15|1|14 - Directing - Shadow Theatre

Today we wanted to work on the shadow theatre, as we decided that the entirety of what takes place in grandmothers house would be done behind the sheet as shadow theatre. Kelly took Ruby and James to work on the rape of the grandma, this is the grimmest underlying part that we found when doing research, and we thought it should be included. I stayed with Romina, Megan and our replacement James just for this - Med. 

I really wanted to stir away from using the 'oh what big eyes you have' lines, as I think it makes the performance seem too close to the fairytale, I thought if we could show these lines through the shadows it would be a lot classier and more eerie.  I made it so that Megan was putting the actions over Red, to again show her naive and passive nature. For the final move of the wolf which in the story is usually the climax of 'all the better to eat you with' the sheet folds around Megan and Romina, leaving them curled on the bed, and James can walk side stage ready for his next entrance. 

When Kelly came back, we watched Ruby and James performance. By putting them in a seperate room, it allowed the awkward tension of doing a sexual scene to be removed and they could focus. This is what they created: 

After this, we then showed James what he would be doing along said Romina and Megan, and I went through the end of the final scene with Emelia, Ruby, Med & Abbie. 

Emelia's monologue was explaining the deeper thoughts and feelings of Red while the classic fairytale version was being shown behind her. This split stage is more entertaining for the audience to watch and it created a more emotional connection as we are allowed to empathise with Red. 

Then the Grandmother comes forward as 'the wise woman' and allows Red to understand what happens. This makes Red realise that become old does not protect you, as the cape is a symbol for the period or becoming a woman. 

We show the huntsman being dragged in by Blue, would then starts a fight scene with James. This shows an essence of more modern lifestyle reactions to these actions allowing the audience to connect. It is here where we show this is the 'Little Red Riding Hood' story, but we've highlighted the subtext and underlying messages that are removed for child accessibility. 

8|1|14 - Site Specific - Coins

We're now beginning to look at drama that is inspired by a site. By creating the piece of drama manipulating the surroundings so it could not be performed anywhere but that site. Usually, we would be inspired by a site and then this would give us of an idea of what to perform, but as we're in school, we are limited to adapt scripts to be in an interesting surrounding in school. 

We started the lesson by looking at the script: 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

The Play

     Act One
     Two ELIZABETHANS passing time in a place without any visible character.
     They are well-dressed - hats, cloaks, sticks and all.
     Each of them has a large leather money bag.
     Guildenstern's bag is nearly empty.
     Rosencrantz's bag is nearly full.
     The  reason being:  they are betting  on the  toss  of a  coin,  in the
following manner: Guildenstern  (hereafter  'GUIL') takes a  coin out of his
bag,  spins it, letting  it fall. Rosencrantz (hereafter 'ROS')  studies it,
announces it as  "heads" (as it happens)  and puts it into his own bag. Then
they repeat the process. They have apparently been doing it for some time.
     The run of "heads" is impossible, yet ROS  betrays no surprise at all -
he  feels  none. However he is nice enough  to feel a little embarrassed  at
taking so much money off his friend. Let that be his character note.
     GUIL is well alive to  the oddity of it.  He is  not worried about  the
money, but he is worried by the implications ; aware but not going to  panic
about it - his character note.
     GUIL sits. ROS stands (he does the moving, retrieving coins).
     GUIL spins. ROS studies coin.

