Devising Log - Week Three

Log - 

What activities did we do today?

Today we looked at bring all the devised pieces together into one play. We did this by weaving all the scenes together as if they had all been broken up and thrown into one piece. We spent a lot of the time teaching the rest of the class our scene so the whole cast can be a part of it. However, this meant we had to develop our scene during this process as changes needed to be made in order to accommodate the amount of people present in our scene.

What ideas did you/your group come up with? 

As a group we came up with the ideas of having a section where we show how boring and miserable people who don't dream are. One of the ways we showed this was by the way we walked with the music into the next scene. Every single person in the room would get up very slowly and trudge as miserably as possible into their place along to the slow beat of Benji's guitar. The guitar and walking in rhythm was added because we needed a simpler way to show how miserbale everyone was due to the amount of people who were going to participate, it would have been very difficult for everyone to have been doing very complicated choreographed physical theatre routines on stage without anyone getting hurt or it becoming to messy and difficult for the audience to understand. We also had the idea of the dream team entering on scooters and whizzing around the stage sprinkling watering cans full of fairy dust onto the boring non dreamers heads. This also goes with the idea of using random everyday objects as something significant and completely unrelated to its actually purpose. Such as having a colander as a hat. 

Why have you chosen some of these ideas to develop further? 

The idea of sprinkling glitter onto the non-dreamers head was chosen because of its visual effects. Glitter, even at a young age, is associated with happiness, this idea of fairy tales and mythical creatures and everything to do with being uplifting and creative. If these ideas are easy to identify within glitter than it helps the children to understand and enjoy the play more. Every young child loves glitter because of the shear amount of sparkle and colour, making the play visually interesting. Glitter is also very closely linked to dreams as it is often associated with fairies and other creatures from fairy tales, these are exactly the kind of images that The book encourages the children to dream of, making the message a lot more clearer. Putting it in a watering can is just another random thing to do that enhances the play by making it different and not boring. It may also add a sense of humour to the play.

Why did you reject some of the ideas? 

We rejected the idea of of having the dream super heros enter at the beginning of the miserable scene and be present on stage until its their time to come in and cast dreams around the room. Originally this was going to be how the scene was set out however in todays lesson this was changed. Instead they enter onto stage in the middle of the scene and go directly to the non dreamers to spread their dreams. This was to outline the change in emotions and atmosphere from when they enter, showing a clear contrast between the dull side and vibrant bouncy side making the conceot easier for the children to understand. If the dream team had been on stage from the beginning the connection between the dreamers and making people dream happy dreams may not have been made defeting the point of that scene. 

What acting skills/performance skills are you using? Explain why these are suitable for the piece and the target audience.

In the play there is a choreographed sequence of repeated movements that we preform in lines all at the same time. For this you need to be able to preform in unison and to a certain rhythm for it to be effective. This requires team work skills and the awareness of what other people are doing. This is important because if your not aware of everyone else's movements then how are you supposed to move together as one body and in time to the music? It cannot happen endless everyone is aware of the beat and the movement. You must also be able to find the rhythm of the song otherwise it will be very difficult to move a long to it. These skills are important as they help the children pick out distinctive feature of the play. For example, if everyone is moving in unison then the idea of everyone doing the same thing and following everyone else becomes a lot clearer and doesn't involve as much speech. If we aren't moving in unison then the audience may find it hard to be drawn into those features as they focusing on all that is going on on stage. The footsteps also make a sound that becomes a nice beat to the song, this helps the audience enjoy and pick out the rhythm better. If they are able to pick out the rhythm then maybe they will be able to understand the song better and clap along or tap to the beat. This interaction between the music and the audience helps them to be engaged. 

Evaluation

What did you think about the overall performance? 
I think overall our performance went really well as it flowed all the way through. The transitions between al the different scenes were really quick and slick with I thought was very important as the younger audience may loss interest if there is a lot of dead space on stage. I also felt that everyone put in all the energy they had making the piece a very lively and buzzing one which is perfect for a younger audience. I even had really good feedback from some of the other teacher who watched it, saying that even as an adult they found the piece entertaining and enjoyable. This shows that even though the play was aimed at 3 - 4 year olds it still works for an older audience, possible because of the themes about following your dreams that run through the piece and also because it is very refreshing to see such an energetic and creative piece that can be perceived as silly due it being targeted at a younger audience. 

