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.
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