Lesson 4

Do you think the material you have created today will be suitable for ‘little People’? Why is it/is it not suitable?

Today we created the torch material and the tiger dance material. I think that the torch material is suitable for the children because the suspense of not knowing where the tiger is will keep them engaged and focused. Also I think that our scared faces will entertain them and the big bright tiger eyes will shock them and also interest them. I think the ‘here kitty, kitty, kitty’ is suitable because the children can probably relate to it if they have a cat however to make this section as effective as possible we need to make sure we are in time so that we sound like one voice and the words sound clearer. Also by leaning in and away from the tiger it shows a contrast when we get more frightened and moving the eyes around will allow the children on all sides to feel involved.

The next second part we worked on was the dance and song. The dance I believe is suitable because we all now have embodied the tiger which we show through our movement of the body and also using the butterfly nets. I believe this section would be suitable, however the song still lacks energy. We really need to improve this otherwise the children will become bored and loose interest.  I think that we should either shorten the song or change it altogether. I think we could make facial expressions and keep up the energy if the song was shorter or we should just change the song to a more light hearted kid’s song that will keep the energy high and will be easier for the children to understand. At the moment the song goes on for a long time and is boring because not enough facial expression is put into it and also the words are difficult to understand.

Here are some examples of other kid’s tiger songs which are more energised and show us what we need to do to improve our song:

At the end of the lesson we came up with some ideas for the play ending I really liked the group’s torch idea with the ‘the tiger can’t eat me!’ I think this will be suitable for the children because it will add some humour to the piece. I then think we should all go and try and find another creature but to make it humorous I think we should get in a line and follow each other in a line, then the person at the front can stop, everyone will bump into each other and say ‘what is it?’ where the person will reply ‘oops sorry it was just an ant’? Then continue until they find another animal. I also think we could do some of our group work for example when we were lifting kitty up to look in a tree. Near the end I think we should be returning home with all our amazing discovery’s which will then follow onto Eleanor’s idea of it all being a dream when taking the children on stage. I think all these ideas will be suitable for the children because we are still exploring in our setting and by getting rid of the tiger it is no longer on stage however I do believe we could catch the tiger so that’s why it ends up escaping from the zoo in the story. Also the dream idea was really good because it will suggest to the children the story is a fantasy but it all starts normally with a child having a dream and it all goes back to normal.

Lesson Three

Three Side Workshop

At the beginning of today's lesson we went down to the new theatre where we will be performing for 'Little peoples day '. Here we took part in a three sided workshop, the focus was on both body and voice. We completed the rapier and dagger exercise, which means having our chest and feet face in a different direction to our head. I found this exercise difficult and unnatural because I was thinking about it to much, to improve I need to practise this technique so that I can reach the final stage of conciousness - unconscious. Also it was difficult because I often bumped into other people so we need to practise working in unison, being aware of each other and balancing the space. Pretending to have a rapier and dagger in opposite hands did really help me change the direction of my head and chest because it allowed me to picture the weapons and become more confident with the exercise by thinking about attack and defence. This exercise was very important because it allowed us to work with our angles on stage and allows energy to travel to all parts of the stage. In addition this exercise will be very useful for our performance because we now know when walking around the space we need to have our body at two different angles in order to keep the audience engaged on all three sides and now are familiar with the space we are working in. Furthermore when walking around I need to remember to change my position so that the three sides get a different part of the body in their direction. The next step is to be able to use this technique whilst being in character so I will continue to practise in order that I will not have to think about what I am doing.

Within the workshop we also concentrated on voice, breath and projection. At the beginning of these exercises I found it difficult to let lots of air into my lungs so I need to improve work on my breathing technique. Also when I bent down I found it difficult breathing as the air into my lungs was restricted however when repeating this exercise several times using my body to move in line with my breathing it became easier and I was able to breathe in and out for longer. We also focused on using different types of speech, and using breath in our speech to allow our energy and project our voices to all parts of the audience on all three sides. We changed a whisper into a stage whisper by using more breath to make the sound produced louder which we could use in our performance. We also practised using normal voice and also nasal with breath because it helps a lot with making the sound louder and pronounced better. We discovered that by speaking through our nose we would be able to gain attention which would be helpful in our performance and would project energy to all sides of the space. Also within the lesson we discovered that when facing the back and also when not using a stage whisper the sound waves would not be absorbed by the audience which would loose energy. We also learnt by doing the breathing it allowed us to relax and gain focus which will be a good exercise to do before the performance.

