Spotlight! E-news from Theatrefolk
Issue 15 - Children's Theatre, November 2006Thanks for Reading!
We're talking about Children's Theatre in this issue: How to perform it, how to write it, and what to avoid.
More than a few schools use the Christmas season to work on a play in class and take it to feeder schools. Writing and performing for children is an animal all of its own.
In this issue:
- ADAPTING HANSEL AND GRETEL
Shirley Barrie talks about her process in adapting this classic fairy tale. - CHILDREN'S THEATRE AS A HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
Bob Wilkins shares his experiences in performing children's theatre with his high school. - THE BEST AND THE WORST
Learn the five Best things you can do in a children's play, and learn about five pitfalls to avoid. - PLAYWRITING EXERCISE
A great exercise to get your students writing children's theatre. - BEING BEAR
An interview with Craig Mason about what it's like to tour in a big bear suit. - BOOK REVIEW
Theatre for Children andThe Play Director's Survival Kit. - DOWNLOAD OF THE MONTH
Read a sample from Shirley Barrie'sHansel and Gretel. - CONFERENCE ALERT
Meet us in person. - IN THE NEXT ISSUE
What you can expect next. - STAY IN TOUCH
Contact info/Read our blog.
Adapting Hansel and Gretel
Shirley Barrie (who also wrote Carrying the Calf ) talks about her specific process in adapting a fairy tale. Instead of trying to update the tale and make it "modern," she went down a much more theatrical, and I think satisfying, road...
Adapting Hansel and Gretel for the stage marked a shift in the kind of plays I write for young audiences. Up to that point, some of my plays had been fantastical, others were based in reality and on research, but they all came out of my imagination, and were set in the present. Suddenly in Toronto, where I live, theatrical adaptations of well-known books and of fairy tales seemed to be more in favour.
At the same time I was working on a play for adults that incorporated the story of Freydis, a Viking adventuress/warrior. While researching myth, legend and cultural memory, another playwright suggested that I read Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment, a fascinating study of why fairy tales are so valuable in a child's development.
This inspired me to think about how I would go about adapting a fairy tale for the stage. I knew almost immediately that the story would be Hansel and Gretel. I liked the fact that it was about two ordinary children and there were no kings or rescuing princes. I liked that it started with a realistic situation, a hungry family facing hard choices, and moved into delightfully scary imaginative territory. I thought I could work with the dramatic strength in the reversal of a clever little boy learning his limitations and a terrified little girl learning her strengths. Remembering the disdain of my own children when I had tried to read them updated versions of fairy tales, I decided that rather than over elaborate or reinvent the story, I would concentrate on the theatrical challenge of how to tell the traditional story in a different and imaginative way.
It was at about this stage in my thinking that I was approached by Solar Stage Theatre in Toronto about whether I had a play to develop for their Word Works programme. This gave me a deadline and I started writing.
Although it was very hard work, and some elements of the play required a reading and two productions to get right, it was a joy to write this adaptation because I allowed myself to experiment, to follow my nose, and to take risks.
I decided that I wanted to play with language, with the rhythm and music of words. Since the play is about working together, I wanted the performers to work closely together, so I created a series of "choral sections" in which voices play with each other and with a percussive background.
I had previously worked with a company called Theatre Beyond Words, who inventively use movement and gestures to tell their stories, and I wanted to use some of these techniques. It became particularly important for the character of Gretel - who at the beginning of the play is so full of fear that she can barely speak a sentence, and she and her brother communicate as much by gestures as words. Physical gestures are also used, with an underpinning of percussion, in the scenes where the family moves through the forest.
And I was also fascinated by the ideas of big and little, near and far. The big brother and the little sister change places emotionally, and it is in the huge forest where this transformation happens. So I began to include puppets in the forest sequences. There are times when Hansel and Gretel themselves become little puppet figures and then appear as their actor selves as the scene progresses. Using puppets also meant that the little gingerbread house could shine in the distance, that a bird on a wire could "play" with the children and lead them to the big house, that a huge menacing eye could flicker through the forest trees, that the sun could set and the moon could rise...
