Lesson 2

What activities did we do today?

At the beginning of the lesson we had a workshop from Frantic Assembly which helped us develop our skills in physical theatre and also helped us work effectively as a class as we spent most of the time working with each other rather than being in separate groups. We spent the rest of the lesson focusing on our pieces and making it clear which section we were presenting, we also had to decide how we would involve the whole class in our piece as we came up with them in smaller groups.

What ideas did your group come up with?

Last lesson my group pretty much finished our piece, but this lesson we added in music as Benji brought in the guitar and we decided what kind of music would fit with our piece best to enhance it. We also decided that our idea, and Susanna's groups idea were very similar so we merged them together and we had both come up with the idea of a child saying what they dreamed of, and us becoming the characters in their dream.

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

Our piece mainly focused on exploring different things little children dreamed about. So we added and rejected ideas on what characters we could do. We developed this idea by deciding on the atmosphere and also working on our spacing, although adding in the whole class helped because it was much easier to fill the space. The feel of our piece is very energetic and everything is very fast pace, so the changes between characters are swift and no one stops moving so that it contrast nicely with the next section.

What ideas did you reject?

At the beginning we planned to all be lined up behind Rory, who was the little boy speaking, and we'd all come out in canon as these different characters. However this idea is incredibly difficult to carry out with 25 students, so instead we had everyone scattered around as toys in a frozen position. We also adapted our lines so it fitted in with the next section. I say "Houston we have a problem, I've forgotten how to dream", which then brings the mood down as we become adults.

What performance skills are you using? Why are they suitable for your audience?

The main skills we use are music and physical theatre. We thought this would suit our audience because it's easier to understand compared to us speaking throughout the whole piece. Music and physical theatre work well together because it provides a rhythm for the movements and is another way of communicating the message of our piece without speaking.