Last week was extremely hectic as we finally took all of our hours of hard rehearsal to stage in Ashcroft theatre and performed to hundreds of children.
For me it wasn't until the show actually reached Ashcroft stage that I fully realised its full potential and how much our hard work had paid off. Our scenes became tighter and had were filled with high energy , also seeing the set on its stage really helped create the main character of the show which was the loft. With the pressure to deliver to all the children that were so excited about the performance and actually seeing our piece come to life the performance picked up an immense amount. The pirate scene in particular is one I am most proud to have been in. This was my lost boy scene so technically my main part. Yet it was the energy of the ensemble that really made this scene epic and allowed e personally to feed of it and create a more exciting performance as a lost boy. The pirate dance number used the most choreography of the performance and also involved sound by using props. This gave the number huge amounts of dimension and really bought the scene to life as where ever you looked there was something interesting going on. The biggest challenge for me in this scene was making sure i kept in character and didn't get carried away whilst feeding of the pirates energy and the children's reaction to this scene. Though the scene was meant to show a hugely energetic ship to make it work it required a lot of control and care as without the scene would become overwhelming and spiral out of control .
A role that I fully realised the importance of nearing the end of the project was the ensemble. Often people are told pieces are ensemble pieces so that people with smaller roles feel better . At the beginning I think i hugely underestimated the importance of the ensemble to the piece and the importance of creating full characterisation when I was part of the ensemble. However during the last runs and throughout the performances I realised it truly was an ensemble piece and without a really hard working ensemble the performance would have been flat and struggled to reach the children. In the court room scene I feel the ensemble were a vital component. It was the jurors job to retain a huge energy throughout the dialogue and give something for the Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit to react from . In order for strong characters to be created the jurors were vital as without them there would be no stimulus to react to. Being part of the ensemble here made me realise just how important creating a strong focused character is , even if not speaking. Previously I had not been bold enough with my choices however when I focused my mind and energy and really thought about who I was playing and their relationship to the scene and the surroundings I was able to create a noticeable character part of the scene and was also able to react and exist in the scene to a much higher standard.
Throughout the performance ensemble is hugely important as without it we would not have been able to create the dance and song numbers , also by making everyone involved I think we all pushed and taught ourselves to have more confidence and strive. Whilst more importantly illustrating to the children that we performed to that anything is possible and can be achieved through hard work .
Though are performance ended up to be a very successful show it was much more than just a performance. It was a way in which to communicate to many children and try and let them feel an effect from theatre as an art form . The performance had the clear message of telling children to read more and use their imaginations rather than always using a screen. I think this was told clearly and hopefully children will listen to that message. However for me the thing that made the show more than just a performance was the fact that it was a means to introduce a lot of kids to the theatre if they hadn't been before or even to broaden children's art experiences . I also think that it was important that our company were all young people meaning that for many kids it may have opened their eyes up to what an arts education is capable to producing. Which in many cases these kids may have been sheltered from . Though we didn't get to meet the children and talk to them about the show seeing their faces in the audience was extremely rewarding and did make it all worth it. I could tell that for some children we were creating something amazing and new for them that they may never have had the chance to experience before. As I love theatre and am a strong believer of its power in communicating with people from all classes , ages and backgrounds to see work that I was part of having such a big effect was remarkable.
This links into the difference of being a performer to a facilitator. In ashcroft though we were all performers we were more than that as we were not performing for our selves but more for the children. The whole play had been written and designed for the kids and thus our jobs as performers was to facilitate theatre to kids and make it accessible to them .
