The Girl and the Fox- Week Four: 'The Fox, the Owl and Nanuk the Bear.'

SNOW! It snowed this week in the city of Exeter and for a real moment it seemed as thought we might get snowed out again (flashback to The Three Musketeers anyone?). In a play that centres around a mystical blizzard, it would have been a harsh case of dramatic irony for certain. Thankfully the snowed cleared up (in Exeter at least) and the show went on. Big thanks to those of the group who came in through the cold and warm wishes to those who didn't make it to us yesterday. Back in the rehearsal room, our Chameleons were busy at work with the next phase of The Girl's journey, including meeting the titular Fox. We even had some costumes starting to appear. Exciting times indeed.

First we kicked off with a few games to get everyone warmed up. The shape game made a return this week after an absence for the last two and had a topical theme. Creatures from the north that feature in our story- including polar bears and walruses. Our group had their work cut out for them as they created these shapes, and what fantastic creations we had. The group really throw themselves into this and it is great to see.

The first thing we practiced was the opening scene, which we worked on last week. It is always good to backtrack and work on previous scenes, we find. In the long run it helps everyone to remember what they are doing and also how one transitions into another. Some of our Chameleons are already putting their scripts for scenes down too, which is brilliant to see.

Moving on we had the first meeting between The Girl and the Fox in the snowy forest. Having two Chameleons as the Girl and the Fox respectively makes for a lot of fun. We get to see what each of the performers brings to the role and then put it all together to form the character. It was fun having the Fox on stage; we talked a lot about what type of creature it is, how it glides over the snow and how it holds itself on stage. The recurring 'paws' between the two Fox performers is a nice touch. Also featured here was our wise owl Ataninnuaq, who sets the two off on their journey together. Some wonderful acting and character development from one Chameleon, who has really brought the bird to life on stage.

Having split the group to rehearse the scenes, our second group worked on the first obstacle that The Girl encounters; having to cross a canyon. We wanted to use puppets to portray this scene, as we felt it was a good opportunity for the group to learn how such effects could be achieved without high-budget visual effects (maybe one day). Featuring in the daring trapeze scene were our wonderful puppet and beautiful arctic fox, seen above. On a side note, we gave the Chameleons the challenge of naming the fox this week, but more on that later.

Within this scene we also have the first of Kova's many stories. This one involves Nanuk the Bear; a famous figure in Inuit mythology, especially to hunters. In our play is the tale of how the bear turned into stars after being chased off the edge of the world. It is one of the nicer tales from the culture and seemed appropriate to add to The Girl's tale, given that we wanted to really embrace these stories with the project. The Girl comes across a hungry bear on her travels, which prompts her to explain the story she remembers regarding a similar creature. 

It was such a fantastic rehearsal yesterday and the show is looking great. The Chameleons are really pouring a lot into this mad tale we have set out to make. As rehearsals continues it is wonderful watching it all come to life. A fun task was set this week too; we have a number of weird and wonderful items in our prop store at the moment-but no arctic foxes until now. This project is about the Chameleons as it is about the culture we want them to learn about and portray, so we felt it right that they get to name the Fox we will be using in the show. The task was to come up with ideas for names and then at the end of the morning we would name the fox. In the end we settled for calling him Storm. Above is Storm sitting proudly on the set for our AYC show.

We are so, very impressed with the group this term. Next week cannot come fast enough! In the meantime we will close with some more snaps from the rehearsal. Pyjama week next week to celebrate the halfway mark of the term, which means everyone can come in pyjamas or comfy clothes. Should be fun.

The Girl and the Fox- Week 3: 'Casting and Introducing the Village.'

A quick blog entry this week as it's a bit manic on our end. We had an exciting week with the Chameleons this week as we both cast and commenced work on the show! Given the slightly shorter term this time we decided to dive right in, opposed to our usual format of casting at the end of the session. The story of the Girl is filled with a number of colourful characters, puppets, objects and creatures which our group will be bringing to life over the next seven weeks.

The first part of the session was dedicated to taking the cast through their characters and where they fit into the story. Then, once all the serious talk was done we thought it would be best to play some games to get everyone warmed up. Lots of running games this week to balance out the intense sitting of the rehearsal's first twenty minutes.

Then it was straight into scene one; revisiting the story of The Girl and reminding ourselves of how it begins. We open in a village and our aim was to make the village feel as alive as possible. The Chameleons had to form different parts of the village, showing us what kind of people lived there and what activities they get up to each day. Some great ideas from the group about how to put this on stage and the village feels very rich indeed. Within this we were also introduced to The Girl's friends and explored the quirks that make them individual and unique from one another.

With our Narrators we explored what kind of characters they could be, and how would impact their telling of the story. The narrator is such an important character, especially in a story such as this one. Finding where in the world of the play they slot in is always a good challenge and there were some really creative ideas from the cast about what they should be.

Finally we were introduced to Kova; the father of The Girl. Kova appears throughout the play to tell stories, as is his passion. Developing his relationship with the villagers was also good fun, as we wanted to emphasise the kind aspect of the character, which The Girl admires so much. Making this clear in the acting is vital to presenting the character on stage.

As stated, a much shorter post this week. Next week we will be continuing work on the play and using some cool puppetry elements to bring the next phase of the adventure to life. Until then, have a nice week everyone.

The Girl and the Fox: Week Two- 'Remember your audience (also puppets).'

"Remember your audience" was probably the most used phrase in this morning's rehearsal, as the Chameleons continued to explore the different elements that will make up The Girl and the Fox. It was week two of our project today and what a busy morning we had. Within the play we have a variety of colourful animals which accompany or assist The Girl on her journey, and a number of scenes where we use puppetry and scale to create various effects. This morning we wanted to explore both of these things ahead of beginning work on the show itself next week (a shorter term means a much faster turn around time).

