Research | Ever After: A Cinderella Story 1998

'Once upon a time there was a young girl who loved her father very much' is how most fairy tales begin. This one however begins with an elegant old lady, talking to two young men, she proceeds to inform them of the 'real story' of the glass slipper. 

Cinderella is a strong character, not meek or polite as we would probably expect in this film. Drew Barrymore, plays Danielle de Barbarac, is smart, polite, loyal and strong. In fact the first time she meets the Prince she infers that he is 'arrogant'.  A very different meeting than Grimm and Walt Disney's interpretation. Although it does have a slight playfulness to it Cinderella is more witted and far less 'girly' and 'meek'.

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 The Prince is put across to us quite differently again. He is introduced quite early on, he is the one who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, slightly accident prone. One main aspect of this film that interests me most is that the Prince seems to be as big of a character as Danielle de Barbarac (Cinderella). Regular fairy tales seem to introduce the Prince later on in the film, show him as a small part of the story and he is really, properly shared with the audience once the female character grows as a person and realises she can do things for herself, instead of for others. 

'Ugly Step Sisters', 'tweedle dee and dum' as some have referred to them as, are slightly different from what we would expect. For example in this story there are a few variations for the stories we all might have heard  1. they aren't ugly, 2. they are as thick as how they are portrayed in the books and 3. they aren't the same in personality, one is more sympathetic and kind whilst the other seems to have gained all the jealousy and 'ugly' heart. Marguerite is favoured by her mother, perhaps this is why they are different in personality. Jacqueline is a fresh relief for this story, she appears to have a better understanding than her sister and even her mother. Jacqueline isn't blind to her mothers actions, she appears to be a bit sympathetic to Danielle. 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/182818066094579696/

I feel that the way in which this film has been taken is rather enjoyable, I enjoy the twist on the classic fairy tale. It is stuck in a time zone however which I feel that Walt Disney's version isn't restricted too. I love the concept of this Cinderella and think it is a good balance to the character. 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/442337994621474419/

The pictures are not my own, the links as to where I found them can be found below the pictures as a hyper-link.

Shamanisim, Masks and Origins of Theatre

Shamanism, Masks and the Origins of Theatre.

Kurdish Mask and Puppet project 2010
http://vimeo.com/16660047

Q: Why use masks and puppets? 
        - People can relate and take something in which is more abstract.
        - Children have no problem's accepting masks, they just want to touch and try it on.
        - Pre-intellectual thinking, no language is really need to understand the mask and the character.
        - We, as adults think too much - Is this right? How do I do it? What should I do?

What does a mask mean to ...

Society: Rituals, brings and binds a society together.
                Establishes rules.
                Spiritually and practically.

Individual: Belong/ part of a society.
                Feel accepted.
                Survival.
                Shapes all purpose of life 
                Dealing with the known and unknown.

The Rice Ritual appears to have influenced the mask created and used for the Interlude Play, the symmetry, shapes and simplicity.

Origins of Theatre...

'Theatre grew out of ritual'

Anthropological Theory...

- Late 19th Century to the early 20th Century.

- Theatre Grows From:                           

"Rituals, based on

seasonal cycles of

growth, death and ressurection

in nature."

Shamanistic Theory...

- (ET Kirby)
- Mid 20th Century onwards.
- Theatre Grows From: 

"Ritualistic healing,

where the 'perfromer' 

cures the patient

whilst in a trance state

possessed by spirits."

Performance Theory...

- (Richard Schechter, Victor Turner)

- Theatre Grows From:

"The propensity of humans to 'perform'

whether to 'achieve' profound or spiritual things

or to 'entertain' the community."

Q: What is a Shaman? 

     - 15 to 20 thousands year old figure of a community.

     - A shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.

                                              ^ Wiki .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism

    - A central figure of a society.

"Knowledge", "Power" and "Master of Spirits".

IDEAS: Sculpture/ Installation for Prince Amir

I think that one of the main moments and part of The Ash Girl is the way in which The Royal family feel in there new home land. 

This quote from the book by Price Amir depicts that the family, or a least Price Amir feels like an intruder in this land:

The Price is a stranger in a strange land. He has been forced to flee his country because of a political situation. His mother wants his to marry a local girl, but Price Amir thinks his neighbours are all too white. 

I feel that his struggle with moving to a new place, being thrown into a new culture and having to get used to it, is something he seems to struggle with. I get the feeling that his relationship with his mother is ok but I don't believe that there is really any sense of authority. He is easy swayed by the Seven Deadly Sins which he comes across but learns to not be so easily manipulated.  

His emotions through the story, go along with the Seven Deadly Sins and only at the Ball is he truly happy with where he is and he feels welcomed, this is when he meets Ashie. 

My ideas about Price Amir are as followed...
- Scared.
- Unwelcome.
- An outside to a culture.
- Worried about the people of the land not liking him or his family.
- Easily swayed by the SDS.
- Determined to find the girl who's foot fits the slipper.
- Courage.


