Evaluation

The 'Theatre For Children' Project began with a brief introduction into 'Theatre For Children', followed by everyone being put into random groups of five or six. In these groups, we were asked to work together, as part of a company to generate and develop ideas for the project. As part of the development process, we would have to take part in independent and group research. We would then have to use these ideas to devise a final performance, which would tour at various different primary schools. Finally, we would put on an evening performance to show family, friends and other audience members.

We took part in a number of research activities such as 'Aundre's 8th Birthday Party', in which we were expected to get back in-touch with our eight-year-old selves. This was in order to remember what sort of things, we would have enjoyed watching at that age. This helped me to remember how much children like themes, such as Cowboys, Pirates and Princesses. We also looked at numerous text sheets, which explained to us more about Children's Theatre. I read these multiple times, and put them on my blog to remind me of the definition of 'Children's Theatre' and to give me inspiration. We also looked into the origins of fairytales, which made me realise how many different versions of well-known fairytales we could potentially remake. We also went on trips to watch 'Children's Theatre' shows. I took notes from these shows and mentioned some of them to my group. I also watched videos and family programmes about fairytales to give me more ideas that I could suggest to my group. I spent time, at home improvising with the characters that I would portray in our 'Children's Theatre' pieces, to make sure that I had the correct physicality and voice for each character. I found that Commedia Dell' Arte, which I participated in during the half term, helped me with my physicality and it also helped me to realise the range of characters that I could play and that I could also create 'big' characters for 'Children's Theatre', rather than just characters with subtle personality traits.

I was in a group with Tom, Miguel, Lucy, Steph and Emily. Our company was called 'Moonfish Productions'. Our first task was to write down a few rough ideas. From the beginning, I made sure that I was never silent during a group meeting and I literally stated all of my ideas- some were better than others. I was willing to listen to other peoples ideas, but I also gave my opinion on whether I though they would work well or how I though that they could be improved.

Our first idea was 'The Hairy Toe'. It came form an old fairytale that we found on the Internet, after researching 'silly stories for kids' (we were told in a lesson that kids like stories with silly tiles, such as 'Chocolate Underpants'). We all liked the idea of 'The Hairy Toe' and we worked together to devise a few scenes (each of us helped to direct scenes that we weren't in). The problem was that the original story didn't have a good enough structure (beginning, middle and an end), and so we struggled to find a decent plot. We started of with a narrated story of a Giant who lost his toe and went on an adventure with a young girl to find it, only for it to be eaten by her grandmother (an elderly lady eating the toe was part of the original story, as was The Giant who lost it). This version was quite dark and it went down well with the audience (e.g. we got lots of positive feedback). Then we thought about focusing more heavily on The Pirates that, featured in the beginning of our first version, to create a more action-packed story. This version was more comical than the first, but it also went down well with the audience. After it was suggested that we do a bit of a James Bond spoof, we focused on the idea of Spies, as opposed to Pirates. We spent a lot of time developing this version but the next day we changed back to a more fairytale-themed story. We finished devising it by the end of the day, but after having it peer review, we realised that it wasn't working.

After half term, we scrapped the idea of 'The Hairy Toe' and changed it to 'The Something'. In this version 'something' would fall from the sky and a variety of different characters would go on an adventure to find it ('the something' being a different thing for all of them). After hearing about 'the something' on the radio, The Duke and Duchess would journey to; a hairy salon, where they'd meet a Blonde Bimbo; through the woods, where they'd meet a Creepy Person (who wasn't actually that creepy); and to a haunted mansion, where they'd all get taken away by a Ghost. We all went away that weekend, and were each given tasks to write certain scenes. I introduced Mr Dibbles (a teddy bear) into the story as we were told that children like it when inanimate objects come to life (e.g. in Toy Story) and I needed to soften my hooded character (so that they weren't that creepy (as suggested in the script)). We performed it to the class, and were told that we needed a character for the children to empathise with. For this reason, we changed the idea slightly, by making my character an imaginary friend for The Bimbo, who's mean parent, The Duke and Duchess, wouldn't let her find 'the something' with them. Then we changed the idea dramatically by beginning the story with The Duke and Duchess adopting The Bimbo.

 The day after that, we all felt that that idea of the adoption was inappropriate (the way that we portrayed adoption, wasn't very positive (as she got chosen by parents who didn't want her). Therefore we felt that we needed to think of a completely fresh and original idea. The idea of setting our story in a circus was suggested, then the idea of superheroes was suggested once again. Then the idea of circus characters, who find magic jelly beans that fall from the sky that turns them into superheroes was suggested. At that point we felt very lost and went to Ella for advice. Then she suggested that we stick with the idea of 'something' falling from the sky, but that we could make different characters participate in a race to find it.

We began working on the new version of 'The Something'. This version was more about the characters preparing for a race than going on an adventure. We showed our first scene to the class and we were given feedback that we could be more active while watching TV. We took this feedback into consideration. Later I was set a target to not playing a fierce character for 'Children's Theatre' and to have a larger role in the play. Therefore, after setting myself a few character improvisation tasks at home, I found a very wild and jolly character, who happened to have an Australian accent. In our next few meetings, Moonfish Productions came up with an entire storyline for 'The Something'. We showed a peer what we had, and they said that it was funny and enjoyable, but that it needed a lot less screaming. Most of us were confident with this version, but then we had to show it an audience of our peers. It was our first rehearsal with props and a lot went wrong mainly due to the introduction of the props. There was a certain scene in which I put lipstick on in slow motion to 'Call On Me', which unintentionally appeared inappropriate for children. It was a last minute idea and was completely improvised (originally we would put sweat bands on in slow motion, but we had no sweat bands and we thought that bending down in slow motion looked inappropriate). What was suppose to look like I was pulling a funny face, ended up looking like I was pulling an appropriate face. In the future, if I ever have to do 'Children's Theatre' again, I will know to stay away from dressing up in slow motion.

After we had performed to our peers we were given feedback that our piece was; very confusing, at times inappropriate, that we needed someone for the children to empathise with and we were told that it seemed like their were three different story lines going on in our play. It was also a lot less fast- paced than the day before, when rehearsals went well and so didn't have as big an impact. We took all of this into consideration and thought about adapting the story line, to improve on the things that we were given feedback on. Later, we were told that two of our group members had decided to leave the group to work in their own company. Things became very difficult for the remaining four members of our company, but we pulled together to think of ideas. We went back to the idea of adapting our most recent version of 'The Something'. This time The Scientist would be a boy with a wild imagination for the children to empathise with and we would all be cousins, who meet up after many years, to go on the race for 'The Something'. However, we struggled with no longer having double acts and over-adapting the idea. So we got to work, thinking of new ideas.

