Workshop (5) - "King of the World"

Swapping characters:   Lewis really liked the song "King of the World" and has agreed to sing it for us during the performance to enable us to do a more Musical Theatre styled number. As we wanted this number to be about the business man (as this made the most sense) we initially thought that Lew could sing the song, but it could be about Ollie - however, we then weren't sure on how this would work. We were worried that Lewis would then almost become the narrator, as it were, and therefore wouldn't be involved in all the movement. Therefore, we resolved this issue by Ollie and Lewis swapping characters - Ollie is now the taxi driver and Lewis is the business man (this means at some point we will have to spend a couple of minutes swapping Ollie and Lewis's  places in the "Opening Sequence" so Lewis now does the "round-by-through" section with everyone, and Ollie sits in the taxi).

Opening discussion:   We liked the idea of throwing chairs, so knew we definitely wanted to include this in the piece, but wasn't sure the duet sections were very relevant. We all agreed that the opening of this number should set the scene - we then discussed what the "scene" was. As this song (we decided) is about the business man, we agreed that the "scene" was an office, and thought that we were all office workers. Lewis then thought that this could still work for our characters - the lover (James) could be an office worker, and my character could be working in an office whilst doing auditions and waiting for her big break. Although this is a clever link, we won't be presenting this link intentionally in our piece, as the focus needs to be on Lewis's character. Lewis suggested that we could include my original idea from how I had initially envisioned the "opening sequence" of getting ready in the mirror. From Lewis's mention of getting ready to work, we thought we could all have specific movements as if we were in an office. We would all then repeat these movements until Lewis started singing.

So far:   Below is what we created this lesson and why:

• During intro, Lew sits on office chair facing back. The rest of us throw chairs and place them in a straight line either side of Lewis.   -   The purpose of this is to create a busy and crazy office setting. It also presents the idea of everyone doing work except for Lewis's character, thus foreboding what will happen to him. 
• All do individual movements (my movement is miming typing and then stretching out my knee) which get repeated until Lewis begins singing.   -   (Inspired by the physical theatre group "DV8") To make it clear that we are in an office. To make the scene quite abstract but very "musical theatrery"! 
• On "once upon a time" we all look in at Lew.   -   Focusses the attention on him, which is what his character wants.
• On "I had tides to control" we all lean outwards.   -   Irony that we're moving away from him.
• On "I had worlds to win" we move back in towards him.  -   He has won our attention back.
• On "Stars to ignite" we fact the front again.   -   As if ready for our work opportunities to ignite.
• We then all do a neck roll and go back to our original movements.   -   The neck roll shows us stretching as if preparing for the hard work to continue.
• During the next verse, Ollie and James take their chairs off, whilst Lewis sings to Rob and I. When Lew looks at Rob or I, we look really interested but as soon as he looks away, we roll our eyes and continue with our work.   -   Ollie and James leaving suggests Lewis has lost support. Rob and I present his co-workers being two-faced and getting fed up of him. 
• On "there were people at my side" Rob and I stand up and look really fed up. Ollie and James take our chairs off.   -   Shows that Lew's character is losing support as he is being too arrogant.
• On the first "Let me out of here" Rob and I put our inside hand on his shoulder to hold him in place. The next time we all hold him down, the third time we all try to pin him down but he breaks free.   -   This presents us giving him a warning not to get to big for his boots and us trying our best to persuade him to stay grounded. However, him breaking out shows that he is choosing to ignore our warnings.
• For the next section, Rob and James mime measuring Lewis up for a new suit. Ollie then shows him a jacket but Lewis doesn't like it, I then show him my own (which he likes) and I put it on him.   -   This scene presents him spending a lot of money to make himself look better than other people. We debated on making this scene really abstract with people doing ordinary things but in unusual ways (e.g. offering him a new watch but by doing a turn and then presenting out of the inside of their jacket whilst bowing)(similar to our hospital scene in our version of "Dr Faustus") - however, we realised we wouldn't have much time for this, so we kept it quite naturalistic. This worked out better as we can ensure that the audience will understand what it going on in this section.
• Lewis runs over to his chair (which has been placed USL by this point) and attempts to slide across the stage to DSR, but is taken off the chair by Ollie and Rob. The chair continue to glide over to DSR, after Lewis is taken off of it. It is caught by James who then sits on it. I mime serving James a tray and then give him a massage.   -   The office chair represents the job that everyone wants. The fact the James catches the chair and then sits in it shows that he landed the job, and I act as his secretary and PA. 

 Ideas:   We would like to break this song up with sections of dialogue. As we included a section where Lewis was spending money on new suits, we thought we could have a scene here where he gets in trouble for his excessive funding as maybe it was company money or something. We shall discuss ideas for scenes next lesson.