactions but with exaggerated movements.
26/11/15
Today we went through all the songs from the play. We split off into groups to rehearse our duet songs. I have two duets in the play (one with Gabriel and one with Ryan), but as Rhiannon wasn't in this lesson, I began work on the duet with Robert. This song is to the tune of "Once in Royal David's City". It describes how Mary's Mum is a very pressurising parent, whilst Ryan's Dad doesn't pay Ryan as much attention as he should. We found the first part of our duet fairly easy, however we found the second half more challenging as our lines overlap slightly and we are unsure on timing and melody. If we had sheet music we would have been fine, as we both can read music, but the play doesn't come with any sheet music, only lyrics.
After rehearsing in our pairs all small groups, we joined back as one group and worked on the ensemble pieces "Silent Night" (as children) and "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" (as adults). As children, our singing doesn't matter too much; we don't have to sing in tune all the time and timings don't have to be 100% perfect. However, as adults, our singing has to be slightly better and more mature to show our characters ages. We can use backing tracks for the majority of the pieces in the play, but we can't use a backing track for "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". This is because within the song, each character has a little solo but to the tune of a different Christmas song (the tune that their characters children sang earlier in the play). We still have a lot of polishing to do on the songs and they need staging, but we have made a great start on them.
To begin this lesson we ran through the adult section of the play; this was so we could develop our characters further by adding in what we had picked up on from our "character swap" lesson. This section went really well as we now understand our characters better and have a stronger understanding of character interactions. What did need altering in this run through was our blocking in some places. However, this has now been sorted.
After rehearsing the adult section, we did "speed run" of the entire children section. We were allowed our scripts for this run, as we had no time to think, we had to say our lines as fast as we could whilst being clear and understandable. The reason we did this "speed run" was so we got an idea of our characters emotional development throughout the day of their nativity. We were also able to get a pattern in our heads of where we go, blocking wise, throughout the play. Our slow-motion section was very comical as it ended up being almost normal-speed reactions but with exaggerated movements.
26/11/15
Today we went through all the songs from the play. We split off into groups to rehearse our duet songs. I have two duets in the play (one with Gabriel and one with Ryan), but as Rhiannon wasn't in this lesson, I began work on the duet with Robert. This song is to the tune of "Once in Royal David's City". It describes how Mary's Mum is a very pressurising parent, whilst Ryan's Dad doesn't pay Ryan as much attention as he should. We found the first part of our duet fairly easy, however we found the second half more challenging as our lines overlap slightly and we are unsure on timing and melody. If we had sheet music we would have been fine, as we both can read music, but the play doesn't come with any sheet music, only lyrics.
After rehearsing in our pairs all small groups, we joined back as one group and worked on the ensemble pieces "Silent Night" (as children) and "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" (as adults). As children, our singing doesn't matter too much; we don't have to sing in tune all the time and timings don't have to be 100% perfect. However, as adults, our singing has to be slightly better and more mature to show our characters ages. We can use backing tracks for the majority of the pieces in the play, but we can't use a backing track for "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". This is because within the song, each character has a little solo but to the tune of a different Christmas song (the tune that their characters children sang earlier in the play). We still have a lot of polishing to do on the songs and they need staging, but we have made a great start on them.
Tuesday 24 November 2015
Theatre for Children (12) (Scene work)
24/11/15
To begin this lesson we ran "The Race" scene (no pun intended!) again to ensure it ran smoothly with narration and music. We then started devising "The Great Feast" scene. We had already decided that we wanted this scene to include physical theatre - the Frantic Assembly techniques of Round-by-through. Furthermore, we knew that we wanted to end on a song as our young audience would enjoy this (we hope!). As my foot was very painful (from pushing it too far for my Triple PA performance of our devised "London Riots" piece) I sat down and continued painting the props.
To begin this lesson we ran "The Race" scene (no pun intended!) again to ensure it ran smoothly with narration and music. We then started devising "The Great Feast" scene. We had already decided that we wanted this scene to include physical theatre - the Frantic Assembly techniques of Round-by-through. Furthermore, we knew that we wanted to end on a song as our young audience would enjoy this (we hope!). As my foot was very painful (from pushing it too far for my Triple PA performance of our devised "London Riots" piece) I sat down and continued painting the props.
I have made the third and final chicken placard. All I have to do to finish these is cut the chicken out individually. I managed to draw the outline of a cider jar on a large piece of cardboard. Afterwards, I painted a large strip "around" the jar in white. As the paint I used takes a long time to dry, I couldn't do any more painting this lesson. What I shall do next though is paint the rest of the jar brown, and add highlights of a lighter brown to give a three dimensional effect. I shall also paint on the word "Cider" in black writing across the white strip.As I didn't partake in the actual physical development of "The Great Feast" scene, Lewis shared with me his notes of what the scene contains:
- Rabbit, Badger, Mole (LF/OK/RA) enter with tables (little stools). RA centre, LF right, OK left.
- Mrs Fox and a Fox Cub (RD/LC) enter with trays and place them on the stools (LC goes to LF, RD goes to OK)
- OK/LF steps through RD/LC and then spins them around to face the front.
- OK gets on all fours and LF leapfrogs him, then LC and RDspin round him.
- Mr Fox and a Fox Cub (CS/JBC) enter. CS steps on the last stool in the centre and OK and LF flank the stage to get behind him and lift him from under his arms forwards. Meanwhile JBC runs to LC and RD.
- RA and LF go off to side as a pair. CS shakes OK's hand.
- Verse 1 = CS & OK (Mr Fox brightens Badger's mood) (Duet with chair)
- Verse 2 = LC & JBC (Fox cub's show their sibling bond) (Disco dance duet)
- Verse 3 = LF & RA (Friendship)
- Verse 3.5 = CS & RD (Show their love by singing to each other)
- Verse 4 = Everyone
Sunday 22 November 2015
Theatre for Children (11) (Scene work // Placards)
Today we polished "The Race" scene, rehearsing it with the official narration and the music. The main things we had to focus on were making sure that our movements were all as slow as each others and making our facial expressions as exaggerated and over-the-top as possible, as this would really appeal to our young audience.
