Excerpts From Grimm Fairytales

What a privilege it was to be invited to visit St John Rigby College to watch their year 1 drama students perform for their examination. The title of the evening was “Excerpts from Grimm Fairytales” with permission from Nick Hern Books for the performance as an examination piece. The programme was a dramatization of four stories from a collection of old folktales published by the Brothers Grimm who developed a method of collecting and recording folk stories with a view to write a history of old German tales and verse which became the basis for their Folklore Studies. Their first volume of folktales, called “Children’s and Household Tales” (Kinder- und Hausmärchen), was first published in 1812 then between 1812 and 1857 updated versions were published and each version was split into two volumes.  Over the years many observers have thought that although the fairytales were said to be children’s stories, if you read carefully and look deeper into them, they can be quite gory and, in some respects, more like horror films. After the first edition was published it was thought by the public that the stories were not suitable for children, changes were made to the stories over the years until they follow the broad text that we know today.

Three of the stories we were about to see were quite well known but there was one I had never heard of before, so I learnt something new on my visit. The students had prepared everything themselves, properties, casting, costumes, and stage direction, etc. I was aware that for some of the students it may have been their first time on stage in front of an audience, which meant they were probably extremely nervous and even for those who had been on stage before it must also have been very daunting to be in an exam situation and perform in front of an audience, however happily the students rose to the occasion.

I thought about reviewing each excerpt in depth separately but realised that this idea could be exceedingly long, a bit repetitive, and we may end up with four separate long reviews, so I have decided to give an outline of each excerpt, followed by general constructive feedback, I hope that what I have to say will be beneficial for the actors.

The first excerpt was the story of “Rapunzel” who is locked in a tower by a Sorceress. The only way into the tower was to climb up Rapunzel’s golden hair. One day a Prince climbs into the tower Rapunzel and the Prince fall in love. Furious the Sorceress cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her, then tells the prince he will never see Rapunzel again, heartbroken he throws himself from the tower landing in a thorn bush and is blinded by the thorns, he then wanders the country for years but one day he hears Rapunzel singing and they are reunited. Rapunzel cries and two tears fall into the prince's eyes, restoring his sight, they then live happily ever after. The performers for this piece included Hannah Chandler, Anabel Sorbie, Suranne Hesketh and Lexi Smaje.

 Being first to perform must have been rather intimidating, however the students produced an entertaining piece that was generally well performed with some comedic performances and good ideas, I could also hear the dialogue which meant I could follow the story and action.

We then had Hannah Murden, Rain Aspey, Emily Tomlinson, Maya Ahmed Jones and Lewis Gibson performing an excerpt of the well-known story “Hansel and Gretel”. Hansel and Gretel are taken to the forest by their father after the children’s stepmother bullied him to do so. However, the children find their way home. Soon money becomes scarce again, so the children are taken to the forest for a second time, they get lost and come across a house made from sweets and gingerbread, unfortunately it is the home of a witch. Hansel and Gretel are captured, and the witch decides to eat Hansel, but the children manage to trick the witch into the oven, and she is killed, the children return home and live with their father as their Stepmother had died. It was hard to hear some of the actors on stage and there was a need to project but I was able to follow the action however I think this maybe because I was familiar with the story. There were some nice characterisations, and the cast worked well together

Then we had a story I had never heard of before called “Hans my Hedgehog” a farmer and his wife have a baby, who was a hedgehog from the waist up named Hans My Hedgehog, years later he leaves home riding a shod cockerel and sits in a tree playing his bagpipes. A lost King stumbles upon Hans and asks him to show him the way home, Hans agrees but the King must give him the first thing he sees when he arrives home. On arrival at his kingdom, the king's daughter greets him, but the king thinks he has tricked Hans and his daughter is safe. Hans goes back to the forest, he meets a second lost king, Hans shows him the way home, when his daughter greets him, she agrees to Hans' deal. Hans goes to claim his reward from the first King, his daughter reluctantly goes with Hans, he tells her to take off her clothes, he pierces her skin with his prickles, until she is covered in blood, he then sends her back to her father. Hans marries the second princess; that night he removes his hedgehog skin and tells the guards to burn it. Hans appears burnt but the physicians clean him up and they find he is a handsome man underneath. At times I was not quite sure what was happening because it was hard to hear some of the dialogue and some of the actor's diction was not clear there was a need to project, however it was an interesting performance as I did not know the story and the students had put some thought into the performance. This excerpt was acted by Joseph Arnold, Travis, Bulpitt, Leah Marrie Fairhurst and Rachel McCarrick