Was it suitable for the target audience? 
I have mixed feelings about this question. I think that despite our efforts to make it suitable for the target audience some, yet not all, of the children may have gotten a bit lost within the play. For that age group seeing this play with all the bright colours, music, dancing and energy can be a lot to take in and I feel as if some of the kids may have been a bit overwhelmed. Not all of the kids, it depends on the personality, there are some children that are very outspoken and lively which this play would have been perfect for. However, there are also some kids who are very shy and introverted. For these kids I think it may have been nice to have a moment of contrast within the play where it became very intimate and we drew the audience in by bringing the voice and liveliness down, as if it is just you and that one child to draw out the part of them that is very outspoken and confident. However, having said that that doesn't mean that everything we did wasn't effective and should have been cut. I think on some kids who were more energetic and confident they would have really loved the play and engaged really well with all the music, dancing and bright colours. Also, even if some children feeling overwhemed meant that the message was lost on them, the visuals of the piece alone would have been amazing and hopefully inspiring to watch even if they didn't quite understand. 

Which piece of our show worked the best and why?
I think the piaret song done by Eric was really effective as we directly addressed the audience. This meant that the children could directly engage with eric and could feel a part if something. I think this would have made the kids really excited and feel special as they probably believed Eric was a real pirate and to have a real pirate sing a song directly to you as a young children is amazing. I also though the guitar and the fact the speech was in a rythme to a song was really effective First of all it was call and response which already makes it easy to join in as you only have to repeat what Eric says, the language in the song was also very simple such as 'Eye Patch' making it easier to understand, visualise and therefore engage with. I think because this was so effective there should have been more moments like this.

Which devising skills were used to make the piece?

I think trial and error and improvisation was a large part of devising. We would start of by bouncing around ideas untill you have a shape and a clear idea of where you want your piece to head. We would then act on these idea by improvising a scene and taking parts you like and then improvising it again, so slowly you start to build up a scene and develop it. Being able to have an open mind while devising is also very important as it means you are not restricted to only one possible outcome. During devising or when improvising a scene you need to let the scene flow and take it where it wants to go. If you are very closed minded and refuse to look at other ideas other than the one you have in your head you block this out and limit yourself. Having said that I do think it is important to have rough idea of what you want the final outcome to be so you don't get lost within the work and go off task. We also used a lot of physical theatre and music when devising, this heled get the flow and create and atmopshere for the play. 

What character(s) did you play and how had these been developed? 

Through out the play I played many different characters. At the beginning I played a fairy princess that was actually a toy for little kids. This character was developed by really trying to push it as far as it can go and exaggerate all aspects of the character to get it across to the children. It was also developed by looking at the stereotypical type of toys for children such as action men, barbies or soft toys such as a lion. These gave me clear images of what my character would look and act like allowing me to develop my character accordingly. I also played a character in the 'I want to be...' sections, as a group we became things like astronauts, fairies, dinosaurs and racing cars. I think with these characters, in order to develop them you had to let go of your age and become a child. This was quite hard for me because as I was playing these characters thought such as 'You look really stupid right now' kept running through my head. As i developed my characters I had to let go of that voice and just go for the character. I also developed my characters by looking at different ways you could be that one thing as I think if everyone played the same kind of dinosaur or fairy then it wouldn't be very interesting. So i looked at how everyone else played their characters and tried to look at different ways that were completely different to the way they did their character. At the end of the play I played a character that was a part of the dream team. This character I felt that in order to develop it you had to raise how much energy you were putting into the character. I also developed it by looking at how i made my entrance and how i scooted around the stage, looking at how that could be interesting and things I could say while scootering that matched my character. To make this character really work I made everything seem as if it was the best thing in the world, things like scootering were suddenly the most fun thing you could do. 

What have you learnt about devising? 

I have learnt that in order to devise effectivley you have to work as a team and bounce ideas between you. The devised piece needs to be a collective of ideas so its balanced out and has lots of different takes and themes running through it. However I have also learnt that there is a balance, as well as there being an input from lots of different people there needs to be group desicions so everyone is on the same page. Otherwise it can get a bit messy with people wanting this and someone else wanting something completley different. The group must learn to compromise with each other. I have also learnt that in order to devise you need to think outside the box and come up with may different ideas. Devising doesn't work as well if you come up with one idea and use that straight away, there needs to be a process of discussion and tossing ideas around. As you do this the ideas start to develop and you left with a a lot of ideas that have been well thought out. This allows you to carry onto the next stage of trail and error a lot more easily as theres more ideas to play with.

What could have been developed further and why? 
I think we could have spoke more directly to the audience and made it so their a part of the play rather than some one whos watching the play from the outside. Erics pirate song is a really good example of interaction with the audience and i think we should have found different ways to connect with them. Maybe we could have even gone up into the audience and moved though them, speaking to the kids as we go. Interaction like that would have been a lot more effective not only because possible it would have helped them to understand the play better as they now have a more personal connection but also because it makes watching the play that much more special and therefore a lot more enjoyable. This would then lead to the play having a larger impact on the audience and making it a more memorable moment. There was however, the 'hey world guess what im dreaming about' song that interacted with the audience. Yet i felt that it may have seemed slightly intimidating to the younger audience, thus my conclusion for a more softer approch for some parts during the play.