Story Telling

We started the lesson by creating tableaux's of different scenarios such as: being on the beach, at the cinema and at the post office. We each added different freeze frames to the piece and I learnt that to make a strong tableaux the space has to be used well and different levels to represent different characters. We did this by having two characters sitting down in the cinema and two characters standing up representing the film being watched. This made the tableaux clearer and easier for the audience to differentiate between characters roles.

We then explored story telling and ways in which we could express short stories within a group. I was placed in a group where we discussed stories we knew well and altogether agreed on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. We each told the story with a few sentences each in a line and then performed to the class. The first time we performed it, our tones were neutral and we used little facial expressions. We then received feedback from the class, and I was told to use more projection and pitch. Our second performance improved drastically as we all used different tones to emphasise different parts of the story, for example when I stated the line: ''Oh Grandma, what big teeth you have!" and the wolf said  "All the better to eat you with", I emphasised the 'eat' to show the wolfs aggression.

Our next task was to summarise our story into three tableaux's, showing the beginning, middle and end. Our first tableaux was Little Red Riding Hood waving at her mum to go to her grandmas house. I showed this by using facial expressions such as smiling and waving to Leonie who was playing my mother. The second tableaux was Little Red Riding Hood's interaction with the wolf in the woods and I showed the anxiety and fear on Little Red Riding Hood's face with a shocked expression and leaning back to create space between the wolf and I. The third tableaux was of Little Red Riding Hood nearly being eaten and the wood chopper man coming to save her. I showed this by being on the floor and scrunching up into a ball. The use of different levels between the wolf and I, represented the power difference and dominance of the wolf. After performing these to the class, we received positive feedback that each tableaux was clear and the emotion was portrayed by each character and it worked well as everyone was involved in the frames. After watching others perform their tableaux's, I gave feedback on what worked which was the use of body language to express emotions and tell the story and clear facial expressions which explained the frames. I also stated that the use of the whole space would be useful as in the tableaux of 'Jack and the Beanstalk', it was not clear where the giant was as the rest of the characters were blocking him.

In conclusion, what I learnt from the class was to grab the audience's attention whilst story telling it is essential to start of with high energy and use a range of different tones, gestures and facial expressions. This makes the story more interesting and grabs the audience's attention. Moreover, I learnt that a story can be told effectively with the use of just the voice and no movement and vice versa, that a story can be told without speech and just freeze frames as long as there is structure; a beginning, middle and end.