Whole show practice part 2 (Day of Performance)

Today we were off our normal time table at school so we could practice this performance as we were performing this at the end of the day. We started by laying out all the items we have for the show and then talking about our plan for the day:

• 9:00-10:00= Polish all numbers and scene we are not confident with
• 10:00-10:40= Make the Tree costumes and other items needed
• 11:00-12:20= Run the whole show with costumes and props while timing it.

We were informed today that we would be unable to perform our Goldilocks piece as the hall in the infants school was to small to set up a silhouette performance so we would only need to practice "Little Red" and "Jack and the beanstalk". We started by practicing the following numbers and scenes first: Little Red opening, Red in the Woods, Grandma house with Wolf and Red, You've got a friend in me, I've got the magic bean, Welcome to the sky, Cutting the beanstalk and "We're a believer". Our objective was to make sure we not only see if we knew these piece but also could put the full of energy. The opening of Little Red went very well so we only ran it once and moved on to Red in the woods which is where Red is on her way to her grandmothers. She is skipping in out of us while we are the trees but as a last minute add we had "Pink Panther" theme tune played in the background as the trees did a step kick and jazz hands in time with the beat of the song. We then skipped to Grandmothers house and speed ran through it to make sure we all knew what we were doing before we moved on to "you've got a friend in me" which was also find so we moved on to "I've got the magic bean". We ended up running this number a few times so that some of us could show more energy and smile more we performed the number, in total we did this number 5 times before we moved on to out next part which was "welcome to the sky". This number like last one, we ran over a few times, as some of us struggled to show enough energy but we sorted it and then moved on to cutting the beanstalk which was the scene where Jack had just come down the beanstalk and the one we weren't sure of our lines on. We managed to run through this though with no problems as we started "we're a believer" which went well but we had to decide weather we'd use backing track or the actual number, we took a vote and decided backing track.

We then spent time making our tree costumes from bin bags and leaves we cut from different shades of green and yellow paper. We also made a shinning gold egg for the goose to us in Jack and the beanstalk.

Whole Show Practice Part 1

Today we started to work on our whole children's theatre piece in order starting with our opening with Freya, Toby, Tom and Meg where Toby and Freya are boring the children as teachers so Meg and Tom enter. we changed this so as they enter saying they have the book we all start saying "They have the book" while scattered across the audience. The rest stayed the same as we got to end of the opening and started Little Red. Little Red was a good run through as we didn't have to stop and go over any of the scenes more than once as I showed we had clearly practice this number but  when we reached the end of the Little Red run we we're told that some of us need to show more energy so that we would have a better chance of getting a reaction out of the children with our performance. We were then suppose to move on to the transition to for Goldilock but we skipped these two as we didn't have time to set up silhouette this lesson so we said we would do it next lesson and as we didn't do Goldilock we skipped the transition. We also skipped the Jack and the beanstalk transition as we wanted to focus on jack as it is the most recent piece we created so we were more likely to be not as familiar with it. We started Jack and the beanstalk which went could until we got to "You've got a friend in me" which we still needed to stage it, so we spent some time deciding what we would in which we changed the song:
Tom:

She's got a friend in me
 She's got a friend in me
When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles
From your nice warm bed
You just remember what your old pal said
Boy, She's got a friend in me
Yeah, She's got a friend in me

 

You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
You've got troubles, and I've got 'em too
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you
We stick together and can see it through
'Cause you've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me

 

In this number we all walk around except me as I stand there listening to him as I'm his mother and the Co and Jack dance during the second chorus. We then move on through the rest of the show very well until the end after Jack and Goose had just jumped down the beanstalk. The scene that followed had some problems as none of us knew the lines we were saying as it was clear we hadn't gone over this last scene so we were instructed to go over it for next lesson.

Todays lesson went good as we managed to go over half of our production with little problems but it means we will need to go over certain scenes for next lesson like the ending of Jack and "You've got a friend in me" as we are performing our show next Tuesday (23rd June). We were informed today that we would only be performing to Themes view infants school only as we were unable to find a date we could of perform to St. Margret's infants. To improve our whole performance we will need to work on our whole energy out put for the performance as we should be exhausted by the end of the performance if we are putting the right amount of energy in as everything we do must be over the top. At the end of the lesson we had a sit down to talk about what we each needed to collect for the performance, these are the items I need to collect:

• Beak for start of Little Red (Can be made from some paper and cello tape)
• Tree costume for the scene in the woods with Little Red (We are making this at school next lesson)
• Dress for Mother in Jack and the beanstalk (Our teacher is supplying me with this item)
• Tray to sell goods in market scene (I can supply this from home)
• Broom for mother to clean with (I am borrowing this from Carl Tyler another member of the cast)

We're a believer

We continued to make Jack and the beanstalk starting from where we left off which was where the giant had just left. Jack asks the children which way he should go as the goose played by Carl backs on and the two end up bumping into each other.

Goose: Whatchoo doing? Watch wear your going! Who are you antway little giant

Jack: I’m Jack and I’m not a giant I’m a real boy

Goose: Alright Pinocchio! What’s the difference?

Jack: Well I’m smaller and not as mean, (pause) what are you, a duck?