We also devised "Boggis's Chicken House" scene. To begin this scene Charlie, James and I dig our route to underneath the Chicken House. To show us "digging our route", we move our hands in circular motions at all times unitl we "arrive". We "travel" with Charlie at the front of the line, then me and then James. All movements are done in cannon, so when we turn round a corner Charlie would go first whilst I carry on, and then I'd turn when I got to the exact place he turned, and then the same with James. To make our "journey" look more interesting rather than just having narration saying "the foxes arrived", we made a movement sequence:
- travel from SL to C digging forwards
- travel sideways from C to SR (each actor turning sideways in cannon)
- travel forwards around a corner from facing SR to facing SL
- travel from SR to C ducking in cannon
- travel from C facing SL to C facing F (travelling slightly forward still ducking)
- * dialouge between the fox characters *
- Charlie jumps to stand up straight where he is
- I jump to stand up straight to the left of Charlie
- James jumps to stand up straight to the right of Charlie
Throughout this movement section, Oliver narrates to ensure the young audience understand what is happening. Once we arrive there is more dialouge between us three fox characters. We found out that Lewis can do a really impressive chicken noise impression, so he shall make various chicken noises when we jump up and stand in the Chicken House. We decided that when we "take the chickens home" we shall carry placards of pictures of chickens.
As my broken toe was extremely painful this lesson and it wasn't
essential for me to be up and moving in the next scene we devised, I
decided that I would begin to work on the placards. So this scene didn't upset the children, we decided to have pictures of what they would recognise as "food chicken" as opposed to "animal chickens". I began making these placards by getting some cardboard and drawing a pencil outline of chicken legs and roast chickens. I wanted two placards to be just chicken legs and small roast chickens (for James and I), but I wanted one placard (Charlie's placard) to be of one large roast chicken, as so Mr Fox looks a lot stronger than the fox cubs. The hardest part to making these placards was mixing the correct colours. So far I have done two of the placards, so by next lesson I will have done my third and final chicken placard.
Whilst I was painting the set, the rest of the group began work on "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" scene. As my character of the fox cub goes home to Mrs Fox, only Mr Fox and the other fox cub go on this journey. On the journey they meet Badger, Mole (Robert) and Rabbit (Lewis). They have worked out another movement section to "arrive" at the cellar. This whole journey is narrated by Oliver again, but also has a creepy piano underscore. This creates tension suitable for our young audience. We didn't have time to go any further with this scene, but Oliver is scripting this scene ready for next lesson. He has told me that at the end of this scene my character of the Rat will end on stage shouting after the other characters in rage. As to make my insults appropriate and suitable for the young audience, I have taken my insults from the new "Insult Generator" on Matilda the Musical's website (http://uk.matildathemusical.com/insult-generator/#main-body).
The insults I found which I like are as follows:
- "You malicious evil termite!"
- "You foul little worm!"
- "You nasty-faced thick-headed stink bomb!"
- "You jumped-up nasty-faced newt!"
- "You horrible nasty-faced animal!"
- "You filthy malicious crook!"
- "You lousy vile cockroach!"
- "You slimy yucky filthbog!"
Obviously, I won't be using all of them as there won't be time, but I have given myself options, and the rest of the group can say which ones they like the best.
We also devised "Boggis's Chicken House" scene. To begin this scene Charlie, James and I dig our route to underneath the Chicken House. To show us "digging our route", we move our hands in circular motions at all times unitl we "arrive". We "travel" with Charlie at the front of the line, then me and then James. All movements are done in cannon, so when we turn round a corner Charlie would go first whilst I carry on, and then I'd turn when I got to the exact place he turned, and then the same with James. To make our "journey" look more interesting rather than just having narration saying "the foxes arrived", we made a movement sequence:
- travel from SL to C digging forwards
- travel sideways from C to SR (each actor turning sideways in cannon)
- travel forwards around a corner from facing SR to facing SL
- travel from SR to C ducking in cannon
- travel from C facing SL to C facing F (travelling slightly forward still ducking)
- * dialouge between the fox characters *
- Charlie jumps to stand up straight where he is
- I jump to stand up straight to the left of Charlie
- James jumps to stand up straight to the right of Charlie
Throughout this movement section, Oliver narrates to ensure the young audience understand what is happening. Once we arrive there is more dialouge between us three fox characters. We found out that Lewis can do a really impressive chicken noise impression, so he shall make various chicken noises when we jump up and stand in the Chicken House. We decided that when we "take the chickens home" we shall carry placards of pictures of chickens.
As my broken toe was extremely painful this lesson and it wasn't
essential for me to be up and moving in the next scene we devised, I
decided that I would begin to work on the placards. So this scene didn't upset the children, we decided to have pictures of what they would recognise as "food chicken" as opposed to "animal chickens". I began making these placards by getting some cardboard and drawing a pencil outline of chicken legs and roast chickens. I wanted two placards to be just chicken legs and small roast chickens (for James and I), but I wanted one placard (Charlie's placard) to be of one large roast chicken, as so Mr Fox looks a lot stronger than the fox cubs. The hardest part to making these placards was mixing the correct colours. So far I have done two of the placards, so by next lesson I will have done my third and final chicken placard.Whilst I was painting the set, the rest of the group began work on "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" scene. As my character of the fox cub goes home to Mrs Fox, only Mr Fox and the other fox cub go on this journey. On the journey they meet Badger, Mole (Robert) and Rabbit (Lewis). They have worked out another movement section to "arrive" at the cellar. This whole journey is narrated by Oliver again, but also has a creepy piano underscore. This creates tension suitable for our young audience. We didn't have time to go any further with this scene, but Oliver is scripting this scene ready for next lesson. He has told me that at the end of this scene my character of the Rat will end on stage shouting after the other characters in rage. As to make my insults appropriate and suitable for the young audience, I have taken my insults from the new "Insult Generator" on Matilda the Musical's website (http://uk.matildathemusical.com/insult-generator/#main-body).
The insults I found which I like are as follows:
- "You malicious evil termite!"
- "You foul little worm!"
- "You nasty-faced thick-headed stink bomb!"
- "You jumped-up nasty-faced newt!"
- "You horrible nasty-faced animal!"
- "You filthy malicious crook!"
- "You lousy vile cockroach!"
- "You slimy yucky filthbog!"
Obviously, I won't be using all of them as there won't be time, but I have given myself options, and the rest of the group can say which ones they like the best.
