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At this point we still didnt have a plot or clear story line so this was a priority. We decided to have a child around the same age as our target audience at the centre of the story as  the audience would be able to identify with her. Also as one of our main themes was unity we thought that it would be good if we had a child who felt like she was alone and felt like she didnt have a group of friends or suppourt system. We then had to figure out how our chosen recognisable characters would fit into this. We came up with the idea of the the Child, who we names Ally, to have dolls of famous Disney princesses who in the absence of real friends filled that role in her life. Her dolls were Tiana (played by Anna-Maria), Mulan (played by Nelly) and Merida (played by me/Abi).

One of our chosen recognisable characters was also Peter Pan so we thought that it would make sense to follow along the same lines as the origional Peter Pan story with Peter coming and taking a child to Neverland. This also made sense in this case with Ally, our main character, feeling lonely therefore logically she would want to go to a mystical land far far away from the place where she had no friends.

So the story we eventually settled on was one where Ally would talk about how much she wished she could be taken to neverland by one of her favourite fictional characters Peter Pan. Then in the night Peter Pan comes into her room looking for his missing shadow waking Ally in the process. Ally helps Peter to fiund his shadow and reattach it and then asks that he take her to Neverland. Then upon Ally's leaving her dolls come to life and find their owner and each of their precious items missing: Meirda's Bow and Arrow, Mulan's Sword and Tiana's Tiara. Tiana having caught a glimpse of Peter when he was ijn the room tells her fellow dolls that Peter Pan came in and took their possesions and Ally to Neverland. Knowing that Neverland contaions many dangers the dolls formulate a plan top go and save Ally. Using peters hat, which he left behind, then transport to Neverland. Meanwhile Ally and Peter and having lots of fun in neverland with Peter teaching ally many things such as how to floy ans swordfighting. During this Ally gets tired and asks Peter if she can rest he refuses. Ally then asks Peter to take her home and Peter says that if she can beat him in a swordfight she could go home however if he won the swordfight she had to stay in neverland forever. Obviously as she has very little experience Ally loses the swordfight, peter fearing that sh3e may figure out a way to leave him locks her in a cage. At this point the dolls enter and find their stolen items and manage to break Ally free from Peters cage. Peter then comes back on stage and the dolls confront him. He apologises and explains that the reason for his actions was that he was lonely. Ally and the dolols forgive him and Peter then helps them get back to Ally's bedroom.

After we had writted our story i realised that one of my favourite songs (Lost Boy by Roth B) would be a perfect fit for our story and since I knew how to play it on the guitar I played it to my group and they really liked it and we subsequently afreed to try and find a place for it in the play.

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'A mission statement is a short statement of an organization's purpose, what its overall goal is, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation'.

My Mission Statement:

I aim to entertain the audience and produce of piece of theatre that is engaging, enthralling and interactive. I aim to promote the themes of unity, love and inclusion in my performance. I aim to produce a piece of theatre that makes the audience evaluate how we treat other people.

The following research was conpleted by Shanelle Charles-Dorsett

A mission statement- in theatre- known as an artistic statement is a document that states what your visons and aims are as a company.

Here is an example of a professional mission statement from Huntington Theatre Company:

‘The Huntington Theatre Company engages, inspires, entertains and challenges audiences with theatrical productions that range from the classics to new works; we train and support the next generation of theatre artists; we provide arts education programs that promote life-long learning to a diverse community; and we celebrate the essential power of the theatre to illuminate our common humanity’.

Our Mission Statement:

The CC Drama Students’ main aim is to entertain and educate our audience by performing an engaging story with a moral. We believe that family and unity are very important and therefore we intend to communicate that through our plot.

Our second goal is to show that diversity is a good thing; hence why our cast consists of such a wide range of races and characters.

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Our target aAudience is primary school children, ranging from ages 5 - 10.
From watching clips of the making of Unicorn Theatre's production of Baddies  we realised that children respond to characters from popular childrens fiction as they already have context regarding who those characters are.
Also, from watching several other clips of various theatre productions for children I realised that young children also repond to participation. Therefore a clear way to engage the audience in the production would be to naddress them directly and get them actively involved in the plot.

The following research was completed by Anna-Maria Nwosu:

The target audience is 6-8 year olds.

One of the values of Heavers farm school is to create an engaging, productive and safe environment that challenges stereotypes and promotes independent learners through a wide range of opportunities and an innovative learning environment.

I believe performing in front of the children does create an environment for them to learn a lesson in an entertaining way.

