Single - Devised Unit (CP) - Research (Chasing Pavements) - 20/12/15

On the final day of term, 17/12/15, we were told our stimulus for our devised unit in Single! Our stimulus was the song, "Chasing Pavements" by Adele! We're allowed to use the title of the song, the song itself, the lyrics, the music video and the themes that are presented by the song and its music video. I decided that I would do some research over Christmas which will help my group for when we come back.

I feel this song is about a crush and the person wants to take things further but isn't sure whether or not to tell their crush how they feel. This is how I got this idea:

I've made up my mind

Don't need to think it over,

If I'm wrong I am right,

Don't need to look no further

This ain't lust

I know this is love but, (1)

If I tell the world,

I'll never say enough,

Cause it was not said to you

And that's exactly what I need to do,

If I'm in love with you, (2)

(Chorus)

Should I give up,

Or should I just keep chasing pavements

Even if it leads nowhere

Or would it be a waste?

Even if I knew my place should I leave it there?

Should I give up

Or should I just keep chasing pavements

Even if it leads nowhere (3)

I'd build myself up,

And fly around in circles

Waiting as my heart drops,

And my back begins to tingle

Finally could this be it or (4)

(Chorus x3)

(1) The song is about a woman who hasn't confessed her feelings to someone. She is definitely in love with him. She knows what she wants, and she's ready to go for it

(2) It doesn't matter who knows about her feelings. There's only one person who absolutely needs to know, and that is the man himself. Otherwise, how will he know that she's in love with him?

(3) So should she stay in the background/as a friend? Or should she go for it? Follow the pavement and take a chance.. even if in the end, she doesn't get what she wanted. Is the greater risk in never trying? She knows to him, her place is as his friend, but she wants to take things further.

(4) She gets so high on the possibility of a relationship, but she comes back to reality when she realises they're still just friends. But the slightest hint of him pleases her and one day she'll help him realise they should be together.

I then started to explore the themes of the song in order to take a broader view on the story within! The themes I thought of from the title and the song itself are:

• Love
• Need
• Confession
• Lack of shame
• Friend-zone
• Eternity
• Hope
• Relationship
• Pain
• Sorrow
• Waiting
• Depression
• Assured
• Gaining confidence

I then searched for interviews with Adele to find out why she wrote the song! Adele explained to the Sun newspaper January 18, 2008 that, "Chasing Pavements," is about splitting up with her ex and having her heart broken for the first time. Adele said:

"That song is about should I give up or should I just keep trying to run after you when there's nothing there? I was only with him for four months..."

"And then I met my ex-boyfriend and it was great to begin with and then it was really shitty. And then I wrote about ten songs in about five weeks. I love him still and I got an album out of him. I used him more than he used me." 

Double - Storytelling - Blog 15 (Snow Queen) - 15/12/15 &17/12/15

15/12/15
Today, in our free periods, Lorna, Ollie, Charlie, James and I all worked on story 2. This part of the story focuses on describing the relationship between Kay and Gerda and establishing the change in Kay after the fragment of the mirror gets in his eye which leads to his disappearance. James decided he wanted to have silhouettes to distinguish his story from the others! I thought this was a great idea as this was a very uncommon form of story telling yet equally, if not more, effective at entertaining and informing the audience.

We started by assigning who would be each character and as it was James' story he got to choose. He decided he wanted Lorna to be Gerda and he wanted me to be Kay! I feel this pair-up was great as Lorna and I are very confident with each other so when performing lifts or movement which require a great deal of trust, we'll be okay. James had already decided on some music to be played in the background too; an acoustic instrumental of Justin Bieber's "The Feeling."

James consulted Lorna on some of he choreography as she has over a decade of dance experience. She thought I'd would be best to hear the narration and her and I improvise movement to gain first impressions on the narration for us to work on. I felt this was a useful exercise as it made us think about our story and the narration within which aided us in our understanding of the characters.

After this, we took Lorna's knowledge of dance and lifts and trialled a few lifts to test my ability and then performed them for real! We tested my ability first because if I wasn't able to do a lift and we went for it first time, then there's the risk that I could drop Lorna which could result in very serious and sever injuries!

After performing a few lifts, we picked our favourite ones and connected them with smooth flowing movement. The two lifts we chose was a. "Koala Bear" lift and a cradling lift. We chose these as they both represented childishness and innocence. 

Charlie then thought that at this point no one else had anything to do, so he suggested another pair perform the same sequence either simultaneously or in cannon. I then suggested to James that although he wanted his story to portrayed with silhouettes, we could still have some people not as silhouettes to bring some sort of diversity. I also thought this would be useful as having too many people as silhouettes would result in a great deal of masking which would render some people useless. We then changed it so that Lorna and I perform in front of the sheet being used for silhouetting and Charlie and Ollie be the silhouetted pair. We also though cannon would be best as well because having the two pairs perform simultaneously would be pointless as the audience will only really watch one pair then merely acknowledge the other pair.

Above is a video of the dance we have so far. Of course, the pair in the background, Charlie and Ollie, will be silhouetted in the legitimate performance but in the video they are just a few steps back. Source: (Click Here)

17/12/15
Today, during our lunchtime, we decided to add more to our dance! After quickly running what we already had, we slowly added more and more to our piece. This featured adding childlike hymn-hand movements. I thought adding this would further embody the child spirit in the actors (Lorna and I) playing the roles of Kay and Gerda. We also added a move where Gerda falls backwards and Kay catches her; we used this to portray the support between the two characters which then sets up their relationship! Having this strong bond established will make the kidnap of Kay a lot more traumatic.

We also briefly thought about how we would have The Snow Queen (Rhiannon) introduced. This would feature her rolling in as a silhouette, the rest of the silhouetted actors (Rob, Ollie & Charlie) covering her, then they disperse for the Rhiannon to strut out as the Snow Queen. This represents the clumping together of snowflakes which was mentioned in the narrative. Next lesson we will record this.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 35 (Evaluation) - 16/12/15

Today was our performance of our contemporary play, The Flint Street Nativity and it was an extremely successful performance! The day after performing, I watched the recording of the performance to wrote down all the notes I could possibly make on my performance and also some very important notes on some of the other cast members performances which largely contributed to the success of the performance!