Friday 20 November 2015
Storytelling (9) (The Snow Queen)
STORYTELLING:
- Multi-media - Music (live & recorded)
- Projection - Movement / Dance
- Physical Theatre - Communal voice / Chorus Speaking
- Monologues / Thought-tracking - Sound effects / Sound scape
- Placards - Props
- Dialogue - Story-teller
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A STORY:
- Target Audience (Age) - Location of performance & set
- Suitability to age and space - Actors strengths & weaknesses
- Access to sound & lighting
PROGRESSION OF IDEAS & DECISIONS:
Firstly, we had to decide whether we wanted to make an original story or do a classic story. We were tempted to do our own story originally but decided against it as we know that we are a very opinionated group and it would take a long time to make decisions and also we have a fast approaching deadline for this piece. Therefore, we decided that we would do a classic. We started discussing children stories but we knew we wouldn't want to do a children's piece (as we are currently working on our children's theatre piece) so we considered taking a more unconventional approach, and doing a twisted/dark version of a children's story. We did joke about doing a version of the recent children's movie/musical (or movical) "Frozen". We instantly decided against this idea but we did then think of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen", by Hans Christian Anderson. We read the first scene of the story and instantly saw potential in the piece, as we thought of ways we could engage the audience (the story could have lots of movement in for the audience to watch whilst listening to the narration). "The Snow Queen" tells the story of two young best friends, Kay and Gerda, who live opposite each other. They always spend time together. However, one day Kay gets a shard of the sprites magic mirror in his heart and eye causing him to see everything as horrible and he forgets those he loves. He gets manipulated by the Snow Queen and gets lead away from his home and is completely lost. Gerda goes out on a long journey to try and find him. On the way, she meets an old lady in a cottage, a talking crow and a princess. Eventually, Kay and Gerda meet again and they are so happy to see each other.
FIRST STEPS IN CREATING OUR PIECE:
We noticed that the story is in seven parts and we have seven people in our group, therefore we decided that we could all narrate a scene each. By constantly using narration, we would ensure that we were telling a story as opposed to devising. Whilst one person narrates everybody else would take part in a movement piece. This would give the audience the story to be told and to listen to, whilst having something interesting for the audience to watch. We decided that it could get boring having similar narration every time, so we thought that some narration could be live, whilst other sections could be pre-recorded. We have decided an order for who shall narrate each scene. The class voted me to narrate the first scene and Oliver for the final scene; the full order is as follows: Lorna, James, Lewis, Robert, Charlie, Rhiannon, Oliver. Each actor decided if they want to pre-record their narration or not and what they want to happen, movement wise, in their scene.
SCENE ONE
I decided that I wanted to pre-record my narration so I could be involved in the movement piece. I wanted to begin my scene with everyone standing in random places in the performance space, facing different directions. My idea for this was that I wanted the audience to be confused as to who was speaking but also to slightly build tension as they would have no clue what would happen next. We would all stand still until the word "reflected", when we would change our direction - turning 180 degrees. There we would stand momentarily until the words "poor and mean", when we would do two contractions, lowering our stance on each. Here we would remain until the words "magnified and increased", when we would then exaggerated the position we were holding (but making our overall stance higher). This was all we had time to stage during this lesson, but my homework is to continue choreographing this scene.
- Multi-media - Music (live & recorded)
- Projection - Movement / Dance
- Physical Theatre - Communal voice / Chorus Speaking
- Monologues / Thought-tracking - Sound effects / Sound scape
- Placards - Props
- Dialogue - Story-teller
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A STORY:
- Target Audience (Age) - Location of performance & set
- Suitability to age and space - Actors strengths & weaknesses
- Access to sound & lighting
PROGRESSION OF IDEAS & DECISIONS:
Firstly, we had to decide whether we wanted to make an original story or do a classic story. We were tempted to do our own story originally but decided against it as we know that we are a very opinionated group and it would take a long time to make decisions and also we have a fast approaching deadline for this piece. Therefore, we decided that we would do a classic. We started discussing children stories but we knew we wouldn't want to do a children's piece (as we are currently working on our children's theatre piece) so we considered taking a more unconventional approach, and doing a twisted/dark version of a children's story. We did joke about doing a version of the recent children's movie/musical (or movical) "Frozen". We instantly decided against this idea but we did then think of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen", by Hans Christian Anderson. We read the first scene of the story and instantly saw potential in the piece, as we thought of ways we could engage the audience (the story could have lots of movement in for the audience to watch whilst listening to the narration). "The Snow Queen" tells the story of two young best friends, Kay and Gerda, who live opposite each other. They always spend time together. However, one day Kay gets a shard of the sprites magic mirror in his heart and eye causing him to see everything as horrible and he forgets those he loves. He gets manipulated by the Snow Queen and gets lead away from his home and is completely lost. Gerda goes out on a long journey to try and find him. On the way, she meets an old lady in a cottage, a talking crow and a princess. Eventually, Kay and Gerda meet again and they are so happy to see each other.
FIRST STEPS IN CREATING OUR PIECE:
We noticed that the story is in seven parts and we have seven people in our group, therefore we decided that we could all narrate a scene each. By constantly using narration, we would ensure that we were telling a story as opposed to devising. Whilst one person narrates everybody else would take part in a movement piece. This would give the audience the story to be told and to listen to, whilst having something interesting for the audience to watch. We decided that it could get boring having similar narration every time, so we thought that some narration could be live, whilst other sections could be pre-recorded. We have decided an order for who shall narrate each scene. The class voted me to narrate the first scene and Oliver for the final scene; the full order is as follows: Lorna, James, Lewis, Robert, Charlie, Rhiannon, Oliver. Each actor decided if they want to pre-record their narration or not and what they want to happen, movement wise, in their scene.
SCENE ONE
I decided that I wanted to pre-record my narration so I could be involved in the movement piece. I wanted to begin my scene with everyone standing in random places in the performance space, facing different directions. My idea for this was that I wanted the audience to be confused as to who was speaking but also to slightly build tension as they would have no clue what would happen next. We would all stand still until the word "reflected", when we would change our direction - turning 180 degrees. There we would stand momentarily until the words "poor and mean", when we would do two contractions, lowering our stance on each. Here we would remain until the words "magnified and increased", when we would then exaggerated the position we were holding (but making our overall stance higher). This was all we had time to stage during this lesson, but my homework is to continue choreographing this scene.
Tuesday 17 November 2015
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (11) (Character development // Script work)
17/11/15
Today's lesson was spent making set.... aka, painting nativity scenes! We got some paints and made our nativity scenes as if we were our characters, therefore my one had to be fairly good, whilst Rhiannon's characters one would probably make Gabriel more important than Mary and Lewis's character's painting would have lots of stars on it. We made sure that our pictures matched what it said in the script; therefore we ensured that a couple of paintings had "John Burgeon" (but not mine as Mary asks who he is) and that one painting was a picture of a duck with an ice cream.
19/11/15
In this lesson, we did the adult section but all swapped parts. This was so we not only thought about other characters attitudes, but so we could see someone else's take on our characters. For this exercise Katya and I switched roles, so I was Shepherd's Mum whilst she was Mary's Mum. I thought Katya took a very interesting approach by making Mary's Mum's character more common. I liked how she gave the character a more sarcastic approach, however, I personally feel that Mary's Mum would be a little more caring and a bit more upper class.
