A QUESTMAS STORY

UNIT 9

For this project we were told that we had to create a devised piece that represented Christmas as we were supposed perform it within Christmas time. We were told to think about Christmas so firstly we did so exercises that not only got us to think "Christmas" but also warmed us up both vocally and physically. The warm up was simple we each had a partner and we had to think about what our idea of Christmas is to us and the components of Christmas, in addition we had to tell our memories of our Christmas to our partners but to make it more fun we had to tell our stories to each other at the same time and try and make our partners try and hear our stories, we then had to say our stories using different emotions and feelings. This allowed us to open up our minds and it helped think about Christmas even if you’re in the month of September and not December. Throughout the beginning we began doing these exercises in addition to writing down ideas of Christmas at the same time that we could try to put in our devised play, we got into groups and began writing down ideas all of us decided to think of something original and although it didn't scream out Christmas it still had the feeling of it. We continued to so this for the rest of the week until we were told that we should put our ideas and create scenes or a scene that represented all the ideas we came up with. We were split into 3 groups who did their own thing and we're all completely different. One group had the idea of inventing Christmas or naming Jesus Christ, they had the idea of finding a book that transported them back to when Jesus was born and they accidentally named Jesus Christ. I like that idea I thought it was new bold and really exciting. There was another group that choose to create a piece based on a series, their scene was a bit confusing but I believed that it was about testing children by putting them in a room to see what would happen, to me it was strange mainly because I didn't fully understand it but I thought it was creative. And the final group which was my group decided to create a scene based on if Santa Claus became evil and didn't care about Christmas anymore and how 5 children would step up and find out why this was happening. I really liked our idea but I thought it needed a bit of tweaking to it as there were a lot of plot holes. The director looked at all of them and decided to mash them all up into one huge piece. The main idea was going to be based on the fact that our play was set in a distant future where Christmas was banned and wasn't celebrated anymore, it was up to 5 children and a dog to try and get to the bottom of why this has happened, however while searching for answers they end up finding a huge book that would send them traveling through different Christmases or events that relate to Christmas. We all decided that we wanted to create a pantomime, go for a comedic genre as the plays we did in the past were all dramas so we wanted to do something different.

Within the first weeks we began by devising scenes from what we already knew about the play, we started out just like every day by doing our warm ups and exercises which really puts you in the mood for acting and gets you ready. We then got into groups and began creating scenes from the knowledge we gathered from the play. The director gave us different ideas that he thought would work in the play but we were all different groups so we came up with different things, the first scene involved a parent wanting to give his/her child a Christmas present but the child knew that Christmas was banned so the child doesn't accept it and tries to hide it but it becomes too late as there were guards already following the parent and they take the parent away for celebrating Christmas. I thought this idea was good it worked very effectively it presented the fact that Christmas was banned and it showed the punishment for celebrating Christmas. In my group we had a few problems one was which the scene was supposed to be serious yet funny so we kept on laughing and were introduced with the problem of laughing, however as actors we are able to overcome this barrier and continue with the scene which is what we did. The second scene was the children breaking into a facility to try and investigate why the parent was taken. My group decided get inspired with the movie mission impossible and but to make it comedic we all decided to do different things like one of us jumping whilst pretending to avoid lasers one of us on the floor rolling and crawling on the floor. I really thought that it was a funny scene but it really made you understand that they were children breaking into a facility which is a crazy and impossible thing. Another scene was the children running away from guards and trying to avoid getting caught. With this scene my group did the same thing as the "breaking in" scene we all ran away differently which showed the personality of each child and guard. We then decided to step it up and make one of the children get caught but this scene was more over the top, we acted in slow motion and I just thought it was really hilarious and worked with the scene.

Throughout the weeks we just began devising scenes until we got a solid idea of the whole play. By the end of the week the director Rob gave us our first draft of the script it wasn't much but it was still a good work in progress it had a clear underlining of the story, it contained lines here and there but we still worked on it. The script was something a few of us did in an another class with the help of the production arts students. We used the lines that people improvised while devising different scenes in class. It had the beginning a bit of the middle and that was about it for now. As we came gradually towards the end of the first three weeks’ people had already some lines but the director Rob still hadn't decided on a cast yet people still took part in reading certain lines for the characters that were already created so that we could have a brief idea of what the play was going to look like and where it was going.