Goose: Excuse me, does it look like I am a duck? Duck are small and stupid (Jack starts backing away); I am not a duck, thank you very much. I’m a goose!

Jack: What’s the difference?

Goose: Excuse me. (add line) Where are you going?

Jack: Home … I hope.

Goose: Home? You mean somewhere not here? Somewhere else? Somewhere beyond these four walls?

Jack: Erm Yes?

Goose: (gasp) Tiny giant, take me with you, please!

Jack: (yelling) I am not a giant!

(Goose covers Jacks mouth)

Goose: Lower your tiny voice! Or the giant will hear us. (Pause to look around the room) Please take me with you, I can’t take it no more, that big dude is mean, rude, ugly; unlike yourself might I add. Pleeease!

Jack: Well … I’m afraid I-

Goose: I can give you gold, lots of it.

(Jack turns to the audience)

Jack: This could solve all my family’s problems. (Looking at the goose) Fine but stay close.

(Jack goes to exit stage left)

Goose: Other way little giant.

(Jack turns around and exits stage right)

Goose: My saviour.

(Goose exits stage right)

Giant: Fe fi fo fum THE ENGLISHMAN HAS TAKEN MY GOOSE!

Narrator: Bellowed the Giant. Jack and The Goose looked at each other with fear as they knew that if they were caught the giant would gobble them up whole for lunch. Their only chance to escape will be to run to the beanstalk and go home.  So that’s what they did.

 

We then decided to add the Benny Hill theme as Jack and the Goose run back to the beanstalk. The two of them run around the hall once as toby walks on on stage, as the two of them reach the stage there is a break in the song in which the two of them do an over exaggerated breath. they then contiue to run but smack into Toby who then joins them as they run around the hall again, they then repeat the other exaggerated breath as the three of them then run into Dan M who also joins them for one last lap of the hall as when they reach the stage last time, Toby and Dan run off as finally Carl and Tom jump down the beanstalk.

 

Jack: Mum I'm home and..

Mum: Where have you been? I have been worried sick!

Jack: I climbed up the beanstalk mum..

Mum: WHAT ?!  What happened?

Jack: Well…(storytelling) I went up the beanstalk and found this land on top of the clouds which had a huge castle in the distance, then I met these people called Munchkins. They welcomed me to the Sky by singing and dancing. Then I snuck off to the castle which they told me not to go to, but I did anyway. I then, snuck under the door which was HUUUUUGE and everything was massive! It belonged to a giant who tried to eat me, so I ran all the way home.

MUM: Well you have been busy … but Jack giants don’t exist.

Jack: But I have proof… (indicating the goose)

Mum: What a duck ?

Goose: EXCUSE ME?

Mum: Oh a talking Duck?

GOOSE: OH MY GOD? Is everyone here so silly.

Jack: Mum this is a goose who can lay golden eggs. Look I have one here ?

Mum : Fantastic where did you get the goose from?

Jack: The Giants castle

Mum: So you stole the Giants goose?

Narrator: Then suddenly a huge voice bellowed from above.

Giant: Fe fi fo fum that Englishman will be my lunch.

Narrator: Jack his mum and the goose all looked at each other in terror confused about what to do. Then Jack realised he only had one choice.

Jack : We are going to have to cut down the stalk.

Goose and Mum: WHAT?!

Jack: it’s the only way. Kids I need your help repeat after me. Cut cut cut the stalk etc.

Narrator: The beanstalk then fell from the sky and crashed to the floor. Jack had saved everyone with the Giant stuck in the sky.

Jack: We did it thank you kids!

Mother: Jack, you were so brave! I am so proud of you, I’m sorry I ever doubted you

Jack: That’s okay mum, I’m just happy we’re safe now, and we’ll never have to starve again!

Mother: now we have so much gold from the castle and the goose, we can have a party!

Jack: YESS

 

We then decided on our finally to be "I’m a believer" from Shrek as its is a fimilar tune to children so they would b able to sing along and dance with the song. We changed some of the words as well as shortening the song

Tom:

I thought love was
Only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else
But not for me

Tom and Meg:

Love was out to get to me
That's the way it seems
Disappointment haunted
All my dreams

Everyone:

And then we saw your face
Now We're a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in our mind
We're in love
 We're a believer
we couldn't leave you
If we tried

Freya:

I thought love was
More or less a given thing
But the more I gave the less
I got, oh yeah

Dan M and Freya:

What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain

Everyone:

And then we saw your face

Now we're a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in our mind

We're in love

We're a believer

We couldn't leave your

If we tried

What's the use in trying

All you get is pain

When we wanted sunshine

we got rain

And then we saw your face

Now we're a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in our mind

We're in love

We're a believer

We couldn't leave your

If we tried

 

 

Todays lesson went very well as have successfully managed finish staging all of Jack and the beanstalk but we all now need to spend our time going over all of Jack to make sure what we have learned will stick with us so that we don't have to spend time on re-learning any scenes from Jack. We also need to go over Little red and Goldilock before next lesson as we are close to our performance date as we are planning to perform at both St. Margret's Infants and Thames view Infants.