For the scuplture, I feel it important to show the Forest in which he travels into to find Ashie. The forest has been used a lot in fairy tales as it gives the sense of fear and death. Although none of the characters actually die in the play the idea of the death of hope, really shout out to me. Ashie loses the shoe she has in the forest and could be lost forever. However both Ashie and Price Amir go into the forest willingly and confidently that they both find what they are looking for even with the Sins gathering intent on processing them. 



Things I think about which relate to The Ash Girl story and Prince Amir...

- The Forest - Dark, Impending, Death, vulnerable to the wild, Young, Lost, Dangerous
- The Sins - Angerbird, Slothworm, Pridefly, Envysnake, Greedmonkey, Lust, Gluttontoad and                          Sadness. 
- Downward spirl.
- Haunting and dead.
- Scary and Gloomy.
- Two different people, parallels coming together.
- Colours.
- Sins and miss guiding
- Family & Friends
- Confusion
- Hope 
- Luxury
- Diminishing

Peter Farley

Anthropomorphism.

The assignment of human shape and attributes to gods, animals an inanimate objects.

Attributes and Signifiers:  Shamanistic.

- Cave paintings where the first sort of anthropomorphism, hunters would create painting of animals that they hunt, giving them human like features such as  face. This most like was because the hunters desired the strength and power of the animals that they hunted.

-Shamans worn the skin of an animal so similar reasons, to gain the power of the animal and process the magical powers.

Attributes and Signifiers:  Symbolic.

Jean Berain, mask maker: Late 17th Century.

      > Not wanting to become the mask but just to wear it.

Nicholas Remisoff
      > Costume of a violin.
      > Tragedy of the Cello.  
      > 1927 

Attributes and Signifiers:.. Embodied.

- Traditional Pantomime.

- Actor becomes the animal/ inanimate object.

- Completely embodied.- Beatrix Potter - Jemima Puddle Duck. 

- Royal Ballet Tales of Beatrix Potter.

- The actor is complete enclosed in the costume and then acts as the animal and character.

> Costumes need to be light, the animal heads especially. 

> Made of stage gauze, which allows the actor or dancer to see through when dancing so they can see where they need to travel to.

Jean Hugo, Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel, 1921

Costume for a Lion

Costume for an Ostrich

Ferdinand Leger, 1923

Referential:

- refer to the animals or objects that you are trying to convey.

- Research and using observational drawings study the characteristics of the animal/ objects, to get a better understanding of the animal/ object.

E. Mcknight Kauffer, Checkmate, 1937.

Black Queen costume

       - Signified mostly in the headdress.

Marie- Jeanne Lecca, The Circle

Julie Taymore and Richard Hudson - Giraffes from The Lion King.

                   - Actors being the animal.

                   - Whilst eh lions are more puppets.

John McForlane - Mice and Frog for Cinderella - Birmingham Royal Ballet.

       - Studies/ drawings - Look much deeper and harder. Observational.

- Comeli, 1906 - Runner Bean Costume.

- Wilhelm, 1884 - Sallow Costume and Goldfish.

Attributes and Signifiers:  Metaphoric.

- Paul Edwardo - Papagena and Papageno, The Magic Flute

- Marie- Jeanne Lecca - 2008, 

                                          2009, The Crow and Falcon

                                          2013, Lulu

                                                       ^ Human body drawing with a picture of an animal head that suits the character.

(White act on Ballet.)

-Terry Bortier

       - The Swan of Tuoneic

- Robert Alsop

- Marie Bjonson - Cunning Little Vixon.

- Peter Farley - The Ox, From the Year of the Pig.

- David Collis

-Colin Richman

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo... http://www.trockadero.org/

Q: What are the character's doing on stage? (Working within the costume.)

Q: What is Grimm saying to me?

Q: How can I relate it to today?

Q: What is the difference between Anthropomorphism and puppetry?

        - Often used in panto's

        - Joey from /Warhorse'

                      - Puppetry - External puppeteers/ animators.

Q: How do you want your costume to be read/ interpreated?

        - Water colour - Decay (=more energy in the drawings.)

Q: How does your performer feel in the costume?

        - Restricted in their movements? 

Q: Where abouts do you want to draw the line?

        - Embodied

        - Small pieces of symbolism such as pig noses?

Q: Is it funny? Is is Serious? Is it dark?

Q: What is around today What do we wear to imitate animals/ things?

        - Cocktail party. - Peacocks?

        - Latin Skirts? - Savannah grasses

Richard Arm

http://www.castingabout.co.uk/Home.html

Today Richard Arm came in to talk to us about different methods and materials which are available for moulding around objects and even people to make props or masks.