I believe the expectation of a children audiences is that the play is funny but also offers a moral. I also believe that the play should end on a good note. So it leaves the children happy and not questioning what is going to happen next to the character or in the story.

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3 Leading Practitioners of Children’s Theatre 

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3 Leading Practitioners of Children’s Theatre 

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Polka Theatre

Polka is one of the few theatres in the UK dedicated exclusively to children. Based in Wimbledon since 1979, Polka creates world-class theatre to entertain and inspire young audiences.

Over 90,000 children visit Polka every year to experience engaging, fun and exciting theatre, often for the first time.

“We strive to spark the imagination, stir the emotions and fuel a sense of discovery in all children.”

The theatre is home to a friendly café, playground, garden and a fun-filled foyer with toys, books, dressing up and colouring in.

“It’s a unique, magical place where you can share a special moment with your child.”

Creative programming keeps Polka’s work fresh and relevant. Over two spaces, the Adventure Theatre and Main Stage, young audiences can expect new plays, dynamic performers, resonant subjects and inventive adaptations of popular stories.

Learning and participation is at the heart of Polka’s work, encouraging children to explore and develop creatively.

We offer opportunities for all children, regardless of age, ability, culture or background, to engage in the arts through a regular programme of holiday workshops, term-time groups, after-show events, free storytelling and workshops that take Polka into the community. Schools visiting the theatre can benefit from online free resource packs and show-related workshops.

They recently launched something called the PolkaLAB; to provide a supportive in-house framework for the professional development of companies or artists wanting to create innovative and ground-breaking children’s theatre.

PolkaLAB will support up to three companies or artists per year to research new productions for children and will address significant gaps within the Theatre for Young Audiences sector. These are: work led by DISABLED ARTISTS, work led by BAME ARTISTS, work created specifically for an EARLY YEARS AUDIENCE (Under 6’s)

Polka Theatre started life as a touring company in 1967 under the Artistic Directorship of Richard Gill. Gill was spurred on by a commitment to fine design and craftsmanship and a passion for puppetry, taking the company’s work to many of Britain’s major theatres.

By 1971, following a successful Arts Council application (the first annual grant to any company working in the field of puppetry), Polka was attracting staggering audiences of 250,000 each year.

Unicorn Theatre

The Unicorn is the UK’s leading theatre for young audiences, producing an eclectic and surprising programme of work year-round for children aged 6 months to 18 years.

They aim to connect artists and audiences through a broad range of work that is honest, refreshing and international in outlook, across a range of disciplines.

They present and tour around twenty shows each year, at home and abroad, to around 90,000 children and their parents and carers, and work extensively with schools and in the community to invite children from all cultures into a conversation about art and the world we live in.

They work hard to ensure that our doors are open to everyone, and that our building represents the diverse and tolerant city we want to live in.

Connecting artists with communities throughout the year, we actively seek out partners in the community, marginalised groups, groups with additional needs, people who couldn’t otherwise afford to attend our shows, or those who are yet to discover that theatre welcomes them.

They do this by working closely with gatekeeper organisations, agencies and local authority departments to name but a few. We also commit thousands of free theatre tickets each year to new visitors and to support our community programmes.

They offer workshops and tailored productions for children of primary school age all the way up to secondary. As well as holding events specifically for teachers.

They also have a youth led theatre group that put of productions regularly.

They currently have many shows on including Philip Pullmans Grimm Tales

Theatre Centre

Theatre Centre empowers young leadership and youth activism through the arts, supporting and transforming children and young people to change the world by enriching their learning and leadership potential with theatre productions, creative projects and resources.

Brian Way founded Theatre Centre in 1953. He wanted to make theatre for young audiences as high-quality and enriching as theatre for adults.

They pride ourselves on the diversity of our writers, performers and freelance creatives; we have an integrated casting policy, and they commission writers whose work is relevant and resonant with our audiences.

They remain a touring company because they believe all young people deserve the advantages theatre brings, and they know many grow up in areas without access to theatre.

They are an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

They currently have the show The Muddy Choir on.

