1) Simple Language - this ensure that the children can engage in the drama and every aspect of the play without having to worry about not understanding the plot. However, using a few words which are more advanced, could be seen as taking an opportunity to teach the children some new language/
2) Audience Participation - this keeps the children interested in the performance, and also includes them in the performance, which may well be their first experience of performing/acting, encouraging them to be inspired/proud of something their involved in.
3) Multi-sensory- again this keeps the children interested in what is going on, but also encourages inclusive theatre, whereby those who have disabilities physically or otherwise are able to enjoy different senses and are stimulated by more than just watching a performance
4) Bright Costume and elaborate set, props and sound effects - to let the children forget that what they are watching is performance, and let them be captivated in the whole production
5) Comedy - whilst the performance may well have a moral lesson for the children to learn, it will be more memorable for them if they are enjoying the performance through being humoured
Our Island
As a class, we gradually created this island by adding in what we thought was essential, from a hospital to a candy cottage.
Off of the back of this, we came up with a character each on the spot; what they were called, their age, occupation and place of habitat.
What did I want to achieve during this lesson:
I wanted to create a character that was not only comical to children, but comical to those who would be bringing them to our performance, an older generation. I wanted a memorable character, with a very set physicality and voice.
Summary
My character is a 83 year old lady called 'Margot McCarbburn' She works as a gym instructor, specialises in weight lifting and high intensity interval training, She sleeps in a locker in her gym, and lives there. She is bitter towards people who miss her class, and keeps a 'black list', giving each bunker 3 strikes until they're banned from her classes.
Next, we improvised a short scene in pairs. The base of the scene was two character meeting up at a table and talking. I worked with Charlotte, whose character was Victoria, an avid volcano photographer- my character had called her to discuss the opportunity of me being photographed in my gym, as a promotion for my classes. We then performed the short scene to the class.
How did we work as a pair
What went well
I really enjoyed the improvisation part of the lesson, I felt our performance was comical and suitable for children. For example, towards the end of the scene my character was using a huge amount of physicality (lunges/squats), which would keep the children interested in the scene, adding levels and more than just two static actors speaking.
What I can do to improve
I would like to work on developing my character so that her traits appeal to children, but at the same time are not too simplistic that she is boring. For example, I would like to be established as a 'strong, motivated old lady' who is ironically muscly/ masculine for her frail age and figure. Furthermore, I would like to establish a clear relationship with other characters to encourage groups and events on our island.
Did I achieve my personal targets?
To an extent I was really pleased with my progress from this lesson. As I mentioned above, I wanted to make my character very physical, being ironic because of her age. This is something that I achieved and was able to combine with the comedy. This made my character likeable, something important to me. However, I think that my voice wasn't something I developed into much depth; whilst I had a formal tone to it, the pitch and speed of my dialogue was no different from my own- something with more time I would like to develop and discover along with my characters mannerisms.
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