# data[].attributes.body
For my final performance, I did a piece based on Henry the VIII and his 6 wives, within the performance we discussed what each wife went through whilst married to the king. To do this I used singing, dancing, projections, and some acting scenes. I believe that overall, my piece was a success despite a few hiccups during the Tech and Dress rehearsal, unfortunately my music would not work properly due to the file not being downloaded properly on to the memory stick, this was a problem as the songs were a main element in my performance and if they could not play this would affect my piece. Eventually we managed to get the songs to play using YouTube, however there was a risk the Wifi would not work and pause the song in the middle of the performance, luckily the songs played meaning the singing element of the performance was a success. However, one of my sounds had to be cut out of the piece, the sound was of a school bell so that the audience would know the scene was set in a school, this being cut out meant that we had to use the costumes to show the audience this, however we overcame this problem but just carrying on with the scene. As well as this, we had to put my projections on to a PowerPoint presentation so that the production ran more smoothly which took more time up meaning we were running late. However, once we had finished the tech, we did the performance straight away.

The opening of the show was an enormous success due to each person remembering choreography as well as the lyrics. Each of the girls got into character to tell their stories meaning that the performance was more believable. As well as this the song did not pause, and the lighting really made the performance. The song then ended where the stage props were placed on stage during the blackout which went very smoothly, despite there being a couple second delay while the girls had a quick change into their student costumes, the lights remained in a blackout which I thought looked professional despite the hiccup. The acting element of the piece was a success as not only did all the projections play on cue, but every line was also delivered on time and correct, there was one line however that had to be prompted, however the issue was delt with in a professional manor. This was also a success as our characters were believable as well as the scene telling the story of each wife and the horrors they faced as queen. Finally, the final song I believe was the biggest success of the performance, each person not only remembered their lines, but they also did the correct choreography as well as all being on time with each other. The song was fun to perform due to the audience getting involved as well, meaning they enjoyed the performance. If I could change one thing about my performance It would be that we were more prepared with our lines as well as adding fewer lighting directions, however the story line of my piece was understood and that not only did the cast, but the audience enjoyed the performance also.

# data[].attributes.body
Appleton A, (2020). Six Musical. [Online] Available from: https://stageagent.com/shows/musical/16481/six[Accessed 30/04/21].

Cash J (2008). Documentary Drama. [Online] Available from: https://theatrelinks.com/documentary-drama/[Accessed 01/05/21].

Conan J, (2020). History of Musical Theatre: Lesson for Kids. [Online] Available from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-musical-theatre-lesson-for-kids.html[Accessed 01/05/2021].

Craine A, (2021). Anna Deavere Smith. [Online] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anna-Deavere-Smith[Accessed 01/05/21].

IMDb, (2021). Toby Marlow Biography. [Online] Available from: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1822364/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm[Accessed 01/05/21].

Rees K, (2020). 5 of our favorite Six the Musical performances. [Online] Available from: https://celebmix.com/5-of-our-favourite-six-the-musical-performances/[Accessed 30/04/21].

Six the Musical, (2021). Lucy Moss. [Online] Available from: https://www.sixthemusical.com/australia/meet-the-cast-creatives/lucy-moss[Accessed 01/05/2021].

Six the Musical, (2021). SIX. [Online] Available from: https://www.sixthemusical.com[Accessed 30/04/21].

Six the Musical, (2021). Toby Marlow. [Online] Available from: https://www.sixthemusical.com/australia/meet-the-cast-creatives/toby-marlow[Accessed 01/05/21].

# data[].attributes.body
(Craine A, 2021)

# data[].attributes.body
According to Craine A, (2021) Smith was born in Baltimore and is an American actress, author and playwright who is “best known for her one-woman plays that examined the social issues behind current events”. Smith studied at the American Conservatory Theatre where she was then awarded a M.F.A degree in 1977. She then taught at the Carnegie Mellon University where she taught actors to create characters based of real-life people “While there, Smith explored methods for actors to create characters by studying real people engaged in actual conversations”. Smith then went on to teach at other universities, “She later taught at the University of Southern California (1986–89) and at Stanford University (1990–2000)”. Smith was not only on the famous soap opera series All my Children, but she was also a part of many great projects, “Her breakthrough work was Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities (1992), which told the story of the racial tension that rocked the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklynfollowing an incident in 1991 in which the car of a Hasidic Jew went out of control and hit and killed an African American child”. Finally, I decided to research into this practitioner as not only is my project documentary, my FMP involves myself and my fellow cast interpreting how to play the different six queens of Henry VIII through song as well as creating our own image of how each wife would carry themselves and how their attitude would be proposed which is something Smith used to teach.