Overall I am very proud of our work in the Ashcroft Community project. Out of all of the piece the only part i felt really could have been improved was the Hundred Acre Woods forest as I thought it lacked slightly in the use of space and energy creating in the other scenes and was possibly slightly to young for some of the audience there . However the piece had to build up therefor its less big energy can be justified. Yet considering the time period I am very proud of the show we created. During the beginning of the process I had struggled to fully engage as I felt intimidating to sing and dance and also didn't understand how the project had a strong relationship with the community. Once I fully committed and let my guard down and really pushed my self I realised i actually could do all the elements that went into the piece. Also performing to all the children and seeing their reactions showed me that even if i didn't have face to face talking contact with my community my work as a whole had an immense effect. Through Ashcroft I have learnt the power of going for things and putting commitment and energy into all work even if it doesn't appear to be 'right' for you at the start . I ended up loving the performance and really enjoying both the singing and dancing parts and I have taken away a big lesson on how to approach projects with an open mind and leave pre conceptions at the door. Hopefully the project has not only had a positive effect on me making me relaise why I love performing , but also on the children and either stimulated there passion or showing them a new pathway.
Monday, 14 July 2014
Unicorn Theatre
The Unicorn Theatre was founded by Caryl Jenner as a touring company in 1947 with a commitment to giving children a valuable and often first ever experience of quality theatre, and a philosophy that 'the best of theatre for children should be judged on the same high standards of writing, directing, acting and design as the best of adult theatre'.
'A VISIT TO THE THEATRE CAN STIMULATE A WHOLE TERM OF LESSON PLANNING AND WORK. THE UNICORN’S EXTENSIVE SCHOOLS’ PROGRAMME CAN SUPPORT YOU ACROSS THE CURRICULUM TO ENSURE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH US HAS A LONG-LASTING IMPACT ON YOUR STUDENTS. '
Unicorn have a programme designed specifically for primary school children , involving teachers hugely and thus enabling theatre to reach many children that perhaps would have less opportunity to access it or would like better access and teaching. The programme encourages many different types of children from different levels of literacy. Teachers have also commented on its success on getting boys involved and engrossed too.
Unicorn theatre highly value the importance of children's theatre and therefor it is hugely important for them to create really good theatre for children whilst also finding other ways through workshops to educate children in good theatre.
Not only does Unicorn theatre have a project for primary school children it also has a Unicorn Young Company , thus highlighting the importance that youth is to the theatre . The work created is all about drawing inspiration from participants. In our own community project i feel we too have taken this idea on board. We have tried to create theatre that is true to what is happening today with the take over of technology and different children's imagination being opened when the screen is off. Plays that effect the audience directly is also extremely important to Unicorn young company. Our Ashcroft company is similar to this as we too have created a piece designed to effect the children watching therefor it is a play very much for the audience.
Although Unicorn Theatre is on a very big scale in comparison to our Ashcroft company there are many similarities in our aims. Both Unicorn and Ashcroft want to create good un patronising theatre for the young that will open children's eyes to theatre and include them in an exciting process.
Sunday, 13 July 2014
My Childrens Workshop Plan
In order to use the Ashcroft 'Stories Left Behind' in a children's workshop my aims would be to create a workshop where the children could meet some of the characters and also some of the actors and learn a part of the play . In doing so I would be developing the children's understanding of how theatre is an accessible art form that they can get involved in have fun doing. I would also love to give the children opportunities to meet and talk to there favourite cast members of the show and work with them .
My workshop would ideally last about an hour and be split into 4 15 minute sections so that the kids could experience as much of the play as possible whilst not getting bored and annoyed if there favourite part of the piece was left out .
For the first 15 minutes I would have most of the cast saying hi to the children as actors and then starting some simple name games and games like splat around a circle to get everyone relaxed and comftorbale around each other. Then I would have the main characters run into the room and introduce themselves to the kids in character. I feel this would be exciting as it would bring the play to life right in front of them and give them a chance to talk to their favourite characters. After doing a sort of meet and greet session with different characters I would separate the kids into groups under different characters. The characters would be the team leaders and would lead each group of children in a big group game of tag . However instead of just having normal tag it would be in character form so the kids would have to act and move like Peter Pan and his lost boys if they were in that group , or evil pirates if in Hooks groups and so on.
After introduction games were played I would then move on to the next part of my workshop. This would involve a character building mini workshop. I would put the children into three different groups. A Hundred Acre Woods group , A court room scene group and a Pirate scene group. Each group would first be given different characters to explore , they would have little improvisation task and games that they would play in character. This would hopefully introduce a lot of children on how to use their imagination to create real characters that they can explore in imaginary worlds.
