In each show, I had slightly different makeup, and I think I felt more in character with the makeup on. I think overall, I performed well, (even if sometimes the children were being rude about the cat).
Wednesday 3rd July:
Show One:
Here is a photo of my makeup for show one. There wasn't enough time to add anything else, so it was kept simple, and my hair was back combed and put into a high pony tail. As my hair was up, I assumed it wouldn't fall in my face, but as I found it during the show, it still did.
During the pre-set, one of the things I heard one of the children say was "That's not a cat cos it looks like a dog!" This disheartened me because I knew how much effort it took Liam to make and I wanted the children to enjoy what he had created. As I carried on, some other children were waving at me, so I decided to meow back, and then those children would meow back, and it was as if Schnitzel was having a conversation with them. This brought a smile to their faces as they felt part of the show, which in my opinion, when creating and performing children's theatre, is something very important because it engages them and the interaction gives them a senes of empowerment because their not just passively watching a show.
When we began the show, and the lights faded, all the children clapped and screamed, this came as a surprise to me. When 'The Stranger' first appears, the rest of the cast onstage have to be still. In this show, I was holding the puppet in the wrong hand, and so it was beginning to hurt, so it was moving slightly. I must remember that I have to keep it in my left hand because then I can rest the rest of my arm on the handle of Schnitzel. In the first song, I was able to get to my place for the beginning, which recently in rehearsals hasn't been happening. During the song, my mic was beginning to fall down, so after the show, I was told that we would use hair clips to keep it in for next time. I think the audience reacted well as they laughed a lot.
Show Two:
In the pre-set for our second show, some children in the front row began to make there hands into the shape of guns and they were trying to shoot Schnitzel. This began to annoy and upset me so I sat in front of them and I tilted my head to the side and just began to stare at them. As my makeup looked the
way it did (with black, heavy eyeliner, a little green colour & whiskers) and with my hair up to look like cat ears, I knew that I could make them scared which would hopefully stop them from doing what they were doing. Also, I know that when cats are angry or scared they begin to hiss, so I also hissed at them. This was rather rude of me, however I didn't realise how much Schnitzel meant to me until that moment, which is why I was rather upset with the front row. After awhile I moved away from those at the front, and I went the statue, and looked up at the audience in the dress circle. I felt like I didn't look up at them in the first show, so I was trying to make up for it. When Georgia came on stage, she set her wooden crate on the floor, so I walked over to it as if to get some food and when I got there she shooed Schnitzel away, which was good because in the first show, not many of the people on stage acknowledge and interacted with the puppet. I felt that the second show wasn't as good as the first show because the adrenaline of the first performance had worn off. This is unfair for our audience, so for this evening we need to perform it like we're performing Hamelin for the first time again. This audience were older than the first group so I think that they didn't laugh as much as the first group. Overall I think this show was probably the worst just because it was the second time we had performed it.
Show Three:
This show was performed for our friends and family. As I had a lot of friends/family in the audience, I wanted to impress them and show that we had all put so much work into the show even though it's aimed at children aged between 7 - 11. For this show, the makeup team added eyebrows, and so I have large triangular eyebrows as well.
In this pre-set, it felt different from the other two shows, because it wasn't for children, and so when adults and teenagers entered the theatre and saw me wondering around the stage making cat sounds they gave me strange looks. Once the pre-set was over, I was less nervous because I knew that not all my friends and family were watching just me. I think this show got one of the best reactions because we had an audience with a variety of different ages. So when the little innuendo came up, a lot more people laughed, compared to when we had an audience with the children. Out of the three shows, this has probably been our best show, because we knew people in the audience and the audience gave us a good reaction. I think tonights finale was also the best its been because at the end a lot of the audience stood up and danced.
Thursday 4th July:
Show Four:
I was really tired today, however I couldn't stop that from ruining the children's experience of seeing 'Hamelin'. From last night, I didn't take my hair out so the makeup/hair crew would save time, and surprisingly it stayed pretty much the same from the night before. All they did was hairspray it, so nothing would fall out. Also, the makeup was done slightly different, as I didn't have the green streaks and I didn't have the line coming down from my nose. In the pre-set today, my throat became rather dry and I felt like I didn't make as much noise as I usually would have done because my throat hurt. Still, the children enjoyed it, and I began to realise that even though I don't say much, the children really enjoy mine and Schnitzel's stage presence. When I hear them laughing or meowing/communicating with Schnitzel, I feel very proud and honoured to have been chosen to puppeteer him. I do believe, however, that this audience were perhaps not the best that we've had. I think they were older children and so maybe they didn't enjoy it as much, but they didn't seem to laugh as much compared to our other shows. Still, I think this show went well, and I can't believe that we only have one more show left and then 'Hamelin' is finished.Show Five:
Well, this was the last show, and I think it was by far one of the best! At the pre-set, I was told to go onstage and begin, but there was no one around, so instead of waisting my voice, as it was begin to get worse, I sat down on the edge of the stage and just waited for the first group of children to enter. It seemed like I was waiting for ages, however when the first group of children finally arrived, I was ready to get going, and I began my circling of the stage. One girl in the front row reached out a hand, as if she was going to touch Schnitzel, but then her friend next to her pulled her away. I wouldn't have minded if she'd wanted to touch him, since in one of the rehearsals, that was what Tim was telling me to be aware of. Since she felt she wasn't allowed to touch the cat, she began meowing, and knowing that this was the last time I was going to be doing this, I meowed back. Then she told Schnitzel to sit, as if it was a dog, and I made him sit, this made her laugh. After the pre-set, we began the show for the final time. I felt like everyone made this the best performance because we all knew it was going to be the last. At the very end of the performance, during the finale, most of the cast went out into the aisles, however, I didn't know if taking Schnitzel out was a very good idea, so me and some of the cast stayed onstage. This audience loved our finale, and we got EVERYONE standing up, jumping, and chanting "HAMELIN! HAMELIN!" This was a very encouraging thing and a great way to end our final show. I really am upset that it's over, but it's a great feeling to have knowing that I've brought a very good piece of theatre to children, and I know that they enjoyed and appreciated watching it.
"This is Hamelin, this is Hamelin
Here our story
Ends"
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