• Great movement fully portraying the role of a 7 year-old.
• Superb reactions in the conflict with Narrator (Ollie M) in opening argument.
• Opening monologue was great with confident, clear and characterised speech.
• Interaction with Gabriel (Rhiannon) was reputable with good pauses and stuttered speech to show fear.
• Upon entering, I didn't have my rocket as it was moved from where I placed it in the wings! I did well to exit when I shouldn't have but in a convincing fashion in order to find my rocket!
• Before exiting, I play with my rocket in the, "NASA to Voyager 10," part, so I did well to improvise and mime playing with the rocket then going to locate it afterwards!
• When waiting to deliver the, "Everyone's dead over..." line, I had to wait for Wise Gold (Hope) to say her line ("Ashley?"). In rehearsals, I always accidentally, skip over her line, however in this performance, I remembered but was left hanging in silence as she forgot about it, most likely due to my mistakes in rehearsals. This created an awkward 2 second silence.
• I stepped up onto the platform very slyly and made it look completely natural.
• My actions and gestures on the platform were very bold and large as to gain the audiences attention as I was further away than everyone else.
• My facial expressions and change of voice when Innkeeper (James) appeared were superb but my movement could've been a great deal better.
• When exiting off the platform into the wings, I notice that the trolley had been moved from the wings! This trolley held Peter Crouch and was vital to the next scene! Upon rewinding, I learnt that Angel (Cel) moved the trolley after we all dispersed following the song, "O Come All Ye Faithful." I was surprised that she'd done that as she'd never done it any of the rehearsals although it wasn't as much as of an issue as I thought as I quickly managed the situation by telling James the change of the trolley's location and how his movement would change based on it.
• My stuttering and stalling was effective at portraying Star's fear for Innkeeper)
• Great reaction to the escape of Peter Crouch with very loud, panicked screaming and cowering movement!
• Nice flowing and childish entrance after exiting with the Peter Crouch trolley.
• When sitting on the table waiting for my next dialogue, I did very well to interact with the other characters, Wise Gold (Hope) and Wise Frankincense (Ollie K), through mime. I also drew pictures and played with other toys on the table! I was very wise as to use the paper that was on the table to write a message to Ollie K; I didn't know where my rocket was and I needed to find it for my other scenes so I wrote on some paper, "Where's my rocket?" and he wrote in reply, "Somewhere in the left wing." This helped me find it a lot quicker including the help from Lorna when standing in the wings!
• When leading up to my next section of dialogue, ("Isn't! Isn't! Isn't!") my miming to Wise Gold (Hope) was in build up to our scene together! I was using physical gestures and spoke quietly as if we were already in debate before the audience actually hear us argue! This made the dialogue a great deal more fluent!
• After Innkeeper reveals the truth about Santa, we all coordinated well and gathered in the centre shouting and screaming to Miss Horrocks! We all stopped shouting at the same time as we had synchronised very well in rehearsals.
• In Act 1 Scene 2, my movement in my search for Peter Crouch was very effective at making it look like Marcus was wondering around. When I'm talking to Innkeeper (James) about my mission to find Peter Crouch, my gradient progression from large frantic actoins to small nervous gestures.
• My change in tone and pace of voice was effective at portraying the relationship between Star and Innkeeper and showed how Star, at first, needed to tell Innkeeper everything but later notices that Innkeeper isn't particularly bothered.
• Although the movement I did in this scene was very effective in entertaining the audience and showing the relationship between Star and Innkeeper, but I feel there wasn't enough movement. Upon looking back, I noticed that my movement seems very, "stop and start," and this can be improved by increasing the amount of movement I do and exaggerate this movement.
• When performing my song, "O Little Town Of Bethlehem," I remembered all of the lyrics and put emotion behind every word with tone/pitch/volume of voice and movement linking to the lyrics.
• During rehearsals, Rob always got two lines the wrong way round in his song with Mary (Lorna), and he did the same thing in our final performance however this time he saved it amazingly! He changed his line in order to fit the rhyme scheme of the song! The audience weren't aware of this change which was what was needed!
• When I performed my small Innkeeper part, my movement was very good and provided comedic value to the scene! My intentional costume change was very quick and made the audience laugh! However when getting changed, I lost my star when running through the doorway and it landed on the floor on the stage! When I run back in for the final time during the scene I picked up my star on the way out to make sure I had it ready for the next scene.
• During this scene, I enter and exit three times; the first time I exited, I entered the wings and Charlie told me that Jesus is still onstage and on the floor and he's needed for the next scene! So upon entering the second time, I performed my dialogue then picked up Jesus and exited. With the play being very make shift as it's a primary school nativity, we could afford to make these mistakes and resolve them in this way as this is how it would be resolved within the play.
• When I perform my small dualogue with Innkeeper (James) for the second time, my movement was a lot better than the first time as I had more larger and exaggerated movements.
• When Hope wonders around looking for Adrian (Ollie K), she noticed that Jesus was left onstage when he shouldn't have been AGAIN!! She improvised very well by picking up Jesus and saying, "Oh no! Someone left Jesus again!" This was great as she was able to bring Jesus back to Lorna when she exited ready for the next scene.
• When Star sees his Uncle Ted in the audience, I was extremely loud and provided a convincing reaction with amazingly exaggerated gestures/actions, excited facial expressions and very loud speech!
• When we had to line up for Silent Night we get in the order, Me, Ollie M, Katya etc. and then when James enters he should stand between Ollie M and Katya but instead, in the final performance, he stood on the end next to me. This meant that when we run away in slow-motion James was in the wrong place so he had to run across Ollie and I. This meant it was also very difficult for Ollie to kick James when he's in my arms.
• My reprise of, "O Little Town..." was very emotional because of the tearful tone of voice I used and my lack of movement combined with my slouched posture. This helped portray the harsh truth that Marcus had gotten angry with a star! I performed this song for the perfect amount of time as this song is used for the rest of the cast to change into their adult costumes. I purposely performed the song for a long time to give the cast enough time and it certainly worked as I entered the wings to find everyone ready.
• My entrance as Uncle Ted was loud and confident just as it would be! My movement was very large and exaggerated and my voice was loud and wasn't hesitant at all.
• When the penny drops and everyone finds out Uncle Ted isn't Marcus' dad, I completely changed the character! My movements were contracted and very nervous with stuttered, quiet speech to represent the dip in confidence.
• For the rest of the scene, I kept consistently moving to make sure the scene wasn't too static. This included constantly walking, eating food and conversing with other parents.
• When it came to Sarah Bennet's Breakdown, a part which has always been an issue in rehearsals, we did very well! We started arguing quietly and progressively built up to a full blown argument. I feel the only way we could've improved is by taking our time a little more as it was over within 15 seconds.