The next section of the workshop would focus on teach each group a part of the song and cheorgrapgy fomr their scene. Obviously the first scene is a lot less physically demanding than the pirate scene so the children in the younger years would be put on the easier scenes. Then I would take really exciting parts of each bit of cheorgraphy and song and then incorporate them into material that the kids would be able to learn. The cast members and cast members still in character would help teaching all the children .
For the last section I would get each group to share there final performance of the piece that they had learnt. After each group had performed I would wine down the workshop with a question time. First allowing the kids to ask any questions they wanted to the cast and crew then I would ask some of the children questions about what they enjoined and why and what messages they may have got from the show.
My workshop would ideally last about an hour and be split into 4 15 minute sections so that the kids could experience as much of the play as possible whilst not getting bored and annoyed if there favourite part of the piece was left out .
For the first 15 minutes I would have most of the cast saying hi to the children as actors and then starting some simple name games and games like splat around a circle to get everyone relaxed and comftorbale around each other. Then I would have the main characters run into the room and introduce themselves to the kids in character. I feel this would be exciting as it would bring the play to life right in front of them and give them a chance to talk to their favourite characters. After doing a sort of meet and greet session with different characters I would separate the kids into groups under different characters. The characters would be the team leaders and would lead each group of children in a big group game of tag . However instead of just having normal tag it would be in character form so the kids would have to act and move like Peter Pan and his lost boys if they were in that group , or evil pirates if in Hooks groups and so on.
After introduction games were played I would then move on to the next part of my workshop. This would involve a character building mini workshop. I would put the children into three different groups. A Hundred Acre Woods group , A court room scene group and a Pirate scene group. Each group would first be given different characters to explore , they would have little improvisation task and games that they would play in character. This would hopefully introduce a lot of children on how to use their imagination to create real characters that they can explore in imaginary worlds.
The next section of the workshop would focus on teach each group a part of the song and cheorgrapgy fomr their scene. Obviously the first scene is a lot less physically demanding than the pirate scene so the children in the younger years would be put on the easier scenes. Then I would take really exciting parts of each bit of cheorgraphy and song and then incorporate them into material that the kids would be able to learn. The cast members and cast members still in character would help teaching all the children .
For the last section I would get each group to share there final performance of the piece that they had learnt. After each group had performed I would wine down the workshop with a question time. First allowing the kids to ask any questions they wanted to the cast and crew then I would ask some of the children questions about what they enjoined and why and what messages they may have got from the show.
Show Development - creating a full performance
Due to the fact that there are 3 main scenes to the play we had been working on each scene individually. This meant that though we were able to get a clear image of whichever scenes we were in would look like however not of the whole performance. The Tech run in the Obie theatre was the first time i really began to see the show come to life as a whole rather than just snippets. Each scene brings a new exciting energy to the stage which are very different from the other scenes. However by using small details like the 4 main children as characters and the same piano intro to open each story the show has become very unified and flows very well.
In terms of creating a really good show i feel the hardest scene was the court room scene. Unlike hundred acre woods the court room scene is filled with frantic energy , however this energy must be slowly created from our own bodies and movement. Unlike in the pirate scene where there are more props to play with and lost boys under a net to intimidate. This means that the energy in the court room scene must all be created organically from the actors on stage and retained through out the whole scene which is particularly hard as for the jurors the only stimulus we could react from was the court case. As the court case had other main characters in it this meant we were constantly having to be totally aware of all that was going on as if we dropped our energy the whole scene would would would. If energy did drop in the court room the pirate scene would then seem out of place.
Therefor in the tech run i realised the importance of creating suitable energy for each scene as without the play would not flow smoothly as a whole and would appear disjointed and possibly even boring at times.
