Year 10 Devising Log For TTWCTT Little People’s Day

Good Children's theatre overall must be entertaining for the children. Engaging them in ways other media cannot. The performances must be silly and light hearted, the actor having full control of their body and voice making sure they are inextricably synched. Doing what the role requires, whether that includes high energy levels or exaggerating beyond whats comfortable, but the actor must always be fully committed to the performance. If not the children will not be engaged, become bored and lose interest in the production.

Good children’s theatre can also educate children through entertainment, through silly humour, basic morals and simple narratives.

The performer must first learn to mute their self critic, to not care of their appearance whilst playing these potentially over exaggerated characters. The actor must commit to discovery, be open to explore and experiment with energy levels and characteristics. The actor must really feel the performance, learn to not over think anything, preferably not think at all, just feel. Use the sounds you create to influence your movement and your physicality.

The performer must be in full control of their body and voice able to use them to there maximum effectiveness. Using the body and voice in the tasks they have been given, showing full commitment doing whatever is required for them to do.

The delivery of this issue would vary from audience to audience, it may need to be simplified and made more light hearted for younger audiences or introduced with a more subtle nature with an adult one. How the issue is introduced also needs consideration. Whether it should be low key, never being directly stated to make the delivery more life-like and less preachy. Or directly stated, to confirm that the audience understands the issue and what that entails.  

PHYSICAL PYRAMID: This exercise was demanding as the actor has to keep stable and balanced under large weight and pressure. You also have to keep performing throughout building the pyramid, hopefully making it seem like a fluid, swift action from the whole class. 

The pyramid also requires all those involved in constructing it to be fully aware of those around them. To not sway, to notice if another seems unstable and in need of help and to trust others to be there when they need them. 

I think this exercise will be very effective if executed correctly, peaking the ever building energy.

RHYTHM SECTION: The rhythm section was effective because it kept the energy at a rising level throughout the construction of the physical pyramid. A period of time that could potentially lose a lot of energy if not executed right.

The section is also very easy to understand for little children or for them to even join in on if they please. It is reminiscent of a pantomimed themed chant, something that is probably very welcome with young children, an opportunity for the audience to involve themselves in the production. 

IM A SLIMY FROG: This activity I found to include a large learning curve as the very activity is slightly intimidating on its own, the fear of looking childish is something that was very prominent when I first attempted the task. Fortunately the task was progressive and included stages to the enthesis on sound, and the connection between voice and body. This repetition of the same phrase almost made the very phrase lose its traditional value, instead the actor begins to see it as sounds, not words. Once the actor can focus on these sounds and linking these sounds to the movements of the body the activity becomes very effective, especially for child performances. As the actor will have to constantly engage the audience with not only the words that they are saying but the sounds and the movements they are producing.

SWORDS AND RAPIERS: This activity developed my acting abilities upon working on three sided audience. It helped me by implementing a system that could progress over time, as when I first attempted the exercise the posture required felt very unnatural, it was at this stage that I was consciously incompetent. This was because I knew the steps to the new skill but didn't feel comfortable enough to reach a state of unconscious competence. The conciousness created emotions of awkwardness, this was because of my uncomfortable posture. However the system that Swords and Rapiers implements give an opportunity to practice and develop the skill to a further stages of competence. However I found this activity giving the actor to many possibilities to keep in the same pattern, not forcing the actor to be spontaneous with movements whilst still remaining in this posture, thus increasing how comfortable the actor feels using and applying the skill to any situation. To improve this perhaps the actor would have to change direction after a random amount of time, or make sure actors dont fall into the habbit of walking in a circle attempting to fill the empty space.

MY DEVELOPMENT: Within this term, I have developed my acting abilities significantly. I have learned to evaluate effectively. In previous blog posts I have I have simply documented the activity and given a guide on how to do it, where as now I will give a personal experience on what kind of impact it has had on my acting abilities. I developed this skill in rehearsals as once an activity was finished I would immediately write down my experience of the activity, what I thought about the activity and how its helped me improve, also how the activity could be improved. During rehearsals others would also read out an share their evaluative comments, allowing us to take inspiration from peers if needed. 

Activities such as slimy frog helped develop a connection between body and voice. At the beginning of the term my voice and body were practically detached, developed as two separate things, when in actual fact they are at there most effective when combined. this connection developed through activities such as slimy frog because made me concentrate more on the sounds that I was producing, how I could manipulate these sounds, and how I could interoperate them into my movement. Since the first time I attempted that activity I feel that I have become more comfortable with it and have reached an early stage of concious competence. This is because I understand the process and can demonstrate the skill, however this requires large amounts of concentration and focus, making me heavily concious while implementing the skill. The next stage for me is to keep becoming more natural and confident with the skill, allowing me to eventually have little conciousness involved, thus putting little amounts of energy, focus and concentration into the technique. 

As an actor I have learned to become more conscious of many factors of Theatre. Such as the position of the audience, the architecture of the Theatre and the type of stage the performance will be on. This consciousness helps me determine the volume of my voice and where I will project it and where to stand on stage. 

EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCES: Overall I think the performances achieved the desired effect, it engaged the children with the varying energy levels and building of energy. However there were holes that occurred, mainly in the 1st performance, that thwarted the overall effectiveness of the piece. The technical difficulties dipped the energy levels, as the actors needed that few moments to adapt to the situation and finish the performance. The actors did well to react off of one and other and improvise the scenes without the desired equipment. However during the rhythm section there was another dip in the energy level which made the children lose some engagement and investment into the performance. This could of been prevented through rehearsing this section before the performance so the experience is fresh in our heads. In the first performance the song didn't function as it should have. I feel that a few lyrics I didnt know fluently, misplacing a word or phrase, making the song sound jumbled and confusing. This was improved by memorising the poem for the second performance. The tune for the song was wrong and because of this I lost confidence in the section, losing commitment and sludging the section into a bland experience. However, as an actor I should do what its required, despite the levels of commitment that my peers are exerting. 100% should always be given to the performance. The second iteration of he segment was much better, the song was the right tune and because of this I felt more confident in committing to it, making the section very effective as a peak for all the built up energy. 

The speed at which the pyramid was built also added to the building energy. The use of lighting also made the piece very atmospheric and perhaps even slightly immersive. As the darkness and torch lights created a powerful atmosphere that engaged the children. Something simple like this is very effective with children but it could of been even more effective if the lighting had focused more on the light produced from the torches not the stage lights. I feel that I portrayed captivation and amazement well during the "tiger tiger" segment and that I also fully committed in the second performance. All my insecurities about how childish I think it all looks should of been left behind outside the Theatre.