Very Well Recieved Jokes:

• Dirty Pedro
• Sheppey in Spain
• "She's not gonna be Mary"
• MY DAD!
• "Don't grow up like my dad!"
• "There's me Dad!"
• Star enters in wrong costume
• Mary gives birth
• "THAT'S MY SOCIAL WORKER!"
• "Thank you!" (At the end of Shepherds song)
• "Jesus' heads fallen off!"
• "I've wet me leg"
• "38-40"
• "Stole jeans from MATALAN"
• "Longer playtime and biscuits!"
• "Frankenshit!"
• Wise Frankincense and Ass' song
• Bringing on Herod's palace
• Star seeing Uncle Ted in the audience
• Jesus is a twin?
• "More Myrrh!...AND FRANKENSHIT!"
• "These nativities are crap bless'em!"

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 34 - 15/12/15 & 16/12/15

15/12/15
Today was our first time performing on the stage! We first familiarised ourselves with the wings and our entrance and exit points and then got down to some rehearsing!

We first performed the adults scene to get a feel for the space we had and we worked on our movement to increase fluidity and efficiency. During this rehearsal, the breakdown of Sarah Bennet was a train wreck to say the least. Focus disintegrated rapidly and everyone was more concentrated on getting all the right lines at the right time instead of saying anything which would lead to Sarah's breakdown a great deal faster. After much discussion, we decided that we would not focus on our actual lines and we'd just say things which linked to our lines. This would stop everyone focusing on when to say things because in a realistic situation like in this scene, people wouldn't wait for someone to stop speaking before they start, they'd speak over them.

After this we performed Act 1 Scene 1, with props and set! From this rehearsal, I decided that I needed to improve my body language to fully illustrate the relationship between Bradley and Marcus and show Marcus' fear/ Bradley's intimidation. I will do this by constantly moving my feet which shows someone's wish to leave a situation along with fearful facial expressions and a mixture of fast and slow movements.

16/12/15
Today was the day of our performance and we had a lot of rehearsing to be getting on with! We first set up the staging by building the Christmas tree, pinning up, tidying the wings and building our new platforms. These new platforms were placed upstage for they represented the home corner (along with a children's tent) and Miss Horrocks' special cupboard! We decided to use platforms as everyone having to come offstage for a short scene between Innkeeper and Star would be ludicrous as they would have to come back on a minute later! With the platform there, Star can make his way up then walk over to Innkeeper in the home corner and thus begins their scene.

After sorting the stage, we started rehearsing, we first started from the beginning and went through the entire show slowly to make sure everyone entered and exited where they should. After this we worked on the individual parts which needed improving! One of these was (surprise surprise) the breakdown of Sarah Bennet! Because everyone was focused on getting their lines right, whenever someone got their line wrong, the next person to speak would pick them up on their mistake, ruining the flow of the entire breakdown. We discussed this issue and decided that when performing this scene, to not worry too much about getting our lines spot on as when we do get every line correct, the whole breakdown sounds choreographed which isn't the effect that we're trying to have on the audience.

Another point brought up was those who aren't speaking as children need to do something whether it be drawing, playing, wondering around, anything! If we're all sitting still doing nothing at all, the whole piece would be dead and abandoned. Schools are very busy and hectic due to the high energy of children so if we're all just sat down waiting for our next lines, then the classroom will be boring.

Finally, we ran the entire show once more but this time in full costume! After this run through, I found that the thermal blanket I was wearing as Star was inconveniently loud! Any large movement produces a loud rustling noise which not only distracts the rest of the cast but also drowns out all other noises onstage which proves very difficult for the audience to hear everyone else onstage! This effect is just as strong when I'm in the wings too! From this I've learnt that I should restrict myself from large movements as much as possible when onstage and restrict myself from any movement at all when in the wings!

When I perform, "O Little Town Of Bethlehem," in the second act, everyone else has to get changed into their adult costumes! This ranged from Lorna only having to take a dress off and put jeans on to James having to take off a robe and put on a suit! After gaining knowledge of this, I decided that I'd try and long out this song as much as possible to give the rest of the cast enough time to get changed! When I tried that in this runthrough, I entered the wings to find James topless and Lorna with no shoes on. This meant they didn't have enough time to get changed so for next time, I'll have to perform the song even slower! This means I'll have to add in pauses and speak the words slower.

Double - Commedia Dell'arte - Blog 2 - 14/12/15

Today, we made our masks ready to be further designed and decorated after the Christmas break! We did this using plaster of Paris! We paired up (James & Rob/Charlie & Ollie/Lorna & I) for the application of plaster of Paris required another person. We chose to mould these masks from our faces using plaster of Paris as in the times of Commedia, the actors masks were moulded from their faces so than each mask was unique and belonged to them. These masks only fitted them. This would make these masks very authentic to the original Commedia Dell'arte style.

