Evaluation

On Thursday, we performed our piece to the children. The show went very well and luckily didn't have any mistakes. From the look on the children's faces, I'd say the show went really well. The overall performance of the ensemble was great, we all pulled together to help each other out (which was needed as one cast member was missing). The show was definitely well suited to our target audience. We used bubbles in our performance which was definitely an audience favourite. Our energy was the best of all. We were so excited to perform for them that the show had a certain 'buzz' towards it. We threw all of our energy into the performance which was perfect for the children as it kept them entertained and engaged. The show had many memorable moments, one of which worked best was the pirate scene. Our song really made the show more interactive and the audience were replying as loudly as they could in certain areas.

During the devising process of the piece, we used many skills to generate ideas for the show. We used our knowledge of spacial awareness to block the staging and movements and we also used trial and error to see what worked and what didn't work. We used feedback from other groups and our group members to determine the final product. The characters I played were the ensemble and the boy who dreamed of becoming an astronaut. My characters weren't developed thoroughly as I only had one line and it lasted a second. I did however think of what I wanted to be as a child and used this as the basis of the character and indeed I wanted to be an astronaut, so I found the whole returning to how a child sees the world easier and more understanding.

Over the few weeks, I have learnt a great deal about how to devise a scene. I have learnt to plan my time out when discussing ideas as you could waste all our time coming up with ideas and end up with no practical work. I also learnt how to devise a scene designed for a specific target audience. I learnt how to make your physicality, facial expressions and character appropriate for a younger audience.
Now the show has been performed, there are a few things I would've developed further. I would've tried to make the ensemble work harder with our spacial awareness as for the ending we got rather clumped together in one space leaving large areas of the performance empty.

Children's Theatre

Our piece is for a very specific audience. Why is theatre for children so valuable?

Theatre for children can arguably be one of the most influential and important pieces of theatre. This is because for many of the audience, your show may be the first piece of live theatre they ever see. You could be one of the reasons they become inspired to follow a career in acting when they are older. Children's theatre inspires children and can even encourage a new generation of thinkers.

Who are Polka Theatre and Unicorn Theatre?

Polka theatre is one of the only theatre companies in the United Kingdom who specialise in producing work for a young audience. Their shows pull in over 90,000 children a year, inspiring many children around the UK At the moment.polka are showing their latest work entitled 'Dot, Squiggle and Rest'. Unicorn Theatre is the UK's leading theatre for younger audiences, ageing from 2 years of age. They serve over 60,000 children and their parents and carers every year through programmes onstage and offstage.

Unicorns and Polkas work will help us with our Little Peoples day performance in many ways, it will help us understand how to act in front of a younger audience in the correct way, as we might end up being intimidating if acted incorrectly. It will also help us understand how energetic we need to be in front of a younger audience, maintain their attention.

What activities did we do today?

Today we developed our ideas for our scenes. My group was me, Harmony, Will, Matteo and Connor. We all sat down and discussed our ideas for scenes. We came to the idea of what children wanted to be when they get older.

What ideas did you reject?

We rejected the idea of being a frog and hopping around the stage as it had no meaning to the piece and hardly any relevance. The original idea was to have a frog as the centre point of the piece. He would then converse with the children and then carry on.

Why have you chosen to develop some ideas further?

We decided to develop the idea of boring office workers as this could show the contrast between dreamers and non-dreamers. This contrast would help the children differentiate the two people, the old and the young. The office workers are almost like the villains of the scene, but overtime learn to dream and become, in a way, the heroes.

What acting/performing skills are you using?

Our group are focusing on body language and facial expression.We are very exaggerated with our
 bodies and faces, showing the story and characters clearly. This is important for the target audience as it is sometimes difficult to understand who a character is and what they are doing if you're subtle.

What ideas did you/your group come up with?

My group came up with the theme of dreams or aspirations. We collectively decided that we would focus on what the child wanted to be when he/she grew up. For example, an astronaut. We thought we could physicalise each aspiration and then slowly transition back into a boring office worker. This works well with the pages in the book in which peoples dreams have died. I decided in our group to be really exaggerated as if we were children ourselves, playing in a garden or in a playground where your imagination runs wild. 

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

We have chosen these ideas to develop further as in our original piece we were holding back as we were all afraid of what our peers would make of our characters. So we all decided to just go crazy with our acting. Flailing ourselves around the room and going out of control may not be suitable for our peers, but it will almost definitely be suitable for our target audience of 2-4 year olds. We also developed the idea of the astronaut to as it correlates to the theme of dream big. We developed it because it's a very stereotypical thing to dream about when you're a child. Also it makes sense as the universe is so big that it's such a big dream.

Why did you reject some ideas?

We scrapped the idea of acting like ferocious lions or dinosaurs as we thought even though the children want to see dinosaurs, our acting would be to terrifying for the target audience. And it's very difficult to play a friendly, happy lion without a visual aid, like a costume or prop. We also scrapped the idea of having the group walk on from the one side of the stage. We did this as we ended up in the centre of the stage, leaving the central focus point (Matteo) too far away from centre stage. And when we rehearsed it again with Matteo centre stage, we ended up walking to short a distance to continue with our choreography, so we removed the sequence.

What acting skills/performance skills are you using? 

In my performance, I am using lots of unique facial expressions to show clearly my emotion and characterisation. My facial expressions are also very exaggerated to show the target audience my emotions clearly. I also exaggerated body movements to show my character in new ways, instead of going for a naturalistic approach. I also changed my pace a lot. When I'm doing a piece of theatre for a much older audience, you become more naturalistic and have subtleties to your acting which also comes from slowing down the pace. But in children's theatre I speed my pace up so that I keep the attention of my audience as they have a shorter attention span than that of an adult.

Initial idea sheet

Children's Theatre

An Awesome Book, Author Dallas Clayton

Little Peoples Day

For Little Peoples Day, theatre strand are putting together a short 10 minute piece to present to nursery school children aged around 2-4. Each class I given ten pages to work from as a stimulus to create their work. 

What is your first opinion of the book?

From my first impression, I immediately loved this book. The bright colours and vivid illustrations were amazing and really appealed to my 'Tim Burton style' love. I think that this book is great for children as the story has a really strong moral and message. Dream Big. This is important as we are growing up in a world where everything seems to be there to push you down and to tell you that you cant do something and this book teaches children not to listen to them and to dream of whatever they want and inspire children to aspire to great things. The book also made me fell really young again, almost like discovering the world for the first time. As a class we sat around and read the book. It made me somewhat giddy as I used to love being read children stories when I was young and to relive something that I haven't done for so many years, it was a truly magical experience.

Why has it been selected for our 'Little People's Day' audience? 

It has been selected for our Little Peoples Day audience as the children would like being told stories with morals, and lots of imaginative imagery to coincide with that. Our target audience, nursery school children, might never have seen a piece of live theatre before. So we might be the first piece they ever see. This makes it even more special. The book is perfect as the children will go away from the show with a story to tell and a meaningful message to live with.