In terms of creating a really good show i feel the hardest scene was the court room scene. Unlike hundred acre woods the court room scene is filled with frantic energy , however this energy must be slowly created from our own bodies and movement. Unlike in the pirate scene where there are more props to play with and lost boys under a net to intimidate. This means that the energy in the court room scene must all be created organically from the actors on stage and retained through out the whole scene which is particularly hard as for the jurors the only stimulus we could react from was the court case. As the court case had other main characters in it this meant we were constantly having to be totally aware of all that was going on as if we dropped our energy the whole scene would would would. If energy did drop in the court room the pirate scene would then seem out of place.
Therefor in the tech run i realised the importance of creating suitable energy for each scene as without the play would not flow smoothly as a whole and would appear disjointed and possibly even boring at times.
Sunday, 6 July 2014
Characterisation of Lost Boys
I play Nibbs who is one of Peter Pans lost boys and in todays rehearsal i feel that both me and Slightly began to find the energy and personalitiy of the lost boys. At first i was playing Nibbs to much like the other characters that are trapped under the net , instead of being cheeky and very energetic i took Nibbs to be extreemly scared of all the pirates. However i think that Nibbs and Slightly unlike the other people trapped on the ship see through the pirates and see them as ridiculuous rather than a huge threat. Nibbs also is convinced that peter pan is coming to save them so though he is still afriad and worried he knows that everything will be okay leading to him being very cheeky towards the pirates and actually stands up to them. Nibbs' confidence is proved in the line in which he stands up to one eyed bill as no one else dares speak out espeically in regards to peter pan , yet Nibbs is full of youth and energy and is fearless.
Having a really high energy is very important for the lost boys on the pirate ship scene. In the pirate number there is most of the cast involved in a hugely energetic and exciting dance and song , this means that as lost boys we also have to keep up the energy. This is a challenege as we are not invloved in the dance and confined in a ssmall space under a net , meaning there is not much we can play with. However by interacting with the pirates and Slightly i feel i have been able to bring up my own energy and create an exciting performance which ensures that energy levels do not drop hugely. Using the set of the steps where we are tied up i have tried to find different places to stand and bits of railing to shake in order to create movement that isnt stagnant.
Having a really high energy is very important for the lost boys on the pirate ship scene. In the pirate number there is most of the cast involved in a hugely energetic and exciting dance and song , this means that as lost boys we also have to keep up the energy. This is a challenege as we are not invloved in the dance and confined in a ssmall space under a net , meaning there is not much we can play with. However by interacting with the pirates and Slightly i feel i have been able to bring up my own energy and create an exciting performance which ensures that energy levels do not drop hugely. Using the set of the steps where we are tied up i have tried to find different places to stand and bits of railing to shake in order to create movement that isnt stagnant.
Thursday, 26 June 2014
Looking at how Stories left behind communicates with out audience
The piece that we are performing at Ashcroft has the purpose to be entertainment and possibly open new doors and ideas to the 2000 children coming to see it. In order to be successful the content of the piece is very important. It is based around two very big themes in child culture today , being effects of technology and also classic stories.
Technology in recent years has become a very contentious issue among society in general but in particular its effect on children. Children are exposed to high level technology at a very young age and many can navigate around an ipad before being able to read. This to me is worrying as when i was a child which was only 10 years before the children who will being seeing the show, i used my imagination to play and read books and watched a bit of TV. Apart from TV and a little bit of computer I was hardly exposed to technology therefore had fun through imagination and importantly through playing with other children. With the rise in technology it has been found that many children are less good in social situations and if there is an ipad available they will zone out by themselves for hours rather than if there is a toy or book they will interact with others. Also many children read a lot less as it is all available on technology. Even books can be read to you virtually. This I think kills a very important part to childhood, it is very important to play and use your imagination and make your own stories rather than relying on something superficial.There is danger that with growth in technology we will see reduction to imagination.
In 'Stories left behind' we explore what would happen if technology broke in a certain rooms leaving only books to be explored. The kids in the loft are transported to amazing exciting fun worlds of the books where characters come to life and they are living in the stories. I think this idea really shows the power that these books have and also where your imagination can take you rather than just staring at a screen. Hopefully through the piece children in the audience will want to read more and take a break from technology to experience there own experience not a programmed pathway with 2 outcomes.
