Childrens theatre - Continuing monster story scene and sorting production roles

Today we carried on with our monster scenes. Our group decided that we had too many things going on at once so we therefore decided we would focus on the story of 'The Story Stealer' and how they became 'The Story Stealer' and why they steal the stories from StoryLand. We came up with the story that 'The Story Stealer' steals the stories because as a child they were read a scary story and were traumatised. Therefore they want to take the stories so they can read themselves nice stories at night and to make sure no one else reads a bad story. But, in doing so they prevent the other beings from reading stories. We then thought this could link the keys, as the keys unlock a box of lazers that change 'The Story Stealer' from bad to good.

On costumes and design we decided that we would all wear a specific colour throughout the entire piece so we would differentiate between each other. For example, I will be red with green spots/green with red spots. This would be good for children's theatre as it will be bright, vibrant, colourful and help them understand who is who in our stories.

We then did a quick block run of the whole thing so that we knew what was going on and what was happening when. We also decided that 'The Wise Wizard' and 'The Story Stealer' should be solid characters. i.e The people playing them should only play those characters in order to build strong characterisation and relationships with other characters as well as to confuse the children. We also worked a little more on our monster characterisation as we felt this was a weak point for us. For example, me and Charlotte move in a wobbly, jellyfish like way. This is to show that we are monsters not humans.

We also decided that when creating the sensory jelly box, instead of using jelly we would use shaving cream as its much cheaper and less people are at risk of getting a reaction if someone is allergic. We also thought it would be easier to clean up and the children would get sticky from playing with it. Meaning that we could move on/progress onto different stories easier and quicker as it will take less time to put away/set up than if we used jelly. i.e. making the jelly, waiting for It to set, cleaning the jelly, cleaning the space with products to make sure its not sticky after for health and safety reasons.

Production roles:

My role is: Lighting and Special Effects and part of the Props team.

As Lighting and special effects I will be the main point of contact when sorting out colours or lights, position of lights, smoke machines, media, projections, lasers etc. I will also converse with groups in order to find out what kind of lights and effects they want when they tell their stories. As part of the props team I will assist in collecting items to make props, checking we have all the props we need and conversing with groups in order to find out things they may need/want that we can make.