Firstly, we applied coconut oil to our faces especially to our eyebrows to protect our faces from becoming dangerously attached the dry, hard plaster of Paris. This meant that when it came to pulling the dry mask off, it wouldn't pull of skin/eyebrows off. After applying the oil, we lied on our backs and let our partners put a damp, folded tissue on our eyes to prevent the plaster of Paris attaching to our eyelids. We then got plastered by our partners! They applied three layers of the plaster of Paris to our faces from the hairline down to the upper lip. They applied three layers as only one or two would be very fragile so three layers gave the mask extra support. When applying the plaster of Paris over our nostrils, we had to apply a damp tissue over our nostrils to prevent the plaster of Paris leaving into our noses which can be very harmful. For this period of time, we had to only breath through our mouths.

Next lesson, we will look at the rest of the stock characters, decide on our characters and think about what to add to our masks!

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - "Nativity" Film Research - 13/12/15

Today I watched the film, "Nativity." Nativity is about a group of primary school children putting on a nativity play for their parents to come see but they are met with many trials and tribulations! I decided to watch this movie as I assumed it would clearly demonstrate the behaviour of children in most situations and it would portray the children's reactions to 'Naughty words,' the events of the nativity and being told off. Below is my research:

When a rude word was spoken, children looked at each other, gasped and muttered quietly to each other statements such as "ummers." I will use this when Shepherd (Kat) says, "The french are a a load of shppt-"

When performing, all the children looked very happy but still very nervous! I will use this for when I perform, "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" for the time.

When talking to the teachers, the children always sound innocent and slightly fearful of punishment but they still speak truthfully. I will use this when I get told off by Miss Horrocks when Mary (Lorna) and Joseph (Rob) search for an Inn.

When there is a small argument, the two children act rather agressively but childish with tongue-poking and dirty looks. I will use this when I have arguments with Narrator (Ollie M) at the beginning and during the slow motion escape from Peter Crouch

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 33 - 11/12/15

Today in Single, we attempted another full runthrough which turned out really well! I felt I performed amazingly well as Star and my Uncle Ted was the best it's ever been.

I also performed in some of my costume for once too! I wore my Star hat which I made at home and I wore a thermal blanket as mentioned in a script!

I performed my song for the first time today without reading from the script fully but I kept it with me as a prompt. I only needed the script once and it went rather well! Next rehearsal, I'm hoping to do it without a script!

When we performed the adult section, there were a lot of mistakes! This was because, where we had a spent a lot of time on the child parts, not many people kept on top of their lines. This led to many prompts being needed especially in, "Sarah Bennet's Breakdown," part. The lack of concentration started getting us and this led to people sitting down, not giving it their all or getting angry at others. This attitude towards rehearsals needs to be changed as we're less than a week away from our performance and we won't be ready in time for the performance date.

Double - Commedia Dell'arte - Blog 1 - 11/12/15

Today in Double, we started our unit on Commedia Dell'arte (Art Comedy)! It began in Italy in the 16th century and the roughest translation for it is, "Comedy of Craft." Famous companies across time who performed Commedia Dell'arte include, Soldati, Ganassa, Gelosi. Magistrates were not receptive of the travelling companies and they were referred to as Vagabondi (Vagabond in today's terms). Conventional plot lines were written on themes of sex, jealousy, love and old age. Masks are essential in Commedia Dell'arte.

We started the lesson with a warm up led by me. I had the class run around the room and then perform either push ups, squats or sit ups as we needed to be ready and warmed up for our new unit. We then led a stretch each and performed a focus exercise.

We started by watching a video (click here to go to the video) introducing us to some of the stock characters in Commedia Dell'arte. We learnt that the characters were ordered in a hierarchy of status and power with the Magnifico at the top and Zanni at the bottom. Looking at these characters helps us understand how Commedia Dell'arte is performed. We also learnt from the video that most actors performed with masks and that the characters with long noses are considered dumb and stupid. We learnt that lot of the time, the characters didn't speak English but they spoke a language called, "Gromalot." 

Gromalot, is a style of language used in satirical theatre. It's a gibberish with macaronic and onomatopoeic elements, used in association with mime and mimicry. The fact that it's gibberish makes the actual language non-understandable unless spoken with emotion. When said bluntly, it means nothing but with emotion the language can be as easily understandable as English.

We spent time performing as four of the characters in Commedia Dell'arte: Magnifico, Zanni, Brighella and Harlequin! We spent time learning about their personality and how each one moves. Below is their characteristics and how they move.

• Magnifico: Looks down on everything and everyone, leader, when one dies another automatically appears, the most powerful, very wise, from Magnifico comes the other masters (Pantalone & The Doctor) leads from the chest, high, takes up as much room on the stage as physically possible, doesn't care for anyone
• Zanni: Peseant, everything is extraordinary to him, curious, enthusiastic, servant to Magnifico, from Zanni comes the other servants (Brighella & Harlequin) lead from the nose, low, arms up at shoulder height, feet out in front as they want to come up
• Brighella: cunning, master of servants and servant of master, uniform, proud, welcoming, womaniser, fall in love easily, selfish, leads from head, arms at shoulder height, elbows out, higher than Zanni but still low, direct movement
• Harlequin: thinks he's gorgeous, confident, amoral, lives in the moment, acrobatic, cheeky, always hungry, playful, leads from crotch, very loose but heavy hands, indirect movement

We walked around as each character and started pairing few of them up! We got into pairs of Magnificos and Zannis and performed a short piece and then got into pairs of Brighellas and Harlequins. This helped us analyse how each character works and how we would put them into action.

