Full day of rehearsal and show day 17/12/14

Today we went through the first scene and planned all of the lighting and music queues. For the first scene it was decided that when our areas were not lit that we would be in a freeze frame. I think that this worked well as it did not draw attention away from the scenes that were happening, and told the audience where the action was taking place.

After this we then managed to get in a full run through of the play, this entailed in starting inside with all props, set lights and music. We then rehearsed it with the audience exiting and which way we would all go into the performance space outside. Over all the run outside went well and made me more confident of my lines and what I was to be doing, without stopping. The only problem that arose for me was my props and where and when I needed them. This then slowed down the run, however to get around this before the shows I made my self a props set list. on this list it told me where all of my props needed to be before we started and where or who I needed to give them to after I had used them. Most of my props started off behind the bakery bar in my bag which I collect half way through scene 1. I also planned with Paris (Mystery Man) that we would place the money sack in a bush backstage on exit 5 at the start of the show, so that it was already there at the start of scene 4. During this rehearsal I also saw a problem in my bag. which my character wears in every scene, and was not sure what to do with it during songs and dances. It was then decided that I would keep it on and then see how this worked out during the first shows.

Working out the technical elements 11/12/14

In todays lesson we worked out a lot of the technical elements within the play, mainly thinking about entrances and exits. All of my exits and entrance points worked well with each other, and it made it clear to the story what my character was doing. The only entrance that was a problem is when I exit from 'It takes two' and then come in straight for 'Stay with me'. I did not have enough time to get from exit point 1 which is through the audience and then come round onto stage on entrance 4 which is at the back of the stage. I then changed it that I came straight back in on entrance 1, just at a later time than I use to. I feel that coming in slower made the song change as it looked a lot more flowing and dreamy, rather than the sharp movements that we would sometimes do.

For the 'Stay with me dance' we were told that it was to be slower as this is how it is sang. To make my movements seem slower and more fluent, I came up with a separate story for my character to fit along side the lyrics, This was all about how The Baker wants his wife to stay with him and how he is sorry for how he treated her. I could tell that this was effective as at the end of the song  we partner up and have a small interaction with our partners, mine being the Bakers Wife. we then changed it to us coming together then slowly drifting away. We could tell that this was effective due to the other characters responses as we all began to work off each other.

I feel that during this rehearsal is when I first felt like the show came together as a whole, as people gave all of their energy and started to respond of others and the musical a compliment.

Production Roles - Costume

For my production role i am part of the costume team, we have taken some inspiration from past productions of Into The Woods. and have also mindmaped ideas for our selfs.

The Wolf
For the wolf we have steared away from the past productions, and thought of something brand new. Instead of having a classic, fancy dress looking wolf, we have made him alot more upper class, by wearing a suit, top hat
and cane. this brings in the character of a sly, creepy and a character that can talk his way around everything,

To still make it recognisable to an audience that this character is still representing the Big Bad Wolf from the well known fairytale, we have added in an indication for the fur, with the furry material, adding it from coming out of the split seams, and down the sided of the trousers. We also added ears to the top hat for the comical value of the character, being abit clumsy and sleesy.

 

 

The Witch

 

For the witch I kept it very simple, having just a plain black cape, to make her look mysterious and old. Under this she would wear a bright red dress for when she transformed to the beautiful witch. This is a big contrast from the dull boring costume that she had before. I don't think that the costume needed to be easily recognisable as a witch as the character is very recognisable due to characterisation.

 

 

 

The Narrator

 

For the narrator I wanted to keep it very formal and assertive. I did this by having a black piny dress with a white shirt. This kept them very neutral so that they don't steer away from other character that bring the story to life.

 

 

 

Little Red Riding Hood

 

 

For this costume I had to keep quite close to tradition, sticking with the main colour as red was very important. I tried to keep it very child like with the skirt and t-shirt tucked in. I think this highlights the sweet, innocent and vulnerable characteristics of the character, while still having the main colour of red so that the audience can make the connection between the character. This colour also represents danger and leads up to what may be happening from within the story.

 



 

 

The Prince's

 

For the princes I stuck with very royal colours, Reds and Blues with gold accessories. This seems very grand. and then the two princes, with different colours then can be linked to their princesses. In a tight time scale i would just make the sashes for the princes as it still shows their royal statuses and is an easy costume to take on and off.

 

 

 

The Bakers Wife

 

For the Bakers Wife I have stuck to traditions, I researched olden bakerys and they would usually wear their casual clothes yet with their aprons over the top. I made this more child friendly by adding the bright colours

 

 

 







Focus on acting techniques within 'Into The Woods' 9/12/14

In today's lesson we focused on the little bits of the performance that needed work to do with our acting techniques and characterisation.

I looked into how my character has travelled throughout the play, looking particularly at what my character has been doing before scenes to come. For example at the start of scene 4 my character enters the scene having been to get another cow to give to the Witch. My character may have had quite a tough time in getting this cow, or it may have been a case of just finding another cow within the village. I show my characters struggle through the line "Iv'e the cow". I played around with vocal techniques such as pitch and pace. by saying this line very slow and low in pitch towards the end, it makes the tone of my character seem very fed up, tired and like he had given up. This tells an audience that he has been through a lot to get to where he is just from changing on line and how it is said.

Another example where i looked into my characters feeling that were not obvious in the text is when The Baker and Jack first meet. The Baker tries to deceive Jack in believing that the beans are magic. I slowed down every line, making my pitch higher at the end to show that it was a lie. This made it seem really interesting what my character was saying. I could tell that this was effective due to others reactions in character, Jack opened his eyes wide to show him falling for the trap that The Baker was setting him up for.