20/11/15
Today we ran the play from the beginning up to the end of Act One. However, this time was the first time we did it completely without scripts. Although we obviously had to focus on getting our lines correct, we were told to focus on our movement and making it as convincing as possible.
Today's lesson was spent making set.... aka, painting nativity scenes! We got some paints and made our nativity scenes as if we were our characters, therefore my one had to be fairly good, whilst Rhiannon's characters one would probably make Gabriel more important than Mary and Lewis's character's painting would have lots of stars on it. We made sure that our pictures matched what it said in the script; therefore we ensured that a couple of paintings had "John Burgeon" (but not mine as Mary asks who he is) and that one painting was a picture of a duck with an ice cream.19/11/15
In this lesson, we did the adult section but all swapped parts. This was so we not only thought about other characters attitudes, but so we could see someone else's take on our characters. For this exercise Katya and I switched roles, so I was Shepherd's Mum whilst she was Mary's Mum. I thought Katya took a very interesting approach by making Mary's Mum's character more common. I liked how she gave the character a more sarcastic approach, however, I personally feel that Mary's Mum would be a little more caring and a bit more upper class.
20/11/15
Today we ran the play from the beginning up to the end of Act One. However, this time was the first time we did it completely without scripts. Although we obviously had to focus on getting our lines correct, we were told to focus on our movement and making it as convincing as possible.
Saturday 14 November 2015
Theatre for Children (10) (Forum Theatre // Script work)
14/11/15
Today, James was put in to the farmers scenes properly. We all took part in a forum theatre of the "Plan for the shooting" scene. Areas that we (Charlie, Rhiannon and I) thought could do with improving the most were James's stance, Robert's and James's reaction to Lewis's entrance and the slapstick section. I tried to help James with his stance, as I had developed my stance for Bunce when I used to play this role. James had a great stance when he was stationary, but when he had to move or interact with another character, his stance would go from Bunce back to James. I thought Robert's and James's reaction to Lewis's entrance was very comical (with James jumping up in to Robert's arms and being held by him) but not very practical; we didn't think this lift would be possible or safe when Robert has his costume on (which will involve padding). This lift was then changed into a hug as it was safer and more practical. The slapstick section was great but we have tweaked it a little bit just to make it that slight bit more exaggerated and more funny.
Whilst James, Robert and Lewis continued to work on their scenes after our feedback, the rest of us decided to re-script the opening scene for the foxes: "Mr Fox". We decided to re-script his scene because we hadn't rehearsed it in a long time so we had forgotten parts and so the scene didn't feel natural, but also so we could add in some narration. Furthermore, we wanted to make sure all the fox characters were introduced properly so the audience understand who we all are from the start. We feel this is essential so they connect with our characters.
16/11/15
Achieved this lesson:
Today, James was put in to the farmers scenes properly. We all took part in a forum theatre of the "Plan for the shooting" scene. Areas that we (Charlie, Rhiannon and I) thought could do with improving the most were James's stance, Robert's and James's reaction to Lewis's entrance and the slapstick section. I tried to help James with his stance, as I had developed my stance for Bunce when I used to play this role. James had a great stance when he was stationary, but when he had to move or interact with another character, his stance would go from Bunce back to James. I thought Robert's and James's reaction to Lewis's entrance was very comical (with James jumping up in to Robert's arms and being held by him) but not very practical; we didn't think this lift would be possible or safe when Robert has his costume on (which will involve padding). This lift was then changed into a hug as it was safer and more practical. The slapstick section was great but we have tweaked it a little bit just to make it that slight bit more exaggerated and more funny.
Whilst James, Robert and Lewis continued to work on their scenes after our feedback, the rest of us decided to re-script the opening scene for the foxes: "Mr Fox". We decided to re-script his scene because we hadn't rehearsed it in a long time so we had forgotten parts and so the scene didn't feel natural, but also so we could add in some narration. Furthermore, we wanted to make sure all the fox characters were introduced properly so the audience understand who we all are from the start. We feel this is essential so they connect with our characters.
16/11/15
Achieved this lesson:
- OFFICIAL COSTUME LIST
- Established who has what and what we definitely need to buy
- "THE SHOOTING" SCENE
- Accompaniment:
- Drumming whenever there is no dialogue to create tension and atmosphere
- Dance-based:
- Farmers rolls and positions as well as use of cannon
- Mr Fox uses back bends and jumps
- Accompaniment:
- "THE TERRIBLE TRACTORS" INTO "THE RACE" SCENE
- "The Terrible Tractors":
- Narration and Fox cub used to establish the farmers have tractors
- "The Race":
- All in slow-motion to "Chariots of Fire" theme, with narration over the top
- Begins with foxes putting on sweat bands and getting into a sprint start position
- Foxes run in slow motion whilst the farmers mime driving their tractors in slow-mo
- Foxes cross "the finish line" and celebrate, running away
- Scene ends with the farmers being angry but Boggis crying.
- "The Terrible Tractors":
- THE BEGINNING OF "THE GREAT FEAST"
Thursday 12 November 2015
Theatre for Children (9) (Scene work)
Today I shared my idea of who should be in each scene to avoid complications. Everyone thought this was a good idea and so we took it on board. Robert and Lewis took James to get it up to speed with the farmers scenes. They told him the synopsis of the scenes and focused on one of them (scene three), getting him in the blocking.
Whilst the three of them did that, Rhiannon, Charlie and I went into another room and started altering the "Starvation starts" scene. Our first step was to remove James from the scene, so any lines that were both of ours became just mine. Next we had to script a reason for James's characters absence, and how to bring him back in to the next scene. The reason would be that he has gone to bed because he's got a stomache ache through sheer hunger. To bring him into the next scene, at the end of this one, Charlie will say "Freya! Get your brother, we have work to do". Charlie decided that he wanted to name his fox cubs, we wanted them to begin with an "F" so he chose Freya and Freddie. We also thought that it was essential to script the argument between Mr and Mrs Fox sooner rather than later so Rhiannon and Charlie could keep practicing this scene. The reason for this is that we have to be careful with what we say, not only so it is appropriate for our young audience, but also so it doesn't upset any of them. We wanted to keep the argument light hearted so the children don't get upset and/or so they don't start disliking Mr and Mrs Fox (as we want them to like these two characters but NOT the farmers or the rat).We wanted to include a joke but then decided against it as it wasn't appropriate for their ages. We were going to have Mrs Fox say to Mr Fox "yeah?... well you've got little ears" and he would reply "I'll have you know I have average sized ears". Although we found this amusing, it was probably a good idea not to put this into our children's theatre piece!
