Childrens theatre - Fairytale lesson September 29th 2016

To prepare for this lesson we had to re-write a fairytale we knew well from memory. Whilst doing so we had to include the five sense into the story. i.e. Sight, Smell, Hear, Taste, Touch. This would therefore add extra details in the story which may not have been known before. I chose to re-write 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. I added things such as the date and weather into my story. As well as giving characteristics to the smaller characters. For example, the man who gives Jack the magic beans, I explained what he was wearing and the creepy grin he had plastered on his face.

How we put this into practice was we got into two groups of six and read our stories to everyone in the group. Once we had done this we were then split again in our groups of six into two groups of three and combined whichever stories we had together into one new story. In my group we had Charlottes - Little  Red Riding Hood. Naomi's- Goldey-locks and the three bears' and my 'Jack and the Beanstalk' We decided to also give our fairytales a modern twist. In our piece we also used big elaborate gestures in order to make it visually interesting as well as using other forms of arts/media such as singing.


This was how we constructed our story including all of the fairytales.

Our scene

Charlotte and Naomi are arguing about something and I walk shiftily towards them. I say my names Jack and that they have something for me. Beans. Naomi and Charlotte mull it over then agree as long as my character gives them something in return. A car and some bread. It then transitions into the next part of our fairytale combo which is linked with Goldey-locks.  After eating the beans I go to three grandma houses. First one is crazy and sings a lot. The second smells too much and the third is just right. I then sit in the third grandmas house and pretend to be said grandma. Little red then comes knocking on the door. Little red does the traditional, asking questions with a little twist. i.e 'you're hair is so conditioned. You're looking a little large. You have really big teeth' Then I admit that I'm the wolf.

WWW

I feel as though our approach to the task was good as we used elaborate gestures and spoke clearly and confidently so that everyone can hear us. For example, we would emphasise certain words more than others if we were using them in a humorous way. For example, when we were doing the exchange and talking about 'beans' we emphasised 'beans' itself and then the branding. This worked in our favour as people recognised the tone we were aiming for and thought it was funny from how we were performing it.
Personally, I feel my characterisation at the beginning of the scene where I had to act shifty and nervous was really good. As I included mannerisms and 'habits' as to what my character would be feeling/would act in the particular situation they were in. For example, I was constantly looking around and moving my arms. Whether it be rubbing my arms, wringing my hands or fiddling with the back of my neck etc.

EBI
I feel our narrative was a little unclear as to what characters we were. Particularly me as I introduced myself as Jack but I was the Wolf by the end of the performance. I feel as though this could be improved by a prop or piece of costume that I either put on or took off. To symbolise the change in character.
Another way in which we could improve our performance was adding more staging in order to outline certain places and/or objects. For example, we only had two chairs on stage to symbolise the granny houses. I feel we could of made it more visually engaging by adding stage blocks in order to create levels. I,e. using the levels to establish between different stories. i.e. creating a stage two stage blocks high, then one, one stage block high and then the ground floor.