Finally, we had “The Frog Prince” the story of a spoiled princess who reluctantly befriends a frog when he retrieves her golden ball from a well. When the frog arrives at the palace the king tells the princess that she must keep her promise to be his friend, she reluctantly obeys and the frog eats from her plate, then the frog demands to sleep in her bed. Furious, she throws the frog against the wall, but as he falls to the floor he has transformed into a handsome prince. He explains he was cursed by a witch and that the spell could only be broken with her help, the prince then takes the Princess back to his kingdom to be married. This was an enjoyably performed piece, I was able to follow the story but again dialogue was hard to hear at times, however there were some nice comedic bits performed by the cast who included Theo Sibley, Chloe McEllin, Isobel Schorah and Matthew Welsby.

The students had put a lot of thought into producing and performing their excerpts and there were some particularly good confident performances with innovative use of props, good comic timing, interesting direction, and clever use of the stage area. There were also some interesting and good characterisations that fit into the story being told nicely. However, I would like to give some constructive points and ideas, hopefully for reference, for information, and help with performances in the future.

 I noticed that some of the students looked a little embarrassed and were looking down to the floor at the beginning, but once they got into the swing of things, they appeared to start enjoying what they were doing but as mentioned before it must have been very daunting performing in front of parents, peers and others. There was some good comic timing from the cast, which is a difficult skill to learn and master, personally I think that comedy roles can be harder to perform than drama roles, luckily several of the students appeared to have some very good natural comedy skills.

 I found some of the actors hard to hear at times and some tended to speak without any dynamics, in a kind of monotone, it is important when performing dialogue that  it is clear and there is emotion, accentuation, light and shade, pauses in the right places and emphasis on certain words these point are essential for making dialogue come alive for not only the audience but your fellow actors on stage. Projection of the voice enabling the audience to hear what is being said is necessary, breathing from the diaphragm as singers are trained to do can help support the voice and give you some power. Also, when your character has an accent try and make sure that the accent does not overwhelm or distort your dialogue, also the accent should be maintained throughout the performance. Turning your back on the audience or speaking up stage makes it hard for the audience to hear what is said especially when working without a microphone. There are various techniques and stage craft which I am sure the students will learn about and develop in time as they progress through their course and enable their skills to flourish.

Wearing a hat pulled down over your face means the audience cannot see your emotions and your reaction to situations. The audience need to see your eyes and facial expressions, they say the eyes are the windows of the soul, when looking into someone’s eyes you can tell what a person is thinking or what they are feeling this is important for the interpretation of a role, also so the audience are able to feel the atmosphere of the production, to empathize with your character and feel part of the action on stage.

Do not forget you have an audience, you are performing for them telling them a story and a good rapport is needed, so just having a conversation with each other on stage  doesn’t work, your fellow actors already know the story and what you are going to say next so your performance must as they say come over the foot lights as you want the audience to be engaged and on your side or they could lose interest, this is also the case if they cannot hear what is being said.

Think carefully about the person you are portraying when developing a character look for clues in the script or ideas from the author for what type of person you are playing, and this characterisation should be maintained throughout the performance.

I would very much like to congratulate all the students who took part in this enjoyable performance, and I know that there is a great future for theatre when I see these young people at the beginning of their journey using their many talents to learn and entertain.  It is normal to be nervous but don’t be embarrassed or afraid as the audience are probably rooting for you to do well and to produce your best. There is nothing like the feeling you get when coming off stage after giving a good performance that both the audience and you as the performer have enjoyed.

Thank you for inviting my friend and I we always have a lovely time and are made very welcome at St John Rigby.

 

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.