As the three of us were scripting the argument, Oliver started scripting some narration for our physical theatre scenes. We agreed as an entire group that physical theatre would be a nice technique to include in this piece. This was because it would be something a bit different from the rest of the piece, creating some variety, and therefore helping our audience stay interested, as they have fairly short concentration spans. The four of us (Oliver, Rhiannon, Charlie and I) decided where in the piece physical theatre would work. We found three places which would be appropriate for purely movement with a bit of narration: "The Shooting", "The Race" and "The Great Feast". I thought to ensure the piece has variety (thus helping with our audience's concentration span) we could use three different types of physical theatre. For "The Shooting" scene, I thought this could be a little bit dance-based (e.g. back bends for Charlie when he dodges the bullets, and rolls for a farmer trying to get to the best position to shoot him). "The Race" scene could be all in slow motion. We could get sweat bands and be putting them on in slow motion and prepare in a sprint-start position whilst Oliver narrates and then the "Chariots of Fire" theme song could play whilst we start the race. For "The Great Feast" scene we could use the Frantic Assembly technique of Round-by-through to represent a busy and manic atmosphere.
Whilst the three of them did that, Rhiannon, Charlie and I went into another room and started altering the "Starvation starts" scene. Our first step was to remove James from the scene, so any lines that were both of ours became just mine. Next we had to script a reason for James's characters absence, and how to bring him back in to the next scene. The reason would be that he has gone to bed because he's got a stomache ache through sheer hunger. To bring him into the next scene, at the end of this one, Charlie will say "Freya! Get your brother, we have work to do". Charlie decided that he wanted to name his fox cubs, we wanted them to begin with an "F" so he chose Freya and Freddie. We also thought that it was essential to script the argument between Mr and Mrs Fox sooner rather than later so Rhiannon and Charlie could keep practicing this scene. The reason for this is that we have to be careful with what we say, not only so it is appropriate for our young audience, but also so it doesn't upset any of them. We wanted to keep the argument light hearted so the children don't get upset and/or so they don't start disliking Mr and Mrs Fox (as we want them to like these two characters but NOT the farmers or the rat).We wanted to include a joke but then decided against it as it wasn't appropriate for their ages. We were going to have Mrs Fox say to Mr Fox "yeah?... well you've got little ears" and he would reply "I'll have you know I have average sized ears". Although we found this amusing, it was probably a good idea not to put this into our children's theatre piece!
As the three of us were scripting the argument, Oliver started scripting some narration for our physical theatre scenes. We agreed as an entire group that physical theatre would be a nice technique to include in this piece. This was because it would be something a bit different from the rest of the piece, creating some variety, and therefore helping our audience stay interested, as they have fairly short concentration spans. The four of us (Oliver, Rhiannon, Charlie and I) decided where in the piece physical theatre would work. We found three places which would be appropriate for purely movement with a bit of narration: "The Shooting", "The Race" and "The Great Feast". I thought to ensure the piece has variety (thus helping with our audience's concentration span) we could use three different types of physical theatre. For "The Shooting" scene, I thought this could be a little bit dance-based (e.g. back bends for Charlie when he dodges the bullets, and rolls for a farmer trying to get to the best position to shoot him). "The Race" scene could be all in slow motion. We could get sweat bands and be putting them on in slow motion and prepare in a sprint-start position whilst Oliver narrates and then the "Chariots of Fire" theme song could play whilst we start the race. For "The Great Feast" scene we could use the Frantic Assembly technique of Round-by-through to represent a busy and manic atmosphere.
London Riots Devised Piece (12)
12/11/15
Today was interesting...
We began this rehearsal by discussing what we needed to work on. One aspect of our performance we needed to work on was transitions. Another area for improvement was our confidence with the whole piece but mainly the first scene and its timing. Therefore we decided that we would do a full run through and stop at the transitions we were unsure on. However, during our opening scene there was an accident...
As Lewis fell down the stairs (intentionally as this WAS part of the performance) he fell differently and landed on my foot. Although it was obviously unintentional, this incident was a result of a lapse in concentration. Lewis was focusing on his fall and making it look realistic that he wasn't aware of his surroundings. Unfortunately, the rehearsal had to be paused as I had to go to A&E. I had an X-ray and found out I had broken my little toe. It was then cleaned and strapped up. I have been told that it will take two to three weeks for the bone to heal. There was also a lot of blood as my toe had also split open underneath (due to the pressure - a little bit like squashing a grape!).
Whenever I get an injury I always carry on if I can, however I could definitely not carry on with this run-through. Thankfully this was not our actual performance of the piece. If this was a live performance, there would be no way that I would be able to continue, so the piece would have had to be stopped. If the performance was the next day, I still would not have been able to do it, but they could have altered the piece to still make it work (basically, someone take my notes and perform the interview scene with Toby, and someone could watch the rehearsal video of the "emotional turmoil" scene to learn mine and Tom's duet).
As I am out of action for a little while, I shall keep my foot elevated as to decrease the healing time. Although I cannot walk or do any movements, I shall take part in the run-through by performing my spoken scenes sitting down.
17/11/15
In this lesson we did a full walk through of our piece (although I was having to sit out, I still read my lines). We have now really improved our transitions, making our piece flow a lot better. We did this by having a top-tail run, so we did the beginning and end of every scene, so we focused on our transitions. By doing the start and end of each scene too, we got a clearer picture of when these transitions happen and in what order they are. We also decided what we are doing for costumes. The boys shall be wearing tracksuit bottoms, whilst Rhiannon and I will wear leggings. We shall all wear hoodies with a shirt and tie or blouse underneath. The hoodies will remain on for the entire piece until our transition from the consequences scene into the MP speech scene, when we shall remove the hoodies whilst walking backwards during the blackout. The hoodies will be thrown to the side.
Today was interesting...
We began this rehearsal by discussing what we needed to work on. One aspect of our performance we needed to work on was transitions. Another area for improvement was our confidence with the whole piece but mainly the first scene and its timing. Therefore we decided that we would do a full run through and stop at the transitions we were unsure on. However, during our opening scene there was an accident...
As Lewis fell down the stairs (intentionally as this WAS part of the performance) he fell differently and landed on my foot. Although it was obviously unintentional, this incident was a result of a lapse in concentration. Lewis was focusing on his fall and making it look realistic that he wasn't aware of his surroundings. Unfortunately, the rehearsal had to be paused as I had to go to A&E. I had an X-ray and found out I had broken my little toe. It was then cleaned and strapped up. I have been told that it will take two to three weeks for the bone to heal. There was also a lot of blood as my toe had also split open underneath (due to the pressure - a little bit like squashing a grape!).