Welcome to the sky

Today we continued working on Jack and the beanstalk from where we left off which was jack on his way home to show his mum the beans. In this scene there is just Jack (Tom) and the Mum (Ashley), this starts with mum cleaning the house in a very camp fashion as jack enters. mum asks "have you sold the cow yet?", jack says yes, so mum rushes over but is shocked to find beans in Jacks hand instead of money. Jack's mum then takes the beans and throws then out the window. The next scene is where Jack discovers the beanstalk and decides to climb it with help from the children by teaching them a chant ("Climb the stalk"). Jack reaches the top of the beanstalk and meets a stranger who relies that Jack is a new person so he calls all of us on stage to sing a song. this song was inspired by "Shrek's Duloc" song:

"Welcome to the sky, such a perfect place,

Stay right where you are, we will tie your lace,

Have no fear, its time for fun, come and play with everyone,

This is a perfect place.

Just keep off of the grass, shine your shoes, wipe your…. Face.

The sky is…. The sky is……. The sky is a perfect place."

 

After the song we all then tell jack that he should never go in the castle, then we all march off merrily to the tune of the song we just sung. Narration then takes over the scene as Jack runs into the castle and the narrator describes all the things he sees like giant pieces of rubbish and furnisher. Jack hides which then starts the scene I was given to create at the start of our project.

(The ground shakes with loud bangs to the ground)

Narrator: Then the ground started to shake with a loud bang was moving closer to Jack, in fear Jack hide as he heard a mighty and powerful voice.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!

Narrator: Jack shaked with fear as he hide from the Giant

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I want to taste this Englishman in my tum!

(Jack looks up from behind his cover to gaze at the Giant)

Jack: The Giants going to eat me, I need to get out of here.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I think the Englishman wants to run!

Narrator: Jack looked for a way to get out but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I can’t see any Englishman!

Narrator: the Giant walked away. So Jack went to run away but the hears a noise of goose above him.

This was as far as we managed to get with our performance today. we have managed to stage a lot of Jack and the beanstalk so if we can continue with the commitment we are showing towards this production we should finish jack in the next couple of lessons. For my part of Jack's mother I am looking into how to stylize her for the show by looking at similar characters like "Edna Turnblad" from "Hairspray". If I am able to capture the characteristics of this character I believe it will better my performance as Jacks mother.

I've Got the Magic Bean

Today we started our work on Jack and the beanstalk and created our opening scene:

Narrator: Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack who lived with his mother. They didn't have much; in fact all they owned was a milky white cow. Although one day Jack's mum had some bad news.

Mum: Our cow hasnt given us any milk for over a month now. Jack and I are starving, without milk we have no money for food.

(Jack enters from stage left)

Jack: I don't want to give up my cow, I love her. She's my friend and you can't sell a friend

(Jack then starts to sing you've got a friend in me)

Mum: Don't be silly Jack, a cow can't be your friend we don't have any choice.

Jack: But...

Mum: No buts...

Jack: (sighs)... I guess so

This was our opening scene for Jack and the beanstalk, after this we started to work on a market place scen which is when Jack meets the Bean man. We created the market place by making us all muchants trying to sell their iteams. We each create our own murchant who would walk around the stage shouting for attention and then going up to the audience to try and sell there goods until Jack walks on. all of us then charge at Jack so we could sell him our murchandise. Jack backs away into the Bean man who then sends us all away and then buys the cow for the magic beans. We then go into a song "I've got the magic" or as we have called it "I've got the magice beans" which we choreographed a dance for:

"I got the magic in me"= On the three beats of this line in groups we loung forward pushing our arms out
"Every time I touch that track, it turns into gold"= We step cross to left making a rainbow with our hands and then step turn to the left followed a in three groups rasing our hand on 3 seperate beats
"Everybody knows I've got the magic in me"= We do a step, click, bounce. followed by a step out then pivot to the back then to the front.
"When I hit the flow, the girls come snappin' at me"= We then slowly rais our arms then drop into the 'sprinckler' move ment starting right and then one on the left
"Now everybody knows I've got the magic"= We slowly movw into a circle

"Magic, magic, magic
Magic, magic, magic
Magic, magic, magic"= During this chorus we circle around Jack and the cow raising and lowering our arms
I got the magic in me"= We pose on the last beat of this line

Transitions

Intro to Little Red

(Freya and Toby are both life less and boring teachers)

Freya: Hello boys and girls my name is Miss Beck and this is...

Toby: Mr. Saddleton
Freya: ...and today we're going teach you about...
Freya and Toby: Health eating!
Freya: Did you know you have to eat 7 fruits and vegetables... a day
Toby: Yum, Yum
Freya: and did you know you must drink 2 liters of water... a day
Toby: Gargle, Gargle
Freya: now we're going to teach you how to peal an orange

(Meg and Tom run on full of joy and excitement, Tom is carrying a book)

Meg: Boys and Girls. Boys and Girls. We found it! We found the book!
Freya: Excuse me, we're trying to do an assemble here.
Tom: Yeah but you're boring them.
Meg: Are you bored boys and girls

(The children shout yes)

Tom: Do you want to sit here and listen to health eating or do you want to have fun
Meg: If you want to have put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care.

Tom: I don't care!

Meg: Boys and girls we are going to need your help in turning these two boring people into fun people like us.
Tom: I'm going to teach you the magic words. "Magica, Magica, Magica me", now your turn.