     ROS: Heads.
     (He picks it up and puts it in his money bag. The process is repeated.)
     Heads.
     (Again.)
     ROS: Heads.
     (Again.)
     Heads.
     (Again.)
     Heads.
     GUIL (flipping a coin): There is an art to the building up of suspense.
     ROS: Heads.
     GUIL (flipping another): Though it can be done by luck alone.
     ROS: Heads.
     GUIL: If that's the word I'm after.
     ROS (raises his head at GUIL): Seventy-six love.
     (GUIL  gets up but has nowhere  to go. He  spins another  coin over his
shoulder  without  looking  at  it,  his  attention being  directed  at  his
environment or lack of it.)
     Heads.
     GUIL: A  weaker  man  might  be  moved  to re-examine  his faith, if in
nothing else at least in the law of probability.
     (He slips a coin over his shoulder as he goes to look upstage.)
     ROS: Heads.
     (GUIL, examining the confines of the stage,  flips over two more coins,
as he does so, one by one of course. ROS announces each of them as "heads".)
     GUIL (musing): The law of probability,  as it  has been oddly asserted,
is  something  to do  with  the  proposition that  if  six  monkeys  (he has
surprised himself)... if six monkeys were...
     ROS: Game?
     GUIL: Were they?
     ROS: Are you?
     GUIL (understanding): Games.  (Flips a coin.) The law of averages, if I
have got this right, means that if six monkeys were thrown up in the air for
long enough they would land on their tails about as often as they would land
on their -
     ROS: Heads. (He picks up the coin.)
     GUIL: Which at  first  glance  does  not  strike one  as a particularly
rewarding speculation, in either sense, even without the monkeys. I mean you
wouldn't  bet  on it.  I  mean  I would, but you wouldn't... (As  he flips a
coin.)
     ROS: Heads.
     GUIL: Would you? (Flips a coin.)
     ROS: Heads.
     (Repeat.)
     Heads. (He looks up at  GUIL - embarrassed laugh.) Getting  a bit of  a
bore, isn't it?
     GUIL (coldly): A bore?
     ROS: Well...
     GUIL: What about suspense?
     ROS (innocently): What suspense?
     (Small pause.)
     GUIL:  It must be the law of  diminishing returns... I  feel the  spell
about to be broken. (Energising himself somewhat.)
     (He takes out a  coin, spins  it high,  catches it, turns it over on to
the back  of  his other hand, studies the coin - and  tosses it  to ROS. His
energy deflates and he sits.)
     Well, it was a even chance... if my calculations are correct.
     ROS: Eighty-five in a row - beaten the record!
     GUIL: Don't be absurd.
     ROS: Easily!
     GUIL (angry): Is the it, then? Is that all?
     ROS: What?
     GUIL: A new record? Is that as far as you prepared to go?
     ROS: Well...
     GUIL: No questions? Not even a pause?
     ROS: You spun it yourself.
     GUIL: Not a flicker of doubt?
     ROS (aggrieved, aggressive): Well, I won - didn't I?
     GUIL (approaches him - quieter): And if you'd lost? If they'd come down
against you, eighty -five times, one after another, just like that?
     ROS (dumbly): Eighty-five in a row? Tails?
     GUIL: Yes! What would you think?
     ROS  (doubtfully):  Well... (Jocularly.) Well, I'd have a  good look at
your coins for a start!
     GUIL  (retiring):  I'm  relieved.  At  least  we  can  still  count  on
self-interest as a predictable factor... I suppose it's the last to go. Your
capacity for trust made me wonder if perhaps... you, alone...
     (He turns on him suddenly, reaches out a hand.) Touch.
     (ROS claps his hand. GUIL pulls him up to him.)
     (More  intensely): We  have  been spinning coins together  since  - (He
releases him almost as violently.) This is not the first time we spun coins!
     ROS: Oh no - we've been spinning coins for as long as I remember.
     GUIL: How long is that?
     ROS: I forget. Mind you - eighty-five times!
     GUIL: Yes?
     ROS: It'll take some time beating, I imagine.
     GUIL: Is that what you imagine? Is that it? No fear?
     ROS: Fear?
     GUIL  (in fury -  flings  a coin on the  ground): Fear! The crack  that
might flood your brain with light!
     ROS: Heads... (He puts it in his bag.)
     (GUIL sits  despondently.  He takes  a  coin,  spins  it, lets  it fall
between his feet. He looks at it, picks it up; throws it to ROS, who puts it
in his bag.)
     (GUIL takes another coin, spins it, catches it, turns it over on to his
other hand, looks at it, and throws it to ROS who puts it in his bag.)
     (GUIL tales a third coin, spins it, catches it in his right hand, turns
it over on to his loft wrist, lobs it in the air, catches  it  with his left
hand, raises his left leg, throws the coin up under it, catches it and turns
it over on  to the top of his head, where  it sits. ROS comes, looks  at it,
puts it in his bag.)
     ROS: I'm afraid -
     GUIL: So am I.
     ROS: I'm afraid it isn't your day.
     GUIL: I'm afraid it is.
     (Small pause.)
     ROS: Eighty-nine.
     GUIL: It must be indicative of something, besides the redistribution of
wealth. (He  muses.) List  of  possible explanations. One:  I'm willing  it.
Inside where nothing shows,  I'm the essence of a man spinning double-headed
coins, and betting against himself in private  atonement for an unremembered
past. (He spins a coin at ROS.)
     ROS: Heads.
     GUIL:  Two: time has stopped  dead, and a single experience of one coin
being spun once has been repeated ninety times... (He flips a coin, looks at
it, tosses it to ROS.)  On the whole,  doubtful. Three: divine intervention,
that is  to say,  a good turn from above  concerning  him, cf.  children  of
Israel, or retribution from  above  concerning me, cf.  Lot's wife.  Four: a
spectacular  vindication of  the  principle  that each individual  coin spun
individually  (he spins one)  is as likely to come down  heads  as tails and
therefore should cause no surprise that each  individual  time it  does. (It
does. He tosses it to ROS.)
     ROS: I've never known anything like it!
     GUIL: And syllogism: One, he has never known anything like  it. Two: he
has never known anything  to write home about. Three, it's  nothing to write
home about... Home... What's the first thing you remember?
     ROS: Oh, let's see...The first thing that comes into my head, you mean?
     GUIL: No - the first thing you remember.
     ROS: Ah. (Pause.) No, it's no good, it's gone. It was a long time ago.
     GUIL (patient but edged): You don't  get my meaning.  What is the first
thing after all the things you've forgotten?
     ROS: Oh. I see. (Pause.) I've forgotten the question.
     GUIL: How long have you suffered from a bad memory?
     ROS: I can't remember.
     (GUIL paces.)
     GUIL: Are you happy?
     ROS: What?
     GUIL: Content? At ease?
     ROS: I suppose so.
     GUIL: What are you going to do now?
     ROS: I don't know. What do you want to do?
     GUIL: I  have no  desires. None. (He  stops pacing  dead.)  There was a
messenger... that's right.  We  were  sent for.  (He  wheels at ROS and raps
out.) Syllogism  the  second: one: probability  is  a factor which  operates
within natural forces. Two, probability is not operating as a factor. Three,
we  are  now within  un-,  sub-  or  supernatural forces.  Discuss.  (ROS is
suitably startled - Acidly.) Not too heatedly.
     ROS: I'm sorry, I - What's the matter with you?
     GUIL: A  scientific  approach  to the examination  of  phenomena  is  a
defence against the pure emotion of fear.