Our final idea was to devise an adaption of an original fairytale. We researched a few well-known and not so well-known fairytales, until we all agreed on 'Hansel and Gretal'. This time, we took a completely new approach to devising, in which we showed Ella what all that we had more frequently, so that the problems were addressed straight away. This was something that we should have considered from the start, as we could have avoided a lot of mistakes. I will know to do this in the future. Our first version had a dark feeling to it, which was highlighted by slightly creepy music in the background of the first scene. It began with Hansel and Gretal's evil Stepmother, forcing them to go on a trip into The Woods. The Farther was lazy and The Stepmother would turn out to be The Witch in the end. We were told that we had a strong beginning, but that we could include a twist in the tale. The next day we twisted the story by making The Mother and Father, the enthusiastic, nice and embarrassing parents of their moaning teenagers, Hansel and Gretal. The parents would take their kids camping in The Woods, and Hansel and Gretal would find a magic spell book, which they would use to turn their Mother into a Witch. We showed this version to our peers but we were told that we twisted the tale too much, that it had no setup, that it included too many fairytale references and that it should be the parents who cast spells on their children too teach their little brats a lesson.

That day we went to 'The Hat Factory' to watch a show, which inspired me to suggest the idea of movement to move a story along and to express the emotions of our characters. I suggested that we begin the story with the kids fighting, for a greater impact than our last opening scene. This story would develop into a series of family rows, that would demonstrate how parents cope when they are at the end of their tether with their children.

Afterwards, we were told that we had to make a decision- we could either split off into other groups or continue working as a company, risking not going on tour. After a lot of consideration, we eventually came to the decision, that we would have to split up. I immediately went off to ask 'Deep Blue Tales', if I could help them out and got straight to work painting rocks, painting their sign, making more rocks and helping out with cutting materials for them. I messed up with the materials, as I did not trust my own instincts, but continued working non-stop to do whatever I felt that I could do to help them. Later, another member of 'Moonfish Productions' also joined the group and and I was told that there wasn't enough room on the tour bus for me and that they didn't need my help on tour. Therefore I did not go on tour.

I did join them for their Friday Evening Performance, in helping with setting up and clearing after them. I asked them where each of the props and parts of the set went, so that I wouldn't get it wrong and tried to help as much as I could. I would have helped more if I'd known more about the positions of everything, but if I am in this position again, I will be sure to draw a diagram. To summarise my work as part of The Production Team, I would say that I tried my best and worked as hard as I could to help, but I lacked confidence in this area, I'm not the most artistic person (when art goes beyond drawing) and so, I lost opportunities.

My first character was a Narrator/ Pirate. The character was intentionally slightly scary and somewhat arrogant. After performing as this character, I felt that I needed to work on my physicality and so I practised in front of a mirror, which helped me to correct my physicality. My idea of The Narrator coming in and out of the story, had quite and impact on the opening scene. My next character was an evil Henchman, who was still pirate-like and had an Irish accent. For this character I spent a lot of my free time working on an Irish accent that I felt was appropriate for the character. After I was told that my character needed further development and needed to be less scary, I worked on a new, more arrogant Spy Henchman Character (who smirked a lot, so that they weren't as scary and who had my normal voice). When we changed our idea back to a fairytale, my character became a more easily frightened Henchman. I felt that this character needed much further development, and so, I worked on making them much more of 'a scaredy cat' in my free time.

Then I had to play a creepy person (who wasn't so creepy) for The Haunted House version of 'The Something'. When I wrote the script, I got the impression that my character would where a hood, but I also needed them to have a softer side, so I brought 'Mr Dibbles' (the teddy bear), so that I could suggest that he becomes a talking inanimate object (I would also be the voice of Mr. Dibbles, who had an Australian accent). After we performed this to our peers we were told that we needed a 'Charlie character' and so my character became a lot softer, with greater morals and a good friend. After that, when we went onto the race version of 'The Something', where I went back to playing the bad hoodie, but (as it was suggested in a lesson that children like to hear different accents) I had an Australian accent. Then, I was told that I needed to play less fierce characters and that I should try to have a bigger role. I also remembered that we'd learnt that children liked 'big' characters. Therefore I spent a lot of time improvising with various characters, until I came up with 'Cindy' (a high energy, loud and girly Australian). Finally, when we changed our idea to 'Hansel and Gretal', I played Gretal, a teenager who couldn't stop talking and was very embarrassed by her parents. This was one of the most challenging characters, as I found it difficult to get back into the mode of naturalistic acting. Then I though back to the technique that I used as the Narrator and in other performances and managed to remember and use the technique just before the group split up.

My major strength is my work ethic. I spent time outside of college developing my characters, and researching and thinking of ideas to bring forward to my group. As a group, we had a good work ethic and spent hours after college developing our pieces and researching ideas. We all got along very well, and although we had disagreements, none of us found ourselves in heated arguments. We handled our disagreements in a professional manner, by listening to everyone's ideas and picking the best on a basis of majority votes. I contributed fully in every meeting and helped to direct scenes that I wasn't part of, as did everyone else. I was able to highlight things that weren't working and explain how they could be improved. I was punctual, reliable and attended every meeting (other than those that went on during Commedia Dell' Arte). I gave my the best performance that I could every time that we had to perform in front of our peers. I also worked nonstop, as part of The Production Team for 'Deep Blue Tales', to help them as much as could.

One of my major problems during this project was my initial interpretation of 'Children's Theatre'. After I had read one of the articles, that stated that actors should perform at the same standards and quality as they would to an adult audience, I confused this with acting naturalistic and only creating characters with subtle personalities (as opposed to big, loud, high energy characters). This resulted in most of my characters being fierce, evil and scary. This also made most of my characters fade into the background, subconsciously giving myself smaller roles. I now realise that for Adult Theatre, you can play 'big'/over-the-top characters without playing it too childish and so it would have been better to explore more of these types of characters. Then when I had to go back into naturalistic acting, I had completely forgotten my technique. I will work on this by practising more naturalistic monologues and improvisation tasks at home.