(The children say the words)

Meg: You can be louder than that!

(They say the words again)

Tom: Now we're going to do it for real, are you ready, Magica, Magica, Magica me.

(Freya and Toby  suddenly become full of energy)

Freya: That is the biggest book I've have ever seen
Toby: That is so cool
Meg: Can you help me open it?

(They all pull the book open)

Now what story should I read... How about Sleeping beauty?

(Freya then pretends to prick the sowing needed and fall asleep) 

Maybe not, what about Rapunzel?

(Toby then goes down on his knee)



Toby: Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair.
Meg: ...No! Little Mermaid?

(Tom jumps to the floor flopping about like a fish)

But we don't have any water, How about...

(Overlapping and loud)

Freya: Oh do that one, I love that one.
Toby: That story is the best
Tom: Please do that one!
Meg: SHHHHH! (To Freya)
Freya: SHHHHHHHHH! (To Toby)
Toby: SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (To Tom)
Tom: SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (To Audience)
Meg: Okay boys and girls let begin, Once apon a time..
 

Intro between Little Red too Goldilocks

(Meg closes the book and looks up at Toby, Tom and Freya)

Meg: Now wasn’t that a good story boys and girls? Didn’t we all have loads of fun listening to this story?

Tom: it was the best story I have ever heard in my whole life!

Toby: that story was so amazing, little Red Riding Hood is my favourite story and you told it so well!

Freya: (not full of much energy) it was nice.

Meg: Nice? Did you not enjoy this fairy tale? You said it was your favourite when I started to read it to you.

Freya: yeah I know but then I remembered that I liked another fairy tale EVEN MORE then Little Red Riding Hood!

(Overlapping)

Toby: NO WAY, nothings better than Little Red Riding Hood.

Tom: No story that I know could be better than Little Red Riding Hood, It’s the best story EVER!

Freya: Yeah there is, I told my mum the story a couple of nights ago and it’s SO much better!

(Overlapping and improvise a childish fight)

Tom: Stop lying nothing is better!

Toby: Little Red is Funny, Amazing, Fun, Great…

Freya: My mummy said that my story is the best she had ever heard!

Meg: (To Toby) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Toby: (To Freya) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Freya: (To Tom) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Tom: (To Audience) Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

Meg: Would you like to share your story with all of us then

Freya: Oh can I, Thank you sooooo much!.... (She goes to speak then realises) I don’t remember it.

Meg: Have a look through the big book of Fairy tales and see if you can find it

Freya: Found it!

(Overlapping)

Toby: Oh my god! That is a great story.

Tom: Oh please read us the story.

Meg: Go ahead.

Freya: Thank you so very much.  Once apon a time

  

Intro between Goldilocks too Jack and the Beanstalk

 

Freya: Seeeeeee, wasn’t that the best story you have ever heard.

Meg: Yes that was lovely and I think it’s a good story to end on, we can do more stories tomorrow…

(At the same time)

Toby: (huff of air)

Tom: (huff of air)

Meg: Are you two alright?

Toby: Yeah I guess

Tom: It’s just that, you got to tell a story… She got to tell a story…

Freya: Do you guys want to tell a story to me.

Toby: Oh yes please

Tom: Can we, Can we

Meg: I’m not sure, maybe...

Tom: Please it’s in the Big Book of Fairy Tales, I saw it earlier.

Meg: Well…

(Overlapping and improvised

Toby: Oh please let us

Freya: Can they, can they

Tom: We won’t take long

Meg: (To Toby) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Toby: (To Freya) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Freya: (To Tom) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Tom: (To Audience) Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

Meg: You both can’t tell the story.

Toby: Yes we can, its Jack and the Beanstalk so I will narrate the story with my (Narration voice for Jack and Beanstalk) Narrators voice.

Tom: And I can be Jack

Freya: That sound like loads of fun, please let them tell their story

Meg: Very well you can tell your story

Toby: Thank you, this is going to be loads of fun

Tom: It’s okay Miss you’re in the story as well, you can be the Cow I trade away.

Meg: What!

(Overlapping, Toby’s voice is more powerful then Megs)

Toby: Once apon a time in a place far away

Meg: (Getting over shadowed by Toby’s voice) No wait I don’t want to be a cow

Jack and the Beanstalk plan

Today we started to look at creating our last story, Jack and the beanstalk and the casting of each character needed in the stroy. We did group votes on who we wanted to play each part, this is the casting for Jack and the beanstalk:

Jack: Tom

Giant: Dom

Mother: Ashley

Goose: Carl

Beanman: Dan M

Cow: Meg

Narrator: Toby

We were each then given a scene or 2 scenes from to devise from Jack and beanstalk over the half term. i was given the scene when jack discovers the bean stalk and the giants entrance to the story.

Discovers the Beanstalk

(Jack wakes up and moves from his bed and walks towards his door)

Narrator: Jack woke up the next morning and decided he go for a stroll but when Jack opened his door he was shocked for what he sore.

Jack: what is that thing, is that a beanstalk?

(Jack looked at the beanstalk in amazement)

Jack: it goes high up into the sky, I can’t see the top. Should I climb up to the top and have a look at what I see.