# data[].attributes.body
(Six the Musical, 2021)

# data[].attributes.body
(Six the Musical, 2021)

# data[].attributes.body
(Conan J, 2020)

# data[].attributes.body
(Rees K, 2020)

# data[].attributes.body
According to Cash J, (2008), documentary drama/theatre is a type of television, stage theatre and radio where a part of history is portrayed that actually happened, “A docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of radio and television programming, feature film, and staged theatre, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events”. Documentary dramas usually aim to tell the real facts of history or to even fill in the blanks about some periods in history. The directors usually try to make the documentary more or less dramatic depending on the historical fact as well as using locations where the historical moment took place, “Dialogue may include the actual words of real-life persons, as recorded in historical documents. Docudrama producers sometimes choose to film their reconstructed events in the actual locations in which the historical events occurred”.

# data[].attributes.body
According to Conan J (2020), early theatre began 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece however they were performed in amphitheaters (open air theatres) where productions took place including dance and music, the themes were usually comical or tragedy. As time went on, the Romans began to not only add songs, but they would be performed with an orchestra, as well as this they began to use special techniques in the productions that are still used today such as back drops. During the Renaissance period, mime became popular when clowns would wear masks and dance to different songs. Operas then became very popular when telling either romantic, tragic or funny stories in the 1700 and was used in Britain, Germany and France, “They used special effects to make their shows more exciting, a method that's still used in modern musicals. In medieval times, traveling entertainers sang songs and performed comedies”. The first musical theatre performance came to America in 1735 and was known as “Flora” which was an English opera that is still well known today “Flora, an English opera, was performed in both America and Europe, and is even still popular today”. Also, burlesque became popular around this time due to it being so new with its many posh costumes, it became popular very fast “Burlesque shows were mostly parodies, or imitations used to make fun of famous people or plays”. When modern day theatre hit in the 1800s, society was also changing with it being easier to be able to travel to the theatre “Better jobs and better salaries meant people had more money to spend on entertainment”.

# data[].attributes.body
A Final Major Project is a 20-minute performance based on a certain topic or theme chosen by the individual who must perform one. An FMP can base on anything, whether it's historical, documentary, a story, or musical theatre, however it must be produced based on a stimulus. The aim of an FMP is to allow the performer to show their ability when putting together a performance as well as allowing them to develop their skills in production. Finally, an FMP works to allow the performer to not only put together a show, but it allows them to be pushed to their limits when creating a professional standard performance.

# data[].attributes.body
According to IMBd, (2021), Toby Marlow was born on the 12th of October in 1994 and is from Oxfordshire in England. He is a well-known writer and actor and has starred in productions such as Ben Hurr, Natalie Weiss: Heart of Stone and Mistress of Spices. According to Six the Musical, (2020) Marlow graduated from the University of Cambridge and has since gone on to be the co-performer/writer of the award-winning Hot Gay Time Machine, which has been on the London’s West End and has been performed at the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe Festivals. As well as this, Marlow is the co-writer and composer of SIX the Musical, as well as Lucy Moss “Following the show’s debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, it has been performed in London's West End, a UK Tour, three cruise ships, a North American Tour, Australia and Broadway”. According to Six the Musical (2021), Lucy Moss studied at the University of Cambridge, and she also studied Dance and Musical Theatre at Laine Theatre Arts. She was also one of two of the writers of Six the Musical, “Lucy is one half of Marlow and Moss, the writing duo behind the musical SIX (West End, Broadway, Australia & New Zealand Tour)”. She is also the youngest woman ever to direct a musical on Broadway. Finally, she has written for different channel 4 shows and has also directed Pelican: The Cat Man Curse and Pelican: Fisk which were both performed at Soho Theatre “Previous directorial credits include Pelican: The Cat Man Curse (Soho Theatre); Pelican: Fisk (Soho Theatre)”. I have chosen to look into both these directors/writers as the story behind Six the musical is what inspired me to do a piece based on the wives of Henry the VIII, not only because of the amazing songs performed but also because of how the characters stories are told within the songs they have composed. Finally, I decided to research into both practitioners as they are bother musical theatre performers themselves, which relates to my piece as it is also a musical theatre.