Whenever I get an injury I always carry on if I can, however I could definitely not carry on with this run-through. Thankfully this was not our actual performance of the piece. If this was a live performance, there would be no way that I would be able to continue, so the piece would have had to be stopped. If the performance was the next day, I still would not have been able to do it, but they could have altered the piece to still make it work (basically, someone take my notes and perform the interview scene with Toby, and someone could watch the rehearsal video of the "emotional turmoil" scene to learn mine and Tom's duet).
As I am out of action for a little while, I shall keep my foot elevated as to decrease the healing time. Although I cannot walk or do any movements, I shall take part in the run-through by performing my spoken scenes sitting down.
17/11/15
In this lesson we did a full walk through of our piece (although I was having to sit out, I still read my lines). We have now really improved our transitions, making our piece flow a lot better. We did this by having a top-tail run, so we did the beginning and end of every scene, so we focused on our transitions. By doing the start and end of each scene too, we got a clearer picture of when these transitions happen and in what order they are. We also decided what we are doing for costumes. The boys shall be wearing tracksuit bottoms, whilst Rhiannon and I will wear leggings. We shall all wear hoodies with a shirt and tie or blouse underneath. The hoodies will remain on for the entire piece until our transition from the consequences scene into the MP speech scene, when we shall remove the hoodies whilst walking backwards during the blackout. The hoodies will be thrown to the side.
Storytelling (8) (Greek Myths)
Today we performed our version of the Greek myth "Perseus and Medusa". Before we performed this we had to script the narration. We decided to set our piece in a museum, so the narrator would be a tour guide, whilst the audience were visitors to the museum exhibition. As our target age group was 10 year olds, we made sure that the script wasn't too gory and didn't have language that was too complicated for them to understand. Lewis was the tour guide, so to avoid Charlie and I just standing there watching the stop-motion video, we decided to be statues in the museum. Our first position was of Perseus and his mother. When the narration described a different part of the story containing different characters, Charlie and I changed to a different freeze frame. In total we did four different freeze frames. We tried to make our transitions as smooth as possible; we even used the Frantic Assembly technique of round-by-through for two of them.
Tuesday 10 November 2015
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (10) (Script work)
10/11/15
Today we all discussed our adult characters, reading out our adult character profiles. Not only is it important to understand our characters, but it is useful to understand other people's so we know how to interact with them better. After this, we ran half of the adult section, keeping in mind what decisions we made about our characters and what we had just learned about other characters. Whenever we had a question or were confused about a line, we would stop and go over this. We did this so we got the attitude of the line correct sooner rather than later, so we had muscle memory and so we were confident sooner. We also sorted out a lot of staging problems: where certain conversations between characters were taking place and who the conversations were between.
12/11/15
To try and learn my script I have been repeating my lines over and over again. I have read through the script every night before dinner and before bed. Whenever I get the chance to, I will go through my lines with Lewis and we will test each other. I definitely find learning my lines easier when I am being tested by a friend, rather than reading over the lines myself.
13/11/15
Today we ran the adult scene in its entirety. We established a weakness in this section, this was page 67. We felt that this page did not run smoothly and the atmosphere didn't build enough for Mary's Mum's break down to make sense or feel real. We decided that the best thing to do was to sit down and discuss this scene. We knew that we needed to build the tension more by making this section run gradually faster and for some lines (closer to her break down) to slightly overlap. As to know when the scene needs to build, we decided to increase intensity in volume and pace after every time the line "We wish...". We decided that this would be a good line to use as it repeats a few times, so we could make the intensity build more gradually rather than in one moment. After establishing this, we decided to go through each line individually and work out the purpose of each line. Whoever's line it was would explain to the rest of the class why they thought their character was saying this and who they were saying it to. The class would then respond either in agreement or with what they thought the purpose was. We noted these points down in our scripts and then ran the scene again. We ran the scene a few times to make it flow properly and to get the build up in atmosphere sorted. We are now a lot happier with this section.
Today we all discussed our adult characters, reading out our adult character profiles. Not only is it important to understand our characters, but it is useful to understand other people's so we know how to interact with them better. After this, we ran half of the adult section, keeping in mind what decisions we made about our characters and what we had just learned about other characters. Whenever we had a question or were confused about a line, we would stop and go over this. We did this so we got the attitude of the line correct sooner rather than later, so we had muscle memory and so we were confident sooner. We also sorted out a lot of staging problems: where certain conversations between characters were taking place and who the conversations were between.
12/11/15
To try and learn my script I have been repeating my lines over and over again. I have read through the script every night before dinner and before bed. Whenever I get the chance to, I will go through my lines with Lewis and we will test each other. I definitely find learning my lines easier when I am being tested by a friend, rather than reading over the lines myself.
13/11/15
Today we ran the adult scene in its entirety. We established a weakness in this section, this was page 67. We felt that this page did not run smoothly and the atmosphere didn't build enough for Mary's Mum's break down to make sense or feel real. We decided that the best thing to do was to sit down and discuss this scene. We knew that we needed to build the tension more by making this section run gradually faster and for some lines (closer to her break down) to slightly overlap. As to know when the scene needs to build, we decided to increase intensity in volume and pace after every time the line "We wish...". We decided that this would be a good line to use as it repeats a few times, so we could make the intensity build more gradually rather than in one moment. After establishing this, we decided to go through each line individually and work out the purpose of each line. Whoever's line it was would explain to the rest of the class why they thought their character was saying this and who they were saying it to. The class would then respond either in agreement or with what they thought the purpose was. We noted these points down in our scripts and then ran the scene again. We ran the scene a few times to make it flow properly and to get the build up in atmosphere sorted. We are now a lot happier with this section.
Monday 9 November 2015
Theatre for Children (8) (Scene list)
Scene list & Characters involved
- THE THREE FARMERS:
LF / RA / JBC (f) - MR FOX:
CS / RD / LC / JBC (fc) - PLAN FOR SHOOTING & THE SHOOTING:
LF / RA / JBC (f) / CS - THE TERRIBLE SHOVELS, TRACTORS & THE RACE:
CS / RD / LC / JBC (fc) - "WE'LL NEVER LET HIM GO":
LF / RA / JBC (f) - STARVATION STARTS & MR FOX'S PLAN:
CS / RD / LC - BOGGIS' CHICKEN HOUSE NO.1:
CS / JBC / LC - A SURPRISE FOR MRS FOX:
RD / LC - BADGER:
CS / JBC (fc) / OK (b) - BUNCE'S STOREHOUSE & BADGER HAS DOUBTS:
CS / JBC / OK (b) - BEAN'S SECRET CIDER CELLAR & THE WOMAN:
CS / LC (r) / JBC (fc) / OK (b) - THE GREAT FEAST:
LF (r) / RA (w) / JBC (fc) / CS / RD / LC / OK (b) - STILL WAITING:
LF / RA / JBC (f)
Theatre for Children (7) (Set)
06/11/15
We began this lesson with focus exercises. The first exercise consisted of walking around the room and responding to the teacher's instructions and directions at the same time. This exercise improved our spatial awareness as well as our ability to multi-task. Spatial awareness is essential in performing arts as it avoids collisions and injuries, and also makes formations more pleasing to the eye. Multi-tasking is also essential as performers may need to dance and sing and act all at the same time, whilst remembering blocking and cues. The next exercises involved us saying consecutive numbers, one at a time, without prompting anybody else. This exercise made us connect with one another, making a more easy and effective working environment.