As a group, our greatest weakness was not being able to stick to one idea. We had many ideas, but we couldn't find a decent plot for any of them. Therefore, we changed our idea too many times and sometimes I agreed with the idea of changing the story (e.g. after the adoption idea) and at other times I felt that we should stick with what we had (e.g. The Haunted House idea). I fought for some ideas, such as The Haunted House idea, as we already had a script and I felt that it was the most practical option, but sometimes, when it was a majority vote, I felt myself being swayed to the option of changing ideas completely. In the future, I will know to stick to one idea, and even if it seems like it wont work out, I will work to further develop it. I also should have spoken up more in meetings with the whole class and when discussing our ideas with Ella, as it might have helped us more with gaining an 'outside view'. For this reason, I will try much harder to be more vocal in larger group situations. I also need to work on my confidence, when it comes to my art work and I need to work on my artistic skills, so that if I am ever needed as a production person, I can be better help.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed working as part of 'Moonfish Productions'. It was good to spend more time interacting with people, that I hadn't interacted with so much before 'Children's Theatre'. It helped to improve my confidence and I also learnt from their ideas. I liked the idea of 'Children's Theatre' and I did my best for the project and for my group. We went through many versions of different plays and I went through many different characters, but we kept trying to make the best 'Children's Theatre' piece possible. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go on tour, but I gained experience of the production side of theatre. I still have many weaknesses, but I will work hard to improve these, to make my next performance better.

Musical Theatre Workshop

Yesterday I got straight to work finishing making the rocks for 'Deep Blue Tales'. Here are some images of the almost finished and finished product:

Afterwards I participated in a musical theatre workshop. It was also an audition for Letchworth's West-end-style musical 'The Night Before Christmas'. We were asked to sing, dance and act through movement. 

We had to learn two dances. The first took me a while to pick up. However, after a few times of running through it, I learnt the dance quicker than usual. This time, it was my timing that was completely off. I would have benefited from 'counting' in my head. I also could have put a lot more energy into it, in order to make my performance more aesthetically pleasing. Afterwards, we learnt a dance that included elements of The Tango. I felt that I could have put a lot more energy into this dance also. I was even slower at picking up this routine and my timing was even worse. I could have put a lot more into my characterisation for both of the dances. During previous workshops such as Commedia Dell' Arte and in drama clubs I have always poured myself into becoming certain characters and I've made an effort to stand out. During this workshop I didn't commit to any character enough for them to come across. This was partly due to the fact that I was focusing on the choreography. In future workshops, I need to come up with and commit to more over-the-top characters, as I have managed to do in the past.

We learnt a new song from the show all together and then we were asked to sing half of the first verse as a solo. We had to sing in front of the piano individually and we had to sound as 'ugly' (not necessarily singing well and singing with a twang ('nya' sound)) and as London (cockney) as possible. I sang with a cockney accent. The first time I was nervous and I was worried about not being able to remember or read the words well, so I made a lot of mistakes. However, the second time I was asked to look up (instead of burying my head in the lyrics sheet). This time I managed to make only one mistake and it was the most confidently I have sang at college as of yet (possibly because I sang with an accent). We were also taught about the 'C Curve' (the shape that the neck makes when the head faces down), which, if not straightened, can cause singers to loose around 3 notes form their vocal range.

The Workshop Leader spoke about workshop audition etiquette. He mentioned that you shouldn't fold your arms, you shouldn't talk or run through choreography at the sides, and you should always give your full attention to the person who is holding the auditions (by looking at them when they are speaking).

The End Of Moonfish Productions

Today Moonfish Productions got straight to work on adapting our version of 'Hansel and Gretel', in order to improve on the things that we were given feedback for. I suggested that we could add physical theatre and music to our piece or that we could each come out of the story, at one point and tell a certain part of it from each of our points of view.

Then we were given an ultimatum- we could have either have stayed together and risked not getting graded for this unit, or we could have each joined other groups and worked on the production side of things. After a group meeting, we made the hard decision to join other groups. Not wanting anyone to not have a group to join- we all allocated each other to certain groups, so that no group would have too many production people.

I asked to help the Children's Theatre Company, 'Deep Blue Tales'. They asked me to repaint rocks that they already had for them and to create new rocks. Therefore, I painted the rocks and then discovered that another member of Moonfish Productions was working on the production side of Deep Blue Tales' show. I asked if they needed any help and helped them with cutting materials. I decided to listen to the instructions of someone more artistic than myself, which ended up being the opposite of what needed to be done. Then I listened to their instructions again, and completely messed up. Next time, I will be more independent when it comes to art and trust my own instincts, as if I had, I would have ended up doing the right thing.

Immediately afterwards, I worked on making more rocks. I then moved onto helping to paint the 'Fish + Chips' sign. Later, I made some more rocks for the group. I worked hard on the jobs that needed doing for this group and worked all day without stopping, as I was determined to help them out. However, at the end of the day, I was told their was not enough room on the tour buses for me and that my help wasn't needed on the tour. Therefore I will not be going on tour, but I will try to help them out during The Evening Performance.

Here are the rocks I began making:

Here is an image of the 'Fish + Chips' sign:

Hansel And Gretal

Today Moonfish Productions thought about adding a twist to 'Hansel and Gretel'. We thought that instead of making The Parents horrible and The Children nice, we could make The Parents sweet, embarrassing and enthusiastic about going on a camping trip to the forest. We thought that Hansel and Gretel could be constantly embarrassed by and annoyed at their parents, until they go on a camping trip and find a spell book. They could then, cast spells on their mother and father. One of these spells, would turn them into a Witch and a Warlock. The Witch and Warlock would teach their children a lesson by summoning a gingerbread house and luring their greedy children into it, where they would play frightful tricks on them. In trying to escape, Hansel and Gretal would accidentally turn their parents into dolls (the audience would hear the mum and dad talking from backstage, giving the illusion that they have become dolls).

We had to perform what we had to our peers. I felt that, once again, I was flat at times. I was also very clumsy today and kept bumping into things. I need to make sure that I get a good night sleep before performing, as it effects my performance negatively. We were given feedback that the beginning didn't capture the audiences attention and that the story was too far away from the original story of Hansel and Gretal. We also had too many fairytale references, which could give false hopes of appearances from them. It was suggested that the kids could be really bratty and that their parents could be at the end of their tether. To teach the kids a lesson, the parents would play tricks on them and cast spells on them while on a camping trip.