# data[].attributes.body
According to Appleton A, (2020), Six the Musical is based on the real-life stories of Henry VIII’s six wives, but the story is retold in a modernized way. The names of Henry VIII’s wives were: “Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr”. The story is based on the six girls becoming a modern pop band however the girls cannot decide who should be the lead singer of the group, to decide this they decide to hold a singing competition where they audience get to hear each individual queen’s stories and the queen who lived the worst life gets to become the lead, “Each wife believes they had it toughest and they belittle each other’s attempts to prove their hardship”. However, throughout the story, the girls decide to rewrite their stories in history as they do not want their lives to be decided by one man “Together, they decide to pick up the pen and the microphone, and re-write their own stories. They are more than a rhyme, more than a wife, and much more than one King could handle”. The musical was written and composed by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and was created in 2017. Based on the genres of history and comedy according to Six the Musical, (2021) not only is the production performed at the Lyric Theatre in London, but it is also on stage in Australia, Chicago, Wellington, Broadway and is currently touring in the UK and Ireland. Finally, according to Rees K, (2020), Six the musical have not only performed on stage but also at many events such as the Oliver Awards in 2019, Children in Need and a flash mob outside of the tower of London.

# data[].attributes.body
For my FMP I would like to create a professional performance around the six wives of Henry VIII and by looking into each individual story. Within the performance we will discuss the awful lives they all lead as Queen, which wife had the worst life, and we will discuss what their lives could have been like if they had not married Henry. This will be portrayed through acting and musical performances of a number of the songs from the musical SIX. Initially I had an idea of wanting to do a documentary drama based on the life of Michael Jackson, however, I then decided against this as I felt it would be too difficult to not only portray an icon but a male. My idea to show this involves beginning the show using a song from SIX the musical called ‘Ex Wives’ where myself and five other actresses will be portraying each individual wife while also singing live, I will be using this song to open the show as each individual Queen in the song gets to introduce themselves to the audience so that they will be able to find out who they are and their back story, also the song is upbeat so would like the audience to have fun and engage with the show straight away. When the song has finished a school bell will ring and the scene will move to a school classroom (using a plain backdrop and lighting) where the cast will then involve 3 students (that will be wearing white school shirts) and a teacher (who will be wearing a lanyard and blazer). My idea is to portray a typical modern day history lesson where the students will get to learn about the history of each wife and how they died, the students will then get into a discussion about which wife had it the hardest. I decided to use this as the story line as it is the plot of SIX the musical however I wanted to make it different but still comical and factual. This scene will involve a 7–8-minute script which will not only involve humor and real-life facts, but it will also include lighting and sound ques as well as any stage directions with timings for each que. The staging will involve two tables for the students to sit at and a large whiteboard to portray a real-life school classroom as well as posters hung to each table, however, during the songs the stage will be clear to prevent any trip hazards while we are singing and dancing. I will also be using projections during my performance of TV dramas that have been based on the wives to bide time during costume changes as well as to build tension in the performance. Finally, the show will conclude with the song ‘SIX’ from Six the musical which talks about how they are more than what they seem and how their lives could have been different. I have chosen to end the show with this song as it is emotional, and I would like the audience to feel empowered at the end of the show. For costumes, I would like to keep the theme of cute/girly for each individual Queen as well as making sure each queen looks unique, this included hair, makeup and costume, however I have decided to go with an all-black color scheme as I believe it looks neat and professional. The reason I have chosen to use not only this story but also the theme for this show is because I love SIX the musical including the songs and plot and I wanted to put my own twist into the way of showcasing the possible lives the Queens could have had but in my own professional manor. Finally, I feel that with my choreography and teamwork skills, I will be able to work with others to be able to project a similar yet realistic outlook on how we can learn about history as it is a subject I have always been fascinated with.

# data[].attributes.body
Within this padlet, I will be discussing what an FMP is as well as looking into the learning objects of a successful FMP. I will also be discussing different research I have gathered about the different themes and stimulus within my FMP and I will be talking about the different practitioners that have given me inspiration for my piece. Finally, I will be discussing the process of putting my project together including a plan of the show, any script ideas, the venue of where it will be performed, any light and sound ideas I have, and I will be discussing each character in the show and how I have developed each character to the original.