Grease audition and Lena's assessment

I have chosen to do 'Roxie' from the musical Chicago for my solo, take me or leave me from the musical Rent as my duet with Lyndsey and Honey Honey from the musical Mamma Mia as my other solo and for the Grease audition i will do Roxie and Honey Honey

Production arts with Kim 29/11/12

In the lesson with Kim today we all focused on making and improving set. We were all appointed different areas of the set to work on. The trees needed to be fixed, re-spraypainted and have little bits of tinsel attached to it, the sleigh needed to be painted and have tinsel put around the rim, more flowers needed to be made and my job in costume was to make icycles to hang from the frozen children at the Snow Queens palace. I did this by cutting squares out of the silver paper and curling it into a pointy cone shape, i then attached it together with tape and then added the decorative blue fabric to it with tape for added effect. Jess and Polly helped me and we managed to make 15 so each frozen child has 3 each, we also used the green wire threaded through the top into a hoop so that the icycles can be hung from the arms of the snow children.

Pictures from the dance show

Pictures from our performance of 'All that Jazz' from Chicago that we had been rehearsing in the previous two dance lessons with Sam Lebihan

 

 

20/11/12 - Drama lesson with Rachel Maddix

In todays lesson we went over the Snow Queen storyline, first of all we did a quick run-through and whenever Rachel thought something needed improving or we needed to add something she stopped us and told us. I found this very helpful because it gave us an outside input from an audience member. After we had run-through it once we cut into our first scene groups, for me i was in the Flower Garden scene with Abbie and Lyndsey, and we reflected on Rachels notes and decided on changing a few things and adding a few things to make the scene more interesting and easier for the children to follow. In the last hour we all sat down with a pen and paper then Rachel gave us specific things to work on. I've got to work on props and costume, for costume i'm going to make icycles to hang from the 'frozen children' in the Snow queen's palace scene.

In academy time me and Abbie collected lots of dry leaves and then painted them with white and silver paint and coated them with silver glitter.

I also helped Polly spray paint the trees for the forest with Silver and White spray paint, i feel this made a really good effect and because we'd painted it brown first it shows that the Snow Queen has covered a once warm brown-tree'd place into a wintery snowy cold place.

Production arts with Kim 22/11/12

In todays lesson we created mind maps based around our specific job role in our performance 'The Snow Queen'. Mine is costume so i stuck down things that show the colours chosen for the play, because it's got a wintery theme, the colours are silver, white and blue. I stuck down images from magazines for costume ideas, coloured tissue paper, bubble wrap etc. I also created snowflakes out of the resources i had.

Research for Drama with Rachel Maddix

Research into source:
When i was growing up the childrens books that interested me were Blinky Bill (an australian storybook), hungry hungry caterpillar, baby beebee bird, Peter Rabbit etc.

I remember that in Blinky Bill he was a koala bear, he wore red dungarees with golden buttons, and he was always with his group of friends, his friends included his adopted sister Nutsy, his kangaroo friend Splodge, a platypus, a mouse and a wombat. Blinky bill is naughty and mischievous.

Research into Target Audience 1 – Curriculum (Snow Queen)

Drama 13/11/12

In this Drama lesson Rachel was absent. We spent the first hour improving our blogs and completing The Snow Queen table. Then in the next 3 hours we were in the drama studio where we practised the first scene with Kai, Gerda, Grandma and The Snow Queen, we were trying to show clearly how close Kai and Gerda are, we did this by when they got scared when Grandma was reading the story they would look to eachother for comfort by hugging eachother. We also added music to this scene for when the Snow Queen enters the room to give it more impact and make it clear to the children that the mood has changed and to ensure the children know that she is a 'baddy'. We then tried to improve the other scenes but we were missing a few people so we were unable to do that, so instead we worked on the scenery for the show, we painted one of the large trees brown, created some more flowers and made another tree for the robbers scene, and in the last half an hour of the lesson we showed Sam as much of the show as we could.