Technology in recent years has become a very contentious issue among society in general but in particular its effect on children. Children are exposed to high level technology at a very young age and many can navigate around an ipad before being able to read. This to me is worrying as when i was a child which was only 10 years before the children who will being seeing the show, i used my imagination to play and read books and watched a bit of TV. Apart from TV and a little bit of computer I was hardly exposed to technology therefore had fun through imagination and importantly through playing with other children. With the rise in technology it has been found that many children are less good in social situations and if there is an ipad available they will zone out by themselves for hours rather than if there is a toy or book they will interact with others. Also many children read a lot less as it is all available on technology. Even books can be read to you virtually. This I think kills a very important part to childhood, it is very important to play and use your imagination and make your own stories rather than relying on something superficial.There is danger that with growth in technology we will see reduction to imagination.
In 'Stories left behind' we explore what would happen if technology broke in a certain rooms leaving only books to be explored. The kids in the loft are transported to amazing exciting fun worlds of the books where characters come to life and they are living in the stories. I think this idea really shows the power that these books have and also where your imagination can take you rather than just staring at a screen. Hopefully through the piece children in the audience will want to read more and take a break from technology to experience there own experience not a programmed pathway with 2 outcomes.
Sunday, 22 June 2014
Court Room , dance development rehearsal
This fridays rehearsal was dedicated to really getting the two big dance numbers up to a high standard. Since I am not in the pirate dance this meant i was just going over the court room scene. We spent a long time carefully going over the routine then placed it together at high pace alongside the song.
Fo me personally the struggle was in keeping my face in the action and not looking blank as when i am trying to focus hard on dancing and singing my character is lost on my face. However as i began to know the routine a lot better I was able to put myself in the character of a worred jurer which hopefully began to show on my face. Now I need to work on the movement further so that I can perform it with characertisation and confidence otherwise there is danger of it looking plain.
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Cort Room Dance and Singing Rehearsal
This afternoon I began learning the first part of choreography and song I am properly involved in. This is in the second section of the play when Paul is transformed to the book of alice in Wonderland where there is trial going on about who stole the Queen of Hearts tarts.
In this scene I am a jurer. This means that I do not have a speaking role but am very much involved in the demanding part of the jury ensemble. After learning the very face paced song 'Guilty' , we began to piece three sections of choreography to the three different sections of the song. the first part of cheorgrpahy is very sharp and rigid , this goes along with the part of the song which begins the routine and is then a constant under current to the rest of the songs versus. We then moved on to a much more bouncy part of Choreography alongside the first verse of the very fast part of the song. Finally we learned a much more fluid dance to go with the last section of the song.
Initially I found the cheorgrahy very hard to pick up as though the movement itself was simple the pace at which were learning it and the pace of the dance itself was very confusing. This was highlighted with the fact that we were learning cheorgraphy to three sections of the song which all had a different feel in tempo and pace and fluidity. To create a busy bustling cort room we then mixed up different groups of people with different sections of song and dance. Meaning the whole room was filled with chaos which had to be extremely organised and perfect in order to look good. Also as i have never done musical theatre before learning to dance and sing at such a high pace was a struggle as i was very tempted to focus on just one element meaning often my singing volume would be very low and words unclear.
However though thew rehearsal was very challenging nearing the end I felt myself beginning to get the hang of it which was very encouraging. The challenge now is to keep going over it and making sure I have not forgotten any of it by Fridays rehearsal.
In this scene I am a jurer. This means that I do not have a speaking role but am very much involved in the demanding part of the jury ensemble. After learning the very face paced song 'Guilty' , we began to piece three sections of choreography to the three different sections of the song. the first part of cheorgrpahy is very sharp and rigid , this goes along with the part of the song which begins the routine and is then a constant under current to the rest of the songs versus. We then moved on to a much more bouncy part of Choreography alongside the first verse of the very fast part of the song. Finally we learned a much more fluid dance to go with the last section of the song.
