Performance Evolution

Firstly, performing in Ashcroft as part of the original Stories Left Behind has been an immense privilege and an amazing experience. I had adored working with other strands and teachers while learning about different sections within the performing arts industry and gaining new confidence and friends. Working with TTA has been a pleasure and I have loved being part of a professional production. The piece has an amazing poignant moral which I am honored to have been part of. Not only was it suited perfectly for our target audience, but for adults as well. 

Throughout all of the performances I felt the energy growing and the excitement of the children (and the adults) which spurred us on even more. I noticed how important the set and costumes were and they became like another character. The atmosphere we created with the technical team was fantastic and the kids really felt as if they were in each scene (100 acre wood, court room in wonderland and the pirate ship) which was a magical thing to see the children react to. The lighting and sound cues were beautiful and made the piece that little bit more professional. For example when I, as Eeyore, fall into the river or when Peter jumps off the ship. It made the piece come alive and made the world seem real and realistic. Small details, like the tins and cobwebs, made the attic come to life and transport the cast and audience to another world for an hour. The overall level of energy increased with each performance, starting well, climbing up to good for the first two shows to reaching excellent at the third show and then maintaining that for the last two shows the following day. The energy was defiantly high due to our audience being so excitable and our need to impress them. 

The pirate scene was without a doubt my favorite scene to be part off because the reaction we received was ecstatic, I was right at the front near the end of the song and could see all the applause and reactions of the children which was beautiful and moving. I think the reason for this being a popular scene was because everyone was involved and on stage living at one time. The piece was on continuous number and when I spoke to my friends after they said they didn't want it to ever stop. Our energy was above high and we were all just loving every minute. 

Everyone's performances were brilliant but I was extremely impressed with Harvey's performance on all five shows as he acted beautifully with the puppet and managed to draw the attention to the bear. He became one with the puppet and the song was in character, connecting his physicality to his voice. I thought he dealt really well when the head fell off a few times and the reaction form our audience proves how invested he made them in believing the puppet was pooh. Emily was fantastic as the queen of hearts from the very first rehearsal. Her costume was excellent and reflected her character perfectly. She commanded the stage, ordering her characters status and creating a great buzz from the kids. Through her making bold character decisions she created a great atmosphere for the court room scene which we all fed off. Saskia was also very good as the juror, she reacted to everything and kept in character throughout the song and dance. This scene was the best it had ever been across the two performance day and this was due to the energy our audience was feeding us. Seth lived in the moment meaning he could improvise and form a fully rounded character. India, Mara and I existed together which helped our performances too. Peter was amazing as One Eyed Bill, really embodying the character and creating an atmosphere we could all feed off. Lauren also had amazing characterisation of her pirate, creating a sloppy dirty female pirate and she always reacted. 

TTA also did a fantastic job. Lauren was incredible with the mics and making me feel comfortable with wearing one, helping me get into it and out of. Adam was amazing helping me with my quick changes and getting my make up off quickly for the pirate number. He always made sure my costume was comfortable and sewn up before I went on as Eeyore which took a lot of stress off my shoulders. Ollie did a brilliant job with the sound cues which made the performance look slick and succinct. Without this we would all be bear on stage with no lights and sound, so TTA did an unbelievable job and I felt like a proper company.  

Concerning my own performance, I believe I got into all my characters and really lived in each scene I was in. Eeyore was successful in the sense that I felt as if my character translated well to all our audience, of both ages. To improve I could've changed the pitch of my voice more as at some moments I became too monotone. The river worked really well and got a good reaction from our audience. I felt as if I did everything in my character, my costume defiantly helping me become the jazzy, depressed Eeyore. Zanny was good as well, I lived in the moment and changed my performance according to the reaction of the audience. I felt as if I always lived in the moment and reacted to everything and I hoped it showed. I was very proud of myself for getting the song and dance correct, especially because it would have been very noticeable in the number if one of us had messed up. Gill was excellent. I think to improve next time I would've been more vocal in my choices, for example Lucy and I had a moment when Bill jumped off, we said 'bye bye bill' but I don't know if anyone heard if so it wasn't that effective. I was proud of myself of the dancing and singing in this scene as I did it all in character and to the best of my ability. I lived in the space and treated it like my ship, dusting the floor when Hook came on which I was pleased to see other people doing the same. I could have been more spaceially aware at some points but overall I think all my characters translated well and stood out. 

I think near the end shows our energy dropped slightly and some routines that could have been neater. I noticed a few mic packs which could be an improvement next time just to make sure they are securely on but overall I think the piece ran quickly and effectively. I am very proud of myself for coming out of my singing shell and being bold in my characters. It goes without saying that I am immensely proud of Stories Left Behind and feel as if we have left a message worth giving to children who wouldn't normally experience theatre. I will sincerely miss Ashcroft. 

A whole cast and crew picture of Ashcroft 2014. 

Evaluation Sheet

What are the positive changes you have seen in the people you have worked with? Perhaps there is one example you can give?

As I worked in Ashcroft, I experienced a lot of people becoming more confident in the area’s which they shied away from to start off with. Including me, my friend Lucy wasn’t a confident singer at the start and often mimed for the first few rehearsals. However throughout the weeks I could see her self-confidence growing and by the end she was singing proudly and helping out with vocal warm ups. I have noticed how well everyone worked together and we all helped each other out when one person was unsure of what to do. Near the end we all felt like one big strand who could all sing, dance and act which was always our main aim.