Narrator: So up Jack went, going higher and higher until Jack looked down and couldn’t see the grown but Jack still climbed up to pass through the clouds then discovered something amazing above.

Giants Entrance

(The ground shakes with loud bangs to the ground)

Narrator: Then the ground started to shake with a loud bang was moving closer to Jack, in fear Jack hide as he heard a mighty and powerful voice.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!

Narrator: Jack shaked with fear as he hide from the Giant

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I want to taste this Englishman in my tum!

(Jack looks up from behind his cover to gaze at the Giant)

Jack: The Giants going to eat me, I need to get out of here.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I think the Englishman wants to run!

Narrator: Jack looked for a way to get out but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

Giant: Fe Fi Fo Fum, I can’t see any Englishman!

Narrator: the Giant walked away. So Jack went to run away but the hears a noise of goose above him

Reasearch: Theatre

Theatre 1: The polka Theatre

Polka Theatre is a children’s theatre in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, for children aged 0– 13. The theatre contains two performance spaces - a 300 seat main auditorium and a 70 seat studio dedicated to early years performances. Polka Theatre is a producing theatre which also tours shows nationally and internationally. The theatre houses part of the teddy bear collection of the former Teddy Bear Museum in Stratford-on-Avon. The building also features a creative learning studio, a garden, an outdoor playground, indoor play area, exhibition spaces and a cafe. Polka Theatre is a registered charity number 256979 and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It is also funded by the London Borough of Merton and a number of private charitable trusts and foundations, individuals and commercial companies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4GBp9m2uwk
This is trailer for a piece by Polka theatre called "Three colours" which appears to captivate the skills of puppetry, movement, silhouette and music. the piece shows successful uses of these for skills but mainly in the movement as all there movements are big and animated like ours will need to be for our production if we will want to get a bigger reaction from the children. They also use projection very effectively as they have this part where a girl eats a strawberry projection and it loses a chunk. This is what we hope will be able to achieve with the beanstalk when we create the beanstalk projection for jack to climb. Overall Polka Theatre appear to be successful in children's theater in the term of movements as they are able to perform big and animated movements that would draw the eye of the children as well as being able to use bright colours in a creative way for the children.

 

Theatre 2: Unicorn Theatre

The Unicorn Theatre is the UK's leading theatre for audiences aged 2–12. The theatre has its home in a custom-built building on Tooley Street, in the London Borough of Southwark, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup and comprises two theatre spaces (the Weston and Core Theatres), an education studio, rehearsal space, café and the John Lyon meeting room. The theatre was founded in 1947, by Caryl Jenner; in 1961, Jenner began presenting children's productions at the Arts Theatre in the West End, and in 1967 the company took over the lease of the theatre which then became Unicorn's permanent performing base until 1999. The Unicorn is a registered charity and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCg2qzE8USE
This is a trailer for a unicorn Theatre production of Cinderella for ages 6+, this look like a inspirational performance for our own story telling unit as we can see how all the character s are bursting with colour like the pink ladies and who the characters are over the top like the prince and step mother showing there full of energy. I also noticed that it appears the Step mother is played by a man which is clearly used for comic relief like in our jack and the beanstalk the mother is played by me for a similar reason of humor. I also noticed that there was some big and flamboyant dances which we sort of have but our could use more of the energy and flamboyancy shown in this production. Overall I like the unicorn theatre as it can clear show that it understands how to put on children shows as well as being an inspiration for me into further developing our own production.

Goldilocks part 2

Today we continued working on our silhouette performance of Goldilocks.

We went over our creations from last lessons which were the creation of the woods, the bears, chairs and the beds in silhouette as well as our transition between them which would be done by us rolling. After we had covered the silhouettes we had created we moved on to our new silhouettes we needed to create for the story. We first worked on a  opening where we see baby bear about to eat the porridge but mama bear telling baby bear not to. We created a table made of Tom and Dan M with a prop that is going to be made with a stick and paper cut outs that will look like a silhouettes of bowls. We then skipped ahead as we had already staged the next couple of silhouettes and re-created the bowls but with each bear saying their food had been eaten. We then did chairs with the bear saying their chairs have been sat on. Baby bear then says "My chair is broken", we created this by laying on the floor below the shadow and using our hands to create rubble over the floor. Finally we did the beds but with bears reacting that someone has been in their beds. After we get back to the beds and baby bears wakes up Goldilocks who was still in the bed, we make the parents into a big clump shouting at Goldilocks made of Tom, Dan S, Carl and Dan M. We then show Goldilocks running back through the woods but the woods isn't as nice at the start as the bird attacks her this time and the flower is venous fly-trap. We then went back to the start and created the house made of all of us but Freya. We then decided we end the piece with the three bears but then holding hands in the silhouette so that it seemed more of a happy ending instead of a girl being scared by bears. We went back near the start to add in the silhouette of the 3 bears house which we needed to create still, Tom came up with the idea of 2 people laying down with their legs up as the walls, tom was in the center holding the legs up, 3 of us then filled the gaps between then so the it was a whole shape then finally the last 2 made roof by using their bodies as an archway.