I was fortunate to have two productions of the play in a year - a small production at Solar Stage and a larger production at Geordie Theatre in Montreal that allowed me to refine the play, and particularly to hone the puppet sequences and I was delighted at the enthusiastic response of both children and adults to the show. I enjoyed the process of rediscovering traditional stories so much that I have since adapted folk tales for two productions by Japanese Folklore Theatre Productions.
Bruno Bettleheim says that a fairy tale is a love gift. It tells us that risks must be taken in order to grow, but ultimately the fairy tale reassures, giving hope for the future by holding out the promise of a happy ending.
Children's Theatre as a High School Experience
Bob Wilkins ( The Haunting of Chip Lake Lodge ) tells of the trials, tribulations and successes of performing Children's Theatre with his students. A great intro for anyone thinking of doing the same in their school.
Several years ago I decided to involve our junior/senior high students in Children's Theatre. We had a number of elementary schools in our area which meant we had a readily available audience. Plus, we could experience what it was like to be a traveling company. Our first production was a purchased royalty play. It was a good play, we performed it well, and we learned our first valuable lesson. You cannot expect kids to sit on the gym floor for 75 minutes. With that lesson learned, I wrote the plays for the next two years. These plays were about 30 minutes which proved to be a much better length for the attention span of our audience.
From the very beginning I had some apprehension about how our student actors would handle this new experience. They were accustomed to performing on a stage where boundaries were well defined. A gym floor is a completely different venue. I prepared them the best I could. The first step was to rehearse in the gym as much as we could, and I made sure that at each rehearsal we used a different area of the gym. At rehearsals and performances, I marked the audience area with pylons so that at least one of the spaces was defined. I always took the tech crew to the gym early to set up. But I also took the actors earlier than necessary so that they could walk around and familiarize themselves with the gym and the performance space. Much to my delight, our actors adapted very well to the borderless stage.
Two of the plays required interaction between the actors and the audience. In particular, a character asked a question of the audience that required a specific "yes" or "no" answer for the story to continue logically. I knew that elementary students can be unpredictable. How could we ensure that we got the right response? Through a brainstorming session, the actors came up with the answers. They recognized the importance of staying in character and moving the story along. If the correct response was heard from even a small segment of the audience, they would acknowledge it immediately and proceed with the script. They determined that ignoring the incorrect response was crucial. They also prompted the audience to the correct response by their own on stage actions (e.g. nodding their heads, whispering the correct response, begging for the correct response). One of the plays required some actors to hide in and deliver lines from the audience area. The unpredictability of elementary students was even scarier in these situations. Our actors decided that it was very important to quietly solicit appropriate responses from the surrounding students. It was even more important to quickly move away from students who were clearly disruptive. Once again our actors proved their ability to handle a potentially disastrous situation.
All of the plays we performed required exaggerated makeup such as clowns, cats and fairies. The audiences enjoyed this aspect of the play. We made it a practise of allowing the audience members to meet with the actors after the performance to see the makeup up close and ask questions. After one performance, the questions from the students were dwindling. It was clearly time to end the proceedings when one of the actors asked which character the kids liked best. What followed was painful. The hands shot up, and the picks dragged on for what seemed to be an eternity. It was difficult to bring things to a close. We learned a valuable lesson that day - only answer questions, never ask them!! And the same goes for signing autographs!
In our small rural junior/senior high school, students had limited access to in-class drama instruction. I was always amazed with the talents and commitment of the few actors we had. Our children's theatre experience was most enjoyable for everyone involved. Our actors got to play over-the-top characters, to wear extreme make-up, and to make people laugh. What more could a teenager ask!!!
The Best and the Worst
What are the best and the worst things you can do when writing or staging a children's play?