I’ve also seen people in TTA grow more confident with their new jobs, for example Lauren the mic technician really grew into her job and was fantastic throughout all the runs. We all seemed to pull together and put on a fantastic shoe for young children, as we only had a few weeks to put on the show it required group effort which we all had. There was always a positive vibe in the rehearsal room which made the process a whole lot easier. I could also see the children having the time of their lives and reacting to our performance when we were on stage. They got really excited and nervous during the pirate number and afterwards claimed that they would read more books, which was the whole moral of our piece. Hopefully our performance changed the way they view books from now on for the better, which is what our ultimate goal for this project was.

How do you think this project affected the participants you worked with?

For many of our young audience members, it was their first time at the theatre and therefore it would have affected them deeply. I think it was a lovely break from their school routine to come to a proper theatre and see original work written for them by young performers. Many of the children mentioned how they wanted to come to The BRIT School when they were older, so seeing a show by some of their students must have been a great and exciting experience.

The message of our piece was to spend less time with technology and more time reading and using your imagination and I think this got through to the children and affected their view on reading. I would like to think that they would’ve gone home and picked up a book or thought about Peter Pan and gone off on an adventure with him. I think it made them more aware of how technology based their lives possibly are and hopefully they will enjoy books more. The show, I hope and imagine, would’ve affected them in the sense that they won’t forget their first piece of theatre and hopefully they would feel special because it was written for them. I feel like every child should have theatre experience so I’m proud to be part of this project promoting books and imaginations.

How would you rate this experience on your learning, confidence and understanding of community arts? Rate 10 for brilliant experience and fully understand- 1 is lowest for no impact at all.

9

Please explain your answer:

In terms of my confidence and learning, I have gained so many new skills and self-belief over these past few weeks. I have been pushed comfortable outside my comfort zones but always for the better. My fellow students have supported me in my singing which has improved immensely and I now feel ready to write my own piece for children. I’ve learned how professional rehearsals and runs go and had my first experience performing with a microphone and at an outside venue to the paying public.

In terms of understanding the community arts, I feel as if I haven’t had necessarily the best experience, not because the show was bad but because we had to spend all our time rehearsing and preparing for the next performance that we never got a chance to talk or engage with our community which was our audience of young school children. Although we needed all the rehearsal time to make the show as good so the children would have a blast, I didn’t always feel connected to our audience until their reactions when we performed. I think it is just the nature of this kind of community project, we had to work so hard to get the piece up to scratch that we just didn’t have time to engage in our audience unfortunately.

Why is there a good fit between the partner and The BRIT School?

The BRIT School has always been connected with the primary schools around us, often doing workshops and creating shows specifically for them. I think a performing arts school is a great partnership to have for a primary school because young children love exciting, visual and impressive things and we have the resources and opportunities to be able to provide them with. Doing shows like Ashcroft, which involve big costumes and impressive tricks, is great to connect with the children, especially when they have heard so much about our school and often dream of coming here when they are older. It works because our school is so accepting and welcoming, that we can adapt to any group that we work with.

Young people learn a lot from watching shows, as do older people learn a lot form performing and changing their performance skills so the two fit nicely together and in the end both sides learn and gain skills. Often a lot of young people aren’t exposed to the theatre so having a secondary performing arts school work closely with them opens up their opportunities which is a lovely idea to think about and be part of. 

Dress Rehearsal Evaluation

With our performance in Ashcroft being in a week, we did a tech and dress run in the Obie at school, with TTA setting up the space to resemble the Ashcroft as much as possible. This run through was crucial, for both the cast and crew. It was our first time wearing the microphones and having all the lighting and sound effects, so this would be a stop start rehearsal to begin with. As I have never worn a microphone before, I had to adjust my movement slightly to not disrupt the signal. Adam (who made my brilliant costume) had to slightly adjust my hat to accommodate the mic and my coat slightly so that the tail wouldn't rip off during the stream bit. 

As it was our first time performing in the space with all the props and with the correct spacing, we found we had to change the blocking of some scenes to be able to fit everyone in and prevent any accidents. I found working in the space useful because the atmosphere was created through having our set laid out. When doing my Eeyore scene it helped having the blocks there because Emily and I could properly practice our mirroring scene. We struggled with the stream slightly because the hatch was closer to us than we thought and there wasn't much space to roll, so we spent some time fixing that. I was really impressed with how well Harvey was moving with the puppet, considering he ad only worked with it a couple of times. He managed to make the puppet's movements continuous and they almost became one. We started to look at the bear instead of Harvey to show the children where to look. The pirate number needed re-blocking to accommodate everyone but it defiantly helped having all the props and the correct lighting to set us in the mood.  

Having said this, having the new spacing and new lighting/sound meant we had to change a few things and stop quite frequently to resolve issues. This is the expectations for a tech run, but it was slightly hard during the dress run. Having said this doing the run highlighted the issues that needed work, for example the court room scene was still lacking in energy so we had to work on that afterwards. The second run looked much better though. Due to having a full run through, it highlighted the scenes which needed some more sound effects such as the pirate number. We still needed to practice the splash sounds for when Peter, Khai and I all fall into the river or sea. The costume team also needed to make some adjustments due to microphones or physical movements. As I mentioned before my own costume had to be altered slightly, as did Dylan's to hide his microphone and ensure it was fixed securely on. 