While observing other groups, I realised that they all had something original and exciting about their play that made them stand out e.g. physical theatre, well-known fairytale characters mixed into one story, live music etc. Our group have nothing to help us to stand out.


Also we saw a show at The Hat Factory. It was called Our Big Land:
http://www.lutonculture.com/hat-factory/whats-on/2014/03/13/our-big-land/881/?from=%252Fhat-factory%252Fwhats-on%252F%2523search
It was interesting to observe the culture of Romany Travellers. I knew hardly anything about their culture before I saw the show and it opened my eyes to the use of contrasting different cultures when devising performances. I enjoyed their use of physical theatre, live singing and music to move the story along. I will suggest the idea of this to 'Moonfish Productions' for the opening of our piece, as well as other scenes.

Moonfish Productions- The Split

Today we showed our children's theatre performances to The Second Years and The Level 2s. During our performance of 'The Something', a lot of things went wrong. Although the first scene went okay, the other scenes were not performed the way that we had rehearsed them yesterday. This was partly due to the fact that we had made some last minute changes and it was our first run with props (which caused multiple problems). We introduced new props (makeup) to Scene 4 just before the performance, as we hadn't yet got our hands on sweat band (which we would have put on in slow motion instead of the make-up). As a result, the scene ended up looking too inappropriate for children's theatre, especially with the song that was chosen for background. I tried not to look sexual by trying to pull a funny face, which ended up making it look even worse.

I felt that although my character had a lot of energy, she was too shouty and screamy, and her accent was likely to he too hard to understand at times. We were given feedback from our tutor and peers, where we were told that the plot was very confusing. They also felt that we were telling 3 different stories.

Most of our group were upset that the idea didn't work. We spent some time considering new ideas/ trying to improve the idea we had. A few hours later we found out that two members of group decided to leave because they felt that our idea wasn't working. It was quite shocking for all of the remaining members, as we never had arguments and got along well, but the 4 of us pulled together in order to figure out what we would do next.

We attempted to develop the idea that we already had, without the double-acts, but we couldn't see it working. We thought about turning to the idea of a well-known fairytale with a twist. After looking at various options, (e.g. I suggested snow white or sleeping beauty), we all decided on Hansel and Gretal. I feel that my naturalistic-acting is under-practised, as I sometimes feel as though it sounds like I'm reading straight from the script. This could be due to the fact that I stress myself out about the delivery of each line and believe that it will sound flat- and then it does. I am a lot more comfortable with naturalistic acting during one-off improvisation tasks. Once I have performed the lines again and again, I struggle to stay as natural as I did the first time. I will try to solve this issues by reading more monologues- specialising in the naturalistic-style of acting. I will also practise more naturalistic improvisation.

Although i do contribute fully in every group meeting, I still need to work on finding the confidence to contribute in larger groups and when discussing ideas with our tutor. Whenever I'm in my 'Children's Theatre' group, I never hold back. I always have multiple ideas in my head and I make sure that I pitch them all to my group. A lot of my ideas have been used in the past (e.g. The Narrator in 'The Hairy Toe' (version one) coming in and out of the story and various other big and small ideas). If I think an idea works or isn't working, I mention it to the group and explain why. I have even wrote down some of our notes for my group. I feel that we all contribute equally in every group meeting. When it comes to putting my opinions forward within a large group or when discussing our groups ideas with our tutor, I become to worried about not being able to voice exactly what it is that I wish to say . I often find that when speaking (not in character), I often get my words jumbled and even I  become confused as to what it is that I've just said Although I struggle with this problem in group meetings, I somehow feel that it doesn't matter so much if  I speak incoherently. In other situations I hold back from what I want to say. This is a confidence issue and I can work to overcome this by adopting the same approach to such situations, as I have in Moonfish Productions' meetings. I also need to think of 'speaking' in the same way that I think of writing words on a page (as I seem to be better at explaining myself in this way). I must understand the importance of voicing my opinions in class, as it is good practise for the future. Holding back, will only make me regret not saying things.

'The Something'- Running Order

Today Moonfish Productions focused on completing our play. We worked through all of the scenes and then put them all together. We ran the whole show again and again and found that it lasts about 15 minutes. Here is an image of our current running order.

We felt that scene 4 was too short and so we added additional dialogue. It now involves a lot of melodramatic crying, which I must remember to bring a lot of energy to every time.

Here are images of the script for scene 4 (version 2):

We asked for some peer feedback, in which we were told that there was too much screaming and shouting in our piece. Our first few rehearsals went well. I have been improvising with my character at home, anytime that I have free. When we recorded our performance today, I felt that I was flat at times and so, I must maintain my characters high energy level and enthusiasm throughout every run of the show. On the other hand, in watching the video, I felt that my physicality has improved, due to the fact that i remembered to maintain the tonic body. I must also be careful that my facial expressions aren't unintentionally scary, which I will do by virtually always smiling and keeping my eyebrows raised.

 

 

Cindy- A Nice Character

Since the beginning of 'The Children's Theatre Project' I have played a Narrator/ Pirate, an Evil Henchman, a Cockney Hoodie/ The Voice Of Mr Dibbles and an Australian Hoodie. All of these characters have been evil or scary and so my target for this project is to play a nicer/ happier character, which I should portray by adjusting my facial expressions and voice. I was also told to make myself a larger role within my group's production. I have attempted to do this by giving my character more lines and making her 'a bigger character' (as we were told that children like 'big' characters).

I found a character that fits in with Moonfish Productions' show nicely. I have kept the Australian accent, as I was told that children like to hear different types of voices. It also allows me to play around with this character's voice in a way that creates humour. Cindy's voice is more high-pitched than Jordan's (Australian Hoodie) and she smiles a lot. She's quite cheeky, energetic, loud and excitable, but not very clever and she's very girly. She nearly always has her hands up to her shoulders, with the tip of her thumbs touching the tip of her middle fingers, with her pinkie sticking out (to show how girly she is).

Here is a rough copy of my lines and cue lines for the play as of yet: 

Finding A Plot

Today we all decided that yesterdays plots weren't strong enough story lines and so we scrapped both ideas. We struggled with finding a plot throughout the day. We came up with the idea of our story being based on Circus Performers, who find something that has fallen from the sky. Later we thought about the idea of Superheroes, who's powers are taken away from them when something falls from the sky. These Superheroes would have to battle The Evil Lady Petronella, who has stolen their powers for herself, in order to retrieve their powers. Then we thought about a group of Circus Performers, who find 5 jelly beans that have fallen from the sky. These jelly beans would give them superpowers, which they would use to defy their evil Ringmaster.

