HIC Day 27 - Finale script + future chaos scene

Today we finished the script and made sure all the scripts are done so we could just learn our lines and preform the scenes.

After we finished all the scripts we ran the first future scene we had and added to it. We felt it started weak so we added a movement piece where the students are closing in on the teacher. I feel this emphasizes the fact that the students have all the power in the scene.

Next lesson we are going to work on the transitions between scenes so when Dan gets back we can simply put him in and do a full run through.

HIC Day 26 Last scene + Soundscape

We spent today in two groups, Ashley wrote the final scene while the rest of us recorded the sounds for the soundscape. We then read out the scene and next lesson we will correct all the mistakes and add/change parts we feel as a group needs to be changed.

HIC Day 25 - Script scene 2+3 with sir

Today we read through with sir the scripts we wrote last week, so we got a teachers opinion on how teachers speak to each other. We then made some minor adjustments to our scene.

HIC Day 23 + 24 - script scene 2 + 3

As we are missing one of our performers for the next two weeks, we spent these days writing the next two scripts. We struggled to write them before as we hadn't planned where we wanted our piece to go yet. Now we have that done we wrote two first drafts of scripts.

HIC Day 22 - Future Prison Scene

Today we worked on our dystopian future scene where school life is like a prison. We added the song "We don't need no education" so we can add better timing to the piece and so it is more of a movement scene to contrast from the spoken meeting scene. Since we added the song we decided to take out the on screen teacher as we felt there would be too much happening at once so the audience wont get the chance to take in all what they are seeing.

I really like how this piece turned out, I feel it perfectly shows what we wanted to portray and it is ready for the performance. We just need to practice to make sure we get the timing right.

HIC Day 21 - Prison Future

Today we created the future scene where school life is like a prison. We decided to have a ratio of two guards for the four students and we agreed that we should have a teacher projected on a board to show that the teacher is in a safe location and that we aren't really being taught just controlled. As students we all attempt to rebel in some way but we just get beat by the guards, even if it is for something as simple as coughing.

I see the guards to look like this:

complete with riot shields and batons. I picture the students to look like this:

Unwashed, beaten and bruised. I envision a major contrast in guards and students.

Next lesson we will work on this piece and show our teacher to get their opinion on how to develop it.

HIC Day 20 - Future scene Complete

We now have two different future pieces, one showing the chaos created from the lack of teacher control and one showing the control students gain over the teacher. We then discussed which piece we should include with our teachers and they had contrasting viewpoints so we decided to put the best parts of both pieces and put them together.

We started with the opening of the chaos piece however instead of pointing to Toby, I point to meg. She then controls me and spins me like a ballerina. Kyle and Ashley then pick up 'rope' and pull so I'm stretched out for Toby to mess around with, showing both control and chaos. Ashley and Kyle then drop the rope and Dan picks up string and controls me like a puppet to a seat like the ending of the control piece. He then cuts the string and I drop to a chair, everyone then leaves me on stage as a lifeless puppet.

I really like how we have incorporated both pieces to create this future scene. After creating the piece we then discussed the next future scene where teacher control has become extreme and the next lesson we will create the piece.

HIC Day 19 - Future scene Development

After having the weekend away to think about our piece, we all thought that we should change what we originally created. We felt that we should show more of the fact that the students control the teacher rather than the students are out of control because we felt it looked too messy. So we created a piece to show that the teacher is being controlled like a puppet by the students and as the piece goes on the more puppet like the teacher becomes, to show the deterioration in power that the teacher has.

I really like the way that this is more organised and structured than the previous piece. I also like that it is about the controle that the students have over the teacher rather than the chaos created from the teachers lack of controle.

Rent Day 12 - Christmas bells + Santa Fey

Today we set Christmas bells are ringing, all it we did was, from the end positions of Rent everyone not needed for the next scene (Dom, Dan, Freya, Toby, Lorna and I) move to a clump at the front of the stage in the centre. We need to be there for "somewhere else, not here" so we can deliver that line. We put them in a clump so they are more like a group of carolers singing in the snow, which they should be. However I prefer my suggestion of having everyone get into lines and cross each other to make one long line across the front of the stage so we can individually show our bright happy faces during "Christmas bells are ringing" and then drop to a pissed off face for "somewhere else, not here". I just feel it looks better to use the whole length of the stage rather than a clump in the middle.

We also started to look at Santa Fey. We had Meg choreograph a simple movement piece for everyone to do behind Toby and Dan as they sing and next lesson we will do the rest of the song. I really like the simplicity of the opening and how it sets up the dance routine.

Rent Day 11 - Tango Maureen + Lorna

As we had Lorna available, we used this lesson to put her into everything we have done, Rent, Tango Maureen and La Vie Boheme. She picked it up very well though I thing we need to reorganize where we sit for La Vie Boheme. This is because we have Freya and Lorna in the middle of the table so they can't get out easily for their solo part and then when they do get out they're stuck behind the table and everyone on it. I think they need to be moved to the end so they can easily move out from the table.

We also tweaked Tango Maureen because when we walk in a box there wasn't enough room for Ashley and Freya to dance in the middle so we enlarged to box we walk in. We also shifted the way we walked so our hands point to where we are going rather than pointing at the audience. This way we travel easier and faster.

Rent Day 10 - Seasons of Love + Putting Lorna in Tango Maureen

Today we spent the first lesson running through Seasons of Love and put the people who were missing yesterday in the number and made sure the whole cast knew the harmonies. Once we adjusted the harmonies and sung it through I think the song sounded good, I still think I need to give my solo to a girl who could sing the part. I think Lorna would do it better than I would.

In the second half of the double period we had Lorna available to start putting in pieces. So we spent the lesson teaching her Tango Maureen. By the end of the rehearsal I am still in need of help with the dance, so by next lesson I will practice it and have the routine ready.

Rent Day 9 - Seasons of Love

Today we listened to and sang Seasons of Love, we learnt the harmonies and had some people volunteer for the solo parts. I volunteered to do a solo but I do think it should go tosomeone better as it is usually a girl solo and I don't feel like I can hit the notes and when I sing it lower it dosen't sound right to me. This is why we then had Ashely join me on the solo so we can work together to get it to sound allright. Other than that, I think we sound good, even better when we have the eintire cast here. We staged it with us simply in a line across the stage and then we clap during the "It's time now" I like the simple staging as I feel it is a contrast to the othe danced numbers of Rent, La Vie Boheme and Tango Maureen.

We then ran through Tango Maureen as we had a week off and we anted to refresh our minds with it and to ensure that we have to dance right before we move on. Next lesson we are going to put the people who were missing in to Seasons of Love and meke sure we remember the harmonies and we will teach the harmonies to those who don't remember them.

HIC Day 18 - Future Scene

Today we created the future scene where the students are out of the teachers control and also where the students are controlling the teacher. We opened the piece with the students moving the teacher every time he attempts to teach them to show their control over him, but it escalates to the point where the students beat up the teacher and have a fight between each other. The teacher then attempts to break up the fight by restraining the girl, she then screams the the teacher immediately lets go and backs away. This is to try and portray the fact that teachers can't restrain a child no matter the circumstances even when it is needed.

I like the opening where the teacher is being controlled and I like the fight but I don't think the piece looks as good as I feel it could look. The transition from the classroom to the fight I feel looks a bit naff when the teacher is standing there with his arms above his head. I would also want to improve the control bit so that when the students move the teacher it is with force and more precise, like twist the body, move the arm, bend the elbow, change the hand, start writing.