Are the ideas effective? Are they theatrical, if not, can they be made theatrical? Will they appeal to 'little people'? Why/why not?

At the beginning of the lesson we managed to polish a perfect pyramid. I brought in a photo of a pyramid which we managed to achieve when working together in an ensemble. We can now build and dismantle the pyramid in a slick, quick and safe way. I think the pyramid is very effective because we are able to use different levels and having the speech come from different levels draws the audience to different places on stage. Also by having Fenton at the top and in the middle the audience can now quickly recognise that he is the person that found a tiger. I believe the pyramid is theatrical because it creates a big shape on stage and makes the performance more interesting that if the lines were just said. The pyramid will give the children a stable structure to focus on which will interest them. We also managed to make the pyramid curve into a semi-circle, this will allow all three sides of the stage to see part of the pyramid. I think that the pyramid will appeal to the children because it will draw there attention it may look exciting for them because it is a lot bigger than them and I also think it is the thing that they will remember most about the piece. Also by having Fenton at the top we can tell he is the odd one out, having seen the tiger and he will be able to project his lines to all of the audience and this means that when the lights black out there is a contrast between us all being together and then going of on our separate ways.

The Dance with the butterfly is effective because it involves different types of media and I believe using the butterfly net to turn into a tiger will appeal to the children. The butterfly net resembles a Chinese Dragon which the children might recognise and be able to relate to. I think that the snail dance and waving of the butterfly poles will be theatrical especially when moving to the beat of the music however I do believe it could become repetitive and the children could find it boring. To prevent this we could change the tempo in which we walk and the size of which the figure of eight is in order to vary the performance. We could also bring the tiger close to the children and let them clap along to the beat so that they feel more involved.

At the moment I don't think the song is very effective because it sounds quite dreary like a dirge therefore it will not appeal to the children. Having the dance and movement will make the song more theatrical because it will give the children something to focus on, but I think we have also got to put a lot more energy into the song and we need to all know the words. The tiger will allow the children to imagine a real tiger and create their own image of the tiger in their head so the song needs to add to this excitement. This could be done by increasing the tempo of the song, singing it higher to make it light and happy and I also think we could give the children percussive instruments or get them to clap along so they feel more involved with the performance. This song definitely needs to be improved in order for it to be suitable for the performance, like the jungle sounds at the beginning really add to the atmosphere whereas this song at the moment keeps the piece at a low energy which we need to change.

I also don't think the 'A Tiger!' part, when we are all supposed to be getting quieter after Fenton has announced he has seen a tiger, is effective because you can feel the energy drop in the room which is not suitable for the audience as they need the performance to be constantly at a high level of energy. I think we could make this section more theatrical and better by either starting loud and then getting quieter but facing the audience using exaggerated facial expressions so they know they are scared. Or by having individuals say the line one after another, by doing it this, no energy will be lost because each person will say the line in a different way according to their character which will vary the short phrase and make it more interesting. By having individuals saying it, more of their character will be brought out and the person who is last will be the quietest and probably the most frightened. We could even have groups of people saying it in unison to one another to make it more powerful at the beginning which will get the audience's attention.

I do think the call and response 'A Tiger, I saw one' 'A Tiger? Who saw one?' is very effective because it allows us to smoothly transition into the pyramid. It also is very theatrical because it is similar to a pantomime moment when they are saying 'he's behind you' which the children will be able to relate to. I think this will be very appealing to the 'Little People' because it is a catchy rhythm which the children could join in with. It also comes across as believable because we are not looking at Fenton making the children think we actually cannot see him. I think this section is really good because it will allow the children to join in either saying the phrase with us or trying to tell us where Fenton is.