After having a talk with Ella, we found that the idea of the characters we came up with yesterday, going on a rat race to find 'the something' that has fallen from the sky, could be something we could work with. This time the Duke and Duchess would be scientists, who would want 'the something' because it is a cure for hairy toes. The Bimbo and The Hoodie, would be sisters, who want 'the something', as it might help them to find there long lost sister, 'Susie-Anne'. A new character, The Evil Lady Teapots, would want 'the something' for selfish reasons. The Presenter would follow our characters around, interviewing them and reporting on their every move, which would become quite an annoyance for them.

'The Something'

We changed the title of our production from 'The Hairy Toe' to 'The Something' because we found that the original title was no longer relevant to our new plot. In our new plot, our characters were; a Duke and Duchess, a Presenter, a Ghost, a Blonde Bimbo and a Hoodie. 

Here are our notes:

Here is our plot 'The Something':

The story begins with the characters breaking into the haunted mansion. The Presenter interrupts them and the story rewinds to The Duke and Duchess in their house 4 hours earlier. The Duke and Duchess discuss dinner, turn on the radio and hear about 'the something' that has fallen from the sky. They decide to go on a quest to find it, where meet a Bimbo at a hair salon and a Creepy Hoodie in the forest. All of the characters head to the haunted mansion (where 'the something' supposedly is) and we return to the scene in which the characters break into the mansion. In the mansion they split up to find 'the something'. They each encounter a ghost and then they all bump into each other again. They are startled by a noise, all run away and split off again. This time The Ghost catches them all one by one and in a shocking twist, this was The Presenter's plan all along.

My character was the Creepy Hoodie. We decided that my character tries to be tough and scary, but really they are a big softy. For this reason, I introduced Mr. Dibbles into the story- an Australian teddy bear, who had a mind of his own and in ventriloquist-style, I would also be the voice of Mr. Dibbles.

We each wrote part of the script as homework. I was asked to write the scene in which the Duke, Duchess and Bimbo meet my character in the forest:

I was also asked to write about what happens to my character the first time that they split off in the haunted mansion:

We had to show our opening scene to the class. We were given feedback that our characters were good, but that our storyline was lacking as we were making it too complicated and confusing. We also needed at least one of our characters to be someone that the children could relate to. I felt that I needed to make my physicality stronger, which I could have done by better applying 'the tonic body'. I could improve on my reactions to the other characters. I also need to develop better characterisation, which I can improve on by improvising with my character.

Later we tried to adapt our story in an attempt to improve on the points raised in our feedback session. Our new plot involved the same characters, but the story line changed dramatically:
It begins with a 15-year-old Bimbo being adopted by a Duke and Duchess. They treat her horribly (live a slave), and when they hear the news about 'The Something' falling from the sky, they go off to find it without her, in a hope that it will give them enormous wealth. The Bimbo goes off crying and meets her new friend (Yasmin), who always carries a teddy bear around with her, named 'Mr Dibbles'. Yasmin and Stacey (The Bimbo) become great friends and set off to find 'the something' themselves. Yasmin acts like Stacey's conscience and reminds her to be a good person. By the end of the story, The Duke and Duchess learn to love Stacey. Stacey thanks Yasmin for all her help, but soon finds that she is the only person who can see Yasmin. Yasmin tells Stacey that Stacey wont need her anymore and disappears, leaving Stacey with Mr. Dibbles. When The Duke and Duchess leave Stacey alone, she hugs Mr. Dibbles and says, "Bye Yasmin."

Moonfish Productions- Plot 2

Today at Moonfish Productions' meeting, we all agreed that yesterday's idea wasn't working because the spy idea had been overdone. So we got to work, drafting a new plot. Here is a printed version of our new plot: 

Although, we worked on devising scenes around this new plot, peer feedback helped us to realise that the idea wasn't working at all and we felt that we were in a much worse position than that which we were in yesterday. 

We worked on looking at new ideas, with and without The Hairy Toe's involvement. This is because, we have recently discovered, what a difficult task we've set for ourselves in basing our story around 'the toe'. We looked at making a children's horror play about monsters (zombies, vampires, werewolves etc.). We also looked at making a Tim Burton style play about a strange village, with strange villagers. I will write on our group Facebook page, if I have any further ideas or research that I think might work well in our project.

Moonfish Productions- The Hairy Toe Plot

I watched these videos as part of my research for Children's Theatre:
AESOPS FABLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heasnJY8HMM
NATIVE AMERICAN STORIES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Mb9tsnYLU&list=PLED363ADEC6DC167C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUxayvHzgLY&list=PLED363ADEC6DC167C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ZenHI6HQM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyaifWkUWr0
INDIAN LEGENDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3PKVTWmTco
ROALD DHAL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWOXcrUTd4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xr7vV40tNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5DS2DnsJ04
THE ELEPHANTS CHILD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqw2bvlu2Q

I thought that 'The Enormous Crocodile' was a good example of  just how scary stories for children can be. I also thought that 'The God Ganesha' was a good example of how stories can include multiple events to keep the audience entertained, without getting too complicated. The Native American stories were a good example of how fascinating different cultural influences in stories can be, especially for children (who may no nothing about these cultures, until they listening to the stories). I also liked the idea of 'The Elephant Child', which included talking animals as the main characters, which is sure to be a hit with kids who love animals. 








Today Moonfish Productions wrote on our part of the wall in The Black Box. Here are some images of our work so far:

We wrote a plot summary- including a beginning, a middle and an end. We then got to work, devising some of our scenes. I still need to focus on my physicality and character development, but the scenes are coming together quite nicely. I tried to improve my characterisation, and will continue to do this by practising in front of a mirror and recording myself  while "in character".

Moonfish Productions- The Hairy Toe Development

Today, we were given the task of developing our 'Children's Theatre' pieces and performing a scene from it. We spent a long time thinking of ideas for the storyline and eventually came up with a scene to perform to the class.

We all discussed our thoughts for the storyline and everyone put their ideas forward.  However, we found that they all differed tremendously. We handled the problem in a very productive way- each of us was given a piece of paper to write their version of what they thought the story line should be and then we took it in turns to read out what what was written on our pieces of paper. Eventually we chose to incorporate the best ideas from each of the pieces of paper (as everyone came up with something really creative). So we set out to devise one of the scenes and rehearsed it.