After our exercises we began discussing costumes and set. We needed to discuss costumes to see what everybody had at home before we bought anything. We made a break-through with our set. We have decided that we shall have a couple of wooden blocks positioned DSL and DSR. On one side of the blocks we shall have a bush/hedge picture, on another side shall be a cider jar and maybe on another side a mound of dirt. Somebody will change the blocks positioning throughout the show so that the play so that the side facing the audience represented the location of the scene we were performing at that time.
Furthermore, I gave my role of Bunce to James today. This is because I had three parts (Bunce, rat and fox cub) whilst he only had two originally (fox cub and weasel) then his smaller role of Weasel then got cut (as it was not necessary). I then taught James what he had missed (stance, voice and scene synopsis). Not only was this nice for James as he has a larger role in the play, but it was nice for me as it took the pressure of a little bit as I have two roles in the play and I am also the costume designer.
We began this lesson with focus exercises. The first exercise consisted of walking around the room and responding to the teacher's instructions and directions at the same time. This exercise improved our spatial awareness as well as our ability to multi-task. Spatial awareness is essential in performing arts as it avoids collisions and injuries, and also makes formations more pleasing to the eye. Multi-tasking is also essential as performers may need to dance and sing and act all at the same time, whilst remembering blocking and cues. The next exercises involved us saying consecutive numbers, one at a time, without prompting anybody else. This exercise made us connect with one another, making a more easy and effective working environment.
After our exercises we began discussing costumes and set. We needed to discuss costumes to see what everybody had at home before we bought anything. We made a break-through with our set. We have decided that we shall have a couple of wooden blocks positioned DSL and DSR. On one side of the blocks we shall have a bush/hedge picture, on another side shall be a cider jar and maybe on another side a mound of dirt. Somebody will change the blocks positioning throughout the show so that the play so that the side facing the audience represented the location of the scene we were performing at that time.
Furthermore, I gave my role of Bunce to James today. This is because I had three parts (Bunce, rat and fox cub) whilst he only had two originally (fox cub and weasel) then his smaller role of Weasel then got cut (as it was not necessary). I then taught James what he had missed (stance, voice and scene synopsis). Not only was this nice for James as he has a larger role in the play, but it was nice for me as it took the pressure of a little bit as I have two roles in the play and I am also the costume designer.
Sunday 8 November 2015
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (9) (Script work // Character Profile)
06/11/15
In this lesson we ran all of the children scenes, from both Act One and Act Two. This was to ensure we all remembered the blocking and so we could develop our characters further, remembering recent work on character profiles. Afterwards, we sat down and began character profiles for our adult characters.
Character Profile (Stage Direction = SD)
NAME: Sarah Bennet
AGE: 38
FAMILY: Married (not happily) and one child
LIKES: Homes Under the Hammer
DISLIKES: When things don't go to plan
In this lesson we ran all of the children scenes, from both Act One and Act Two. This was to ensure we all remembered the blocking and so we could develop our characters further, remembering recent work on character profiles. Afterwards, we sat down and began character profiles for our adult characters.
Character Profile (Stage Direction = SD)
NAME: Sarah Bennet
AGE: 38
FAMILY: Married (not happily) and one child
LIKES: Homes Under the Hammer
DISLIKES: When things don't go to plan
- Control freak - Sarah: "Not yet! Not yet!" (61)
- PTA member - Sarah: "It's what the PTA decided. All three of us." (61)
- Polite - SD: "Nodding; politely" (61)
- Old-fashioned - SD: "[Gabriel's mum being a mother] seems to hit Mary's Mum like a clawhammer" (62)
- Always on edge - SD: "lurching" (63)
- Always panicking - SD: "flapping" (63)
- Proud - Sarah: "Wasn't [that the best nativity ever]! There's something about a nativity that-" (63)
- Courteous - SD: "politely, as ever" / SD: "she offers a drink to Star's"Dad"" (64)
- Perfectionist - SD: "trying to stop Wise Gold's Mum messing with the paintings" (64)
- Diplomatic - Sarah: "Hold on. Hold on. I don't think we booked this" (65)
- Angered when not in control - Sarah: "Look we really need to get people back..." (66)
- Patronising and/or caring? - Sarah [to Ass' Dad]: "Straw. So it doesn't stain your beard." (66)
- Demanding - Sarah: "No, we ARE..." (67)
- Breaking down - SD: "too loud" / Sarah: "I don't know" (67)
- Tries to keep herself together - Sarah: "I'm not in charge, all right? I'm... can I just say" (67)
- Weak - SD: "Starting to cry. Mary's Mum exits"
- Supportive - Sarah: "Come on. I'll take you in."
Thursday 5 November 2015
The Flint Street Nativity - Play, by Tim Firth (8) (Script work)
05/11/15
Today we ran the whole of Act One once, as we have been rehearsing the adult section a lot, but we only sang one of the songs (as we are going to spend a lesson in the future purely on the songs). After this run we discussed what needed improving, this included more energy, remembering the spot light positioning and remembering our cues. We decided that we would run this act again as far as we could in the remainder of the lesson. We wasn't able to finish this act but we managed to fix what needed correcting.
I am also up to date with annotations on my script. I have got into the habit of adding notes to my script as soon as we block a scene. I have now also altered the lines that needed changing in our script, which I have been meaning to do for a little while. Although the lines that needed changing were not my own, I still altered them in my script in case one of the effected characters weren't in during a rehearsal so I could stand in for them. One thing that has been changed was the character of Angel's name from Shamima to Poppy, as our cast member playing this character is not Indian. This also made her breakfast game (on page 26) make no sense, so we have changed "India" to "Chatham", "Pakistan" to "Hempstead" and "coon" to "chav". We also decided to update the script a little bit, so we have changed the "Westlife bag" to the "One Direction bag" and the "Netto bag" to "the Aldi bag". Furthermore, all places have been changed to make the piece more comical, for example, "Morecombe" has become "Sheppey" and "Maghul" is "Rainham", etc.
