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
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