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Mythcreantscom. 2019. Mythcreants. [Online]. [7 January 2019]. Available from: https://mythcreants.com/blog/the-eight-character-archetypes-of-the-heros-journey/

Prezicom. 2019. Prezicom. [Online]. [7 January 2019]. Available from: https://prezi.com/y5gvfc_pngwb/todorovs-narrative-theory/

Polkatheatrecom. 2019. Polka Theatre. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://polkatheatre.com/home/about-us/

Unicorntheatrecom. 2019. Unicorntheatrecom. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://www.unicorntheatre.com/

Theatre-centrecouk. 2019. Theatre-centrecouk. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: http://www.theatre-centre.co.uk/

Heaversfarmcom. 2014. Heavers Farm Primary School. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://heaversfarm.com/about-us-2/school-vision/

Huntingtontheatreorg. 2019. Huntingtontheatreorg. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/about/mission/

Youtubecom. 2019. YouTube. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ba4-wqP_M

Youtubecom. 2019. YouTube. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M

Youtubecom. 2019. YouTube. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MNbxXcQieY

Wikipediaorg. 2019. Wikipediaorg. [Online]. [8 January 2019]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement

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We began the project first by looking into the basics of storytelling. This includes looking into different plots types, character archetypes and plot layouts.
First when looking into plot types we had a sheet containing each of the different lot types, we then went through each of these plot types and found television series or movies that we have watched in our lifetimes that fit with each plot theme. For example, for the plot type 'Overcoming the Monster' we came up with; Theseus and the Minator, George and the Dragon, Star Wars, David and Goliath, The Meg and Suicide Squad.

Then for looking into character archetypes we were given a blog post written by Chris Winkle on the the blog 'Mythcreants'. In the post it clearly details eight of the most popular character archetypes that are used in modern day story telling giving an example of each archetype from a popular film. For example for the Ally the character of Samwise from Lord of the Rings is used as an example due to the fact that he looks up to Frodo and feels the need to protect him.

We also explored how a plot should be laid out with the plot triangle. With each story beginning at with exposition which leads to an inciting incident that leads the story into rising action leading to the climax of the story and finally the resolution. I realized that i had encountered something like this before when doing A-Level Media Studies. I was taught about Todarov's Theory of Equilibrium. ' Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored'.
We then split into groups of two and looked at popular stories and tried to fit them into the plot triangle. Elena and I chose to do Cinderella as its a story that we both knew reasonable well. When presenting our plot triangle to the rest of the class there was a little disagreement between class members as to what the climax of the story was. Elena and I had written it as being when she leaves the ball at midnight however other people thought it was when the prince finally finds Cinderella and places the shoe of=n her foot. in the end we realized that it was open to interpretation.

In this stage of the project we also looked into our own experiences with theater as children. We tried to remember what the earliest show we remember seeing was. My answer was Cats or The Chuckle brothers as I recall seeing a touring production of cats at the Oxford New theatre with my family at a young age and Chuckle Brothers because i loved the television show 'Chuckle Vision' growing up and each year my family and I would go and see their touring production.

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In the beginning of the project it took us a while to get started. Due to absence  the groups were changed multiple times. However, eventually we managed to settle on a group and we sat down all together and brainstormed themes that we each wanted to include that we thought were important things to teach children. We also made a plan of what our deadlines would be eacvh week for example when we would have our story finished and when we would do our dress rehersal.

A few themes that we settled on was family, unity, friendship and forgiveness. However, even though we had chosen our themes for about a week we still struggles to settle on an actual plot for our performance as we were all strugghling with inspiration for the project due to the rough start that we had in this project.

One idea that we had for the production was to set it in a school as this was an environment that all of the children would be familiar with. However, when I was sat at home brainstorming ideas for the project I thought that school may not be the best environment in which to set our story as not ever child enjoys school. Instead I though we should maybe set it at somethiong that would be generally enjoyable for all children.
Therefore, I had the idea that our story should be centered around a childrens sleepover party, possibly around the theme of the children trying to catch santa when he enters the house on Christmas Eve to see if he was real, as we did the performance around the christmas period. However, after watching clips about Unicorn Theatres production of baddies everyone in the group really liked the idea of having recognisable charaters. We also liked this idea because when we were growing up we all really liked oin television when popular TV series would do crossovers, for example 'Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana' on Disney Channel which was a crossover between the shows Wizards of Waverly Place, Suite Life on Deck and Hannah Montana. These crossovers were often limited by TV companies with Disney shows only crossing over with Disney shows and Nickelodeon shows doing the same. However as we were not limited by networks we could crossover whatever characters we wanted.

We then began to brainstorm popular, recognisable characters that we could include in our production including Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen and Various superheros from the Marvel and DC universes.

We then made a shortlist of our favourites which was: Merida, Mulan, Moana, Harry Potter, Mr Bean, Barbie, Tracy Beaker, Peter Pan, Sandy and Kim Possible.