 

I believe today we managed to show great imagination especially with the creation of the 3 bears house as we we're all unique in our creations and ideas for the silhouettes we made. To improve as a group we need to put more energy into our rehearsals now so that we can get a better end result as I feel some of us could be putting more energy into our pieces which would then help us to get a better reaction from the children. we will also need to practice this piece the most as it is a very physical and precise piece so will need to practice to make this as perfect as possible so the silhouettes look better.

Research: TV Shows

TV show 1: Tree Fu Tom

Tree Fu Tom is a live-action/CGI CBeebies children's television program which has been shown on BBC and CBeebies in the UK and Sprout and NBC Kids in the USA. It is set in a miniature magical countryside and village area (Treetopolis) on the top of a part of a trunk of a big tree in a British-type woodland, where the trunk turns horizontal and then vertical again. It is aimed mostly at 2-6 year olds. The series was developed in conjunction with the Dyspraxia Foundation with the aim of promoting movement. Foundation specialists Sally Payne and Dr Lynda Foulder-Hughes worked with the series creators to develop the movements Tree Fu Tom uses to create magic. Five percent of children have developmental coordination disorder, and these movements are similar to those used by occupational therapists to help child development. It is also hoped that the spells will help get exercise into the lives of young children.

Opinion: This is a successful Children's TV show for many reasons like the the interesting stories that helps play on young children's imagination with bright colour and unique characters in the story. This show is also successful as it help children with interaction towards the show as its about being energetic and this TV show helped children channel their creativeness and energy towards a better life style at a young age

TV show 2: Something Special

Something Special is a children's television programme presented by a men called Justin Fletcher and produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is designed to help entertain children with signing and is specifically aimed at children with delayed learning and communication difficulties. The show is on the CBeebies channel and in the past was also broadcast as part of the CBeebies programme strand on BBC One and BBC Two. The name of the programme derives from the idea that all children, irrespective of their position on the learning spectrum, are special. Their format of the show has evolved considerably since the original series. In 2012, a new series, "Something Special - We're All Friends" started, introducing some minor changes to the "Out and About" format. This format change has also included a change in location, and introduced the Tumble Tap, a tablet computer showing the "special things" to look for.

Opinion: Something Special is a successful children’s show because it is able to keep children’s attention as it only runs from between 15-20 minutes which means it doesn’t bore the children with a long run time. The show also uses creative ways of telling their stories with the characters like Mr tumble who are very flamboyant which is entertaining to young children as well as having a distinctive voice that is ear catching and easy to understand for young children. Another reason the show is successful is that it is musical gifted with engaging songs for young children with important messages and catchy tunes.

Goldilocks part 1

Today in lesson we started to work on Goldilocks by using silhouette. We practice first by making the simple images in the story like the beds and the chairs to find simple ways on creating them.

We then started the performance by creating our 3 bears. Me, Tom and Dom created papa bear, we made him by using me as the base of his body and holding my hands above my head to make the ears, Tom was in front of me making the arms of the bear and Dom was behind to make the silhouette of the bear bigger. Toby, Carl and Dan S made mama bear by doing a similar shape to papa bear but closer to the sheet so that the bear appears smaller than papa bear. Meg and Dan M made baby bear by meg sitting crossed legged and holding her hands above her head to make ears and Dan M kneeling behind her to add the arms of baby bear. We then created a forest after the bears, the people who made papa bear made a tree on the right of the silhouette using our bodies as the trunk and hands as the branches but I e of us made a bird using his hands that sat on a branch. Another tree was made on the other side and Meg with Dan M made a silhouette of 2 flowers on the ground as Freya as Goldilocks walks through. We then created the 3 bears chairs, I made mama bears chair by kneeling on 1 knee to make the base and my body for the back of the chair. Meg made baby bears chair the same way but was closer to the sheet so it appears smaller. Papa bears chair is made by Carl and Tom, Carl was the base and Tom was the back. Our next creation was the beds, we made papa bears bed first which was made from Tom, Dom, Meg, Dan M and me, the four of them shaped the bed and I was used as a balance for whoever laid on the bed as I was hidden in the shadow for Freya to put her hand on. Me, Toby and Dan S made mama bears bed which was made with me and Toby as the base and Dan S as the back of the bed. Baby bears bed was made with Meg, Carl, Tom, Dan M and which was done similar to papa bears bed but closer to the sheet so we were smaller. These where the main silhouette for our story of Goldilocks we focused and worked on today in lesson.

 

Todays lesson was a fun lesson and I believe we are starting to show some flair and imagination with our idea of silhouette but we could still be more imaginative with how we create the shadows as well as what we make with the silhouette as we have currently made mostly basic silhouettes for our piece so we all need to go and research ideas to add the flair to our performance. We also need to be practice "Little Red" in our own time so that when we next need to run "Little Red" we can just go for it with loads of energy and not need to spend time re-teaching ourselves the performance.

Little Red part 2

Today in lesson we continued working on Little Red ridding hood and finished staging the story. After Red has become tired of running back and forward across the stage, the wolf goes to grab her. Red then ducks after saying "ow, a daisy" and the wolf misses grabbing her, for a second red stays down as we can see that the wolf is puzzled about how he missed the grab. Red then lifts her arm up knocking the wolf over. Red is now aware of the wolf's presence. Red apologies by saying "sorry kitty" which is another joke towards the wolf. The wolf gets up and says "I'm no kitty, I'm the wolf". The wolf then becomes interested by reds basket of cookies and tries to take them but fails. Reds tells the wolf that the cookies are for he grandmother. The wolf then tricks red and sends her in the opposite direction so he can get there first.

