For the first verse and chorus we wanted to remain still and just speak our lines with varied hand gestures and facial expressions depending on what we're saying. My vision was to have us do this throughout the entire song but together we thought this would become too boring so after this first section, we would add movement. Our positions for this beginning are James and Ollie at the front with Lorna, Rob and I two steps behind them in a line; all facing the front.
For the next verse we wanted to focus on Lorna's character of an actor at an audition as she has the first line in this verse. We started off with this idea:
- First two lines: James and Ollie step back into our line and we all face to one side to represent a line at an audition. All of us would be getting ready by strecthing etc. while Lorna looks to the front looking nervous.
- For the next two lines: Lorna would move to the centre with Ollie and I at her side just behind her. James goes just in front of Lorna to the side and Rob goes up in front of Lorna. She looks at Rob hopefully but shakes his head whilst saying his line.
- He pushes her shoulder back and she falls backwards where Ollie and I catch her and lift her up as James and Rob lift up her legs.
- Rob and James let go of her legs as Ollie and I catch her in a swing carry. We then swing her a couple of times and throw her down.
We changed this idea for the following as we feel this looks more impressive:
- For the first two lines we do the same thing.
- For the next two, Ollie and I do the same thing while Rob and James go to their original positions but instead shake hands as James gets the acting job rather than Lorna. Lorna looks at Rob yearningly and does a pirouette to try to impress him but the pair walk off behind Lorna.
- Ollie and I then lift Lorna by her legs in a pencil lift and then let her fall backwards where James and Rob catch her.
- Ollie and I then put her legs down and throw her forward onto the floor.
We though this represented the meaning of the song better as Lorna's hopes were so high yet they fell so sharply.
For the next chorus, we wanted to focus on Ollie's character, a businessman who is intimidated by the hustle and bustle of the busy city. For this I wanted to use Round-By-Through as it is a very "frantic" physical theatre technique by Frantic Assembly. I thought it would be very effective at portraying the busyness of a modern day city. Below is how we arranged the scene:
- As we throw Lorna down she rolls into the position of a homeless woman and looks cold and depressed. The rest of us disperse and interact with each other using RBT.
- I spin Rob around, shift Ollie's weight by lifting him with my shoulder and then turn around James.
- After this Rob, James and I go back to our original staggered formation positions.
- Ollie walk around Lorna who pulls at his ankles and holds her hands out longingly. The pair then return to their original positions.
For the next section ("You have a house in the hills...") we stand still in our original positions and speak the entire section.
For the slow piano solo, we cover Rob's section. We changed Rob's character into a teacher as we thought there was a lot more we could do with this rather than just a newspaper boy. For his scene we came up with the following movement:
- Lorna goes into a table top, while Ollie gets on his hands and knees behind her representing a desk and chair.
- Rob then sits on his "chair" and James and I continuously bring in paper for Rob to mark. This shows how Rob's life is getting busier and busier.
This is as far as we got with this song today but by next lesson we should have this song completed and ready to record.
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