We chose to do a scene in which The Giant and Flo (his young friend), were attempting to break into Lady Petronella's hideout, in order to get The Hairy Toe back. I played Lady Petronella's Guard, who was meant to be a mean, scary and an excellent swordsman. 

The scene became quite comical and the idea of doing a James Bond spoof came up. I was given feedback that my character was too scary, that I could not be on the same level of evilness as Lady Petronella and that, as a minion I needed two sides to my character (possibly even, a sob story). Therefore, I need to work to further develop my character, which I will do by researching Evil Henchman and creating my own character using these ideas:

The Emperor's New Groove- Kronk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MNllfr6wVY

Peter Pan- Mr Smee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkQt6wRGhbU
 

The Lion King- Hyenas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhZ0TKdgJGg

Source Material For 'The Children's Theatre Project'

Today we focused on looking at source material, which would give us ideas for our 'Children's Theatre' project pieces. We read a text about various ideas that we could incorporate into our pieces, including Fairytales, Myths, Quests and Old Wine in New Bottles. I felt that it included some very useful information and so I have taken photographs of the text for my blog. Here is the text:

We had to pick random pieces of paper, which would decide the title, theme, setting, a character and the opening line of the first 3 minutes of our performances (however, they did not necessarily have to relate to our previous ideas or or final project piece):

Title
The Magic Traffic Cone
Theme
Gang warfare
Setting
A boat, in the middle of The Sea
Character
Lady Petronella Janie Roley-Worthington
Opening Line
"I'm sorry, but I can't take your call right now. Please leave a message after the tone. BEEP!"
Something silly
Six toes

We decided to use these random ideas to expand on one of our previous ideas- the tale of 'The Hairy Toe'. As we were allowed to discard some of the pieces of paper, we chose a different title and opening line. Due to our setting being in the middle of The Sea, I suggested  that we make the gang warfare between pirates. Lady Petronella would be the villain of the story, who was to hold The Giant captive, in the hope to sell his toe for gold. I was the Narrator, who I suggested should come in and out of the story.

Script (Used for this performance, but is likely to change for the final performance)

The story begins with a freeze frame. On a pirate ship, in the middle of the sea. 4 pirates stand, ready to fight. At another location, Lady Petronella taunts the captured giant. One of The Pirates steps out of the freeze frame.

Narrator/Pirate: Why hello there, and welcome to the story of 'The Hairy Toe'. A tale of a giant who had 6 toes. One hairy. Our story begins, on a stormy night.

The Narrator/Pirate goes back into their frozen position. The Pirates plot to find the giant and his toe for themselves. They go offstage.

Lady Petronella continues to taunt the giant, reducing him to tears, begging her to let him go. The Pirates return, demanding that Lady Petronella gives them The Hairy Toe. She refuses and spites them all by cutting off his toe. They all freeze. The Narrator/ Pirate steps out of the freeze frame.

The Narrator/ Pirate: And that my friends, is only the beginning.

End of scene


We were given feedback, where we were told that; it was a good starting point;  that they liked the idea of The Narrator coming in and out of the story; that they liked the idea of the evil Lady Petronella; but, that there is room for much improvement, i.e our stage positioning and the characterisation of The Giant. I felt that my physicality needed further developing, which I will work on by practising in front of a mirror.

Moonfish Productions' Spider Diagram

Today a Professional Actor was brought into The College to talk to us about The Performing Arts Industry. He had been in Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, Les Miserables in The West End, Pantomime and Children's Theatre. He spoke to us about the importance of a good Agent, by explaining the hardships he had had to face with the business side of his acting career. He also told us about Repertory Theatre.

Here is a web page about Repertory Theatre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repertory_theatre






My 'Theatre For Children' Group have written a 'Code Of Conduct', which we all had to sign. Our company name is 'Moonfish Productions'. We also made a spider diagram of some new ideas. Here are some of our new ideas:

• Fairy tales

-The Hairy Toe- Antonio (The Giant), Nana Geraldine (The Old Lady) , Flo (The Granddaughter of The Old Lady), Bobby Green and Wend Greene (Husband and Wife Comedy Duo)
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2009/10/the_hairy_toe.html
-A twist to a classic fairytale- Red Riding Hood turns out to be The Wolf.

• Scary Stories

- Scary Music- Could also be funny, could get The Audience Involved
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZpf0SIO-sY

• Music

- Themed music
- Live singing
- Pop music

• Set

-Back drop made of sheets- painted to represent different settings

Unicorn Theatre Trip

Today, we went on a trip to London, where we saw two shows from The Unicorn Theatre- 'Grandpa's Railway and 'The Pardoner's Tale' . We were asked to watch each of them, while writing down notes about the performance (i.e. ideas that we can incorporate into our own performances), as well our observations of the children's reactions to the shows (i.e. the parts that were well received/ worked well and those that weren't so well received/ didn't work well).

Here are my notes for 'Grandpa's Railway':
https://www.unicorntheatre.com/whatson/7/grandpa-s-railway

• Music before the show, to get kids in the mood for watching performance
• Use of sheets hanging down from a washing line as back of set
• Actors use a lot of energy
• Actors make use of a lot of physicality
• Children make loud comments, such as "He's playing," in the middle of performance, but actors aren't stirred by this
• They use a lot of props
• Movements are sharp, with great emphasis on each action e.g. when putting on a hat it is shown clearly
• They do not make use of audience interaction
• Children watched in ore as Grandpa uncovered the railway, saying "Wow". It might be a good idea to keep something covered and then to reveal it during the performance (perhaps with music, to add to the effect)
• Children were startled, humping at the loud noise created by dropping props. Use of sound might be a goof idea
• Synchronised movement between more that one character (with music) kept children engaged
• Children looked excited and fully engaged at the sight of the train moving , all lit up in dark lighting
• Use of sound effects makes it seem more realistic
• Actors were not patronising. They were just as professional as they would be in an adult show, though their character's personalities were quite playful and child-like
• Children were, at times restless, moving about and standing up
• Characters are much more easily excited than those in (most) adult plays
• Some children lost interest and began to look in other directions in the middle of the play.
• Children asked questions, such as "What's that for?" during performance
• The use of lighting, sound effects and music made the parts when the train set came to life truly magical
• During moments with tense music and speaking "The signal's are red!" all children were engaged. 
• Characters were believable
• Music that sounds almost magical, always grabbed the children's attention
• At one point, nearly all of the children became restless and stood up and sat down again, towards the end, but actors weren't phased
• Teachers often told kids to "be quiet", so the theatre was filled with quite a bit of 'shushing'.
• Even when walking offstage, actors remained in-character.
• Movements were over exaggerated, so that children can process actions
• Children most enjoyed the show when characters were being imaginative
• Use of live singing