Overall I think the runs were very successful considering it was the first time we had ever performed with our full set. There are obvious scenes which need improving but I am very proud of the crew and cast for pulling together and producing this show in a limited amount of weeks. At the moment I think our biggest common issue is the lack of energy and characterisation in some scenes. As we have been focusing on the routines and lyrics so much, I don't think some people have given enough time to think about their characters or they haven't translated over to the routines. This will improve with time for next week because the energy and adrenaline will be extremely high. Energy is so important for any performance, but especially for a children's piece of theatre because otherwise they will lose interest. The shows potential is immense and we all just need to raise the stakes a little more. The end to the piece is moving and strong and embodies our message beautifully. The more runs we do (three so far) the better it gets and the more energetic we become. I think next week will be very busy and tiring but incredibly energetic and exciting which will help make our piece stand out and memorable.

Image of what the Obie looked like during our tech run.

My Workshop

As part of our community project, we had to plan a workshop for our target audience. As our musical is for children between the ages 4-10, my workshop would try to fit in enough easy and fun stuff for the younger children and maybe something more energetic and harder for the older children within the group. Here's a bullet point break down of how my workshop would go:

1. Do a name exercise- say their name with an action which relates to them, then the rest of the group has to repeat it. After everyone has done their action play 'catch' with the names, so one person doing the name and action of another and so on. 
2. Play Tag- this will warm them up and get their bodies ready for the routines later.
3. Vocal warm up- Get them to stand in circle and do the scale lyrics to warm up their voices. I would explain that this was to warm up their vocal chords ready for the singing later. 
4. Explain the Pooh Sticks scene- and get them to do a short fun improvised scene, with some of the kids playing the characters and the others reacting. 
5. Teach them the chorus to If He Were Here, then split them in two so each could perform to the other.
6. Next I would divide the group into slightly older and younger: teaching the younger the Pooh Sticks routine and the elder the Guilty sequence. 
7. Finally each group would show their routine to the other.
8. As a cool down I would get them lying on the floor with their eyes shut, thinking about the scene they would love the be in best (pooh, alice or pan) and breathing in the space. I would also talk about the message of our piece and see what their favorite books were and if their view of reading had changed. 

Dance Development

As I dance outside of school, I felt pretty confident going into the dance routines but still felt as if I could improve more and change my style to suit our audience. At our first meeting for Ashcroft, Corin gave us a small routine to learn which she explained could possibly be part of the stomp number in the Peter Pan scene. I picked this up fairly quickly and helped others who were struggling slightly. I enjoyed learning the moves and it gave me confidence and reassurance for when rehearsals would start after the holidays. 

Corin generally choreographed the dances after Rob had gone through the song a few times and I think this helped me learn the moves better as I could relate the lyrics to each action. At first, we didn't have a routine for Harvey's song in Pooh Sticks, but a few weeks before the show Corin and Tim agreed that a small backing dance would look good. We devised the routine together and I went over a few of the steps with some people who didn't pick it up as quickly as the others. Corin then added in a sassy dance for the stream which contrasted our playful jazz style moves well. Developing this dance was fun and linked in well with our characters and the scene. Dance is very important to the Ashcroft project because it is a good visual tool for the children and also helps break up the scene and songs. I think the small dance adds something innocent but exciting to the Pooh Sticks story and will be fun for our audience. 

The court room scene was a heightened routine. The moves were more positions rather than a flowing dance because that suited the style and atmosphere of the script. I think out of all the dance routines and song, we struggled with this one the most. Personally I think this was because the stage was so cramped and there was a lot going on and a lot of different characters existing. Having said this after putting this scene on stage and adding costume, the energy lifted so the piece came to life meaning the routine and song looked a thousand times better. The movements were very clipped and precise and at first I struggled connecting the two (lyrics and routine) but after practicing at home and with my fellow cast members I found myself doing the dance automatically. Jess (who was one of the dance captains) was very kind and went over the movements slowly with all of us after rehearsals. Because of this when it came to the tech and dress run we were all working together and the routine looked crisp and energetic. 

The pirate number was undoubtedly my favorite number and I have a feeling will also be the kids favorite one too. The reason for this is because it is so energetic and continuous. It flows into a scene into a song into a dance into the song back into a dance then again into a song then into a scene, and this looks incredible professional and impressive. I picked up the movements for this routine fairly quickly and was then able to help others which I enjoyed doing. As there are a lot of props in this scene we all needed to on the ball and careful. Often during rehearsals there wasn't always an opportunity to have swords or our props for the stomp number, so when it came to doing the dance with all our props it took a while to re-block bits to prevent accidents. I loved India and Nathaniel's duet in this piece because it adds something special to the choreography and having Dylan's tricks will excite the children, making it even more enjoyable and realistic. This dance routine flows very well and the energy never drops, the song linking in with the script and movements too. 

Character Development

Pooh Sticks
In this scene my character is Eeyore, a depressive, pessimistic creature who lives in his 'gloomy place' in 100 acre woods. As I said before, Eeyore was my favorite Winnie The Pooh character so naturally going into this role I already had a lot of knowledge and idea's about how I wanted to play him. I found the voice easy to grasp but my biggest concern and improvement was making sure it never dropped in energy, otherwise the children would get bored and not connect to my character. 

