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.