This is the extract of the script we were given, it is the very beginning of the play. We had a discussion about context of the play and how they are characters from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. The fact they now have a play about them is a comical part by itself as the characters are a minority part that in the end die. The play follows what they do in the time that they are in the background, watching them question the purpose of their existence.

We took this idea of waiting and had to use the voids in the school building that are split between three layers, given a batch of coins that we were then able to use in the script to pass of the idea of coin flipping and passing the time.  

Working with Richard, we developed the characters, and used the voids and the idea of movement to reflect this, and in this, he would move between the voids with more pace and as he is the was the character that did not win the coin toss it emphasised his lack of luck. For myself, I used the voids in order to show my power, as I won after the first load of coin tossing, I moved onto the same level in order to show I was winning. 

I liked this expect of using the site in order to create links into the performance. It allowed us to make the space appear as something more, what we would need to consider is the audiences point of view and how we have to adapt our performance in order for them to see it. 

8|1|14 - Directing - Wolf & Red Interaction

After working this piece of movement out with Emelia and James, they attended extra rehearsals where we would work on making each lift fluid so it looked like each of James actions were effortless to emphasise Red's passivity on the whole situation. 

11|12|13 - Directing - New Script

Over the week, Mia dropped out meaning that the previous script I'd had in mind wouldn't work properly as I focused a lot on that relationship. I decided to write a different script more heavily influenced by Stephen Sondheim's. I used a notebook to write out the script and write down idea's of movement that could match the words to make it a physical piece. 

We went over what we did last week, removing the part with Mia, and having it go straight into the wood scene. 

After directing the script out, I wrote notes of what I would like to change or develop:

In the intro sequence - switched round Med and Sam as then Med would be behind Abbie - to show that the Huntsman had a dominance over Blue, the proxemics show their family relationship and his authority by her physical timid reaction to his prominence. 

In my script I had an alternate speech pattern between men and women, but I decided to make it so that the women say everything to uplift the tone. They can create their own pitch and pace, as this with juxtapose with the cheerful Red that is naive to the dangers of her journey. There also needs to be more enthusiasm in everyones voice and the pace of the walk needs to be a lot faster and more definition of the walks. 

