Puppetry is one technique used within Theatre for Children,
an example being the “Punch and Judy Show” that gets the children involved by
getting them to call out and interact with the characters.
Part of our research was to create our own sock puppets
(clap mouth) and then create a five minute story within our groups, using our
sock puppets.
During the “creating process” we decided as a group to use
the theme of a Circus when making our sock puppets and so we created characters
often found in a circus, such as a Ringmaster, an exotic dancer and a snake.
Once the puppets were finished we were set the task of
creating a story to perform to our peers. Our story initially started as the
story of a group of circus acts whose performances were booed and then would
encourage one another to give an amazing performance. However as we fell short
of time our group struggled to keep our initial story intact.
Instead our performance consisted of several different “acts”
and our key piece of feedback was that it wasn’t a story with a beginning,
middle and end. This was a fair comment as we lost the aim of the task which
was creating a story with a clear beginning, middle and ending.
However despite this issue we as a group enjoyed our
exploration into puppetry and found that it could be a very effective way to
help tell a story to a child audience.
Our first task was to attend an 8th Birthday
party. At this party we were to dress up according to the theme of Disney
versus Marvel/Superheroes and bring along a birthday present for Andre and
snacks for the food table. Once we had entered the party we were to remain as
children.
The idea of this party was to help us get into the mindset
of young children who will be the target audience for our Children’s Theatre
pieces.
During the party we played party games such as musical
chairs and musical statues, pass the parcel and Simon Says.
I found the party a refreshing way to research the way in
which our target audience act. However we all found that we played younger than
intended. We all appeared to revert to small children whose speech is still
rather childish, whereas eight-year-olds are verbally “more mature” than that. Prior to
the party I found some videos on YouTube that looked at the reactions of
children and these showed me that children are much more knowledgeable and “grown
up” than I gave them credit for.
These videos showed that even young children have a
knowledgeable grasp on more “adult” topics.
However once I went into the party I failed to use this
research when playing an eight-year-old.
Once the party had ended and we had cleared up our paper
plates and wrapping paper we were given party bags containing two feedback
sheets to complete:
·8YR OLD FEEDBACK
·ADULT FEEDBACK
These feedback sheets allowed us to consider how the party
was/was not helpful to our Children’s Theatre project.
I found the most difficult part of playing an 8-year-old was
knowing how to play it without over acting it or playing a younger age. However
I found the exercise useful in getting into the mindset of our target audience
and showed me that interactive activities would be an effective tool to use
within our piece as children are attentive when being interactive.
Using these feedback sheets we discussed within our groups what we found from this exercise and then did an "interview" to help document our findings. The "adult" interview allowed me to express my ideas on Theatre for Children having taken part in the party and the key thing I took from the party was how integral a child's imagination is to them playing games.
Below is my interview as an 8-year-old and the information we gathered from our interviews was reiterating that a child's imagination is important to think about when devising our piece, as it is a creative place allowing us to explore the line between reality and fantasy.
In the early days of the process we looked at the origin of fairy tales. The original versions of most fairy tales were much darker and more frightening than the Disney "Happy Endings" we have accustomed ourselves with today.
Well known writers such as Hans Christian Andersen and the Brother Grimms took these fairy tales and changed them to fit the taste of their audiences.
Examples of these drastic alterations to stories are the story of Sleeping Beauty and how it originated from a woman who was knocked unconscious by her aggressive Landlord rather than pricking her finger on a spindle. Another being "Little Red Riding Hood" and how it was intended to be used as a caution for young women, warning them about men, represented by the wolf. Many tales do in fact have the purpose of teaching or warning people about misadventures, such as coming across a wolf (man).
Once we had heard the origins of several fairy tales we sat down and made ourselves comfortable to listen to a piece of Children's Theatre: "The Wild Bride" by Kneehigh Productions. http://www.kneehigh.co.uk/show/the-wild-bride.php
I was quite excited to listen to the story as I remember many moments when I was younger when I would listen to audio tapes of my favourite stories. Auditory elements are definitely effective when creating a piece of theatre.
I found that the story was much darker than anticipated but I found myself rather absorbed by the story and was eager to listen as it unfolded. The music was crucial to the storytelling, as it would help create a scene, such as a battle and helped inform us when a character came into the scene. An example was a guitar-driven country melody that would play whenever the Devil appeared. I found that the music helped immensely in making the story interesting as it helped me imagine the story taking place.
When using only the auditory senses it is required of us to use our imaginations to help put the story together and I found that it wasn't difficult to see the story unfold with the incredible songs and underscore used.
Once we had finished listening to stories we were sent off in our groups to find a story to retell to the group. We chose the story of Medusa as most children are familiar with Greek mythology and there is much interest surrounding Medusa and her snake hair. The feedback we received and my own thoughts was that the retelling of a myth like Medusa is difficult as it is hard to tell a story based mostly on facts, such as Medusa being transformed into the ugly creature with hair made of snakes. I felt that our story telling fell flat slightly because there wasn't much essence of telling some kind of "fantastical" story, but more a speech on a Gorgon.
However this feedback allowed me to see that keeping the imagination of a child in mind will help in the devising process as all kinds of things can take place in the imagination.
In our first session for Theatre for Children we were put
into our groups through random selection, once we were in our groups we had to
create a contract that will be followed throughout the devising process. We are
not just a group of students, but a company of actors that will g out to take
our piece of theatre out to local schools. This means that a contract is vital
to ensuring we are able to work effectively as a company.
Contract
For Children’s Theatre
·All members of the company must give at
least two hours notice if they are going to be late or absent from rehearsal.
·If a member of the company is absent
from three rehearsals without a valid reason then they will be removed from the
company.
·All members must contribute ideas to the
devising process.
·Everyone must be treated with respect.
·No swearing or foul language during the
rehearsal process.
·No consumption of energy drinks, with
exceptions to long rehearsal days.
·Responsibilities should never be left to
one person, all members must work together to create our piece of theatre. Don’t
push all the stress onto one lone person.
·In rehearsals all must be focused and
distractions, such as phones, are not to be used.
·All decisions need to be made as a
group, and must be reached by a fair agreement.
·All outside distractions are to be left
outside of rehearsals, so as not to disrupt the working atmosphere.
Once
the contract was signed by all members of the company we can then reinforce the
rules to ensure we work efficiently and effectively as a group.
Our
company is called:Krooked Theatre
The
members: Luke, Ola, Matthew, Shiquerra, Samantha and myself.