FIRST SCRIPT 

           

DEVELOPING SCRIPT (WORKING ON IT)

FINAL SCRIPT

Throughout the weeks we began linking all the scenes together that we devised and adding them to the script as all we had was ACT 1. From that we created a new script, it wasn't the final script as there was still a lot more that needed to be added in, some of the scenes needed to be longer and also be polished as they weren't really fitting with the play in general. When we finally got the full story completed we were cast, there was five children and a dog, the evil one and his henchmen (acolytes) the parents, the police, the Victorian people alongside Charles Dickens and the soldiers of World War 1. Everyone got a character however I was part of the ensemble and had to multi role I had to be a soldier in WW1, a citizen from the Victorian era, a normal citizen and a soldier of the evil one. Although it sounded like a lot, I didn't have any lines in the play and just had to be in the background and mouth words to make the scenes come alive as much as I enjoyed doing that I did prefer to have had some lines in the play and actually have a character to play. But from what I know about the acting life is that you have to always be happy and grateful for the character you get as you might not always get to play the certain character you want to play, or you might not get the role you wanted. So as far as rehearsals went all I had to do was watch the people on stage act for most of the play. But this didn't mean that I didn't have to do research, because I was playing different roles I still had to learn and about some of the few characters I had to play. One of bits of research I did was learn to sing Silent Night in German, I was told by the director that soldiers were going to be split into German and British and I was chosen as a German Soldier. Some of us including me learnt the words which wasn’t easy but in the end we didn’t even use it in the play and we instead just hummed to the song of silent night. When we were near to the performance date we had to do different jobs that involved props, a couple of people and I had to paint some wooded objects that were meant to symbolize guns in black and also draw a map as it was needed. As well as that we had to make a sign that said Police Station this was for the police station scene and to make it more obvious to the audience we added the sign in the background.

Performance week was finally here and we had everything prepared, it was time for our technical rehearsal, we performed for a small audience of the first years, however some of the Cast wasn’t in but we still had to do with what and who we had because everyone knows ‘the show must go on’. I took the responsibility to help out my colleagues by standing for some of the people who weren’t in. I thought that was bad as it was to not have everyone in, the people who were in still gave a good performance as we got some good feedback from our audience. They said that it was very comedic and hilarious, they understood our story and got the concept behind it. On the day of the performance everyone was pretty nervous. Everything was set up, we got all the props and costumes sorted, and we finally got to see the big book which was one of the main focuses in the story. Before one more rehearsal I was tasked to sort out the front of house, I got one of my colleagues Kenya to help me. We wanted to infuse so much of the idea of Christmas that we decided to add Christmas ornaments and lights all around it, in addition we added the poster created by Danielle B which I thought looked really good. This was kind of relaxing because it made me less nervous and more excited to perform after 7 weeks. I sorted out all my things, I got all my costumes and any props necessary, for the beginning I wore black clothing and a plain woolly hat with my black leather gloves to show I was a soldier and I used a stick painted black to represent a gun. Then I changed by putting on a hoodie and gloves to show I was in the market and it was cold, after that I changed for Act 2 where I wore old Victorian clothing, I pretended to be a butler and wore an old blazer and fancy shoes. And finally I wore a blazer to act as a German soldier for the WW1 scene. When performing I did my cues and also helped other people if needed with costumes or props. I thought that the performance was good and I really enjoyed it, I also think that the audience enjoyed it as they were engaged with the play and laughed when there was a joke. Although there wasn't such a big audience, I thought we did well and everyone enjoyed it.

To evaluate the past 7 weeks of rehearsals and performance, I thought that everything went as planned we did as we set out to do which was create a devised play that presented the concept of Christmas and the idea of Christmas. I believe that our performance went well, everyone was amazing and gave out a fantastic performance. We all helped out each other in the day of the performance with costumes, props and cues. Everyone knew there lines and choreography especially in the chase scene. The only thing that I could have done was maybe have lines and take part more, even though I did scenes that some people didn't like the slow motion football in the WW1 scene, I would have liked to have been a character in the play and have lines. I don't think there was any improvement that could have been made as I believe that every one really shined in this performance.

A QUEST-MAS STORY
PICTURES OF PERFORMANCE