The Three Musketeers- Week Three: Characters, Scripts and Fencing!

Welcome back! It was week three with our wonderful Chameleons this morning and this week was all about the action inside the Three Musketeers. Namely, the sword fights. The Musketeers is the most action-packed show we have undertaken with the group and so presented an exciting challenge for us, as well as them. To help the chameleons get their heads about all of this sword stuff; we thought we would start by teaching them how to fence. Oh, and we gave out characters as well. So pretty exciting stuff.

First off we started with some classic drama games, but ones we haven't used with the group in a very long time. Zip, zap, boing made an appearance- a classic drama game wherein the group have to pass energy around a circle, but they can also send it backwards the way it came and fire it across, meaning everyone has to be paying attention in order not to be caught off guard. This game is probably old as drama itself and served as a cool intro to the session.

Next came splat, an old favourite. The group stand in a circle and someone stands in the middle. They point at someone and say splat, then the people either side have to turn and splat each other, while the middle person ducks down. It's a great game for getting everyone warmed up and is plenty of fun too!

Next we warmed everyone up for the physical theatre activities that we would be doing later. The game we played was called 'follow your nose.' In the game everyone has to pretend that they are being pulled by a string attached to the end of their nose, thinking about how this affects the way they move their bodies. The string moves around a lot, sometimes coming out of an elbow, knee, finger or even a tongue. The idea is that the group consider what the string does to the way they walk and how they can make it obvious where the string comes from to an audience, without speaking.

Once everyone was warmed up we launched into some fencing. Given that combat with the musketeers often involved rapiers and various fencing techniques, this seemed like a sensible approach to tackling all of the sword fights we have in the story. The group began by learning how to stand and move their feet, both of which are important in a sword fight with your rival. Next they were taught how to held their hands and sword. When they had that, we showed them several basic fencing moves that they could replicate; attacking, blocking, lunging and parrying.

We made a game out of it to help everyone remember the moves. It is the sword version of rock, paper, scissors. Standing in a circle, two players have to square off in a duel, and can only use the four movements that we showed them. The audience counts to three and both players must make a move, whoever wins scores a point. Blocking beats attack, lunging beats blocking, parrying beats lunging and attacking beats parrying. If both players attack or lunge, both receive a point. 

The group had a lot of fun playing and it was a great way to teach them about the rules of stage combat. The most important being that you are never allowed to hurt the other people you do it with. Stage combat is all about control and trust, everyone must trust one another and control what they do so that nobody gets hurt during a scene. The game is a lighthearted way of teaching this.

After the break we sat down and looked through the characters in the play. Each character was listed on a page and had a small description of who they were. It was fantastic seeing how much everyone remembered from the past two weeks. Following this everyone got into pairs and was tasked with creating a scene where D'Artagnan meets Athos and they fight; like in the play.

There were some fantastic scenes made by all of the teams and what was brilliant to see was that the groups had included some of the moves they had learned at the start of the session! Over the next few weeks we will be staging the fight scenes and be using these a lot more-so we're off to a great start.

And so another session comes to an end. We handed out scripts and characters before we were finished and for the most part everyone seems pleased with what they have been given. Over the remaining weeks things are bound to adapt and change but for now everyone is excited to get started; and so we shall. Next week we will begin work on our play- meeting the Musketeers and D'Artagnan as their adventure begins! It was a fantastic session and the group produced some brilliant work. For now here are a few snaps from the rehearsal!

SIDE NOTE: We are super excited to be attending the Northcott Theatre again this Friday to see 'The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon.' Both myself and Ben are thrilled that the chamaleons get to go and see more fantastic work there this term for their Arts Award.

The Three Musketeers- Week Two: Still Images!

Welcome back! It was week two for our Chameleons this morning! With more new faces amongst the group things were even more exciting than usual; plus we had Gaia, one of our fantastic AYC young company members helping run things today as Ben was away. The topic of the week was still images-creating physical snapshots of different scenes. Before that though there were plenty of games to be played. 

With the main focus of the week being physical; we made sure to include a lot of active warm up games to get everyone feeling ready to move about. We played a quick-animal themed- version of captain's coming, then moved onto moving like different animals. In this game the group have to move around like different animals, changing how they use their bodies to portray each one. Some of the animals featured; cats,  rabbits, rhinos, giraffes and lizards. 

After we have passed the break we took the group through some relaxing (and basic) yoga to make sure everyone was stretched and ready to get stuck into the physical work. Everyone seemed quite keen on the yoga-the room was nearly silent for a whole ten minutes! 