Finally at the end of the lesson we began to work on the torches and cat eye
section. During the torches section we all follow the objective - to search - looking for the tiger. We repeat the line 'here kitty kitty kitty *kiss noise* x 4' I think this it theatrical because we are all saying it in unison however at the moment it does sound quite scary so we need to practise saying it together in time with a more energetic input. I think having the torches will really appeal to the children because it will give them different beams of light to follow and involve the audience more. We could shine the torches on the children's faces thinking they were the tiger. I think the blackout and tiger eyes will really excite the children because they will imagine a tiger on the loose and will think the explorers are silly because they cannot find it. We need to remember not to point the torches towards the eyes and also we will need to practise so we know where the eyes will be when they move around. I think this is a very effective idea because it compliments the song, it will be fun, engaging and it will be a good build up for the story that will begin after our 10 minute slot.

Lesson Two Questions

What tasks did you do in the lesson today towards creating TTWCTT?

In today's lesson we did a few tasks we sang and listened to a song, we used our body and voices to become explores and experiment different ways of gaining height.

We listened to the song the tiger sung by Patti Smith who is an artist, musician and song writer who focuses on political themes. The song was originally a poem written by William Blake who wrote the poem London and was inspired by the world and also the death of his brother. William Blake wrote the poem in his brothers notebook and Patti Smith was inspired by William Blake as an artist so decided to sing his poem as a song.

The song we listened to talked about a tiger and also about god which we could see in the line 'Did he who made the lamb make thee?' Patti smith sang the song in a very haunting way which may be scary for the children. Also the rhythm was very repetitive, the word were quite difficult to understand, it is in a low pitch and it sounds like a dirge, lament or hymn. However we can now adapt the song to make it more interesting and entertaining for the children. To make the song less haunting more than one person should sing it, we could perform it in a round making the song more up lifting and jolly to sing. We could adapt some of the words so that the children could relate to the song and join in if they want to. The song also needs some more energy, a catchy rhythm, maybe a faster pace a song that you want to listen to with instruments, change in pitch and less annoying and dreary. We can adapt this song to make the children not loose interest and so that we can make it fit with what is going on stage, for example if we sing the song when we have made the tiger out of butterfly nets it might be slowly drifting around so the song is sung at a slower tempo or maybe we are hiding from it so we sing it in a whisper. This will make the song fun and exciting for the audience to watch. We also learnt how to sing this song keeping our necks loose and changing the pitch to suit our needs.

After learning the song we did a becoming explores exercise. We were told to have the objective to search/look.  At first we were all creeping around really slowly but we soon realised to make the piece more interesting we had to vary our tempo and our rhythm so that we were able to work as a group and move around the space creating and exciting and fun atmosphere. By staying low and really looking at things this will engage the children making them wonder what you are looking at and making them want to join in. We all then were told to say a short something about what we had found. We made an order so we could quickly repeat one after the other. Having a gap in between someone's line would break the energy in the room so we had to breathe in near the end of the person before us sentence so that we could quickly say ours. Some people were not giving enough excitement so they improved this by staying at a high level for the whole of the sentence so the energy didn't drop. Having us all spaced around was a great idea because the sentences were fast pace moving allowing the children to quickly look from person to person and so that they could grab their attention.

Finally at the end of today's lesson we were trying to lift up Fenton to make him stand out compared to the rest of us. We all came together in a big group and had three sections, low, medium and high. We moved from these sections making sure there was an equal number in each and then Fenton had to climb on top of Charlie shoulders. This idea was very successful because it was difficult for Fenton to get on Charlie's shoulders and Charlie found it difficult to support him. It didn't seem very safe and wasn't very stable so we decided to experiment with a different idea. Our next idea was to try and create a human pyramid. We managed to get up to three layers however it still wasn't very stable. For next we we are going to try and find a safe a quick way to create this human pyramid without jumping on really quickly and hurting people in the process.

Research on Human Pyramid = http://hollygarciatiger.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/human-pyramid.html

How do you think it contributes/will contribute towards making TTWCTT?

Having this song now gives us a stimulus that we can explore with and experiment with in different ways. This song is very appropriate to our topic because it talks about a tigers appearance, yes we may need to make it less complicated to help the children understand but having a song means that we have something to work with. As I said we can now use this to hep the children learn facts about the tiger but in a more interesting way, we could adapt the song so that it could be telling facts but due to it being in a song format the children wont realise they are learning they will just be drawn to the energy we give from the song. using this song we can create lots of movement and sounds maybe using our voices or instruments to accompany it. Also listening to this song taught us how to sing, it showed us that we needed to change it to a higher pitch for some of us because we found it difficult to sing, we also experimented with how singing was just extending vowel sounds and it only sounding good if we kept a soft neck and if we wanted to sing high, think low and visa versa. From learning how to sing this song we now know if we sing together it makes it more powerful which we might use in our performance.