  Here are my notes for 'The Pardoner's Tale':
https://www.unicorntheatre.com/whatson/18/the-pardoner-s-tale

• Theme related music before show, to get children in the mood for show
• Children made lots of noise during blackout
• Use of rhyming
• Involves audience, by addressing them
• Use of comedy to lighten scary mood
• Use of musical instruments, creating tense music, for scary atmosphere
• Well acted, very theatrical, grabbing the children's attention
• Use of child- like sense of humour (though also made adult and teenage audience laugh), gaining laughs from the children. It also caused them to talk about the jokes afterwards, while the actor was talking
• A lot of audience interaction, which worked well with the children , especially when their teachers were picked on
• Used audiences other senses (smell) for audience interaction
• The actors sang
• Use of magic (using lighting) got the audience talking a lot
• Use of sound effects created by the actors onstage (Foley Work)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_(filmmaking)
• Actors had to play more than one character, with distinct differences between the characters. This was done without changing costumes or going backstage before each change
• Use of lots of props (a lot made music)
• Adopted different physicality for different characters
• Children fidgeted at times
• Actors other than the main character were sorting out props onstage, which often diverted children's attention 
• Use of shadow imagery
• Use of special effects caused children to point etc.
• It is tonal, rather than accent that creates clear differences in characters

Sock Puppet Theatre

Today's task was to make sock puppets and to use them in a performance, devised by our 'Theatre For Children' groups. I made a sock puppet called Frederick Von Sock. He is navy blue, with a bright blue T-shirt and a bright green cape. He was an evil villain in our play, with a foreign (European) accent.

Here are some images of Frederick:

 

 

 

 

Our play was called 'The Green Cape'- named after Frederick's Green Cape. It was about 3 girls who went on an adventure to find there Grandmother. They found her, and she gave them some useful advise - "Beware of The Green Cape". Soon after, they met a stranger in a green cape (Frederick), who politely asked them to go with him, in search for his beloved snake, Jonathan. One of the girls, Britney, followed him and he kidnapped her, telling the two remaining girls, that to get her back, they would have to find his snake. The two girls kidnapped Jonathan. Later, the grandmother went out alone to find her dentures, but instead, she found the evil Frederick, who lured her into his trap. The two girls offered to trade Jonathan for their Grandmother and Britney, but Frederick told them that he lied and that he would never return their loved ones to them. They gave him 'The Death Stare' and he melted to his death. Then the remaining characters all lived happily ever after.

We were given very little time to devise our performance, in order for Ella to establish how well we could cope with such a small amount of time to prepare. When rehearsing, I spoke with a fairly loud voice (but not screaming loud), however as most of the other character's were loud, my group said that they couldn't hear me. I found myself having to shout. As his role in the play was quite important, I thought that it was essential that my character could be heard. Screaming however was one of my groups major down-falls, because it ended up being quite a calamity. On the other hand, I did enjoy having a larger role, which I hope to have in our final production.

'Sock Puppet Theatre' has taught me the importance of a having a good structure, including elements of comedy and not screaming too much (unless necessary). When too many characters talk/shout at once, the action in a play can become very confusing and difficult to understand. I thought that some of the characters could be considered for our final piece and I will suggest this to my group.

The Origins Of Fairy Stories

We were informed that, although authors such as Hans Christian Anderson and The Brothers Grimm are thought to have created numerous original fairy tales. Their stories were taken from much older legends and tales. 'Fairy Stories' were known earlier as 'Scare Stories'. They were meant to frighten children, often by teaching them morals.

For example, the version of Little Red Riding Hood, that we know today, is most similar to that of The Brothers Grimm's. However, the story dates back much further. In older versions, she was a pre-teen/teenage girl, who wore red to symbolise the fact that she was about to start her period. All the women in The Village came to her house to celebrate her becoming a women and gave her advice. She had to go on a right-of-passage type journey to her Grandmother's house. She could choose between two paths- pins or needles and she chose needles. On her way, she met a werewolf who told her that he would take the path of pins. The werewolf beat Little Red Riding Hood to her Grandmother's house and ate The Grandmother, leaving a bottle of her blood and her liver for later. Upon arriving to her Grandmother's house, Little Red Riding Hood saw the werewolf in her Grandmother's bed, 'slept with him' and drunk her Grandmother's blood and ate her Grandmother's liver. This Story is about becoming a woman.

Another well known Brothers Grim tale, is known as, Sleeping Beauty. In original versions she is a girl who is observed as she grows older, by a man. Many times that man asks for her to be his, but she refuses. One day he tried to force himself upon her. In her struggle, she hit her head on a rock and was knocked unconscious. He raped her and impregnated her. In a panic, her ran off, but she was later found by her family. They looked after her, as she seemed as though she was simply in a deep sleep. Soon after she was woken up by labour pains.

Afterwards, we listened to a radio version of 'The Wild Bride'. It was once a popular theatrical show, taken from an original story and now, it has been adapted for The Radio. It was at first difficult to pick up all that was happening, as I am not use to following stories in this way. Though, I found that with concentration, I understood what was going on.

