The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- Week Five: 'The Flying Monkeys, The Crows & The Witch.'

It's half term! Well, the end of it anyway; and what better way to see it finish than with our wonderful Chameleons? This week we were down on adults, as between the University open day and the holidays our team was stretched thin- we won't be beaten, however and so the show carried on anyways! This week we were working on the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes and working with the chorus to bring the flying monkeys and evil crows to life!

To kick things off we did some stretches and played some physical warm ups. Top choices this week were Boal's 'go, stop, jump, clap' game- where the Chameleons have to do the opposite of what they are told. This week they also had to contend with the 'space' rule, using only their bodies to fill as much of the room as possible. It's a great way to get the group thinking about the space they're in and who is around them.

Then we played 'the mirror game' where the Chameleons are put into pairs and have to copy the movements of one another. These can be the smallest or biggest of movements and it is wonderful watching how everyone responds to the game. There was a lot of laughter. It helps people to get into the mindset of chorus work, as the chorus need to move together and often copy each other's movements.

Afterwards we set to work on building up the fly monkey movements. The Chameleons were asked to move as monkeys and then greet each other. The one rule was that they weren't allowed to speak, only make animal noises. This got everyone thinking about how their monkey might move and behave. At the same time we worked on integrating the Monkey King and Captain Oreo, the witch's henchmen- one being played by a cast member and the other being a puppet. Both had to move different to the rest of the chorus.

When we'd worked out the movements we got stuck into the scene, figuring out with the chorus where they were going to be and what role they would have to play. It was great seeing the Wicked Witch in her castle with her henchmen for the first time and everyone worked to make the scene funny and engaging.

Following the break we learned how the crows were going to be handled. Given that we already have loads of puppets and movement sequences we opted for a minimalist approach to the winged beasts. The Chameleons were show a simple way in which they could transform their hands into birds; a technique often using within shadow puppetry. Once everyone had the movements learned we explored how they could move and interact. The chorus were fantastic this week, adapting to each and every task they were given.

Once all of the elements were established we put them all together in the scene. For such a short scene there were a lot of things to do. It is all of these things, though, that make it such a good scene; for there is some brilliant back and forths between the Witch, Monkey King and Oreo mixed together with some fantastic movement work from the chorus which brings the castle to life.

To conclude we played a game called 'object in a box.' In this game the group have to take it in turns to take an object out of an imaginary box that they can use. They must then perform an action that tells everyone what their object is. We always have a great range of objects in the box and it is a lot of fun trying to guess what everyone finds inside it.

And so another week passes and we are now halfway through the term! Madness. These guys continue to impress and amaze us however and they produced some incredible work today! Next week we will return to Dorothy as she and Toto meet the first of their magical companions. Until then, as usual, pictures. See you next week! 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- Week Four: 'Aunt Em's Farm and Munchkin Land!'

It was full steam ahead today with the Chameleons this morning as we got to work on the play! After casting the show last week we were excited to get stuck in and get the ball rolling on the first few scenes. Today's session featured plenty of puppets and some fantastic scenes from the group.

Before we dived into the scenes, however, we warmed up with a few games. To kick the week off we played a round of zip, zap, boing- which the group have heard of before (and some of whom have played). The game is a classic drama exercise and fantastic for getting everyone energised and ready for the week. Towards the end we played a fast zip version, where we had to pass the zip around as fast as we could in order to build up energy for the next game; splat, where a person in the middle must use the energy to 'splat' others. The person they splat must duck and the two either side splat each other. It's another fun classic which gets the group concentrating and having fun.

Then we did an exercise to get everyone thinking about puppetry- since we were working on the Munchkin scene this week we wanted to have the Chameleons thinking again about how anything can be used as a puppet- building upon what we learned last week. The exercise involved one person standing with no arms and a second person standing behind them pretending to be their arms. The group were split into teams and had to create some scenes with different characters who were unable to control their arms.

We discussed the structure of a scene with the group afterwards. How do you create a scene? First think of a place, then think of the characters and then finally think of the story. The Chameleons were taken through this and we also talked about the beginning, middle and end of a story- each important elements that make the story- and by extension the scene- work. Some rather amusing work was created during the exercise and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.

The group then split up into teams again and this time had to get moving with some physical theatre exercises. This week we asked the Chameleons to create versions of the different elements in small teams, using only their bodies. We tasked them with creating fire, a waterfall, a crumbling rock and a swirling tornado. The group were very clever and produced some lovely moments of physical theatre, bringing each element to life.

Then we split off and started work on the play. While one team worked on scene one, another worked on creating the Munchkin town for later. The scene one team worked on bringing to life Aunt Em's farm, expanding upon the characters of her three quirky farm hands and setting up Dorothy's wishes to leave the farm and have an adventure. We were really impressed with the creativity that the group put in and that some have already started learning lines!

Across the space the Munchkin team worked on how to control the puppets and created some characters and scenes from around Munchkin land to help bring the setting to life. Some smaller, individual duologue scenes were created and featured a range of colourful and hilarious characters. The Chameleons really outdid themselves on some of the scenes and it was fantastic to watch.

Next came the classic scene where Dorothy first meets Glinda and finds herself in Oz after the tornado. Again it was great to see the Chameleons begin to bring their characters to life. We had some fantastic character interactions in the scene and the adventure really feels like it is about to start!

As we continued work on the scene we added in the Munchkins, with all of the different personalities from the earlier scenes, to create a massive stage picture with the entire cast! Very rarely are we able to get the entire cast on stage for a single scene but here it was wonderful- the Munchkin land felt alive and each character special. The scene was made all the more special by the arrival of the Wicked Witch of the West, who enters for her first meeting with Dorothy and Toto.

And so it begins! Our amazing cast of Chameleons produced some wonderful work today and we've created some brilliant scenes to go in our final performance. It was great seeing everyone get stuck into all of the acting and puppetry of the show. We're already excited for next week when we will be looking at some of the Witch's scenes, along with creating her wicked henchmen. Until then enjoy some more snaps from the madness of the morning...oh, and have a nice half term!