Finally, we split the class in half (Rob, Ollie & James/ Charlie, Lorna & Me) and each group had to choose 3 characters and who would play them to create a short story. Our group chose the characters Magnifico (Lewis), Brighella (Lorna) and Harlequin (Charlie). This was our story outline:

• Magnifico commands Brighella to get something done then exits
• Brighella obliges politely
• Brighella telling Harlequin what needs to be done but Harlequin doesn't care and laughs
• Magnifico enters and demands to know whether what he wanted done is done and gets angry when he finds its not
• Brighella tries again to tell Harlequin what to do but Harlequin continues to laugh her off
• Brighella tells Magnifico that Harlequin isn't listening to her but he sends her off
• Brighella tells Harlequin what to do and he laughs at her but he, once again, laughs her off
• Brighella thinks of a plan to pretend to be Magnifico to get Harlequin to do what she told him to do
• Brighella pretends to be Magnifico to get Harlequin to do something but he realises it's her and (surprise, surprise) laughs at her

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 32 - 10/12/15

Today, we decided to go over songs! We started with, "O Come All Ye Faithful" as we are very confident with it! As we were confident with our lyrics, we decided to focus more on our movement as children. I swayed side to side and looked around as these are typical actions that a 7 year-old would do.

I then performed my solo song, "Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem." I already had cue cards with my lyrics wrote up on them ready for this practice and they had established which lines I was speaking and which I am singing. My main downfall here is people talking off stage which limits how much I can here myself. Next time, everyone in the wings should be quiet. I feel I performed this song well but for next time I should have the lyrics memorised.

We also performed, "Silent Night," which to be blunt was a train-wreck. Not many people were focused and it took us a while to find a suitable backing track but apart from this it wasn't too bad. 

Double - Storytelling - Blog 14 (Snow Queen) - 09/12/15

Today, we spent time looking at Story Three of The Snow Queen; my part! I had already come to the lesson with a summarised and devised all of the movement. I wanted the focus of this story to be Epic Theatre made by practitioner Bertholt Brecht! I chose Brecht as I have a great deal knowledge on him as I spent a lot of time studying him for GCSE Drama. Some of the techniques he uses includes Narration, Placards, Tableaux and Breaking the Fourth Wall! On a separate blog post is the devising for my story.

To the right is a video of our runthrough after we learned the movement! After everyone forms a river, I take the place of Rhiannon as she was not in the lesson. I would be paired with everything Charlie does (become a cottage, a gate and a tree). Source:(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnSETChnQU)

After Story 3, we looked at Story 2; James was leading this story. He decided he really liked the idea of silhouettes as a way to tell the story and I agreed with him fully 100%! I suggested we watch silhouette drama first before we start devising something so that we get an idea of what challenges we may face and what he could include. I suggested Britain's Got Talent winners Attraction! We decided to watch two of their videos and we took note of their abstract use of actors, their dance techniques and their time of performance.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 31 - 08/12/15

Today we performed a full production runthrough and I feel we did rather well! Most people remembered their lines and we all maintained 100% focus!

There was a small mix-up regarding the order of sequences of events though. Lorna thought that I start my search for Bradley earlier than I actually do. This caused confusion when Hope, Cel and Toby (filling in for Rhiannon) performed a part that they already should've done but was skipped due to James and I skipping ahead. This wouldn't of happened if James, Lorna and I knew the order of events better. For next rehearsal, we will make sure that we know our cue lines which cue other people and our cue lines for ourselves.

We discovered that, although we all had a great knowledge of our lines, a lot of us forgot the lyrics to our songs. For next lesson I will have my song remembered as much as possible!

Double - Children's Theatre (FMF) - Blog 17 (Evaluation) - 07/12/15

Today was the big day; our first performance of Fantastic Mr Fox! I feel our performance was superb and kept every child entertained. I feel that these are the things which went incredibly well and what we would need to improve on:

Scene 1: 

• great impacting movement and our interaction between each other made the entire scene very comical
• this led to the effect of a believable family
• the transition between this scene and the next was very fluid
• in order to make this scene better, Charlie must engage with the audience more which will strengthen the bond between the protagonist and the audience

Scene 2:

• James' stance as Bunce was lost from the beginning of the scene
• Rob's entrance was very comical
• overall movement across the scene was characterised well
• Rob's mime during Boggis' description was very funny providing a good insight to the character
• James' mime was practically non-existent as he only stood still as Bunce
• my mime was well prepared and was characterised very well
• Ollie's interaction with the audience was very age appropriate and the audience joined in with the Boggis, Bunce and Bean song rather promptly

Scene 3:

• the movement in this scene for all three of us was very characterised superbly and made the characters authentic
• James seemed far too scary for our audience age
• Rob's characterisation was great
• James messed up his lines which left an awkward gap
• the interaction between James and Rob was great throughout
• the punch was hilarious and evoked a positive reaction from the audience
• my entrance to break up the fight was urgent, direct and forceful
• we all maintained a great knowledge of power and status
• my interactive conversation with the audience was amazing and I managed to deal with every response well
• I said the word, "big" quite a lot when describing where Mr Fox lived so I need to vary my vocabulary a lot more
• I forgot to start off the laughing which lost the meaning of the joke

Scene 4:

• the sneaking was very good behind the audience and got their attention
• worryingly, this distracted the audience from Mr Fox's entrance
• Charlie's tail fell off when it wasn't meant to so it wasn't attached properly
• he covered this up well but the cover up wasn't needed as the audience wasn't paying attention to Charlie at all
• Charlie's fried chicken line was far too quick as it wasn't articulated very well and the audience were still focused on the farmers
• the shooting scene was very effective but may have frightened the children, however the movement was the perfect speed and our facial expressions were very exaggerated

Scene 5:

• some of the humour between Mr and Mrs Fox may have been too old for our young audience
• the choral speech between the two fox cubs was very cute and this characterisation created authentic fox cub characters
• James' characterisation could've been better though
• the interaction between the narrator and the children was perfect and every child joined in
• the build up to the race was perfect with nice stretches
• the slow motion race was absolutely hilarious and kept the audience interested throughout with funny facial expressions and over-the-top movement

Scene 6:

• the transition between scenes was unrecognisable
• my voice went part way through the scene but I managed to get it back
• the length of time between each, "Shhhh" moment was perfect and was very funny
• James forgot one of his lines but then said it midway through my speech, this led to mild confusion and a small gap of awkward silence
• the X factor joke seemed a bit lost as it wasn't appropriate to our audience
• the laughing in this scene was better than that of scene 3

Scene 7:

• Lorna maintained her child voice throughout the entire scene
• the physical comedy was great and was very suitable for our audience
• very good interaction with Mr Fox and the audience

Scene 8:

• the movement in the entire scene was perfect and showed the struggle the foxes went through in a comical way
• the child voices were as convincing as ever
• great reactions to finding the huge amount of food

Scene 9:

• very positive reactions from the children
• Lorna's movement, voice and actions as a child were terrific
• "You've really gone and done it now," like the X factor joke, wasn't well matched to the audience

Scene 10:

• the sneaking was great
• movement from Charlie, James and Lorna was consistently great!