We began the session with a recap of the story and characters. As mentioned last week, the show uses several Inuit names- which are tricky for to remember for those unfamiliar with them- and it was great to see everyone have a go at remembering them. We were joined by some new faces to the group this week too, so it was a good opportunity to get everyone up to speed.

The Chameleons were next asked to walk around the room and follow instructions which had been reversed. A game they were all familiar with. In this version, however, they would be given an animal and then had to move around like that animal. These ranged from smaller creatures, like a cat, to giraffes and bears. The group had to think about how they were moving and how they could give the animals character. We explored the idea that they weren't allowed to use their hands and knees to represent animals, as this didn't portray what animal they necessarily were. We then paired the group up with each other and asked them to create larger animals.

The lesson here was not only about making the animals look interesting, but also about teamwork. The group had to make animals that could move and so had to work together in order for this to happen. They ended up in groups of five to create a whale. There were some wonderful creations from everyone. Some of the nicest were those which combined the traits of animals with aspects of people, such as we had an old eagle who used a walking stick.

After the break we got to work with the puppets. The group were very excited about this part of the session (the puppets always go down a storm), and were split into groups again. In their groups they had to bring the puppets to life, making them move around the room. Here we spoke a lot about remembering where the audience were, and making sure they could see the puppet, not the performers. We also talked about how to make the puppet breath, and using slow movements to make them seem alive.

Some groups created scenes with their puppet, touching on the idea of perspective in a show. We had explored this idea after the break, saying that one way to make something look big on stage was to place it beside something small, and vice versa. The Chameleons all created some nice moments with their puppets and it will be fantastic to continue exploring this as the weeks progress.

A busy, busy week. The lesson to take away seemed to be 'remember where the audience are sat'. As I passed around the room I heard several members of the group reminding themselves and others this lesson. It is good to know some of our lessons sink in. Next week we are beginning work on the show and that means we will be giving out characters. Exciting times ahead indeed.

The Girl and the Fox- Week One: 'A long time ago, in the frozen North...'

We're back! A brand new term with the Chameleons launched this morning; that means another term with the blog as we delve into our ninth exciting production with the Saturday morning group. This term is particularly exciting, as we are entering new territory. Inuit culture is one few people know lots about, but one which is rich in colourful stories and folklore containing adventure and magic: a good fit for these Chameleons. In our opening session we did some introductions for newcomers and delved into the world of our original story, looking at the meanings behind character names and the finer details of the show.

It's always tricky to start a new term. We are lucky enough to have many returning members in the group, but there are always new faces and so we like to spend some time at the start of a term with some easy group games. This gives everyone the chance to get to know one another, and for us to introduce newcomers to the Anthos Arts approach to making theatre. Bean bags was the name of the game this morning, as we challenged the group to toss bean bags to each other while remembering the names of their cast members. A fun way to start.

Next was shapes, our all time favourite. The shape game is useful for many reasons that we regularly write about here on the blog, but it gets the group thinking about physical theatre. How to use their bodies to create different shapes and creatures. It also teaches them to listen to one another and, importantly, to work together. At first we started asking the whole group to make large but simple shapes, then broke them down into groups for some more complex ones. The game also helps newcomers get used to working with previous members, as everyone has one goal to work towards.

Once everyone was warmed up we sat down to discuss the world surrounding the play. It was fantastic to hear that most of the group had read the story (we had sent it out prior to the session), and to discover that some Chameleons already know about Inuit culture. Alongside the theatre we create, the aim is always to teach the group new things. While previously this has been largely skills based, this term there is a wonderful amount of context for them to absorb as well. We also discussed folklore and different examples of stories which might fit this description.

In learning about the story of 'The Gil and the Fox,' we had to discussed the beliefs of Inuit culture and what some of their stories used to be like. We discussed the world in which the people would have lived in a long time ago, and about the importance of stories within the culture and community. Stories used to be told around fires as the primary source of entertainment. Our story is framed in this way and so we wanted to teach the Chameleons the significance of this choice.

The group were given a list of characters who appear in the show, many of whom have traditional Inuit names that carry additional meaning. The names of characters in these stories were important, as they often told lots about the character themselves. Sometimes these names would represent the purpose of the character, or describe their traits. For example, Ataninnuaq, a name meaning 'one who counsels' is given to a character who provides The Girl insight and advice on her journey, while Alasie is the name for someone with an honest and kind nature. As part of teaching the Chameleons about the culture we chose not to shy away from using these names, hard as they might be to initially pronounce. Embracing the culture in a show like this is half the fun!

To round off the session, we did a narrative walk-through of the story. What that means for us is that we had the group act out the story as it was narrated. Usually, we would do a speed run of the story in a similar fashion on the first week, however as this was a new story we wanted to take our time with it, so that the Chameleons had a chance to understand the plot. Several mishaps, an evil sorcerer and one stolen totem later and the group had completed their first attempt at performing the show. Activities like this are valuable, as it gives the group the chance to explore the story and have fun playing loads of characters.

Christmas is wonderful, but it is good to be back with the Chameleons this term; and working on a brand new story no less. After a year of adaptation, the return to an original show seemed daunting, and picking a setting that few people know about was mildly nerve-wracking. The stories and culture are so rich, however, that it felt right and this morning the group took well to it all. They made some fantastic work and are excited to get started on the show. We at team Anthos are thrilled to be back and cannot wait to continue work on this next week.