In this lesson we did our second full run-through. We worked on transitions primarily and worked out what scenes needed amending. We are happy with the farmers introduction scene as it instantly shows the relationship between the farmers and engages the children straight away (due to the music and comedy routine). However, we were not happy with the next scene - the introduction to the fox family. This was because it was lacking in energy and didn't give a clear introduction to all of the characters. Moreover, we knew that the audience needed to instantly love the character of Mr Fox, so we needed to alter this scene to make him more likable from the very beginning. We have made Charlie's character a little bit less cool, but more cheeky instead, this instantly made his character have more energy and more comical too for our young audience. As we want it to be clear to our audience that Charlie is the main character, we are swapping the farmers introduction scene and the foxes introduction scene. This also means that less transitions are needed as the farmers are on the stage for two adjacent scenes.
The only other scenes we felt needed altering were "Bean's Secret Cider Cellar" and "The Great Feast". For the cider cellar scene, a bit of movement was added for when the animals (excluding rat and Mrs Fox) are hiding behind the cider jars. They form a line going from downstage to upstage (with Oliver at the front, then Charlie, Robert, Lewis and finally James) on the line "dashed behind". On the word "breath" they poke their heads out alternately at different levels, as so all characters can be seen. On the word "breathe" they swap what way they have peaked out to the other side, but kept the same levels. On the word "heart" they all come back in to centre. The purpose for this was to make the scene more interesting for the children to watch and would therefore hold their attention better.
Next lesson, we will be adding in a bit of dialogue between little groups of pairs of characters before "The Great Feast" scene. Rhiannon and I improvised a little section for us two to use, with my fox cub character pestering Mrs Fox whether dinner was ready or not. By next lesson, I hope to have finished making the props so we can rehearse with them. Also, our costumes should be arriving shortly for us to practice in too.