The Snow Queen (Worthing 2012 Version)
Scene	Title	Development Suggestions
1	Grandma’s Introduction	We need to build the 'six senses' in this scene as it introduces the audience to both the play and life for the characters Gerda and Kai before the Snow Queen. **The audience have to care about them getting this life and their friendship back or there is little point to the story** Better description of the environment. An activity for Kai and Gerda before the story that can show how close they are. Introductory music Make it obvious which story it is and explain the story better so the kids have a better feel for it before they see it. Make the Snow Queen seem more scary, describe her in a worse way.
2	Snow Queen Kidnaps Kai	We need to establish a distinct change in atmosphere via lighting and sound for the Snow Queens entrance. The dialogue needs additional detail particularly the benefits of living in the snow palace. **There has to be a plausible benefit for Kai to go with the SQ as he is fascinated by her before she puts ice in his heart** Snow Queen Music or snow sound effects Additional tempting description of Snow Queen Lifestyle in dialogue Design/Make sleigh  Lighting change to add to cold atmosphere Make it clear that the SQ has put Gerda and Grandma under a spell thats why they aren't waking up. (Jackie in Art is willing to help)
3	Magic Flower Garden	A playful introduction would improve this scene. Perhaps Gerda could wonder at least for a little while if she should just make new friends whilst being enchanted by the flowers. **The scene will work best if we feel a bit sorry for the flower witch and the flower girls and if it contrasts more with the other scenes** Demonstrate the girls having fun together before we see the witch Gerda to use '6 senses' to ensure we understand more about the magical garden Find way of making flowers stand! Make it clear that the flower witch wants Gerda to stay. Emphasize that its the chamomile tea that makes Gerda forget about Kai.
4	Snow Queen collects Flower Children	We need this scene to have more clarity. The best way to do this would be to strongly establish an ongoing relationship between the SQ and the Flower Witch. **This scene is the second time we see the SQ and once again she is abducting children. We have to make her heartless but not too scary!** Reveal Snow Queens bigger plans and the control she has over her magical kingdom Make some reference to life before the Snow Queen's reign Ensure the sleigh can work with two passengers Ensure that the children realise the reason that the SQ are taking the flower witches 'children'. Show the relationship between the Flower witch and the SQ.
5	Palace and the Princess’s Party	Create a clear plot for this scene. Make it obvious that Gerda rips the princesses dress and that is why she's helping her sew it up. While the music is playing the Crow and the King could dance to show a lighter side to the story. Make it clear that the garment the princess gives to Gerda is expensive.
6	Snow Queen Plots & Plans	Ensure that the children understand that Kai is under the SQ's spell (blank expression, vague recall) Show that the minion/servant is obediant and does anything the SQ asks. Ensure that the children see that the SQ has a way of watching Gerda travel across the magical world.
7	Robbers in the Woods	Ensure that the children know that the robber girl has ice in her heart because she is alot meaner than the rest of the robbers. Show the reindeer is a friendly companion. Show that Polly wants to help Gerda and that she isn't a 'bad guy' like the rest of them.
8	Journey to Lapland	Show the connection between the reindeer and Gerda. Ensure that the children realise that going round the center a couple of times means they have journeyed for quite a long time.
9	Minion Reports	Show that the minion/servant is frightened about what the snow queen will say. Ensure that there is a clear obediance from the minion to the SQ.
10	Finn Man’s Wisdom & the Gossips	Create an interesting way to introduce the gossipers. Show that the gossipers think the Finn Man is crazy and that they're sure going to him would help Gerda out in no way at all. Make it clear from the gossipers that he's a bit of a nut job. Ensure that the Finn Man is quite gaudy and strange.
11	Ice Palace Rescue & Release	Use 6 senses to describe the gate and how difficult it is to get into it. Have the 3 items to ask the audience which one would work to open the gate. Ensure that the children understand that everyone is frozen. Show the reindeer's heroic side.  Make it clear that the reindeer's special power is melting ice with his antlers (have the reindeer show Gerda in one of the walking scenes) Make sure that the children understand that Gerda crying on Kai is what melts the ice in his heart.
12	Back to Grandma	Make sure it's all very happy at the ending and the children aren't afraid that the SQ will come in the night to get them. Ensure that the reunion between Gerda, Kai and Grandma is a very happy one.