Workshop (4) - "Opening Sequence" & "King of the World"

OS - Taxi scene:   We began this lesson by completing our first number. We firstly discussed what we were going to do to show Lewis's character. We wanted to create a taxi for Lewis to sit in, but we wanted to be quite abstract with it. As our whole song so far has been very physical and abstract, we didn't want to be naturalistic with four chairs - therefore, we first tried it with Ollie and I forming the two front seats (by going on all fours). Rob could have been a third seat in the back for James to sit on. We thought that James could be the passenger as we could go straight into his scene at the end, as we hadn't done his scene by this point. However, by three of us being seats, it looked a little bit cheesy and a little bit like a waiting room - therefore we decided to experiment more. We then considered having Ollie and I hold torches whilst being the seats. The torches would represent the headlights of the taxi. We tried this idea out, but realised it wasn't working as Ollie and I couldn't get the torches to the right heights due to how we had to be positioned to be the seats - therefore, we shall not be the seats now. Instead we shall use collapsible stools (as these aren't as chunky as chairs, and James and Lewis will be seated a bit lower, and the stools aren't visible when sat on) for James and Lewis to sit on. Ollie and I shall crouch down slightly to the outside of James and Lewis and just in front of Lewis, and holding the torches at the appropriate height. Rob shall stand centre back holding a placard saying "Taxi" to make it completely clear to the audience what we have created. We have places James to the left of Lew and back to show that he is the passenger. This scene happens during the second time we say the fast section ("You have a house in the hills, you have a job on the coast...") - this represents all the voices going around Lewis's head from all the people he has had in his taxi and all the conversations they have had with him.

OS - Lover scene:   As James is seated in Lewis's taxi, James's scene could afford to be a lot shorter. For James's scene, he gets out of the taxi and the taxi then all dismantles - we all come out of our taxi positions in a smooth transition. James sits down stage centre writing a letter to his lover, whilst the other four of us form two pairs, and look pleased to see each other and hug. We were originally thinking of doing a short duet section each, but we didn't have time for this to take place as we wanted to spend a little bit more time of the song ensuring that our transition out of the taxi positions was smooth - therefore, we all just hug instead for this scene. We are not too worried about this though, as it still gets the message we wanted across.

KOTW - Opening:
Rob had an idea on what he wanted to do for the opening of "King of the World". We had all agreed that we wanted this scene to be about the business man due to the lyrics. Rob wanted Ollie to run and walk over a chair whilst the other four of us threw chairs to each other and put them in a line, facing alternate directions. The purpose of throwing chairs would be to present a chaotic office environment. The chairs would suggest an office setting, but the constant movement creates the chaotic atmosphere. We spent the remainder of this lesson practising throwing and catching chairs and working out what order we should do this in and how to make it as safe as possible. To decrease the risk of injury, people throwing and catching and chairs will stand further upstage, whilst those positioning chairs in the line will be further downstage. We then worked out a little duet section for James and I, and Rob and Lewis. We do some puppetry work and supporting movements. We shall develop this properly next lesson.