This exercise was extremely useful because it helped us create who our characters were going to be and also this is going to be the opening of the show. Creating these characters and actions of searching a collecting allowed us to think about the props we will need for the performance in order to make it believable. For example I am collecting small insects, fruits and anything I can find so I now know I will need a bag and maybe a clipboard in order to record my findings. I did not mention this above but we also got into threes and created different activities we could all do together, this is important because we have now come up as things such as looking at tracks which we can all do as a class and we also have little scenes that can be going on in the jungle together as a team. We now know that our performance has to have a varied rhythm and be at a fast pace because through this activity we all felt the energy drop when people were not putting in enough effort so we know we need to be at a high energy consistently because if we felt the energy go the children definitely will and then they will loose focus.

This has contributed to the making of TTWCTT because we know we need to lift Fenton in our performance so by having the freedom to experiment with different lifts is useful because it will allow us to find the best possible way of lifting him. Also doing this lift made us work as a team in TTWCTT we are all going to be working together including other strands so this exercise has helped us work together which we will be doing in the dress rehearsal and on little peoples day. It has also shown us that if some things don't work straight away we can find another way to do it and it may look even better so in our whole performance we should make sure we perform to the best of our ability and if we don't like it we still have time to change it.

Human Pyramid

Helpful tips and information for building a Human pyramid = 

(http://inside.doitinadress.com/blog/5-tips-to-building-a-human-pyramid-in-a-dress#.U52b8PldVFw)

1. Always have your strongest and toughest at the bottom of the pyramid. Like anything, the base of the pyramid is the most important.

2. Have your arms shoulder width apart to make sure your weight is evenly distributed, the Egyptians didn’t have lopsided pyramids so neither should you!

3. Push up through your shoulders to make the ‘Angry Cat’ position, to make sure the upper levels have a flat surface to kneel on and to take pressure off your spine. 

4. For those climbing on, aim to have your knees in the upper to middle part of the back of who you’re climbing on to, so your weight is supported by your shins not your knees. 

Help people up onto the higher levels!!!

(http://www.ehow.com/list_5986246_different-kinds-human-pyramids.html)

Classic

We've all seen the classic human pyramid. This pyramid is formed by groups of people getting down on their hands and knees and stacking on top of each other with the lightest person at the top and the strongest at the bottom. This pyramid is great for events where a pyramid was not planned or practised, because they are not as high and do not require as much balance as other pyramids.

Straight Legs

This classic three-person pyramid is popular at games because it enables the cheerleader to be placed higher off the ground, allowing more fans to see her. This pyramid requires four people--three to form the pyramid and a spotter in back of the pyramid. The most important principle to remember for this type of pyramid is straight legs and locked knees.

Pyramids with Stunts

For a well-trained and more daring pyramid, consider forming a moving pyramid shape. Some examples could include forming two three-person pyramids and transferring cheerleaders in the air or a larger five-person pyramid with the top members doing handstands. These types of pyramids should not be attempted without extensive practice in a safe setting.

http://recordsetter.com/world-record/human-pyramid-assembled-15-seconds/10118

Maybe next lesson we could try a pyramid like picture one and two where they are standing slightly because it might be easier and quicker because it is more supportive.

Lesson One

In today's lesson we talked about how this performance would be performed by all the different strands which means that during the transition periods when our strand is not doing something we need to keep focus and concentrate so that we can quickly get to work and understand what the other strands are doing. For little peoples day we are going to be exploring facts about tigers and giving an interesting, entertaining performance that is not too long (about 10 minutes) so that the audience (children aged 2-5) do not loose focus.

Questions 

What is Children's Theatre?


