The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- Week Eight: 'The Battle on the Ice.'

Week eight! Things are really speeding up now with our Chameleons and their production. With the final show just a few weeks away we're now moving towards the end of our story; with additional production elements beginning to fall into place. This week, in addition to all of the usual acting and drama work we also did a photoshoot for the poster and programme. Busy times in Thornlea Studio 1 this week indeed.

Multi-tasking is key to getting things done and having fun. As it's not a particular strong point of ours though we decided to divide and conquer. As the group warmed up with a running game led by our wonderful Young Facilitator Ella, we got to work doing individual headshots of the cast for the upcoming programme for the show. Two birds, one stone, some might say.

The scenes this week were particularly fun. On the sibling's side of the story they come to a frozen river which must be crossed if they are to finally reach Aslan. While this particular scene doesn't come from the book-rather from the film-it is pretty cool and we thought it would make a nice inclusion in the show. After thoroughly raiding material stores we located some lovely material which served as our river- then worked on creating a physical sequence where the Pevensie children have to swim for their lives-following a battle between Peter and Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police.

Alongside the physical sequence we also staged our first fight of the show. A short but fun sequence is all this scene needed, as the true fighting has yet to begin (plenty of that in the coming weeks). Meanwhile the White Witch and Edmund continued on, coming to the now melted river. Once again the Queen sends her wolves after the children. Once the scenes had been staged we shared them back and practiced them; as they contained quite a lot of physical action and dialogue.

After the break the group began to run through the play again. We've really focused on rehearsing each section of the play so that, in a few weeks, the Chameleons all feel confident to perform them on the stage of the Cygnet. Absent from the run were our Aslan and Witch, who stepped out of the run to take part in the photoshoot for the poster.

Let it be said that we are tough but fair (we don't try and be tough, honest). The Chameleons had worked really hard in the rehearsal and, in fact, the rehearsal before as well. It is a mammoth size story and a huge show that we are making and so we decided to give everyone a break and close off with some fun games. Given the option, however, the cast all said that they would happily continue working. These guys are incredible and we are proud of them all. Still, they worked hard and so we played some games to round out the session.

So here we are. The poster has been created. The tickets are on sale. It's really happening! This term is flying past but it's just fantastic to work with a cast who are so in love with the story and so keen to work on it. The show keeps getting better and better and the team is so excited to see it on the stage in a few weeks time. Until then, signing off!

Story-Makers: The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat- Week One: Storyboards

A big morning for Anthos Arts! Today we launched Story-Makers: a brand new drama group for ages three to six. What with the early years training and experience, this has been something of a long-term goal for us and it is feels both fantastic and surreal that we are finally getting started. Of course with a new project comes a new blog. To those who have never read one of these before; welcome!

Alongside our younger youth groups I attempt to keep a weekly blog of what the participants get up to each week and sometimes provide some insight into the things we do with them (see Chameleon Group posts for examples). This is mainly for parents to be able to see (hence the pictures) and find out more about what went on. Over the term I will be attempting to do the same for our Story-Makers and providing (hopefully) some insight into the ensuing madness.

So to start off, our focus for our opening week was storyboards. With each of our youth groups we have different aims. With our Young Company the aim is professional development, while the Chameleons is about building understanding and teamwork skills (both are about having fun-but that's a given). With the Story-Makers our focus is learning about stories. Reading, drawing and, ultimately, making them. The story the group is focusing on this term is Carol Rumble's retelling of 'The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat.' The book is a fantastic adventure about two children who go 'to sea' in a box on the living room floor. There are many animals and characters which make it a brilliantly rich book for us to unpick and learn from. 

Storyboarding is an important part of creating work. Whatever show you want to create, the story at the centre of it needs to be clear; using storyboards to plan out what elements are involved and what direction/order the story goes in is a fantastic method of creating coherent and diverse tales. It made sense for this to be the first activity for the Story-Makers then, as it is the first stage in creating any grand story. With the group being new and everyone being unfamiliar with each other, it was also important to plan a 'low-stakes' activity where everyone could get involved. For those unaware, a 'low-stakes' activity means one were there is very little pressure or risk involved for participants. Games/activities classed as this aim to be a comfortable way for those who are unsure about taking part to 'test the waters.' This can apply to any age group, but it is highly important within early years as it establishes a feeling of safety for children. 

The main task of the session today was for us to read the story and then create our own storyboards displaying what happens. It was a good chance for the group to each create their own work and there were options; they could draw one part of the story, the parts they liked most or even attempt to draw it all. Each member of the group (and a few attending parents) created a fantastic storyboard, which we shared with each other at the end. Allowing time for the group to experience and appreciate one another's work was important; as it helps them connect to one another and make friends. 

And so our Story-Makers is a go! It was a really fun first session (for me anyways) and the group created some fantastic work. Everyone seems to like the story too, so good news all round. Over the next few weeks we will look at different ways a story can be told and do some set/costume designing too. It's bound to be colourful fun. 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- Week Seven: 'The Spell Begins to Break.'

As we move closer and closer to the Christmas show; it has come time again to start introducing costumes into the mix. Slowly at first...well that was the plan, but then we decided to just jump in. Week seven with the Chameleons this morning proved very colourful as we continued to work on our play and reveal some of the wonderful costumes that will be featuring.

Our team learned all about the game 'Traffic Lights' last week and, after many requests, finally had a go at it with the whole group. Good fun it was too, and got everyone moving around and warmed up. Meanwhile, the game also provided a good bit of fun for the cast while certain members went to get into costume for the rehearsal.

This week, Edmund and the White Witch came across some Narnians having a party. It is here that the Queen finds out about Aslan's return. One of the main focuses for the cast this week was reactions, reacting to different things across the scenes we worked on. In this particular scene we looked at the reactions the Narnians would have upon meeting the White Witch and how we could show this on stage.

Elsewhere, the Pevensie siblings meet Father Christmas. Again we talked about how they might react to seeing this particular character. How would seeing Father Christmas make them feel? These feelings are likely similar for their characters, and so the Chameleons can use this in the show. This scene is also an important one for the children and the beavers, as it acts as the first step on their path to eventually confronting the White Witch. Some lovely acting between our beaver family too who, although they don't say much in this scene, did a tremendous job of reacting to events and keeping us entertained.

Birthday time again. I can barely keep up this term; but there was cake and merriment to celebrate the respective 7th and 8th birthdays of three Chameleons across both last week and this one coming. While it is completely removed from drama it is nice to get the group celebrating these things together- it supports development of the social skills we try and impart through our work and is a nice time for them to all bond with one another (over cake-the cake is important).

We then returned to the beginning of the show and began a run through of all the work we have so far. The story this term is so vast that simply creating everything and practicing at the end is a mammoth size task. Instead what we did was practice the material that we have, as well as the transitions and costume changes between them, so that on the day of the show everyone feels confident in what they are doing.

And thus another week comes to an end. The cast are working tremendously hard to bring all the elements of the show together and it is looking great! No time for rest though! Next week we will conclude our run through and stage our first fight scene of the show; as Peter, Susan and Lucy come face to face with Maugrim and the Secret Police. Until next time!