Afterwards the group were placed in pairs and had to create still images for a variety of different scenes. These scenes were a library, a beach, a school and a castle- each pair had to create something or someone different that they might find there. We had librarians, palace guards, musketeers and even some starfish! 

We then discussed the characters in the musketeers, both to introduce the new faces amongst us to the story and themes of the show and to remind everyone who was here last week what we learned. Once everyone felt familiar with D'Artagnan and the musketeers we split the group in half and set about creating some still images of different parts of the story. 

The still images told the story from the start to finish. It is a useful way to get the group thinking about how they can use a space to create a specific picture for the audience. It also gave the group a chance to build some teamwork skills, since this is the first time we have done any smaller group work this term. Some fantastic ideas were displayed- especially for some of the scenes with fewer characters. For instance- D'Artagnan meeting Constance included different background characters each with their own stories and traits- such as the market stall holders or the residents at the inn where he meets his nemesis Rochefort.

All in all it was a fun week! The amount of energy this group has is unlike anything we've seen before. So much creativity and such fantastic ideas. The still images this week were a good start to getting the group thinking about how things look on stage and what we might have to consider when creating the final performance! Next week we're moving onto some script and character work (and possibly giving out characters). There will be more physical stuff too so it should be tons of fun! Until then enjoy the usual rehearsal snaps!

The Three Musketeers- Week One: 'All for One and One for All!'

The blog is back! That's right; this morning we began a brand new term with our Chameleon Group! It was an exciting morning for us, as it's been over a month since Peter Pan went on at the Cygnet theatre and we were keen to get back into the swing of things. To make it even better we had a whole ton of new faces join us this term. So with new faces and a new story-it sure was a brilliant start to the term!

First things first; we spent the initial part of the session learning everyone's name. With so many new faces we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to introduce themselves and learn everyone's names. We used our old ball game to do this, where everyone has to throw the ball to someone and say their name. If they don't know, or can't remember, then they simply ask. It's a low stakes game which always eases newcomers into the group. Then we got onto playing our favourite running crab game, where everyone has to dart back and forth across the room and avoid the catcher in the middle. If they are caught then they become a crab and have to help catch others. It's a great energy game to get everyone warmed up.

Next we played the opposites game; which is inspired by theatre techniques used by Augusto Boal (great chap). In the game everyone has to either go, stop, jump or clap. However, these instructions are then reversed to mean different things; so go means stop and jump means clap. It's always a good laugh playing this game and trying to trick others out. Afterwards we gave the group their first go at the shape game. In this game everyone has to use their bodies and work as a team to create a shape. This week's shapes included a square, a computer, an aeroplane, a car and a moving bridge. This game is great because it gives the group a chance to work together as a team. We encourage them all to contribute and listen to each other's ideas. Some brilliant shapes were made!

Over the break we talked about the story of The Three Musketeers to see what information the group already knew. The topic of discussion this week however was the vending machine and how much happier everyone would be if they gave out free food. Once back inside the room we looked in on some acting with 'what are you doing?' This is one of our favourite games as it is a good chance for everyone to get creative and a little bit silly. The emphasis is purely on fun. One person does an action, like playing tennis, and then another person comes in and asks what they are doing. They then have to say an action which is anything but what they're already doing; so, using the tennis example, the person might say they are cooking dinner. The next person then has to make an action that represents cooking dinner. It's a fun game and we always have a lot of wild suggestions; such as today we had 'tightrope walking over a shark tank' and 'diving into a sea of sweets.'

We asked everyone again what characters they knew from the story of 'The Three Musketeers' and the one most people knew was D'Artagnan; the hero of the story. While the play involves his adventure from farm-hand to musketeer however, there are plenty of other characters there too; such as Athos, Porthos and Aramis (the three musketeers), King Louis, the wicked Cardinal Richelieu and the cunning Milady de Winter. The group were excited to hear about all of the different characters involved in the show. A promising start!

Finally, we did what we like to call a 'speed-run' of the story. In this one of us will narrate the story and the other will select people to act in it. Everyone will have a turn as each character and it is a fun way to help everyone remember the key points about the storyline. The whole group were very keen to throw themselves into different roles and help us tell a five minute version of our final story.

So all in all, a very busy but brilliant first session! We met some new people, played some fun games and explored our story; which we will be performing in nine weeks. The group seem excited by the term ahead and so are we! Saturdays don't feel right without these guys! That's all for now though, we will be back same time next week! As those of you familiar with the blog (and me) will know I like to give the camera a workout so here are some snaps from this week's madness! Enjoy!