What tasks did you do in the lesson today towards creating TTWCTT?
Today we completed three main tasks. We learnt a song version of the William Blake poem The Tiger, we built an explorer character and we experimented with different ways to gain and maintain height.
We learnt a song sung by Patti Smith, a version of William Blake's poem 'The Tiger.' As we take inspiration from her performance, she took inspiration from Blake and he was inspired by the death of his brother. As our performance is about TTWCTT and our particular section being facts about tigers, the song seemed appropriate to use. As children like seeing and hearing things we may be able to put some physical movement with the poem because the lyrics describe the tiger's features. For example 'burning bright' and 'fearful symmetry,' suggest that a tiger has very bright, vivid stripes that we could use as a basis of our visual piece.
However I don't think the song is appropriate for children's theatre. Patti Smith has a very unusual tone of voice that is low and the way she interpreted the song made it sound like a dirge or lamenting. I think children will not find this style of song interesting and they will stop listening to the song altogether. I found it quite a hard tune to pick up and therefore I am certain that children will find it even harder to connect with. Therefore I think we need to make changes to the version of the song sung by Patti Smith. Though she has given us a basis of inspiration of what the poem's potential is, for the purpose of children's theatre, different styles and techniques would make it more effective for our particular audience. I think repetition is key. As the first stanza is the most descriptive I think if we were to repeat one stanza that would be the best one to use. As Patti Smith kept the same tone and pace, creating an almost depressing sound, we need to therefore create a more upbeat sound. We could change the tone and pace of the song likewise to how we change our energy and tension levels. The words are written in old English, a form that children will not recognise and not understand. It will hold no meaning for them and they won't feel obliged to listen. However if we translated the words into modern English it would make it easier for the children to understand and indeed, easier for us to learn. I think though during the lesson the learning of the song may not have seemed beneficial towards creating TTWCTT, in hindsight it has given us an idea that we can now develop further.
After, we moved on to character creation. Our characters are going to be Victorian explorers. I think this is appropriate because the scene in which these characters would be based will be colourful and engaging for the children. In smaller groups we came up with ideas for what we as explorers could do. For example I am sketching the birds above in the canopy. We were originally all creeping around but after a while this got boring and uninteresting to look at. Therefore we decided to apply the skills we learnt last week and use the 7 Levels of Tension and different energy levels. This made it more engaging and varied. We then came up with a line to say whilst walking around the rainforest. we stood in a line so we could learn the order in which to say our lines. We then added this into our performance. I think this exercise was the most successful from this lesson as we were able to devise and share ideas quickly and immediately put them into action. Even if we found complications we efficiently found a way around the problem and carried on with the piece.
We also experimented with height today. We were all in three lines; high, medium and low and whilst doing our action as an explorer we moved from these different lines. Too make one explorer stand out when he was saying a line we decided to try and put Fenton on Charlie's shoulders. This wasn't very successful. Charlie found it hard to support him and I don't think either him or Fenton were concentrated enough in this position to give a convincing performance. Afterwards we decided to try and make a human pyramid. However like the shoulder lift, once we got to the third level it became unstable and no one was able to concentrate on the characterisation whilst worrying about the construction of the pyramid. I think it didn't work because to do a large scale lift like this we need time and research; two things that we will need to do in our own time.
How do you think it contributes/will contribute to making TTWCTT?
I think all exercises will contribute to the final performance of TTWCTT. Even though some didn't seem as successful as others during the lesson, in week two, we can use them as idea and then in future weeks refine them after practise and additional research. I think the song is another artistic element, and as artists we should try and experiment with other arts as much as possible. Though a little rough around the edges with work and refinement we can make it a significant piece in the play. The character building, as the most successful experiment today, needs to just be built in future weeks to ensure we are making characters the children and enjoy and appreciate. The pyramid is a matter of time and effort. With both of these all the experiments this week can work.
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