BEST
- Audience Participation
Involve the audience. Make them part of the story. Have them make noises, clap their hands, stamp their feet: In our version of The Tempestwe had the audience be the storm at the beginning of play. They started out with a light rain as they snapped their fingers, then moved to a harder rain by slapping their thighs and then a hard driving rain by stamping their feet. Kids loved to be asked questions, and to solve problems for the characters. It's important to word audience participation carefully so that the audience doesn't get out of control - See Bob Wilkins' article on how he worked with his students on audience responses. - Believe in the World of the Play
Kids believe what they see. They see the characters as real people, not as actors. It's important for actors to present their parts as if they believe 100% of what they're doing and saying. There's not a lot of place for sarcasm in children's theatre. If you're having fun, so will the audience. - Imagination
If you're writing an original play, an adaptation, or doing a group creation, imagination is the name of the game. Don't get caught up by the limitations of the real world, or "my character wouldn't do that" or "we don't have the budget for that." In children's theatre, all characters do all things. And you don't need any special effects or big props either. When children play, and they pretend they're flying, they stick their arms out and fly. So should your characters. A cloth becomes a river. A cube becomes a race car. A bare stage becomes a castle, a mountain, an underground cave. Use your own imagination to spark the imagination of the audience. - A Good Story
A lot of theatre artists believe they can throw some cheap tricks together and entertain children. Kids deserve a good story too! Who are the characters, what are they doing, and where are they doing it? At the heart of all theatre there needs to be a conflict. What is the conflict in your play? I'm a big believer in that every problem doesn't have to be solved in a play, except in children's theatre: In children's theatre the main conflict must be solved by the end of the play. The conflict doesn't have to be complicated. It could be as simple as Jimmy the Lion has lost his roar and he's afraid the other animals won't respect him if he doesn't get it back. It's important for kids to see characters solving problems. And don't be afraid of putting villains in your story - everything shouldn't be happy and nice. That's patronizing. A little scare, and I do mean little, is good. Kids like to boo the bad guys! - Creative Storytelling
Children's theatre is a great place to play with storytelling. Use song, poetic language, repetition, nonsense words, rhyme and rhythm. Be creative, be varied. Kids like action. You want to be careful that you don't have too much "traditional" dialogue. See the download sample of Shirley Barrie's Hansel and Gretel to see how she uses a variety of verbal techniques to tell the story.
WORST
- Baby Talk
Performing for children does not give you license to act like a baby. Certainly there's a child like wonder and enthusiasm that should be in the performance, but baby talk and baby acting are a huge no-no. - Losing Control of the Audience
It's a horrible feeling. You're in the middle of a show and you've lost the audience. They're talking, they're crawling all over each other, and you have half an hour to go. Kids are the toughest audience to play for - you have to guide every second of the play. Even if it's a great play, if you let the audience run amok during an participation moment, it's over. Shouting is not always the best way to put things back on track; remember there's only one of you and potentially hundreds of them. You'll never top them. It's always better to go low with the volume. Make the audience want to hear what you have to say. - Attitude
There's nothing worse in a children's play than seeing actors with a bad attitude - "It's only Children's Theatre after all." An audience member is an audience member whether they are 6 or 60. It's your job to create an atmosphere of excitement and wonder. Talking down to a kids audience because you think they're beneath you is bad news. - Dropping Character
This one goes with having a bad attitude. As stated above, kids can't separate between an actor and a character. It's confusing. You can't break out of the world of the play. When you do, you're severing the tie between the world of the play and the audience. - Over Simplifying
There's a difference between simple and simplistic. Simple is good, simplistic is bad. To be simple is to tell a clear story with a beginning, middle and end, with a defined but not complex conflict and a solution. To be simplistic assumes that the audience is stupid. Talking slow, talking like a baby, too much repetition, thinking that kids can only handle a certain level of plot or vocabulary. Never underestimate the intelligence of the audience. Sure, there's things they can't understand but you'll be surprised at what they can pick up.
Playwriting Exercise
Here's a class exercise as an intro into writing children's theatre.
Purpose: Take a children's poem and turn it into a children's play.
