Week 1 - 11 June 2015

Devising skills:

Still image/freeze frame

Thought-tracking

Narrating

Role-play

Cross-cutting

Hot-seating

Marking the moment

I am most comfortable using freeze frames, cross cutting and marking the moment because I have used them a lot and because I enjoy the creativity that can be tampered with in those skills especially.

Taken from: http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/enews/2009_03_23/feat_balam.html

Childrens Theatre:

Our piece is going to be specially catered for little children. Children's theatre is so important because it triggers off a whole world of imagination. Things in childrens theatre don't necessarily have to be real. They can be abstract, there are inanimate objects and talking bears in childrens theatre, the list goes on. Childrens theatre productions have morals in story's and so teach children things that will help them in their everyday lives such as friendship. As well as a trip to a theatre being a social outing which will help the children to communicate. Communication is key and is probably the main value in childrens theatre.

Taken from: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artrix.co.uk/UserFiles/Image/whatson/outofthebox%252520logo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artrix.co.uk/TheatreDance/Out-Of-The-Box-Performance-March-2013/1525&h=1892&w=3567&tbnid=VxzqeqiryLncdM:&zoom=1&docid=bTpWu4CO6CNSLM&ei=jFOZVfekMuTm7gaAlYLQAw&tbm=isch&ved=0CE0QMygaMBo

Research on other Theatre companies:

Polka - A charity based company, that specializes in childrens theare. It has been running since 1979 and welcomes 90,000 children a year.The company aims to encourage children to explore and develop creatively and is 100% free. As well as theatre the company offers children the chance to engage with characters during story time, along with the chance to socialize with other children in their outdoor playground. http://www.polkatheatre.com/

(Now showing -  The Bockety World of  Henry Bucket).

Unicorn Theatre - A theatre company that specializes in childrens theatre (older children then Polka though). It was first founded in 1947 and now 60,000 children visit it every year. The theatre delivers top notch performances (as I have witnessed myself) and always delivers a good message. The theatre is 'dedicated to inspiring and invigorating young people of all ages, perspectives and abilities, and empowering them to explore the world – on their own terms – through theatre... unforgettable theatrical experiences that will expand horizons, change perspectives, and challenge how we all see and understand each other' (taken from the Unicorn Theatre website, listed below)'. https://www.unicorntheatre.com/everything-else

(Now showing: The beauty of Decay)

Taken from: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://boysballet.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/in-a-2006-school-of-oregon-ballet-theatre-performance-dancers-grace-shibley-and-lucas-threefoot-perform-snow-white-photo-by-christian-johnson.jpg&imgrefurl=https://boysballet.wordpress.com/2013/04/&h=494&w=665&tbnid=iRsoseuk2-mQ5M:&zoom=1&docid=_DiWtBeyryvTFM&ei=jFOZVfekMuTm7gaAlYLQAw&tbm=isch&ved=0CHgQMyhFMEU

The companies will hopefully help us to get a better understanding of what professional children theatres do, and how they grab the attention of so many young kids. I would like to get a better understanding of how to hold myself on stage and of what costume  would best suit the younger audience e.g by acting over the top and wearing bright colours.

Introduction to 'An Awesome Book'

Taken from 'http://gweb-awesomebook.appspot.com/index.html'

My first thoughts about 'An Awesome Book' were nothing but positive and uplifting thoughts. The book has defiantly inspired me, even at the age of 15, despite the fact that it is a children bedtime story. The theme of the book is dreams, and the author 'Dallas Clayton' defiantly did a good job of delivering this theme. From the very first page I was transported to the land of Dreams and welcomed be flying unicorns, tiny trumpet players and many more amazing characters. Since listening to the book in class I have re-watched the online audio version several times more times. Each time it gives me chills as it reminds me that as life goes on we are all taught to evolve and to forget and dismiss. We as humans learn with age that Santa Claus does not exist, that the Easter Bunny was simply a myth, that Barbie dolls cannot talk and that any dreams of one day becoming a top secret spy will never happen. The book on the other hand tells us that this can happen. That everything you believe can happen and possibly will. 

I think that the book has a lot of potential but needs to be discovered by many more people as I have never heard of it before. I feel like a lot of people need to read the book so that they can be inspired and can reinvest in dreams. Dreams can often leave people feeling disheartened in later life, this book shows the disheartened people how to give their lost dreams life again, whilst teaching young people to never allow their dreams to escape them.

In today's lesson we had to create a short scene for little children, which was inspired by a page of the book. My group chose the page 'Please dream for those who've given up'. Our group couldn't really come up with anything because it was almost as if the book was so inspiring that it couldn't be broken down into any other form then the simple words that the author used. Then with little time left to put something together, I had an amazing idea. I thought about how Adults are very corrupt, have already given up on a lot of things in their lives and have probably already let go of their dreams. Compared to a very young child/baby that's still innocent and hasn't yet evolved into someone who has given into society's evil ways and buried their dreams deep down somewhere. The whole point I wanted to get across, was the fact that society had somehow taught us 'to grow up' and leave behind our childish wits, replacing them with our robot selves. About how we were all made to become robots and fit in, instead of seeking an adventure that might work out. It was the fact that a lot of children have been taught to give up before they have even had the chance to believe and actually dream.

The only problem with this interpretation was the fact that little children would not be able to understand the meaning we would be trying to get across, and could loose interest in the performance quickly. So we used my idea as a stimulus and worked on breaking it down. We used a group of adults that had already given up on their dreams to enter the stage as robots but then come to life when they reminisced about their childhood dreams, and simultaneously became whatever they wanted to be. Then they returned to their normal boring robot selves, leaving a little baby on stage, with his whole life ahead of him.

'An Awesome Book' has been chosen for 'Little People's Day' because anyone can relate to the book and so it will be very appealing for the young audience. For many of the young audience members, it will be the first piece of theater which they have ever seen. If we as a cast can capture the magical side of dreams, we may be able to inspire the young children to become actors or something else that they see on stage. Hopefully we will motivate them to be creative and let their imagination run free. After all the children are children. They deserve to dream and escape the world in a blink of an eye. They deserve much more then to be trapped in one place, with just humans. How boring would that be?

An Awesome Book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKGVWNfJU4

Source taken from Youtube

Taken from 'http://goodtimes.thechurchoflondon.com/articles/culture/dallas-clayton-awesome-world-kids/'