Lastly we were asked to get into our 'Theatre For Children' Groups, in order to find a legend, myth or tale to tell to the rest of the class. We chose 'Hurleburlebutz'. Here is the full story: 

Once upon a time, a king was lost in a deep forest when, suddenly, a small white dwarf appeared to him. The dwarf told the king he’d help him find his way out of the forest in return for the king’s youngest daughter. The king, finding himself afraid in the deep, dark wood, agreed. The dwarf delivered the king safely back to his castle and told him he’d be back in a week for his daughter.
Now, of course the king was sad—his youngest was his favourite. But his daughters, once he’d told them the deal, said not to worry, we’ll soon get rid of the dwarf. A week later, the daughters found an unsuspecting cowherd’s daughter, kitted her out in pretty clothes and told her to go with the first person who came to fetch her. That person was a fox, who said, “Sit down on my furry tail, Hurleburlebutz! Off to the forest!” Off they went, but when the fox ordered the cowherd’s daughter to pick lice out of his fur and she readily agreed, he knew he had the wrong lady. Back to the castle with you! A week later, the fox came back and this time, it was the gooseherd’s daughter he took with him to the forest; another attempted delousing, and he knew he had the wrong lady. Back to the castle!
The third time the fox returned, the king gave over his daughter and the fox carried her into the forest. This time, when he demanded a delousing, she cried, “I’m a king’s daughter and yet I must delouse a fox!” He knew he had the right bride, so he transformed himself back into the little white dwarf from the beginning of the story. The couple lived together happily for awhile, until one day, the dwarf said, “I’ve got to go away, but three white doves will soon come flying here. When they swoop down to the ground, catch the middle one. Once you’ve got it, cut off its head right away. But pay attention and make sure you’ve got the middle dove, or it’ll be disaster.” The doves came, the princess caught the middle one, hacked off its head and poof! A handsome prince appeared! Turns out, the white dwarf had been under a nasty fairy’s spell and this whole complicated charade was the only way to lift it. Obviously.

Andre's 8th Birthday Party

Today we were asked to attend Andre's (pretend) 8th birthday party, as our 8 year old selves. We were asked to wear fancy dress- either a Marvel Superhero or a Disney character. We were also expected to bring him a present and to provide party food, for the food table.

As research, I observed the behaviour of my 4 year old cousin. Although she is much younger than 8, she is quite intelligent and mature for her age. It gave me a better sense of the difference between a child and adults imagination. I watched youtube videos to get to grips with the behaviour of an 8 years old, but found that some were a lot more mature than others. It depended on the individual, as to how mature they were. Here are some of those videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmo4Ksg2yJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrTnp4rUQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K53voRNMT1U
I also spent a lot of time remembering the way in which I behaved as an 8 year old and asked my family members how I behaved. In addition, I practised staying in character, by spending a few hours at a time as 'an 8 year old' prior to the day of the party.

I dressed up as Jessie, The Cowgirl from Toy Story 2&3. I though that this was an appropriate fancy dress costume, because I was a tomboy when I was 8, like Jessie. I would never have been caught in a Disney Princess Costume. I bought Andre a cuddly horse toy, (to go with my Cowgirl outfit) which sang a song. I also bought him a Hot Wheels toy car and I wrote him a card, which read "to Ondray", because I was terrible at spelling at that age. I wrote it with my left hand to make the writing look messy because I had awful, huge handwriting. I bought jammy dodgers for the party, because I used to love them and always bought either jammy dodgers or crisp to children's parties.

The party began as we all entered The Black Box. We played Musical Chairs, Musical Statues, Pass The Parcel and we danced a lot. We also had party food, in which I filled up my plate with crisps and then returned for seconds as I was very greedy at that age. I remained in character throughout the party. I found it difficult to play the correct age, but at that age I was very childish, spoke with a very babyish voice, was one of the least intelligent in my class and was extremely hyperactive. I jumped around a lot and hardly sat still during the party, to show that I was hyperactive. I said "please" and "thank you" to show that I was polite and I kept up my terrible habit of chewing things, which I had at that age.

Recorded Responses-
As an 8 year old:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKyr4wckbZI
As an adult:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSDa0CbqGNs

Going Through 'Theatre For Children' Text

Today we spoke about The 'Theatre For Children' Text that we had previously annotated. We were asked about the way in which the content surprised us and how this will affect our performances. All of this information should be considered as we prepare for our project.

Someone pointed out, that they were surprised the volatility of children. They didn't think about the way in which the children might respond to their performance, nor did they think about the fact that these children may have no knowledge of theatre etiquette. As actors we must prepare for unpredictable responses etc.

Theatre etiquette is the proper way to look and behave when you are attending a theatrical experience. Here is a links to a web page about Theatre Etiquette:
http://www.foxtheatre.org/TheatreEtiquette.aspx

Another person stated that they had forgotten about the extent of a child's imagination. Referencing the shows that we saw on our Theatre Trip- '39 Steps and 'Charlie and The Chocolate Factory', most of us found the performances in '39 Steps' more enticing, despite the fact that they only had 4 actors, 3 boxes representing a train, a picture frame as a window etc. While 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' had 16 million pounds worth of spectacular special affects, I thought that I could more easily believe the story in '39 Steps' due to the incredible performances by The Actors. It is worth remembering that children are more likely to believe in the story, if The Actors believe it themselves e.g. if a cardboard-cut-out is meant to represent a tree, then The Actors should actually believe that it is a tree for children to believe the same.

As my personal target is to speak more in class, I mentioned that I was surprised that the text stated that, "The difference between a 3 year old and a 7 year old is greater than the difference between a 30 year old and a 70 year old". However, I thought that I could of elaborated on my point, by stating that during our project we must always keep in mind the different age ranges and try to appeal to all of our target audience. I also need to take more opportunities to answer questions during class.

It was also mentioned that we may be The Children's first experience of theatre and so the whole experience may be very alien to them. The way in which our Tutor, Ella, explained the way they may feel us, is by comparing it to the way that we would feel if we were taken to France and were expected to understand the Language, without previous knowledge. Therefore, we cannot expect them to respond the way we may anticipate for them to, nor can we expect them to respond at all.

'Theatre For Children' Research

'Theatre For Children' is theatre that specialises in plays for young audiences. The story line is drawn from history, folk, literature for children, fairy tales, real life issues or a completely original idea.


Here are some videos of 'Theatre For Children:
http://youtu.be/Uwz6VJzwZzI
The Cat in The Hat- This show demonstrates the amount of physicality appropriate for children's theatre.
http://youtu.be/kmJSQ3zVM8k
A Year With Frog And Toad- This show demonstrated the use of Musical Theatre in a play for children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWwYt3O-MAo
Charlotte's Web- This show demonstrated the use of hand puppets in 'Theatre for Children'.

Due to the fact that my group is considering doing a show based on various Fairy tales I have been studying some popular characters, in order to determine which might be useful for our project.

I have also been watching 'Once Upon A Time', which is a TV series which incorporates Fairytale Characters into the real world, revealing both their lives in their well-known Fairy tales and their new lives in the our world. It demonstrates a way in which we could bring Fairytale characters from different stories together, as well as a way of modernising their stories to highlight real-life issues. It's also an example of how dark fairytales for children can be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rga4rp4j5TY