Today we ran the whole of Act One once, as we have been rehearsing the adult section a lot, but we only sang one of the songs (as we are going to spend a lesson in the future purely on the songs). After this run we discussed what needed improving, this included more energy, remembering the spot light positioning and remembering our cues. We decided that we would run this act again as far as we could in the remainder of the lesson. We wasn't able to finish this act but we managed to fix what needed correcting.
I am also up to date with annotations on my script. I have got into the habit of adding notes to my script as soon as we block a scene. I have now also altered the lines that needed changing in our script, which I have been meaning to do for a little while. Although the lines that needed changing were not my own, I still altered them in my script in case one of the effected characters weren't in during a rehearsal so I could stand in for them. One thing that has been changed was the character of Angel's name from Shamima to Poppy, as our cast member playing this character is not Indian. This also made her breakfast game (on page 26) make no sense, so we have changed "India" to "Chatham", "Pakistan" to "Hempstead" and "coon" to "chav". We also decided to update the script a little bit, so we have changed the "Westlife bag" to the "One Direction bag" and the "Netto bag" to "the Aldi bag". Furthermore, all places have been changed to make the piece more comical, for example, "Morecombe" has become "Sheppey" and "Maghul" is "Rainham", etc.
Wednesday 4 November 2015
Storytelling (7) (Greek Myths)
04/11/15
Today we completed taking all of the photographs for our stop-motion animation. We used the Brechtian technique of placards to show Perseus's gifts and to label the "sleeping Medusa". One scene we initially struggled with this lesson is the scene when Perseus cuts of Medusa's head. Our first thought was to use photo-shop to remove my head from the pictures, however, this would have been to time consuming and we wanted all of the photos to be real. We then thought about using a placard saying "Medusa's head", but we thought there must be a more effective way of portraying this scene. We finally decided on using a black piece of thick cloth material to represent Medusa's head. The material was rolled up in the middle to form a round shape, whilst leaving the ends down to look like hair. This idea meant that all I had to do was lie down, facing away from the camera, with my head tucked down as far as I could so that the camera would only show my shoulders and possibly neck. The "material head" was positioned next to my shoulders to look like it was my actual head on the camera. All of the photos have been put onto an animation now. Next lesson, we will work out our script for narrating the animation. We have decided that we would like to narrate to our audience as if we were museum guides explaining an exhibition, however we just need to work out exactly what it is we shall say.
Today we completed taking all of the photographs for our stop-motion animation. We used the Brechtian technique of placards to show Perseus's gifts and to label the "sleeping Medusa". One scene we initially struggled with this lesson is the scene when Perseus cuts of Medusa's head. Our first thought was to use photo-shop to remove my head from the pictures, however, this would have been to time consuming and we wanted all of the photos to be real. We then thought about using a placard saying "Medusa's head", but we thought there must be a more effective way of portraying this scene. We finally decided on using a black piece of thick cloth material to represent Medusa's head. The material was rolled up in the middle to form a round shape, whilst leaving the ends down to look like hair. This idea meant that all I had to do was lie down, facing away from the camera, with my head tucked down as far as I could so that the camera would only show my shoulders and possibly neck. The "material head" was positioned next to my shoulders to look like it was my actual head on the camera. All of the photos have been put onto an animation now. Next lesson, we will work out our script for narrating the animation. We have decided that we would like to narrate to our audience as if we were museum guides explaining an exhibition, however we just need to work out exactly what it is we shall say.
London Riots Devised Piece (11)
04/11/15
Today we developed our MP speeches scene. We decided that each of us would say a random section of our monologue. This was so that the audience got an understanding of each party's view without having to listen to seven long monologues. Each person says only one part of their monologue once, apart from Toby, who says about three or four different sections. This is because his monologue is very random and adds a sense of confusion to the scene, which is realistic to the confusing situation at that time. The section of monologue I have chosen is the following:
05/11/15
This lesson we polished our MP scene. We created our lighting design and then set up the lights, taping the wires down too. This was essential so that we obliged the health and safety regulations. If we didn't tape the wires down, there would be a tripping risk and people could fall over and injure themselves. This could also knock the lights over and out of place and could damage them. We then rehearsed the scene with our lighting. As we step forward to do our mini speech the lighting colour changes to whatever party we are from (so as my MP character is conservative I have a blue wash when I speak, whilst Rhiannon has green as she is green party, Ashley has purple as he is UKIP, and so on).
09/11/15
Today we did our first complete full run through. Our lighting was very effective and the music and sound worked well to create the appropriate atmosphere. What we need to work on as a group are our transitions (to make the piece seamless) and the opening scene (as we weren't sure on the timing of our freeze frames). The other thing that we need to work on is the final scene (il Manors reprise) as we have to embody gorillas whilst arguing like politician. We were finding this difficult as our body language is completely opposite (and very demanding) to our voices. Therefore we will have to keep working on this so we feel more comfortable.
Today we developed our MP speeches scene. We decided that each of us would say a random section of our monologue. This was so that the audience got an understanding of each party's view without having to listen to seven long monologues. Each person says only one part of their monologue once, apart from Toby, who says about three or four different sections. This is because his monologue is very random and adds a sense of confusion to the scene, which is realistic to the confusing situation at that time. The section of monologue I have chosen is the following:
"The last five days have been a dark time for everybody who cares about their community and their country. Destroyed homes, ruined livelihoods, taken lives... all due to the violence, arson and looting we have witnessed across several of our towns and cities. As long as we wish to call ourselves a civilised society, such disorder has no place in Britain."
05/11/15
This lesson we polished our MP scene. We created our lighting design and then set up the lights, taping the wires down too. This was essential so that we obliged the health and safety regulations. If we didn't tape the wires down, there would be a tripping risk and people could fall over and injure themselves. This could also knock the lights over and out of place and could damage them. We then rehearsed the scene with our lighting. As we step forward to do our mini speech the lighting colour changes to whatever party we are from (so as my MP character is conservative I have a blue wash when I speak, whilst Rhiannon has green as she is green party, Ashley has purple as he is UKIP, and so on).
09/11/15
Today we did our first complete full run through. Our lighting was very effective and the music and sound worked well to create the appropriate atmosphere. What we need to work on as a group are our transitions (to make the piece seamless) and the opening scene (as we weren't sure on the timing of our freeze frames). The other thing that we need to work on is the final scene (il Manors reprise) as we have to embody gorillas whilst arguing like politician. We were finding this difficult as our body language is completely opposite (and very demanding) to our voices. Therefore we will have to keep working on this so we feel more comfortable.
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