Childrens Theatre - Drama - 6th October 2016 - creating a monster

In todays lesson we created monsters that were faced with a crisis that was threatening their tribe. I created a monster called 'Flenose' who had constantly moving arms like Mr Tickle from Mr Men. Their voice was also slightly higher than my own in order to make it aurally engaging. They were part of the tribe 'Flankazan'.

In our scene

We all started off, off stage, We then walked on, oblivious to anyone else and the stage as we 'couldn't see anything' due to it being dark. We also walked on in our monster style until we met in the middle. We jumped back scared and shrieked. As it was dark and we couldn't see anything. We thought this would be a good opportunity to add a comedic element which would be effective for children's theatre. This is because watching people 'exaggerate' a emotion or get scared over something they wouldn't makes them laugh. We then were discussing why we couldn't see we mentioned that it was midday so why was it dark. We then mentioned how we could use the light of the stars and pointed up towards the stars as a group. We then mentioned how we used to get light from the sun. We then turned around and pointed to where the sun was meant to be. We paused a little moment longer then mentioned the 'balloon' that was covering the sun. We then all looked at eachother and screamed, running around until we inevitably bumped into each other again. We then again gathered in a little huddle to decide what to do. After discussion we decided that we need to pop the balloon somehow so we all split off into pairs so collect supplies.

WWW.

I believe each of our characterisations were unique and strong. As we all had a different factor that mad us different. For example, Harry was a crab like monster. Charlotte had claw like hand/arm movements. Fran had an accent and a dance like walk. I had constantly wiggly arms. I believe this technique would be good for children's theatre as it create variety in a performance and children will like/relate to a character more than others. So having that variety gives them the chance to like a certain character more than the others. For example, they may like the way they move or the way they speak. 
Another thing that went well was we had a clear narrative that would be easy for children to understand. For example, we can't see because its dark. A balloon is covering the sun and we need to figure out a way to get rid of it. A simple storyline that is easy to follow is essential for children's theatre otherwise children may get confused and lose interest. Therefore, our storyline of an issue, identify a solution and work to fix it is a good structure for Children's theatre.

EBI.

I think to make it better we should have blocked the whole scene physically as we spoke about the idea but we didn't stage it. We spent a while working on the opening to our piece and how we should characterise ourselves. This meant that with the limited time we had we only managed to block half of it which meant the second half of our performance was slightly improvised and rushed. We also hadn't properly thought through how we were going to end it. In the future we could develop this into a better resolution rather than just popping the balloon. We could develop it to have a far more interesting outcome. For example, instead of popping it we could find a way in which the balloon would be useful somewhere else on our island. Creating a moral that perhaps we don't have to always destroy/get rid of things we don't like/want. We can work with them for a better purpose.