Every understands the directions they should turn, not so set as my script says as after the walk they may end up somewhere else. no head movements as they are too tedious and don't make a massive impact, whole body turns created a lot more of a dynamic scene. 

Began refreshing on the frame movement, decided people would walk from either end and previous movement would have to be adapted for this. 

Refreshed on the sound scapes making each noise clear and worked on who needed to raise their volume. 

4|12|13 - Directing - Starting the Performance

Again I was only here for the first half so I started off the session, we all discussed our favourite idea's that we would want to keep included into the final performance and they all said 
-sound scape
-the idea of shadow theatre
-the frames to be used to climb through

I decided that I also really liked the first freeze frame and if we centre it around Red, and used the first line 'There once was a delicious little girl called Red, who was loved by everyone who saw her' 

For this session me and Kelly decided to work on contrast, so I would create the basis, making it creepy, then Kelly would try a variation to make it more comical. 

I made everyone but Red face the back, Red would start talking, on delicious the rest of the group would turn around, using a stage whisper to repeat the word 'delicious'. Blue would say 'who was loved by everyone who saw her'. The rest of the group would the walk away leaving the mother stood behind Red who was kneeling down. This meant that we could create a non naturalistic moment where the mother would reach out to give the basket to Red, and Red would reach forward to collect it. This symbolises the lack of direct information given by the mother to Red showing the reasons for why she may be naive. 

To then make it more eerie, we made the repetition of delicious really snide and said on a slow turn that would make them stare at red, they will then snap straight back to facing the back, ready to walk into a carousel that would be ready so that when they walk in a circle it becomes the wood in which Red can use for the next transition scene. 

We kept going over until we could get it fluid and that the turning was in synchrony We then added a sound scape to the carousel wood movement in order to link it and make a make the scene less static while Red prepares to go to the woods. 

27|11|13 - Directing - Naivety

As I knew I would only be there for the first half of the session it was decided that I would lead the first half and Kelly would take over before I left. We also knew that it was a year 10 school trip so we did not have Med, James, Romina or Megan on this date. 

We wanted to experiment with showing Red being naive, so I wanted to play around with her being a passive character that is easily manipulated. For this I told Richard and Sam that they would have to be comfortable with picking up Emelia. I wanted them to pick her up just by the arms, and then have the females come through and support her underneath, in the same position as when they did 'I'm flying!' in one of our first sessions. 

This took a while to develop, But I wanted that part to end with her hugging Blue, as if the incident with the Wolf raping her had just happened because of her passive actions. I wanted the women to run in with urgency, as if they were directing more of their energy towards the men and helping red rather than protecting her and making her aware of this. I wanted the men to seem very aggressive, we worked on the way they held there body posture and their gait would be relaxed as they felt in control of the situation and they'd become aggressive at the site of a girl. 

We decided also that we would begin to put the final performance together, which meant structuring the performance and selecting our favourite idea's. 

After, Kelly developed this so it was ready to perform, this is that performance: 

13|11|13 - Directing - Male Dominance

For this session, we split the cast into two, I would work with one half and Kelly would work with the other. As Kelly wasn't here the week before, I thought it would be a good idea that she worked with the biggest group from last week and develop the movement that they created and possibly some more transition ideas. 

I worked with Emelia (Red), Abbie (Blue), James (Wolf) & Med (Huntsman). Me and Kelly were discussing on the idea of presenting the Huntsman as a negative character aswell in order to reflect how society see's men as violent. I decided to test this out, by making these four create a piece of movement that showed the women's naivety/weakness against men. I told them small features I wanted to be part of it, these were

-a point where they're not touching the floor with their feet. 
-a hinting towards sexual activity
-a moment where the girls meet
-the frame represents the females person comfort zone/safety

Again, as last week, I allowed them to work independently creatively on this with little input, as I wanted them to enjoy the experience and wanted to see what idea's I could adopt into the final performance so they could feel self fulfilling when they have contributed. Their performance was this: 

The only thing I could improve is the fluidity but that would come with rehearsal. I think they managed to do well with the synchronising and thought it did well in symbolising how Blue could try and teach Red as her mother could not. The dominance the men had over the females was clear, and the final end where the men kicked the frames away suggested that the frames was a metaphorical 'safety zone' well and that the men would corrupt that.