Scene 11:

• my entrance as Rabbit was very good and established the character well
• Rob was very late with his, "Thirsty," line but this wasn't a major mistake
• Rob nearly fell over during his entrance
• Lorna's awkward costume change was very good as it didn't grab the audience's attention
• Rat's entrance was very effective at grasping the audience's attention
• Lorna's Rat characterisation was very good and showed a clear contrast from her other character
• everyone poking out of the cider jar line was very funny and amused the audience a lot
• head poking was in time everytime
• one of Charlie's lines was delayed and created an awkward silence
• everyone's exits were effective and fluent

Scene 12:

• the summary of the ending narration was very funny and age appropriate
• the song was very entertaining
• most people needed to sing louder especially Rhiannon in her solo
• everyone needed to sing during the chorus not just 3 people
• Charlie should've started the goodbye as this led to an awkward silence for a few seconds until I started the goodbye

Key notes for improvement:

• James needs to establish his characterisation more
• Rhiannon needs to be louder in her solo in the song
• Charlie needs to make sure his tail is loose enough to take off but not too loose that it falls off
• everyone needs to be aware what their lines are and when they are to avoid awkward silences
• we need to either make sure we get the correct audience we prepared for (5-7 year-olds) or change our performance to better match our comedy with their sense of humour (e.g. switch X Factor for Dora The Explorer)

Double - Children's Theatre (FMF) - Blog 16 - 07/12/15

Today was the performance of our Children's Theatre Unit production of Fantastic Mr Fox and we needed to fit as much rehearsal time as possible! We started the day with a prop sort out and making sure we had every prop! After much confusion over who was bringing what prop in, we only got one farmer hat! I though that Bean should be the farmer with the hat, not for selfish reasons, but because the other two farmers had distinguishing factors which separated them from the rest of the cast: Boggis with his large inflatable belly and Bunce with his height. As Bean had nothing which characteristically obvious about him, we gave Bean the hat.

After a prop sort out, we performed a run through to nitpick the final changes which needed to be made! Then came another runthrough, but this time with an audience!!!

We performed our piece to an audience of 30 Year 9's who surprisingly enjoyed it despite it being aimed at 6 year-olds; this was rather worrying. They were a great audience who supplied us with great reactions and got involved in interaction.

Upon this runthrough, I realised a massive flaw which we hadn't noticed in other runthroughs. At the end of, "We'll Never Let Him Go," I lead James and Rob off to the right wing however they both start their next scene on the left wing. This means not only are they in the wrong wing to start, but they couldn't improvise and run on from a different side because their props and costume was on the other props table in the other wing where they should've been before. To combat this for our real performance, I will move my prop I need for my next scene (the bunny ears for Rabbit), to the left wing prop table and I'd come on from this wing as opposed to the other for the beginning of, "Bean's Cider Cellar Raid." This means at the end of, "We'll Never Let Him Go," James, Rob and I can all exit to the left wing and have all of our props ready for our next scenes.

After these last minute runthroughs, I feel a great deal more confident for our assessed performance!

Double - Children's Theatre - Individual Work - 06/12/15

Throughout this unit, we have worked together to devise scenes, come up with ideas and of course decided the play we were going to perform! However, there have been instances where I have done things outside of lesson individually in order to further our performance!

Cider Jar and Poultry Meat cardboard cut-outs!

Firstly, Lorna started making some of the props including poultry meat and a large cider jar (pictured left)! I helped her by cutting the chickens out, going over the edges with black marker again (as after cutting them out, the edges weren't even no longer) and helping her reinforce them as the cardboard would be very floppy with just one layer, whilst she drew and painted the props themselves and reinforced them also.

Additionally, we needed some music/sound effects for the show as some of the more exciting scenes would be very boring without it. After we, as a group, found the music for, "Boggis' Chicken House Raid," and "Bunce's Duck and Goose House Raid," I looked into finding some music for other scenes. The song we found was called, "Sneaky Snitch," and was made by Kevin MacLeod. I already had knowledge on the composer and creator of the track and I knew he was a very well known producer of royalty-free, instrumental music! I looked into his archive of songs on Spotify and found many more songs for other scenes! Below is the list of songs I found and what scenes they were used in:

• "Hidden Agenda," - The sneaking in, "Bean's Cider Cellar Scene."
• "Arcadia," - When the animals broke into the cellar and they saw all the wonderful cider in, "Bean's Cider Cellar Scene."
• "Scheming Weasel," (x2 due to the original track being too short) - When Rat appears in, "Bean's Cider Cellar Scene."

Finally, during the early days of devising we decided that for the Farmer's scenes, we wouldn't bother devising these scenes in class and we'd have someone devise and script them outside of class; I stepped up to this task! I wrote a script for Scene 2: The Three Farmers Introduction (was previously Scene 1), Scene 3: The Plan For Shooting, and Scene 6: We'll Never Let Him Go! I also wrote a script for what would've been Scene 13: Still Waiting but we thought this scene would remove from the atmosphere of, "The Great Feast," scene. Upon bring these scripts into lesson, everyone was happy with them and they only needed minor changes made to make them work with the rest of the scenes.