Our next scene in the show is at reds grandmother's house. As we create a bed made of 4 people with Toby as the grandmother sat on the bed. Freya is the door to the house , the wolf rings the door bell and then again and again getting faster until he hits it one last time. Freya is saying "ding dong" each time the bell rings. The grandmother shouts "who is it". The wolf then says "it's red" with a silly voice. The grandmother then opens the door, the wolf hose to attack but the grandmother says "Hello red" because she's a confused old lady. The grandmother invites the old in so the wolf quickly pushes the grandmother under the bed. The scene then changes back to the forest as red skips through as the rest of the cast have formed creepy trees that turn happy as she comes past them. 

We go back into the bed made of the four of us and Freya being the door again as red knocks. The wolf dressed as the grandmother invites her into the house. We took the classic lines of "what big teeth you have" and "all the better to eat  you with", then changed some of it to make it more appealing for children like those lines became "all the better to eat you cookies". After this Red screams in terror as the scene freezes and focus hose to the narrator (Dan M) as he says "boy and girls, red needs our help". He looks around and realize he is the only one that can help so jumps into the story and scares the wolf off. Dan then narrates what happens after that which is how Red and her grandmother lives happily ever after.

 

This was a very good lesson as we have now finished our story of "Little Red" which means we are making good use of our time leading up our performance at a children's school. We are moving on to our second story next lesson which is Goldilocks so we are all trying to come up with creative ways to tell this story that isn't similar to how we're performing "Little Red". we thought of a few ideas like puppets or silhouettes but we will decide what one is better in our next lesson to tell the story of Goldilocks. To improve ourselves more as company I think we all need to do some more research to children's theatre as most of us are struggling to come up with ideas for our story in successful ways for children that isn't repeating what we have done already.

Research: Books

Story book 1: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's book illustrated and written by Eric Carle which was first published by the World Publishing Company in 1969, later published by Penguin Putnam.  It’s about a caterpillar that eats its way through a wide variety of foodstuffs before pupating and emerging as a butterfly. The Very Hungry Caterpillar uses colourful picture and simple text with educational themes like counting, learning the days of the week, different types of foods, and how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

Synopsise:

A green baby caterpillar hatches from an egg, and then starts craving food. He eats through fruits for five days, one piece of fruit on the first, two on the second, and so on up to the fifth day. Then the caterpillar starts to eat more types of foods. Soon after the caterpillar is finished eating he realise that he has eaten too much and feels ill. The caterpillar soon feels better and then spins a cocoon in which he stays for the following two weeks. Later, the caterpillar emerges as a bright, colourful butterfly with large, gorgeous, multi-coloured wings. These are the types of food that the caterpillar eats: 1 apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, 5 oranges, 1 piece of chocolate cake, 1 ice cream cone 1 pickle, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, 1 slice of salami, 1 lollipop, 1 piece of cherry pie, 1 sausage, 1 cupcake, 1 slice of watermelon and 1 green leaf.

Opinion:

This story dose well to entertain young children because in the story book it’s able to attracted their attention with big colourful pictures of food which is affective as its eye catching for due to the contrasts of colours. This can help our performance because we can make bright and colourful costumes for our charters to capture the children’s attention while they watch our piece. The book is also effective because it has educational purposes as each teaches children how to count and other things like different types of food but even with these educational tools in the story children still find the book fun.

Story book 2: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” Is a children's picture book published in 1967. It was written and illustrated by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle, the book is designed to help toddler’s learn different colours and the meanings of everyday objects. The book itself has little plot. Instead, the narrator of the book asks various animals what they see with them saying what they see is another coloured animal and this is repeated following the chain of animals. The story itself has a Brown Bear, Red Bird, Yellow Duck, Blue Horse, Green Frog, Purple Cat, White Dog, Black Sheep, a Goldfish, a Teacher and Students.

Opinion:

Brown bear, Brown bear, what do you see? Is written by the same person who create the very Hungry caterpillar so they have similar methods of telling the story but Brown bear, Brown bear, what do you see? Has more creative art work for pictures as it has a lot more to show with the different types of animals. This links to my point about using bright and colourful thing to capture the children’s attention towards our show. The book itself has little story and more educational themes but is still very entertain which could show that our show doesn’t need to have a big plot but just needs to be entertain for the children with colours and creative, loveable characters.

Little Red part 1

Today in lesson we started work on Little Red Riding hood for our performing to children workshop. We cast Meg as Little Red, Dan MacKay as Narrator, Dan Smith as The wolf and Toby as Red’s Grandma. We start our piece with Little Red interacting with me, Tom, Carl, Dom, Toby and Freya as we our all pretending to be animals like Birds, squirrels and deer’s, all friendly woodland creature. Red than runs to the front and says “Hello boys and girls, I’m Little Red Riding Hood”, the woodland creatures than go “Noooooo, you’re Little Red”. Red than asks “Has anyone seen my Basket”, the narrator now holds up the basket and the animals point at the basket to encourage the children to tell Red where her basket is. After the children have shouted at red telling her where the basket is, Red and the animals join arms and sing “I’m off to see my Grandma” which is a changed version of “I’m off to see the wizard” from “The wizard of Oz”.