After seeing my costume design (a grey coat, black suit trousers, white shirt and grey tie with a black hat) I decided that my character would be a classy, slightly jazzier version of Eeyore, still keeping to his natural lack of enthusiasm but fitting into my costume. When I first come on I have my hands in my pockets and all throughout the pooh sticks dance/song, I dance how I take this Eeyore to dance. He enjoys the jazzier parts but during the highly energetic parts I decided to stop dancing and sigh a lot. My costume defiantly helped me find my characteristics for Eeyore and I discovered after a few practices my voice was fitting the requirements needed for a young audience. Tim also suggested that some parts of my dialogue I heighten my tone and then bring it down again, symbolizing Eeyore trying to cheer himself up but obviously failing. My objectives where: to cheer up, to correct, to inform and to observe. 

Part of the story in Pooh Sticks is Eeyore falling into the river when the others are playing pooh sticks. We are doing the section where Eeyore falls in and Tim came up with an idea that the stream will be a sassy stream which will carry me to the bridge (or the stairs to the attic) and then I'll push myself through the hatch. we tried various ways of carrying me to the bridge and then I remembered back to our first physical theatre term where Will, as part of a team trusting exercise, got some of us the roll on the floor as another rolled over us. we tried this and it worked, looking the most effective and being the easiest way. Upon testing the stream, Tim came up with an ingenious idea, that Emily (who was part of the sassy stream) be my mirror, as my monologue is me talking about my reflection in the stream. We tested it out and it felt really good and looked effective too. I love how physical theatre this scene is becoming, because I also think that will appeal to our target audience as they love physical and visual things.

To make my scene more realistic, I thought about where Eeyore had been before and why he decided to join in with the song. So, before this scene Eeyore had been in 'his gloomy place' eating his thistles but not enjoying them because he ad to just pin his tail back on.  He then heard the music from the bridge and decided to walk along. Hearing the music he then couldn't help but dance a little before looking at his reflection and feeling upset again. Tigger then jumped behind him and thus he fell into the river. I read Pooh Sticks and discovered that Eeyore is unusually good at the game, so when I leave the stage I feel even more upset because the group didn't ask my to join in. 

During these rehearsals I noticed Harvey and Seamus had good characterisations and understanding of their character and who they were. I helped India find her character a bit more because she was, at first, slightly nervous and unsure of how to play Rabbit.I enjoyed helping her because it made me think more about my character but also it felt more like a community project somehow during rehearsals when I helped someone. Lucy had great vocal choices for her character of Piglet which helped me push my choices even further. 

My Eeyore costume. 

Alice in Wonderland 
In this scene I am part of the jurors. To help us find our characters, Tim made us do an exercise where we had to lead with one part of our body. I lead from my nose and discovered a character who was quite young and interested in the human body. After more character work I found my character. She is a young aspiring potion maker and is interested in the court scene because she likes looking at the head chopping's and using the left over body parts for ingredients for her potions. The court room scene she is in at the moment is her second time there so is still nervous. After her first experience she regretted voluntarily signing up to by part of the jury because she didn't quite realise how bad the queen was. 

My character is called Zanny Fair Cloud and is quite short compared to others. She has brown ratty hair which is often scrunched up into mouse ears because she doesn't have any animal ears of her own and desperately wants a pair to fit in. She wears a white shirt and black skirt for jury duty and is always worried that she doesn't look neat enough. Her normal attire is a black dress with an apron covered in liquids. She still has her hair in mouse ears but wears a scarf around her head. During the court scene she stands next to her friend. 

Before this scene she had just been reading more about potions in the food garden near the palace. This made her slightly late so when she came into the court room her nerves were even more heightened. Zanny is a slightly mixed character, on one hand she hates the court and is incredibly nervous, but on the other she loves it because it means executions and therefore more things for her to experiment with, but of course when her head is at risk she goes back to hating the court. During this court session she is incredibly nervous because the queen is in one of her moods which means she could cut off anyone's head if they day something which irritates her. As soon as the white rabbit accuses Alice, she  relaxes slightly but still scuttles off just to make sure. 

Finding Zanny really helped me bring the energy alive to the song 'Guilty' and I started dancing like my character which helped the energy of the piece. I found my character by using the exercise Tim made us do and by thinking about who a character in Alice in Wonderland would be. I wanted to contrast my previous character of Eeyore but slightly link it to my pirate one (both liking a good killing).  The songs, acting and dance movements came easier and more enjoyable once I had found Zanny because it enabled me to give something more to the scene and give authority to Emily, who plays the red queen. 

During these rehearsals I noticed how focused everyone was and I think this was because a) we all wanted to be as clean and perfected for the kids as possible and b) that we were having fun and enjoying the process of mixing with teachers and students. Emily and Lauren had great characterisations and Peter managed to find the character of the guard really well even though it was a small part. Jess was really helpful for going over the dance routines which at some points I found challenging to remember the lyrics to the song. I enjoyed piecing together this scene and I feel as if it will have great energy and atmosphere. 