Choose a children's poem. I would suggest The Mother Goose Treasury- mine has a ton of short four line poems, and almost all of them have a character with a conflict in them so it'll give students a head start. Shorter is better. These plays should only be 1-2 pages at the most. Remember it's just an exercise!
Each play must have the following elements:
- There must be a main character.
- The character must have a problem to solve.
- The problem must be solved.
- There must be audience participation.
- There must be at least two storytelling techniques (e.g. song, poetry, rhythmic speaking)
Sounds like a lot? The aim is to get students to write clearly, simply and with their audience in mind. Here's an example:
Poem:
Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it.
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it
Main character: Lucy Locket
Problem: She's lost her pocketbook and has to find it.
Solved problem: Kitty finds it and brings it back to Lucy. Lucy is overjoyed. Kitty thought she would be upset that the penny was gone. But for Lucy, the pocketbook is more important because her mother made it.
Audience Participation: At the beginning of the play Lucy is very sad that she's lost her pocketbook. She teaches the audience a song to sing together to cheer her up. Also, when Kitty finds the pocketbook, she asks the audience if they know who it belongs to.
Storytelling Techniques: Lucy uses song at the beginning, and when Kitty gives the pocketbook back at the end of the play, they are so happy they do a clapping game, which they also teach to the audience. Lucy is a very rhythmic speaker as well.
Here's a draft of the play based on the above. I wrote it quickly as I was working on the newsletter and I would say that there's even too much talking in it. I would go back in and perhaps have a friend for Lucy so that there was more back and forth dialogue in the opening and the potential for more action. And I couldn't find a great way on the first go to incorporate the "Not a Penny was there in it."
The lights come up on a meadow. LUCY Locket runs on stage searching around the stage.
LUCY: Oooooh! I search high, I search low, It doesn't matter where I go. Every place and space I look, I cannot find my pocketbook! Fiddle sticks and peach pits. ( she turns and sees the audience) Oh! Hello. I didn't see you there. ( she moves downstage) There are so many of you. Surely, one of you has seen my pocketbook? No? ( she demonstrates with her hands) It's about Yay big and Yay wide with a pretty curly ribbon and as blue as the sky. Have you seen it? No? Oh anteaters and artichokes. That makes me blue as the sky. ( she gives a big sigh) Just like my pocketbook. ( she jumps up and claps her hands together) I have to get out of the dumps. I need to have a clear mind and a good disposition to search and I can't do that if I'm all mopey. What I need is a good rousing song. Will you sing with me? Yes? How about if I teach you something and we'll sing it together. That will certainly raise my spirits. Ok. I'll sing it first.
LUCY sings her song and does the gestures at the same time.
LUCY: Oh Chester ( points to her chest)
Have you heard ( exaggerated listening) about Harry ( shakes her hair)
He just got back ( touches her back) from the army. ( shakes her arm)
I hear ( exaggerated listening) he knows ( plug nose) how to wear a rose
Hip, hip ( slap hip) Horray ( shout and throw fist in the air)
For the army ( shakes arm)LUCY: I feel better all ready! Let's go through line by line.
She sings a line with the gesture, and the audience sings it back. After she goes all the way through, they sing it once. At the end LUCY jumps up and down in glee.
LUCY: That was fun! Let's do it again faster! ( they sing the song faster) And faster! ( they sing the song faster) And now as fast as you can! ( everyone does the song as fast as they can. At the end LUCY ends up in a heap on the floor) Whoooo! Now I'm in a great mood. I'm certain, I'll be able to find my pocketbook. No problem. Thanks for your help.
She waves at the audience and exits. At the same time from the opposite side of the stage, KITTY enters swinging what is clearly LUCY's pocketbook and singing to herself.