Double - Children's Theatre (FMF) - Blog 15 - 04/12/15

Today in Double, we performed a full runthrough of our production and I feel it went superb! We also performed with props and costume for the first time! Here is the list of props and costume we used:

• Fox ears and tails (four of each)
• Inflatable Belly (For Boggis & Mole/Rob)
• Farmer's Hat (For Boggis/Rob)
• Spoon (For Boggis/Rob)
• Gun (For Boggis/Rob)
• Spectacles (For Mole/Rob)
• Chickens and Cider Bottle Cardboard Cut-Outs
• Spade (For Bunce/James)
• Gun (For Bean/Lewis)
• Rat Nose (For Rat/Lorna)
• Walkie Talkie (For Boggis & Bean/ Rob & Lewis

We laid out the props on prop tables in each of the wings for easy access and so they weren't lost; they were all on their specified table which was relevant to where the user was coming off! This performance was our best yet and there were a great deal of good notes:

• Charlie engaged the audience very well and instantly with his characterisation!
• All of our costumes looked great and were effective at portraying our characters!
• Rhiannon's approach to Mrs. Fox was a great deal softer as opposed to her previous sarcastic and vindictive approach! This was much more child friendly and refreshing!
• Our music worked very well; it was timed properly and all links worked!
• "The Race," was as great as ever and was extremely side-splitting!
• "The Great Feast," song was a very sweet ending to a tense and funny production!
• Lorna's characterisation of Fox Cub and Rat were very contrasting and because her actions were very cogent, she produced very authentic characters!
• Lewis' characterisation of Rabbit was absolutely hilarious (not one to blow my own horn!)
• Lewis' Bean voice was maintained throughout the entire production and showed his ability to characterise very well as this voice contrasted very well with Rabbits!
• Lorna and Lewis maintained great focus for the whole run!

Some key improvements which we need to work on feature:

• Lorna needs a backpack for the, "Terrible Shovels," scene (Charlie: Kids go pack your stuff)
• Ollie needs to learn his lines for narration in order for everyone else to know what comes next; some of his lines cue others lines! He also needs to be much more engaging and energetic with the audience! The children's theatre unit is meant for entertaining the audience of children and this means being energetic and interactive! A way for Ollie to improve his interaction is by repeating the Boggis, Bunce and Bean rhyme many times in order to get the audience buzzing at the get go!
• Rob should eat food during the shooting scene instead of actually shooting Mr Fox! This plays to his character's personality better and adds yet another layer of comedy!
• Charlie's, "Fried Chicken?" section needs to be longer and clearer in order for the children to hear and fully understand the humour of the joke! Also, during, "The Great Feast," scene, he should elongate his, "dad dancing," as this is a very humorous part of the scene which the children will appreciate!
• James needs to really learn his lines as he was constantly delayed and he missed some very key lines (James: We could stop him?). He also needs to work on his characterisation for Fox Cub as he's not very believable! Children need convincing characters to relate to during a performance in order to fully entertain them. Also, when in the role of Bunce, he needs to keep his posture consistent as this removes the whole atmosphere and stigma of his character.
• Lewis needs to try and find a walkie talkie prop for the, "We'll never let him go," scene. Having a walkie talkie instead of a mobile phone is much more relatable to children as children of the age we're performing to, 4-6, won't have a mobile phone but they'll be lot more familiar with walkie talkies!
• As a group, we need to be quieter when we're in the wings; the children might hear us and they'll be less focused on the actual performance!

Below is a list of all costumes for each character:

• Charlie (Mr. Fox)
• Blue Suit Trousers
• Blue Suit Jacket
• White Shirt
• Black Bow Tie
• Black Shoes
• Fox ears and tail
• Rhiannon (Mrs. Fox)
• Dress
• Leggings under dress
• Apron
• Vest top under dress
• Fox Ears and tail
• James (Fox Cub)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Fox ear and tail
• Lorna (Fox Cub)
• Black leggings
• Black Top
• Fox ears and tail
• Rob (Boggis)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Inflatable Belly
• Farmer's Hat
• James (Bunce)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Farmer's Hat
• Lewis (Bean)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Farmer's Hat
• Necklace for Fox Tail Necktie
• Fox Tail Necktie (After, "The Shooting.")
• Ollie (Badger)
• Black Trousers
• Grey Waistcoat
• White Shirt
• Lewis (Rabbit)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Bunny ears
• Rob (Mole)
• Back Joggers
• Black Top
• Inflatable Belly (Worn on his back)
• Spectacles

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (FSN) - Blog 30 - 04/12/15

Today in Single, we decided to perform Flint Street but with a twist! We performed all of Act 2 (minus songs), however when we were the children we performed as if we were the adults and vice versa! I felt this was useful as this helped establish the relationships between parent and child a lot better and gave us a new challenge. However, I feel an ordinary rehearsal would've been more useful as this child/adult switch up activity wouldn't be how we'd perform it for the real thing.

Double - Children's Theatre (FMF) - Entire Production Outline - 06/12/15

Scene Order:

Scene 1 - Fox Family Introduction

Characters: Mr Fox, Mrs Fox, Fox Cub (James), Fox Cub (Lorna)

- Narrator introduces the Fox Family

- Mr Fox introduces himself and his family

- Narrator mentions the farmers, Fox Family exits

Scene 2 - The Three Farmers Introduction

Characters: Boggis, Bunce, Bean - Songs: Combine Harvester

- Bunce runs in with a chicken drumstick, checking beforehand, he eats it

- Boggis enters puffed out, he sees Bunce and takes the drumstick, he holds it above him

- Bean enters seeing them argue, he takes the chicken from Boggis and they get in a line

- The farmers bop in time with the music

- Narrator describes each farmer, each farmer steps forwards and mimes during their description