Peter Pan
This was the scene I was most looking forward to finding my character for. This scene required high levels of energy and pace, so I felt as if my character needed to be bold and vicious. Again my costume affected my characterisation. I had yellow stained ripped cut off trousers and a beige pirate top with a thick belt. I discovered my character had a slightly vicious side to him. He was fairly young and had just recently joined Captain Hook's crew but had always been a fan of Hook. He aspire's to be like him when he is older and is in awe of every movement Hook takes. He is insanely jealous of Smee as he is Hook's favorite. One day he would love to have a ship of his own and sail around being the worst pirate the sea has ever seen. I decided to make my character bold and defined because I thought it was be easier to add onto the song and dance movements and make the characterisation strong.

I called my character Gory Guts Gill, because he loves violence. He has sandy wavy hair which is slicked back with grease. His eyebrows are exceptionally dark and his eyes reflect the ocean. His skin has been tanned from the sun but is always covered in mud and scars from being too eager in battles. Even though he claims to be violent and courageous, he is petrified by Pan and by the Crock. His family didn't want to be a pirate but he rebelled and ran away to Hook's ship. He thinks that if he kills enough people or is happy about people being killed that Hook will like him. When Bill walks the plank my character is very excited because he loves a good plank walking.

Before this scene my character had been having a few ales and sharpening his sword. When he heard the song happening he ran towards the deck to join in as he loves signing. Gill doesn't like anyone on the ship apart form his mate who shares the same interest in blood and gore. Gill isn't too afraid of Peggy Belch but still fears his masculine idea's and therefore stays away from her. Gill is quite black and white, either he likes you or he doesn't. Secretly he is plotting to destroy Smee and take over his position, but this gets squandered when Pan kills Hook. With the pirate scene, I tried not too plan everything my character would do and instead just live in the moment every time, as this piece is very awake and bold. 

Finding Gill helped me bring my energy to life and it was defiantly noticeable once I had my costume on and we all looked like pirates. I linked my court room scene character to Gill and decided to make Gill quite a stereotypical pirate because I wanted him to be dynamic and stand out in the numbers. It helped spending time finding Gill early because I could then focus on making the routine as sharp as possible while adding my character over the top. The choreography for this scene is fantastic and very quick paced, so I had to always be alert and focused. India was very supportive when I didn't understand or pick up the routine and would go over a few moves before the rehearsal started. I really appreciated this because it meant during the rehearsal I could focus on my character and the scene and not constantly worry about which move came next. I found as the weeks passed I was helping people with the routine and occasionally the song. I'm proud of this because when I started I don't think I would've had the confidence or knowledge too. At first Gill wasn't coming through in rehearsals and that was my main personal note, so I went home again and really thought about him. It worked because the nest rehearsal Corin was really impressed with my characterisation and with everyone else's too. 

I noticed  that Pete had excellent characterisation and had found the physicality and voice of his character. Everyone focused hard on this scene and worked together very well. The dance and song was a massive ensemble piece and everyone was extremely caring and friendly whenever someone didn't understand or missed a session so had to catch up. I thought Saskia and Shivon were very good and convincing as the lost boys, considering they got their script after most of us. Both of them lived in the moment and brought the 'net capturing' to life. Dylan was undoubtedly perfect for Peter Pan and his energy and tricks brought the scene to life. 

Rehearsal Pictures

The cast receiving notes during the court room scene. This was before the new blocking of splitting half the jurors on the other side of the wardrobe so the audience could see more. I was really impressed throughout these rehearsals how bold Lauren and Emily (white rabbit and red queen) were being in their character choices. They knew what they were doing but were open and received direction very well. I liked what Seth was doing with the mad hatter too, he was able to ab-live which made his character come to life even more. 

This was the first time we had seen the main parts of our set. The mat outlines the attic but the stage finishes a bit further down. I think having the main block of our set helped us live in the space more and therefore our characters became more diverse and 3D. We could also see how tight the spacing would be for the numbers so Corin had to re-block a few of the routines. 

Children's Theatre Research: Polka Theatre

The Polka Theatre

Polka Theatre is a venue dedicated to producing and performing work for young audiences since 1979. It is situated in Wimbledon  and strives to inspire and stimulate their audience. They work towards string emotions, sparking the imagination and entertaining the young people.  According to their website, over 90,000 children come to the theatre every year to watch theatre for perhaps the first time. I think when you are performing a piece for children you always have to be aware of the fact that your piece may be the first piece of theatre they will have ever seen, either because they are very young or because they haven't had the opportunity. It is because of this every piece you perform to a child should be exciting and energetic to give them the best possible experience. 

The exterior and interior of the theatre is designed to make the children feel at ease and make them feel as if the theatre is just for them. I think this is a fantastic idea because when I was younger I remember loving venues that were bold and colourful so I can see children loving this theatre. 

Their audience ranges from the age of 0-14 and the theatre provides workshops and visit schools to occasionally perform or work there. There is a program called early Years where children as young as nine months can come with their families to the stimulating environment of a theatre and can see shows which are designed for them, focusing on the sensory and visual side. Polka often produces and performs new writing and is part of a charity where the public can donate to.

The artistic director and chief executive is Peter Glanville and the executive director is Stephen Midlane. Some shows on at the moment are: Moominsummer Madness, Skitterbang Island, We're Going On a Bear Hunt and Sparkle. Again these shows all have a common link which is that they are bold and energetic, familiar and new for the children. This research combined with the research on the Unicorn Theatre has helped me understand what is takes to perform a piece of children's theatre successfully. 