Children's theatre in a performance which uses different types of media such as dance, music, art, theatre and movement to educate or entertain. To engage children, interaction and colour is used to keep the children focused. Many people believe that children's theatre comes across as basic and simple but good children's theatre often has a deeper meaning and is for both adults and children to enjoy. It is there to give them a better understanding of life and the world they live in so that they can be taught about issues and learn lessons which may add to the child's knowledge. This piece of theatre is often thought as being a play put on but it can also be a devised piece or facts which teach and entertain the children. Children's theatre should be accessible to all, children often tend to have a short attention span but by using your voice in different tones and positions, buy using your body to portray movement and by delivering words clearly to the whole audience whether to you side or front will create a piece of theatre that is exciting and interesting to watch.

What skills does and excellent children's theatre performer need to possess?

They should be a total artist therefore the should me able to sing to some extent, dance ( have some movement), play an instrument, understand technology and be able to devise. They should also be able to play the space for exactly if someone is speaking to one direction and there whole body is facing that way the rest of the audience is gaining no energy from him so they should have there chest to one direction and their head to another so that they can deliver to the whole audience, this means that no ones view is blocked.. The theatre does not have to be basic they just have to be clear, they should have clear pronunciation, give across energy and speak with accuracy and control. to work on this an actor should exercise there mouth regularly to pronounce words properly, they should know exactly what they are saying and give clear and concise words so that if they do need to speak quickly every word can be understood. They should also be able to change the position of there voice, as well as pitch in order to get the children's attention and keep them wanting more. For children's theatre actors need to have the freedom to experiment they need to release there inner child to make the performance fun and exciting

The actors also need to be able to make eye contact in order to connect with the children and play to the vertical and horizontal so that energy is given to all the seats so the children and adults pay attention. A good children's performer should be sympathetic towards the audiences reaction and understand how to make them feel comfortable so that they all enjoy the performance. Children's theatre should be exciting for all ages and the actors can do this by putting in effort, playing their character to the correct energy level and using the body and voice as one. Exercise like 'I'm a slimy frog' and 'the tension levels' can help actors learn how to use there body and mind to portray emotion and use there voice with their body.

How would you adapt an issue for delivery to a specific audience?

To give facts to a young audience could be seen as difficult because they have a short attention span but we can keep them engaged by giving a exciting creative performance. Our group decided that we could adapt these tiger facts into a performance involving breaking news. Lots of children watching CBBC and Ceebies see presenters and short news flashes so this was the base for our idea. We thought that we could make it slightly 'pantomime' like having the news reporters panicking about the tiger on the loose and then having the tiger walk behind them without them knowing. We also thought by having this news flash we could go to different locations such as the zoo where the tiger broke out and a safari to find out more about the tiger species. Having these changes in set will keep the children excited and engaged, also due to it being a quick newsflash it will not go on to long and we would be able to fit in lots of facts at the three different locations. Involving news makes the performance educational and also having the wondering tiger on the loose will make it entertaining for all of the audience members.

Exercises

We did two exercises in today's lesson slimy frog and 7 states of tension.

Slimy frog
 This exercise was repeating the word 5 times but slowly getting bigger and exploring more with the world. This exercise helped us learn how to use our body to the sound of the word and allowed us to look stupid and explore the sounds of the words in an environment that gave us the freedom to experiment.

The 7 levels of tension

These are the seven levels of tension and during this exercise we were able to explore different ways of showing the level of tension and we allowed our bodies to move by themselves and not think about it. This exercise was created by Jacques Lecoq who worked a lot on physical movement and mime and has his own school in Paris.


































For both of these exercises we noted down some skills we needed to do them well:

• It doesn't matter what you look like, experiment and live in the moment
• Commit to discovery, change your movements to gain energy, don't repeat
• Don't think or over think you should feel and respond
• Allow the sound and the body to be one, you should experiment and remember the word doesn't have to sound like a word
• Give each other the freedom to experiment and be supportive to allow them to do this
• No critical self awareness - accept what you are doing
• Commitment - give energy
• If your doing level one do level one, if your doing level 5 do level 5, give the right state of tension and play with that level
• Modulate voice - change placement (nose, throat, pitch)
• Improvise - don't rehearse otherwise not in the moment and you are repeating which is boring because it has already happened before

Both of these exercises gets the actors to understand the state of tension and helps them use their voice and body as one. Doesn't have to be used obviously in the performance but it can be used if it is subtle.