Performances to children

Performance 1

Rehearsal
We started off the day by getting all of the equipment ready for a tech run in the morning. This meant we had to run through with the tech people the queues for things such as sounds and smoke effects. Also changes in lights and what type of lights we wanted such as washes or spotlights. This whole process consisted of about six hours and when we weren't in the tech room we were practising and running over lines. Also in this time we created some new features for our performance such as new characteristics. An example of this is me adding in the fact that my character who reads the story at the beginning of our segment was now a Mexican called 'Juan' because he is the one. After this finished we had a full run of the performance form the beginning to the end where afterwards we sat down with Rachel and went through what went well in the performance and what we could do to improve before the first actual show. Some examples of this is things like less generic instructions to the children when telling them to go to places in the room and find things. This also links into being aware of any potential danger hazards for the children such as lights, equipment and walking into objects in the dark. Some examples of stuff that we as the crew had to focus on were things like pre-setting our individual stories things at the start of each segment rather than at the beginning of the entire play. This also meant marking things out such as points to stand and place stuff.

After we had finished this we had about 20 minutes to have a break before our first performance started so in this time we ran some things just to be fully confident on them such as being more familiar  with the story that me and Maddie read at the beginning of our segment.

The Performance
Because it was the first performance it was open up to family and friends of the people involved in the production. Unfortunately, not many people showed up to this performance however there was enough people to interact with and give a full performance to which was in my opinion a good thing because it firstly gave us a good idea of how the kids will react to the show in a less intense way. This prepared us for the future performances because we knew how to deal with the kids and keep them under control.
The performance went well in my opinion, the whole cast got involved even in the parts they weren't in which upped the energy and this reflected on the performance because the audience saw that we were having fun and then became more relaxed into it and enjoyed themselves more.
I personally think i did well in this performance because it stayed in character the whole time and was enthusiastic.

Kats Lesson 2 - Dance

The first half of this lesson we carried on our 'fault line' piece running over the first half and up to the point where we were at last lesson and then at this point we were told to devise a new section consisting of eight beast where we would each devise 8 dance moves or positions we had already been taught in class to go in time simultaneously with one another. Once we had devised  these moves if worked as a 8 beat transition into the next couples part. This consisted of creating a simluated fight scene through snace with our partners until there was only one person left in the class.


I think that the devised fight part i created with Harry went very well because it was in time and worked well. Also due to both our heights and statue it was more possible to us a wider range of moves and echniques such as lifts and roles which we did apply at the end of the segment. If i had to improve something however it would be the length ofthe part. I feel that it could be longer and involve more space but this isalso something that we can work on in the coming lessons.


I feel that i contributed in this class when devising the solo parts and the couples fight scene because i helped think of ideas and went along with what the group was saying. I also contributed by helping out my class mates if they were stuck on specfic parts.
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Childrens theatre lesson 1

This was my first lesson working on the children's theatre piece. The lesson consisted of performing the previously devised pieces to the other groups in the class which we would eventually perform to classes of pre-school children. The lesson started by including myself into a groups performance by learning the story and creating a part for myself. The part which I devised was the role of the 'Dragon Whisperer' which consisted of playing guitar as the story was told and contributing to the story line by reading out parts on the story and reacting with the audience.


At this time we also chose costumes which we felt fitted the story and were also aimed at the audience. We chose light brown dressing gowns and big colourful wigs to suit children theatre because they are big, bright and capture the children's attention.




During the stages of rehearsing we did make some changes due to more actors joining the group. For example we added in my character and took away a role because one of the actors was not present and we needed to rehearse and perform. This meant changing the story slightly from having a min antagonist to there just being an overall problem that the children need to solve. This links into our ideas of interacting with the children to keep them fully entertained at all times. We will achieve this by asking the children riddles and questions to help us out.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqjNHZn7b1Q&feature=youtu.be







Second lesson in Children's Theatre


This lesson we all went off in little groups and completed the tasks we had been previously set at the end of last lesson. Me and Valencia had the task of finding a children's story to tell in our piece and link it to our story somehow. We originally chose 'The Thief and His Master' by the brothers Grimm but we cam to the conclusion that it was too long and couldn't link to our performance so we changed it to 'The Princes and the Frog' also by The Brothers Grimm. This linked well into our original story because it follows the same idea of a human and a creature that meet and change each other.


I also started to compose some music with Andy in the class for songs for the characters that the children will help us sing. Two songs are parody's of songs that's already exist, 500 Miles by The Proclaimers and Lose Yourself by Eminem, which we will change to lyrics to match our story. We chose these tow because they are recognisable songs from most ages and for their comedic effect. The third song we wrote was an original for everyone to join in for as a sort of final piece. We decided to do it this way s it would leave it on a high and keep the children entertained until the end.
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Kats lesson 1

This was my first lesson for Musical Theatre which consisted of dance and movement. The first half of the lesson consisted of devising and running a dance. The piece in itself is inspired around the idea of aboriginal gangs in conflict with one another which is reflected in the movement. An example of this is during one part we used a slitting the throat motion towards the other gang as a sine of aggression and violence. Another example is when we all crowded around a single member and continued by throwing clenched fists towards them in a punchy motion. All of these various types of movement combined, created a sense of aggression, anger and violence towards one another.


As a student I felt that I contributed towards the dance by devising a small segment with another student in solo part in the middle of the dance. One way which devised piece in my opinion  could have been improved by making the movements more varied and not as reparative.


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The second half of the lesson consisted of us learning more choreography the college performance of The Rock Classic performed by Queen that is WE WILL ROCK YOU!!! The song which we were performing to was One Vision by Queen. I contributed to this lesson by becoming part of the ensemble and bringing a fresh mind set with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. Some of the challenges which I came across during the rehearsals was things like time keeping and initial choreography. However as the lesson progressed I became more comfortable within the movements and began to enjoy myself more which was reflected in my performance.


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