KITTY: ( singsong) I found a pocketbook. La, la, la, la, la. I found a pocketbook. La, la, la, la, la. ( she dances with the pocketbook, clearly showing it to the audience) And it's mine cause I found it and no one else can have it, la, la, la, la, la. ( she turns and sees the audience.) Hey, look at my new pocketbook. Isn't it the best? ( do the same gestures as LUCY did above) It's Yay big and Yay wide with a pretty curly ribbon and as blue as the sky. ( she listens to the audience) Don't you guys like my pocketbook? Whoa. Let's do this one at a time. Just answer yes or no, ok? 2+2 is 4. ( gestures for an answer) The grass is green. ( gestures for an answer) This is my new pocketbook. ( gestures for an answer which is no) What do you mean no! I found it on the ground fair and square. On the count of three I'm going to ask you if I can keep the pocketbook and I want everyone to say yes really loud. One, two, three. What do you mean no????? ( she jumps up and down and does a dance of frustration) Oooooooooooooh. I want it! I want it! I want! But... if I don't give it back I'll be one of the mean people. The mean people who have mean faces and look all mean for the rest of their lives. ( she makes a mean scary face) I'll tell you what. On the count of three, you're all going to make a mean face at me. That way I'll be scared into giving the pocketbook back. I don't want to have a mean face for the rest of my life. One two three. Argh! I'll give it back! I'll give it back!
LUCY enters. She gives a squeal when she sees KITTY.
LUCY: Kitty Fisher!
KITTY: Lucy Locket!
LUCY: Kitty have you seen my pocketbook? It's Yay big and Yay wide with a pretty curly ribbon and as blue as the sky.
KITTY: Uhhhhhhh. ( she holds the pocketbook behind her so LUCY can't see it) Hold that thought. ( she tiptoes downstage and speaks in a whisper) We have to speak in a whisper so Lucy doesn't hear us. Ok. Everybody whisper. Good! Do I really have to give the pocketbook back? Will I be a mean person if I don't give it back? Ohhhhhhh. You better show me your mean faces again, One, two, three. Argggghhh you're right, you're right. ( she tiptoes back to LUCY) Lucy I did see your pocketbook. Here it is! ( she gives it to LUCY)
LUCY: Oh Kitty oh Kitty! Thank you so much. ( she gives KITTY a hug) You're the best.
KITTY: Lucy. I have to tell you the truth. I didn't want to give the pocketbook back. I wanted to keep it for myself.
LUCY: I'm glad you didn't. This pocketbook means a lot to me. My mom made it for me and I would have been so sad without it. But now I'm not. Now I'm super happy and it makes me want to sing and dance. Kitty, I taught everyone a song before, do you want to sing it with us?
KITTY: Oh yeah!
LUCY: ( to the audience) You remember the song about Harry don't you? Here we go!
They take the audience through the song three times, each time getting faster and faster. At the end the two girls laugh and fall in a heap.
LUCY: That was fun. Thanks everybody!
KITTY: And thanks for helping me too. I'm going to get own my pocketbook now.
LUCY: That's a great idea. Bye Bye guys!
They wave at the audience and exit.
Being Bear
My Theatrefolk partner Craig Mason spent several months touring as the character "Bear" in a play version ofFranklin The Turtle . I asked him about his experiences.
What was your impression of children's theatre before you started the tour?
Well, I have a strong memory of seeing a play in school as a kid and so I knew the impact it could have for someone. I though that because the shows are so short (ours was 40 minutes) it wouldn't be that much work. People did warn me, but I wasn't totally prepared for how hard it was!
How did the audiences react to the show?
Like we were rock stars! The show was based on a children's book that I had never heard of but was quite popular.
You had to wear a huge costume for the character. It must have been difficult to act in!
Yes, because we were speaking our dialogue live and the whole inside of the head was foam. You really had to work hard to project so you could be heard. And it was so warm. I'd never done whole head mask work before. Eventually I got used to speaking in the mask but never to the heat, especially as the tour went on getting closer to the summer.
Did the audience ever see you out of costume? Did they have trouble connecting the character to the actor?
At the end of some shows we would do a question and answer period; we would come out without our heads on and sometimes we would get questions where it would be quite clear the audience didn't know we were the actors in the costumes!