Singing Development

At our first meeting for Ashcroft, we had to sing a short solo so Rob could assess our voices. I have never been a confident singer and find it hard singing by myself in front of people so I really struggled with this and didn't at first feel comfortable singing at all. However, after Rob explained a few things about the type of singing we would be doing (character signing) I panicked less and started to relax. We did some pirate singing which I really enjoyed and gradually throughout the day my confidence seemed to grow. So when it came to first rehearsals after the holidays I was prepared to throw myself into learning the songs. 

As I'm not as confident of a singer as some other people in the cast, I didn't really participate in organising any vocal warm ups because I didn't feel as if I had any experience, but as the weeks went on and as we did more and more vocal warm ups I felt ready to lead one and did on the day of the show in our dressing room. I found the warm ups incredibly useful because my singing voice has never been trained and I wasn't sure what type of singer I was. Rob managed to, probably without even realising it, help me grow in my own voice through doing the warm ups and near the end I noticed I was singing without even thinking. 

The songs tie in nicely with the scenes and dance routines and can all be characterised which is so key for a children's piece of theatre. As Ashcroft is a musical songs are important and the ones which Rob wrote incorporate the stories perfectly. For example the Pooh Sticks song which Harvey sings has text in it from the novel which I think the children will relish. I've added on my character to the songs so they way I sing them will be different each time according to what my character does in the scene. At first I found the songs difficult to learn because I hadn't had much experience, but I just worked even harder and listened to the voice recordings I made to help me with the tune and pace. I found them easier to learn and enjoy once I had found my character for each scene. Having said this, I struggled keeping the energy up, especially after the dance number in If He Were Here and this affected my singing. To fix this all I need to do is practice and make sure every rehearsal I'm putting in maximum amounts of effort because then I will be prepared for the shows. 

Over the past few weeks my confidence in singing has grown immensely and it has been helped by being able to do what we wanted with the songs and with the security of our company being able to try out new things. I have come along way musically from the first rehearsal in the hut and now feel confident enough to be able to sing solo, which was my own personal goal for this project.  

Stories Left Behind

We're the stories left behind but here forever,

we're the stories that your mind can always see,

we exist in words, and our tales deserve,

to be told and not forgotten in a dream.

So use your mind to sculpt and paint the pictures,

use your thoughts to shape and form the plot,

the chapters are the frames that hold these stories in our names,

for we must never ever be forgot.

We're the stories left behind but we are waiting,

to be let into your mind to tell our tale,

we are wanting to be read, to exist inside your head,

we're the stories left here waiting just for you

We're the stories left here waiting just for you. 

(repeat until the hatch closes)

This is the closing song to our show after the massive pirate number. This song summaries what our whole piece is about and I think the message is extremely strong and poignant. Peter Pan, Alice and Pooh sing an underline tune to the last chorus from one of their scene songs and I love how this harmonizes well and incorporates the stories with the moral of our show.  

If He Were Here

If he were here I would send him flying, down into the stormy sea below.

If he were here he's have no luck trying, for sure I'd show Pan swiftly where to go.

If he were here I would slice and dice him, once or twice in guts and gore

If he were here we would not restrain ourselves in showing Peter Pan our pirate's law.

Kill him says I, for he's surely trouble, I'd snap and bend him double down to hell.

Ooo Argh, say I, break him down to rubble, let's hear him beg for help from tinker bell.

I'd string him up hang him out to slaughter, for he had ought to be out done.

If he were here we would not restrain ourselves in showing Peter Pan our pirate gun!

String him up! Throw him over board,

End his life in misery.

Don't give up, fight him with your sword,

And let him bathe beneath the sea!

Dance Break

If he were here we would make him grovel, just watch him try to get away from us.

You'd see the ship start to shake and wobble, for panicked Pete is not so very tough.

Come on then Pan show us what you're made of, for we're afraid of no lost boy.

If he were here we would end our enemy and celebrate with jubilance and joy,

By killing off this little boy,

Dear Peter Pan we will destroy,

For each of us he does annoy,

And all our weapons we'll deploy...

...So say goodbye to this lost boy!

This song is half way through the Peter Pan scene and I think it is fantastic. I can see the children loving it because it requires so much energy and there are so many tricks that we are doing and can do. It's a very energetic and impressive song which I think our young audience will adore. The harmonies sound great so far and I can't wait to get it onstage with the costume and props. The dance break fits in perfectly and compliments the song and the scene fantastically. I feel like this will be the most popular song/scene because everyone love Peter Pan and I think this number does it justice.

Guilty

Good grief it can't be true that someone else here someone new,

did steal the queen of hearts most tasty tarts now what are we to do,

the nave has been acquitted, even though we thought he fitted

the description of the guilty, who upon those tarts did chew.

We need a new defendant, but this surely is dependent on some

evidence or something sure to pin the verdict on,

so who here sounds suspicious, who here looks a bit fictitious,

for the tasty and delicious tarts are gone.

Could it be him over there, or perhaps it was march hare,

for I'm sure I think I saw her lick her lips,

or perhaps it was the cleaner, she's no longer looking leaner

and a pound or two's been added to her hips.

If we don't find who done it, I'm afraid it won't be fun it will be,

off with all our heads and that is that,

Oh golly this is tricky for the queen of hearts is picky

yes the situations sticky that's a fact.

Is she guilty? Is he guilty? Catch the culprit save my head.