“I’m off to see my Grandma,

My Grandma who lives in the wood
I hear she sick and feels a bit ikk
oh, what am I going to do.
I'll take her some treat right into woods
And make her feel better just like she should
Because, because, because, because, because
Her name is little red riding hood
We're off to see her grandma
Her grandma who live in the woods”

Me, Tom, Carl, Dom, Toby and Freya then all become trees in a forest as the Wolf then appears on stage and another song starts. This song is a change version of “Mr Grinch” from “Grinch” but is changed to “Mr Wolf”.

Trees: “You’re an mean one Mr Wolf
You really are a fiend
You're as cuddly as a hedgehog
And as charming as a mouse
Mr wolf!
You're nothing but a bad kitty with furry black tail”
Wolf: "I'm no kitty"
Trees: "You're monster Mr wolf
Your hearts an empty soul
Your brain is full of spiders
you've got evil in your soul
Mr wolf!
I wouldn't touch you with a 13 and half foot branch"
Wolf: "Booo"

The song ends and the wolf hides as Meg runs on Lost and confused, she then asks the children what way to go but as she asks the children what way to go some of the trees point in one direction and the rest point in the other direction. The wolf then enters and all the trees point in the other direction to the wolf and the children shout at Red to run away, as she goes to leave the wolf runs to the other side of the stage so the trees then point in the other direction and the children tell Red to run the other way. This repeats until the wolf then runs up to Red.

Todays rehearsal went very well today as one of our first starting on "Little Red" as we have managed to create 2 songs as well as half of the performance today which is a very good starting point. to improve we need to do just as good next lesson so that we can finish staging this story and just focus on perfecting the story with the audience interaction and child friendly humor we would like in our piece.   

Our show

Today we started to look in more detail of what stories we wanted to perform, we all choose a story we researched and pitched it to the class to see who else liked it as well as coming up with ideas we could use to perform the stories. The stories we had were Cap'O'Rushes, the gingerbread man, six swans, Jack and the beanstalk, goldIlocks, golden goose, ugly duckling, Thumbelina and little red riding hood. We talked through each one decided that we didn't want to do Thumbelina, golden goose, Cap'O'Rushes,  or six swans as theses stories were in our opinion too long and complicated for little children. We also decided not to do the gingerbread man as we believed the story was to short for our performance. We agreed that we would we do little red riding hood and Jack and the beanstalk but we couldn't decide our last story between the ugly duckling and goldilocks. We did a group vote on the 2 and chose goldilocks as it works with our other stories being based around little children in magical places. Our running order became red riding hood first, then goldilocks and finally jack and the beanstalk to end our show.

Stories

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man is a fairy tale about a Gingerbread man's escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox.

In the 1875 St. Nicholas tale, a childless old woman bakes a gingerbread man who leaps from her oven and runs away. The woman and her husband give chase but fail to catch him. The gingerbread man then outruns several farm workers and farm animals while taunting them with the phrase:

Run, run as fast as you can!

You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!

The tale ends with The Gingerbread Man relaxes and letting his guard down so that a fox could snatch and devours the gingerbread man who cries as he's devoured, "I'm quarter gone...I'm half gone...I'm three-quarters gone...I'm all gone!”

How the Dragon was tricked

An older brother was jealous of his younger brother and one day tied him to a tree to be rid of him. An old, humpbacked shepherd saw the young brother and asked him why he was tied to a tree; the younger brother said it was to straighten out his back, and persuaded the shepherd to be tied there in his place. Then he drove off the sheep. He persuaded a horse boy and a driver of oxen to come with him. He played many tricks and became famous.
The king captured him and promised to spare the young brothers life if he brought him the Dragon's flying horse. He went and tried three times to steal the horse. Each time it neighed, alerting the dragon, but the third time the dragon, annoyed at being awoken, beat the horse. The fourth time, the horse did not neigh, the boy led him out, and once out, he mounted and rode off, taunting the dragon.
The king then demanded the dragon's bed-covering. The boy went and tried to hook the blanket during the night, but the dragon said his wife was hogging them, and pulled them, pulling the boy down. The dragon tied him and told his wife to cook him the next day while he went to church. When he returned, they would eat him. The dragoness untied the young brother so she could cut his throat more easier, but the young brother cut her throat and threw her into the oven. He stole the bed-covering and returned to the king.
The king then demanded the dragon itself. The boy demanded two years to let his beard grow as a disguise, and the king agreed. When the two years were up, the youth changed clothing with a beggar and found the dragon making a box, in order to trap him in it. The youth said that the box was too small. The dragon assured him that it was big enough even for himself and wriggled in to show him. The youth clapped on the top and told him to see if the youth would be able to escape. The dragon tried as hard as it could, and could not get out.
The youth brought him back to the king. The king wanted to see the dragon. He was careful enough to open a hole too small for the dragon to escape, but not enough to keep it from biting him and swallowing him whole. The youth married the king's daughter and became king in his place.