You had a huge set, and yet it was remarkably portable. How did it work?
The set was really well designed. If something wasn't flat, it had a hole to fit other things in. For example, we had a huge table in the set but it was hollow so you could fill it with props when packing up at night. The backdrops were canvas and could be folded up and they were held up by pipes that fit together to form shapes and then could be unscrewed into smaller pieces. Everything had a place in the van. At first it seemed impossible that the set would fit into our van, but by the end of the tour we were packing experts.
What was your favourite memory of doing children's theatre?
I got to see a lot of great theatres. And it was amazing to see the audience reaction to the characters. They really did love them!
What was your least favourite?
My least favourite memory was the traveling. We traveled the entire province of Ontario back and forth, back and forth for four months.
What do you say to people who look down their noses at performing Children's Theatre?
I'd say they should go see some because they probably haven't. Some of the most innovate stuff in theatre is being done in children's theatre. You're dealing with an audience with a very short attention span and will immediately tell you if they're enjoying, or not enjoying the show.
Book Review
Theatre for Children
David Wood & Janet Grant
Faber and Faber
London 1997
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1566632331
"The challenge is to give a unique theatrical experience to an audience, many of whom will be first-time theatre-goers, to involve them emotionally, to sustain their interest in a story, to inspire and excite them using theatricality, to make them laugh, to make them think, to move them, to entertain and educate them by triggering their imaginations." ( p. xxii)
At first glance that might seem an awful lot to expect from children's theatre. But that's often the problem - people put children's theatre on a lower level and think all they need to do is throw some gags and some sparkle and that's enough to entertain children. It's nice to see a book that values children's theatre.
The book explains why children need their own theatre, outlines current problems with children's theatre, has chapters on what children respond to and how children differ from adults:
"Children enjoy being active participants."( p. 16)
"Children willingly enter into the spirit of entertainment." ( p. 18)
The book covers common characteristics in the children's audience such as the fact that they like justice and that they're logical, yet unpredictable and they like to make noise!
There's a chapter on writing original plays, which is a bit mechanical for my tastes but potentially quite useful in a class where students are writing a children's play to tour - it's a good outline to follow.
I've written about the adaptation chapter in this book in a previous newsletter .
I especially liked the section on dealing with audience reaction with an emphasis on audience restlessness. If the kids are restless it's not their fault, it's the play. The book gives a great list of things to go through to in this kind of situation.
Lastly there's a chapter on how to act in a children's play dealing with pitfalls such as cynicism, acting like a child, and being patronizing.
" Liking children is not a prerequisite for entertaining them. But certainly the actor must respect children and actively want to please them, inspire them and give them an exciting theatrical experience." ( p. 223)
Play Director's Survival Kit
James W. Rodgers & Wanda C. Rodgers
The Centre for Applied Research in Education
New York 1995
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0876285655
This book has a section on selecting a children's play and what you should think of in terms of play selection, design considerations and so on.
"The main thing you and your actors must remember when you work on a children's play is 'to believe. ' You can't play 'at' the characters; you've got to 'become' the characters and totally commit to their action. (p. 29)
The book has a number of great checklists to make sure you don't forget anything as you move along in the process.
Download of the Month
Read a sample from Shirley Barrie's adaptation of Hansel and Gretel.
http://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlight/download/20
What's New?
In a time crunch? Need a script by yesterday? We're now offering instant downloads of most of our plays. Offering downloads has allowed us to easily get scripts to China, the UK, India, France, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand and of course, all over North America.
Visit: www.theatrefolk.com
Conference Alert
Here's our upcoming conference schedule. If you're attending, please drop by and say hi!
In the Next Issue
We're off for December, see you in January!
Stay in Touch
Future issues will be guided by your suggestions. Email stories, tips, suggestions, and questions to us by visiting: http://www.theatrefolk.com/contact . This newsletter belongs to you!
Some of our playwrights post to the Theatrefolk Blog . Check it out for insights into what's happening with Theatrefolk.
© Theatrefolk. All Rights Reserved.