Scene 3 - The Plan For Shooting

Characters: Boggis, Bunce, Bean

- Boggis and Bunce argue over their farms

- Bunce hits Boggis and Boggis cries, Bean enters to stop the argument

- Bean asks for suggestions on how to get rid of the fox

- The Farmers leave ready for the shooting

Scene 4 - The Shooting

Characters: Mr Fox, Boggis, Bunce, Bean

- The Farmers run behind the audience with their guns, Mr Fox comes out

- Boggis steps in Fox poo

- Mr Fox smells, "fried chicken," then runs to the side, Farmers get into position for shooting

- FIRE! The Farmers open fire on Mr Fox, everyone freezes while Mr Fox is in mid-run, Bean shoots his tail off

- After Mr Fox exits, Boggis and Bunce run for the tail, Bean snatches it off of them

- The Farmers form a plan to dig Mr Fox out

Scene 5 - Terrible Shovels, Terrible Tractors and The Race

Characters: Mr Fox, Mrs Fox, Fox Cub (James), Fox Cub (Lorna), Boggis, Bunce, Bean - Songs: Chariots Of Fire

- Mrs Fox is fixing Mr Fox's tail, The Fox Cubs are playing and hear noises

- Mr Fox realises its The Farmers and gets the Cubs to pack some stuff, they exit and James changes to Bunce

- Fox Cub (Lorna) returns and Mr Fox starts digging with the kids help

- The noise gets louder and Mrs Fox and Fox Cub (Lorna) join in, The Farmers get ready up on the steps

- As the music starts we start the race in slow motion, The Fox Family escape

Scene 6 - "We'll Never Let Him Go"

Characters: Boggis, Bunce, Bean

- Boggis and Bunce complain that they'll never catch Mr Fox, Bean tries to think of a plan to catch him

- After multiple interruptions, Bean decides that they'll stay there until Mr Fox comes out

- After much complaint, The Farmers shake on it and they get Bean's wife to deliver some supplies

Scene 7 - Starvation Kicks In & The Plan

Characters: Mr Fox, Mrs Fox, Fox Cub (Lorna)

- Whilst Mrs Fox comforts Fox Cub, Mr Fox must come up with a plan

- With help from the audience, Mr Fox exits with his family and plan in his mind

Scene 8 - Boggis' Chicken House Raid

Characters: Mr Fox, Fox Cub (James), Fox Cub (Lorna) - Songs: Sneaky Snitch

- Mr Fox and his cubs sneak, dig, crawl and duck to Boggis' Chicken House

- After grabbing as much as they could, they took the chicken back to Mrs Fox

Scene 9 - A Surprise For Mrs Fox

Characters: Mrs Fox, Fox Cub (Lorna), Mr Fox, Fox Cub (James)

- Fox Cub (Lorna) wakes up her mum to show her the chicken her and her father got together

- Mr Fox enters with Fox Cub (James) and a lot more chicken, Mrs Fox panics for their safety

- She orders Mr Fox to get rid of the chicken but ends up keeping the lot

- Mr Fox thinks its not enough and hatches another plan

Scene 10 - Bunce's Duck And Goose Raid House Raid

Characters: Mr Fox, Fox Cub (Lorna), Fox Cub (James) - Songs: Sneaky Snitch

- Mr Fox and his cubs sneak, dig, crawl and duck to Bunce's Duck and Goose House

- After grabbing as much as they could, they took the meat back home

Scene 11 - Bean's Cider Cellar Raid

Characters: Mr Fox, Fox Cub (James), Rabbit, Mole, Badger, Rat - Songs: Hidden Agenda - Arcadia - Scheming Weasel

- Mr Fox decided he needed cider for a great feast, he and Fox Cub (James) pay Bean's Cider Cellar a visit

- Along the way, they met Rabbit, Mole and Badger (narrator)

- They popped up into Bean's Cider Cellar and were amazed by the sight

- In their awe, they bumped into Rat who tried to scare them off but failed miserably

- As the animals round up some cider, Bean's wife appears and they all hide behind a large cider bottle

- When she finally disappears, the animals are relieved, Rabbit and Mole leave before she comes back

- Rat calls for Bean as Mr Fox and his friends flee

Scene 12 - The Great Feast

Characters: Mr Fox, Mrs Fox, Fox Cub (James), Fox Cub (Lorna), Rabbit, Mole, Badger - Songs: You've Got A Friend In Me (Instrumental)

- Badger tells the audience what became of The Three Farmers and announces the beginning of The Great Feast

- Mr Fox and his friends run in and sing, "You've Got A Friend In Me"

- We end the song in a tableau and say goodbye to the audience

Prop List

• Fox ears and tails (four of each)
• Inflatable Belly
• Farmer's Hat
• Beanie
• Spoon
• Plastic Spade
• Shovel
• Gun
• Pistol
• Spectacles
• Wire Frame Glasses
• Chickens and Cider Bottle Cardboard Cut-Outs
• Rat Nose
• Mobile Phone (Used as a Walkie-Talkie)

Costume List:

• Charlie (Mr. Fox)
• Blue Suit Trousers
• Blue Suit Jacket
• White Shirt
• Black Bow Tie
• Black Shoes
• Fox ears and tail
• Rhiannon (Mrs. Fox)
• Dress
• Leggings under dress
• Vest top under dress
• Fox ears and tail
• James (Fox Cub)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Fox ears and tail
• Lorna (Fox Cub)
• Black leggings
• Black Top
• Fox ears and tail
• Rob (Boggis)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Inflatable Belly
• Farmer's Hat
• James (Bunce)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Farmer's Hat
• Lewis (Bean)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Farmer's Hat
• Necklace for Fox Tail Necktie
• Fox Tail Necktie (After, "The Shooting.")
• Ollie (Badger)
• Black Trousers
• Grey Waistcoat
• White Shirt
• Wire Frame Glasses
• Lewis (Rabbit)
• Black Joggers
• Black Top
• Bunny ears
• Rob (Mole)
• Back Joggers
• Black Top
• Inflatable Belly (Worn on his back)
• Spectacles