There are many different types of mask making and object moulding, lots of different materials can be used to create shapes with. Richard Arm taught us about the materials that you can us for a particular type of casting and how the process of making the object works. There were a lot of things that I never knew about or had seen before and I felt that the lecture was really useful to have and I am looking forward to the skills week were we can put this into practise.

Here are a few ways of making moulds:

• Skin mould
• Multi-piece
• Open mould
• Split mould
• Clay and pressure
• Vacuum form
• Plug mould

Types for casting: 

• General
• Clear 
• Gel

 

The 24 Hour Musical 10th August

Well, I decided to book something I had never heard about before. I though the concept was interesting, and on some level didn't quite believe it. A 24 Hour Musical? Could that happen?? Well apparently it can, and it can go really well. I have experienced working as part of a theatre group for 6 years and we were lucky enough to be able to direct five nights of performances. It was only an amiture theatre group but to be able to direct was a dream I had ever since I went to my very first show by the very same group, which I later joined, once I built up my confidence to join. 

24 Hour Musical... After talking to the director of the group I found out, the cast learnt the name of the musical at 7:30pm on the 9th of August 2013, rehearsed all night and right up until 7:30pm on the 10th of August! To think that a lot of the cast probably didn't get much if any sleep before the show, and it was a 2 act performance, I felt the cast did extraordinary well! The first act was really good, and enjoyable, the introduction to what they were performing was made (High School Musical) 

The cast definitely had the adrenaline and so did the audience! There honestly could not have been a better vibe in that auditorium. The second act held a few pauses, a few forgotten lines but it just made the audience laugh, it was accepted, which it should be with only 24 hours practise. 

The set was simple, they had a team come in and instead of make the set from scratch, they used found pieces of set from previous plays that others had left behind. What they had found, they used to the best effect, using tiered benches for various scenes for multiple purposes. American style lockers which they rolled onto set when needed and rolled them off again. The actors filled the space and made best use of what they had. 

Character of the school news reader, came outside the proscenium and allowed the backstage crew to move set on and off stage to set up for the next scene. Although the light on stage were down and the spot light was on the news reader outside the stage and to the far left, we could still see the backstage crew working their magic in the darkness. However this kind of give is a bit more of a comical feel to the performance. 

 

The dancing, the singing, the set, costumes, everything was well done, even down to Sharpy's pink locker. I haven't anything horrible to say about the entire night! Well, ok I have one thing... unfortunately it was the last 24 hour musical that the group are doing. I wish I moved sooner! I am a bit gutted that I never got to see any of the other performances of 'Anything Goes', 'Grease', 'Oklahoma' or 'Hello Dolly'. 

I enjoyed the whole experience, would love to sit down and enjoy another one, and I think the idea of a '24 Hour Musical' is fascinating. If another theatre group start doing this kind of thing anywhere else in the country, I would definitely consider going and watching it! 

To find out more about this or the people behind it visit http://www.justcauseproductions.co.uk/

The picture is not my own.

Stritly Confidential 20th July Matinee

Craig Revel Horwood's Strictly Confidential gives it's audiences the chance to get up close and personal with some of the stars of the BBC1 television series Strictly Come Dancing!

Moving to Scotland and having to find a house and juggle work, the dog and just trying to settle in to a very unfamiliar place, didn't really give me time and at least give my parents time to explore Scotland and enjoy the the summer. Tutors has asked us to visit and get involved with as much theatre of event work as possible, and moving made this very tricky. Travelling around whether it was just in to the next town or into the city transport was not easily available to me. 

We managed to buy some tickets for Strictly Confidential which was touring around the UK over the year. I didn't know what to expect and went with a completely open mind about it. 
I didn't know anything about how this would play out, what it involved, all I knew was who to expect to see. The stars of the 2012 Strictly Come Dancing that we saw were Lisa Riley, Artem Chigvintsev, Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite as well as an amazing instrumental group and dancers. The audience connected to the stars and the atmosphere was great, loud, alert and lively!

The set for the show was very simple, very easy and there wasn't actually anything on the stage, obviously because the dancers needed all the space they could get. Before the show began there was a gauze screen across the front of the stage, it wasn't light too strongly from behind or from the front and we, the audience could just about see through it. The main piece's of kit that the touring company used was the costumes, as they couldn't cart to many props or set around, and depending on the size of the stage the dancers would have to adapt a bit. 

Lighting was the main piece of kit used as each venue would have their own set up. Using different lighting techniques to set the mood through out the performance. It was really interesting to find out more about the stars and the program was quite informative, giving details about the stars back stories and of course a whole double page on the costumes, from fabric and thread to swirling on the dance floor.
It isn't exactly Strictly Come Dancing, but it is more of an insight into the whole story, the things behind the scenes and just the general excitement of the celebrities and dancers. I enjoyed my experience and I would love to go along to one of the live shows, even more so now I've seen into the show a bit more.

To find out more about Strictly Confidential visit http://aecc.co.uk/events/strictly-confidential/ Picture is not my own.