Today we watched the year 13's TiE performances....here is what I thought well and what could be improved!
Group 1: The Feather
The Feather told the story of a boy who won a feather and was asked to find the bird that the feather had to come from by his Step Mother. To be quite honest, the story was incredibly confusing and unclear but there were certain aspects of the piece that I thought was good. I liked the movement sequence used when the boy went to the 'Crazy Lady' and was being controlled by her and the use of eerie music in the background emphasised the seriousness of the situation. The characters were clear although I feel that it should be made clearer who the 'Crazy Lady' is and her motives for controlling/hurting the boy. There is also a part where his Step Mother is on the phone to someone saying that the deal was off. We had no idea who she was on the phone to until after the performance when we were informed that she was on the phone to the crazy lady of whom she had told to 'get rid' of her step-son. This needs to be made clearer and the Step Mother's plans need to be clear from the start of the piece to avoid the audience being confused. They should do this by getting the Step Mum to directly address the audience about her relationship with her step son and here she can make her plans clear. They could even bring in a narrator, like the other groups, to ensure the storyline is understandable. What I liked about this piece was the 'signs' which they held up whenever the boy got a text message
Group 2: The son of Liam
This group was a lot clearer with their storyline than the first group. It told the story of a boy, his dad and his 'evil' Step Mum who happens to be a witch and turns him into a swan! The characters were clear and this was partly to do with the fact that they had a narrator who introduced each character and also put 'tags' on each character so the audience could see who was who. This group also used Frantic Assembly's Chair technique which added another dynamic to the piece. In order to improve this piece I think they should make it clearer that Josh has been turned into a swan and they could also use movement better because apart from their use of Frantic Assembly's Chair Duet, it wasn't used particularly well- even FA's technique could be used to better accord by involving everyone in it to show each character's feelings.
Group 3: Selky Woman
I loved this piece! The Selky Woman is a modernised version of an Irish Folk Tale in which a Seal hits her head and forgets about her old life and marries a man and has two children with him. In this version, the Seal was a real life woman. I liked the fact that they changed the genre of the piece as it will allow their audience of year 10's to relate to the story as it's more realistic. This group also had a narrator which made it easier to understand. The group also used a eukalale very effectively! The piece began with the eukalale being played very happily and merrily- however, as we learnt that his parents died, it got quieter. It was played again at the end of the piece to show to once again show the mood of the piece. The characters in this were very very clear and the storyline was very easy to follow as it was made clear with a narrator and their narrative was just generally a lot more cleaner and clearer than the other groups' storylines. I loved how the piece was both humourous at times yet still very serious and sad- the characters were so well portrayed that I actually felt sorry for Neil when his wife walks out on him! I believe this piece was really appeal to the year 10 audience as i'm sure a lot of them will be able to relate to the children in the piece when neil splits up with his wife (their parents). I also loved the movement sequence that showed the couple going from marriage to honeymoon to family to children. This group used Frantic Assembly's Chair technique VERY effectively. They used it to show the 'awkwardness' and 'argument' between the family when the Seal/Wife decides that she's no longer happy in the marriage- she walks out.
Group 4: The Legend of Finn McCall
The Legend of Finn McCall was my favourite group of the day. I loved their originality and humour. Their piece was based around 'The Legend of Finn McCall' but they put it together as if it was them telling the stories- they didn't have 'proper' characters. A lot of the humour in the piece was quite adult and a lot of it would only be found funny by those who actually know the group themselves which could be a problem when performing to a year 10 audience. However, there was a lot of humour in there which I'm sure the year 10s will enjoy- like when Emily pretends to be a fish (very badly....on purpose!) or when Grace shows off her muscles at the end of the piece. The story was also very clear and I believe this is because 80% of the piece was direct address to the audience. The fact that they were addressing the audience directly made me feel more involved in the piece and I believe this will work extremely well when they go into a school next week.
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