Initially I found the cheorgrahy very hard to pick up as though the movement itself was simple the pace at which were learning it and the pace of the dance itself was very confusing. This was highlighted with the fact that we were learning cheorgraphy to three sections of the song which all had a different feel in tempo and pace and fluidity. To create a busy bustling cort room we then mixed up different groups of people with different sections of song and dance. Meaning the whole room was filled with chaos which had to be extremely organised and perfect in order to look good. Also as i have never done musical theatre before learning to dance and sing at such a high pace was a struggle as i was very tempted to focus on just one element meaning often my singing volume would be very low and words unclear.
However though thew rehearsal was very challenging nearing the end I felt myself beginning to get the hang of it which was very encouraging. The challenge now is to keep going over it and making sure I have not forgotten any of it by Fridays rehearsal.
How is Ashcroft Community ?
When first starting the project i was slightly confused as to how Ashcroft was a community project in contrast to other groups in the schools who were working with different groups of the community each week. As our piece is a series of big performances to many children that we werent directly meeting i was confused as to how we were being involved in the community.
However since starting the project I have realised that due to our written piece along with attention to our audience that our peice is absoultly for the community. Our community is primary school children from year 4 to 6 if which some will never have seen or been to the theatre. Therefor just by performing to them we are unlocking a huge door to many of their lives. Ofcourse we cannot expect every child to love th show or suddelnly become in love with theatre if they were not before. However some of the children watching will have a new exciting expeirence that hopefully will influence there lives and open them up to things they didnt know possible. As an actress one of my most important things i must always consider is my audience and how I am acting to give them effect as when we perform it is to an audience and there feeling to the performance is essential. Meaning that our community is very much part of our piece.
Performing to so many children again enforces the community aspect to Ashcroft. We are essentially interacting with 2000 children, therefor a huge community of young people in croydon. Not only do are shows infulence a huge amount of people but also we will be holding workshops for groups of these children after the performances. This will give us the chance to directly work with the chidren and the children a chance to be directly involved in the play. We hope to be able to teach the kids part of our peice therefor meaning that theatre and arts is opened as a real opportunity to them.
Hopefully through this project we will be able to open up to children that never really thought of theatre and unlock creativity and passion in them. Even those who arnt passionate about theatre will hopefully have a really fun experience and recgonise that there are many teenagers that want to work with them and can help them to see exciting new things.
However since starting the project I have realised that due to our written piece along with attention to our audience that our peice is absoultly for the community. Our community is primary school children from year 4 to 6 if which some will never have seen or been to the theatre. Therefor just by performing to them we are unlocking a huge door to many of their lives. Ofcourse we cannot expect every child to love th show or suddelnly become in love with theatre if they were not before. However some of the children watching will have a new exciting expeirence that hopefully will influence there lives and open them up to things they didnt know possible. As an actress one of my most important things i must always consider is my audience and how I am acting to give them effect as when we perform it is to an audience and there feeling to the performance is essential. Meaning that our community is very much part of our piece.
Performing to so many children again enforces the community aspect to Ashcroft. We are essentially interacting with 2000 children, therefor a huge community of young people in croydon. Not only do are shows infulence a huge amount of people but also we will be holding workshops for groups of these children after the performances. This will give us the chance to directly work with the chidren and the children a chance to be directly involved in the play. We hope to be able to teach the kids part of our peice therefor meaning that theatre and arts is opened as a real opportunity to them.
Hopefully through this project we will be able to open up to children that never really thought of theatre and unlock creativity and passion in them. Even those who arnt passionate about theatre will hopefully have a really fun experience and recgonise that there are many teenagers that want to work with them and can help them to see exciting new things.
Monday, 16 June 2014
My Role in the Performance
In the piece my main character is Nibbs , one of the lost boys. This means my lines are in the Pirate scene when I am trapped under a net with Slightly- the other lost boy , Rupert, Paul , Jess and Chanelle. This scene is extremely energetic and exciting as it contains the big pirate number song and dance. Though I am not involved in the dance as i ma under a net it is a very exciting time to be on stage.