Who stole the tarts from the queen of hearts, 'find the truth' that's what she said.

One among us dares to wrong us, not the nave so who instead,

Find the verdict, as you've heard it's better than to lose one's head. 

This song is near the end of the court room scene after Rupert has been cleared of the charge. As I am part of the jurors I start the number off. We have struggled with characterising the lyrics and dance movements, but after one rehearsal I went home and studied my court room scene character (see character development) and the song seemed to improve after everyone did this too. The lyrics and movements are very clipped and it works with the mood of the scene. The number is now coming together really well and I'm looking forward to getting it on stage at the Ashcroft because then I think the energy will kick in which is needed for this very high tension scene and song. 

Warm Ups

Before every rehearsal we did a warm up for both our vocals (speaking and singing) physicality and to stretch/awaken our bodies. A good warm up is vital before a rehearsal, especially one which involves a lot of physical strain, so preparing your body before is crucial.

Depending on what we were doing that day, the longest warm up would always be what the main focus of the day would be. Our vocal warm up (speaking) would consist of connecting the body to the voice, so opening up our rib cages with breathing exercises and doing tongue twisters with a physical movement such as:

How much wood would a wood 

chuck chuck,

if a wood chuck could chuck

wood?

For this twister we would move around the space clamping at the end of the phrase. Sometimes Tim would make us whisper it or project. This helps ground us in the space and connect our voice to our physicality which helps with character work. We also did a lot of exercises involving the plosive sounds to warm and strengthen our mouths. If I had to run my own theatre warm up session, I would definitely include the plosive exercise and a few tongue twisters because I feel as if these are the most effective when warming up the vocal folds ready to project. We did various tongue and facial warm ups to prepare our voices for rehearsals and singing. I found the strengthening of the tongue muscle the highest in utility because it is the area that I struggle with the most. I have noticed over these past week, with the combination of singing (which is another great technique to help improve your voice) that I have gained muscle in my mouth and have a wider space now, my vocal folds feel more open and awake and my voice clearer and more defined.  I found the breathing exercises useful for my voice change for Eeyore as the voice I used was a lot deeper and breathier than my own, so honing and enhancing my breath quality really helped for this role and for my future career. 

The dance warm up would involve stretching our muscles and warming up our bodies making sure they were ready to receive the choreography. We would move constantly for the duration of a few songs. I found this challenging at first but familiar as I dance regularly. As we had just done a vocal warm up then moved onto a physical one than back to a singing warm up, I found it quite hard to keep my breath intact but this was useful experience because during the pirate scene there is a dance break than we go back into the song so it was good to practice singing fully when tired or out of breath. The warm up did help because when it came to learning the routine's later, I felt awake and ready.

The singing warm up included humming up and down scales, singing tongue twisters and small lyrical scale songs to warm up our vocal range. A few of my favouites were the lyrical scale songs:

Phantom of the opera

Phantom of the op ar a

Phantom of the op ar a

Phantom of the opera

Phantom of the opera

Phantom of the op ar a!

1 2 3 4 5, 1 2 3 4 5,

1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1

These helped me gained confidence in my singing ability and strengthened my voice. My range has also improved over these past few weeks. Sometimes we would practice a song during a warm up or sing parts of well known songs in different accents to help develop our singing style. The warm up was vital to me because it prepared my un-used professional singing voice for the rehearsals without straining it. Also, as I mentioned before, the warm ups helped with my speaking voice as it became more connected and strong. I noticed at first that I could tell who was in musical theatre because they knew all the warm ups, but as the weeks progressed if I had just walked into the warm up I wouldn't have been able to tell who was from what strand because everyone was participating and working together. This was always the aim of this project; to not be able to tell which stand each student was from. I wasn't too confident in my singing before Ashcroft and I found the warm ups challenging to do at first but after a few rehearsals I had forgotten my fear and was singing to my full ability. The warm ups helped my self confidence because it was almost like a test run before we had to sing the scripted songs which enabled me to not feel shy when practicing and therefore I could give the songs my full attention and effort. I learned a lot from my fellow peers about how to do a singing warm up and now I feel ready to lead one myself. 

Overall the warm ups really helped me improve my skills as a performer and are vital to any rehearsal. I feel ready now to be able to lead myself in my own warm up as I feel as if I have received a lot of exercises to help me chose the ones which are best suited to me. 

Children's Theatre Research: Unicorn Theatre

• The Unicorn Theatre in Southwark is a theatre that commits to providing young children with a theatrical experience, perhaps for the first time. Their plays are written for young people with a purpose of educating and challenging their young audience in a safe environment. They have the philosophy that 'the best of theatre for children should be judged on the same high standards of writing, directing, acting and design as the best of adult theatre.' and for our community piece we strive to do this too. Stories Left Behind requires a high level of commitment from both cast and crew and I think we are all living up to this level of commitment because we all want this to be unforgettable for the children.

The Unicorn Theatre was founded by Caryl Jenner, first as a touring company in 1947 with the common purpose of allowing children to experience theatre. The Theatre is an Arts Council England Portfolio organisation and donations are frequently given to the theatre to help run workshops and put on performances. The Theatre today is now the UK's leading professional theatre for young people and is 'dedicated to inspiring and invigorating young people of all ages, perspectives and abilities, and empowering them to explore the world-on their own terms-through theatre'.(quote taken from Unicorn Theatre website) and that goal is our goal for Ashcroft. We want to present a message to the children in a way which is accessible to them and, personally, I would love it if after the performance they said they wanted to read a book because then to me is shows that our musical was successful in it's message and was intriguing and dynamic enough for the young audience to realise the message we are conveying. 

The artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre is Purni Morell and the executive director is Anneliese Davidsen. Some up and coming performances by the theatre are as follows: The Polar Bears Go Wild, The Secreat Lives of Suitcases, The Fourth Wise Man and 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do). These are either opening soon or are performing now. I noticed that all these shows and our own show have something in common; they all involve animals, inanimate objects coming to life and all contain situations and stories which the children can relate to or know already. I think this is really important when performing a piece for children because it keeps them interested and therefore they enjoy the piece more. 

This research into the Unicorn Theatre has been highly useful because it confirmed my hope that we are aiming for the right things and that our story/tale will be vibrant for them and exciting. 

The Unicorn Theatre 

Initial Reaction to my Character: Eeyore

An original drawing of pooh bear and eeyore

A modern day drawing of my character, eeyore.

As part of an exercise, for our first script read through we each picked a character name from a hat and read that part. I  picked Eeyore and was instantly excited because growing up I loved the character, he was always my favorite animal out of the group. So when it came around to saying his lines I already had an idea as to how I wanted him to sound. I experimented with the depth of his voice and got a good reaction. After break we received our roles and I was so happy to be cast as Eeyore, it was literary my childhood dream to be him, so suddenly the project looked even more exciting and enjoyable to me. I was determined to make Eeyore believable,vibrant and engaging for the children to watch. I was nervous about portraying such a well known character and also trying to keep the energy up because this character is very gloomy and inwards, I didn't want it to become boring for the children. I'm still unsure how to physicalise Eeyore, because I want to keep the spirit of Eeyore alive but keep his body open. I will experiment during rehearsals and see which works best.

I researched a little more into my character and discovered that the author (A. A. Milne) wrote about the games his son played with his toys. There are speculations that each character in pooh bear represents a section of Christopher Milne's personality, Eeyore being the depressive, sadder side. The scene we are doing is from pooh corner, extracted from the chapter entitled pooh sticks. I read the story and watched a few episodes of winne the pooh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RpQSaNkDd0) and now feel as if I have a better understanding of my characters movements and vocals. I've decided to make Eeyore's voice low and slow but still energetic and occasionally changing pitch. I will continue to explore and develop my character throughout the rehearsals. 

Initial Reaction to Ashcroft

At the end of last term, Tim told a group of us from theatre that we would be part of the annual Ashcroft project taking place at the end of next term. Ashcroft, which i later found out, is a community group project which includes a selection of people from theatre, musical theatre, dance and cap working with original text (written by Tim) lyrics (written by Rob) and choreography (by Corin) to put on a musical show for children around our community between the school years of year 4-6. Although this is a musical for young children who perhaps are experiencing theatre for the first time, it is also relatable to every age group, and this became more evident to me after our first read through of the musical 'Stories Left Behind'.

Today we had our first read through and rehearsal for Ashcroft and overall I am feeling incredibly excited and inspired to be part of this project and to be performing at an outside venue to young children. I feel as if the piece is solid and even though we haven't started on the songs or dance sequences yet, I can clearly see them fitting in nicely with the text. I am particularly excited about the Peter Pan section as I can see how energetic that scene will be and I think the children will respond well to it. I feel as if the message of the script is vital and a good one for us to preset to the children; spending less time with technology and more time with literature and imagination. For their generation techology is an every present thing in their lives so I am thrilled that firstly we are doing a musical about the importance of reading and secondly that we aren't being patronising about they way we will be presenting this message. I think the moral is extremly relevant and I love how each of the characters decide to leave their games/ipad/phones and read the novel they were involved in. I think it is a good element to have stories and technology that the kids can relate to as it will make their experience of watching our piece even more enjoyable. 

I love the variety of the script, how some parts are comedic, romantic, dramatic, bold and in some places possibly thrilling. These elements are important to have in a children's piece of theatre because it keeps them interested and on the edge of their seats. I also think they will take the message more seriously if they have enjoyed the piece which is after all the point of this community term; to provide educational, enjoyable entertainment for young children. I understand that it is only the first rehearsal, but I am slightly apprehensive as to how the transitions between each scene will work and how the dance numbers will work because the stage is medium seized and there are a lot of us, but I have faith in the project and the teachers and once we started to rehearse the first scene I could see how with some practice it will flow nicely. 

 As this is my first experience of being involved in a musical, the rehearsal process was slightly new to me and I found it slightly difficult to switch my focus form the text of the script to talking about songs and dance routines, but after today I feel a lot more confident and self aware of what I need to bring to the next rehearsal. I am thoroughly enjoying working with new teachers and students and even though we have only spent one day rehearsing together, I already feel like we are a company. I loved seeing each of the other strands work and learning from them, as even though I am fairly confident dancing I am slightly nervous about dancing and singing and acting together. I'm also not a confident singer so having the support of the teachers and my fellow students really helped me today. Overall I am exceptionally excited and privileged to be part of Ashcroft this year, because it is very unusual to be performing an original musical piece to an audience at a professional venue and to also be helping the community.