With my role i have realised the importance of me keeping my energy very high throughout the scene as due to the fact I am not singing and dancing to the audience i have to bring all my energy within my voice and expression and limited gesture. This is particularly difficult alongside the very high energy pirates. Also being big enough for the huge audience to understand my character yet not being pantomime and patronising is also challenging.
My other role is equally important o Nibbs if not slightly more challenging, this is being part of the ensemble. Ensemble is central to our performance and is extremely hard work. In order for it to look good and not messy it requires 100% commitment at all times from everyone in the production. This is very challenging as not only is the dancing and singing and maintaining character extremely physically tiring , but also for me personally learning the choreography and songs has been a challenge as I have never done anything like it. Also due to the very fast pace we are moving at the process has been daunting at times and i have felt intimidated and slightly foolish. However despite the difficulties it is really rewarding when you really work on something and it begins to pay off. To add to that having members of different strands has benefited me considerably as i ma able to earn different skills from all of them and if there is something i am not sure on i am able to ask them after rehearsal which is extremely useful in such fast pace production.
With my role i have realised the importance of me keeping my energy very high throughout the scene as due to the fact I am not singing and dancing to the audience i have to bring all my energy within my voice and expression and limited gesture. This is particularly difficult alongside the very high energy pirates. Also being big enough for the huge audience to understand my character yet not being pantomime and patronising is also challenging.
My other role is equally important o Nibbs if not slightly more challenging, this is being part of the ensemble. Ensemble is central to our performance and is extremely hard work. In order for it to look good and not messy it requires 100% commitment at all times from everyone in the production. This is very challenging as not only is the dancing and singing and maintaining character extremely physically tiring , but also for me personally learning the choreography and songs has been a challenge as I have never done anything like it. Also due to the very fast pace we are moving at the process has been daunting at times and i have felt intimidated and slightly foolish. However despite the difficulties it is really rewarding when you really work on something and it begins to pay off. To add to that having members of different strands has benefited me considerably as i ma able to earn different skills from all of them and if there is something i am not sure on i am able to ask them after rehearsal which is extremely useful in such fast pace production.
Our Project - Introduction
This term I am part of the Ashcroft community project. A group of musical theatre , dance , theatre and CAP are working together on a musical that we will perform to 2000 children from year 4 to 6 , within a couple of days of shows. The show has been written and choreographed for this particular project to directly target our young audience of school children. The main message of the show is to show the importance that stories and imagination and play has in the world. It also highlights the dangers of technology killing this imagination and fun and really communicates to the children that reading stories and bringing them to life is much more important than going on an ipad or phone.
It would be great if we were able to communicate a strong message to the 2000 children yet in a way that we are talking to them and not down to them , even though we are not that far from there age it is really difficult to put our selves in their shoes again as when you are that young you feel very old and responsible yet you still need to be communicated in a way which is clear. In this day technology has become a scary with its rise and control on children, many kids are not playing with other children as much and actually damaging their social skills due to only being used to screen interaction. Imagination is also stagnated and kids no longer have to think up their own worlds as they have already been programmed. I personally remember loving making up my own worlds with my friends and playing different characters and being creative. Therefor to open the younger generations eyes to this in a fun un patronising way would be a very rewarding experience for myself.
It would be great if we were able to communicate a strong message to the 2000 children yet in a way that we are talking to them and not down to them , even though we are not that far from there age it is really difficult to put our selves in their shoes again as when you are that young you feel very old and responsible yet you still need to be communicated in a way which is clear. In this day technology has become a scary with its rise and control on children, many kids are not playing with other children as much and actually damaging their social skills due to only being used to screen interaction. Imagination is also stagnated and kids no longer have to think up their own worlds as they have already been programmed. I personally remember loving making up my own worlds with my friends and playing different characters and being creative. Therefor to open the younger generations eyes to this in a fun un patronising way would be a very rewarding experience for myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)