Education: Read it with RIC resources - Billy doesn't like school really

As many of my readers know, I am a primary school teacher and the past 3 years have been spent really focussing on my practice as an educator.


I am glad to say that more drama/theatre posts will be up over the coming months as things have stabilised in my newish career now and I have found what I feel is my groove and am able to balance work/home life in a slightly wiser way. This is mainly because of LibraryGirl and the plethora of amazing teachers I have met who have introduced me to techniques that have aided me in my ability to provide good quality learning experiences for my pupils.


One of those teachers is Mrs P Teaches, who I was lucky enough to meet at a W Sussex teachmeet. Her ideas were brilliant and she was bubbling over with passion for learning and it was just so inspiring I instantly changed my reading lessons to her model which is named Read with RIC.


Today I have attached an example of my task that my class will be doing in approx. 45 minutes during our Guided Reading lesson.





I am happy to say these lessons are turning out to be a success and I hope they continue to do so as the year progresses.


Stay tuned for further posts including:


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Drury Lane review, Wicked review and after Christmas some views of the plays on in London and my wishlist for the coming New Year.


Stay safe and enjoy your week my friends.

Kala Chethena Kathakali live at the Connaught Theatre Worthing 31.05.15 REVIEW

Kala Chethena Kathakli Company

Last month LibraryGirl and myself attended a fantastic event at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing. It was a piece of Dance Theatre called Hima Sundari and was performed by the Kala Chetena Kathakali Company. This event was absolutely fantastic from start to finish and was a refreshing change from the general thing we go to see at the theatre. 

Our first knowledge of this performance was an exhibition of the costumes being shown at Worthing Museum in our hometown. As long time readers may remember LibraryGirl is a fan of many parts of Indian culture and it was her who introduced me to Bollywood so when we saw this exhibition advertised we made sure we visited. We got to see the fantastic costumes of this brilliant art form up close and they are breath taking! Real works of art that are worn in performance made by artisans from Kerala who have trained and done this work for many years.

The show was absolutely fantastic, well staged and they gave us a lecture before the show that provided lots of information about the art form and the company itself. The dance style is very expressive and this helps the story make sense and conveys the emotions and thoughts of the characters very well. There were moments of humour, joy, romance and horror within the show which made it truly immersive. LibraryGirl and myself really enjoyed the show and the price was very reasonable for a show as good as this.

Please go and visit their site here and if they are coming near you, you owe it to yourself to buy tickets because it truly is a magnificent show.

Monologue by Harold Pinter Vlog by Me

Hi please find in this post my very first vlog! Any feedback you can give me below would be very happily received.

I hope you enjoy this vlog.

Chris

Monologue by Harold Pinter - my ambitions!

I am a creature of habit and it seems that when I have an idea it becomes stuck and I cannot shake it. This must seem to you the reader a good thing but imagine you have an idea when 20, you then never fulfil or give life and breath to that idea or plan. Time passes in a a manner that seems like slipping sands, before you know it you are 28 and the idea still bugs you. This is the current state I find myself in. Monologue by Pinter is an enigma of a theatrical piece that I have both obsessed over and pursued the past 8 years. I have at times recorded and posted my own version of the audio of a performance. If I am honest with myself the audio I have posted in the past has been incredibly poor and not fitting my abilities as an orator let alone an actor. It is time to put the past to bed, to put the reputation on the line and finally do a real performance of the piece. So my aim over the coming weeks and months is to rehearse and provide a couple of recordings to my youtube account showing the evolution of the piece. With half term looming I am hoping to have a recording up within two weeks.

Stop Motion in ICT - A Creative approach for Primary schools

Stop Motion in ICT

So today in ICT at University we were talking about all the different types of creative media we can do in ICT lessons with primary school children (5-11 year olds). We hit on things such as blogs, which as evidenced by the fact you are reading this I have some experience of, podcasts (cringing at the memory of some of my terrible attempts at that medium) and then film making/stop motion. I have some film making experience not that its really of that high a quality but have never managed to create a stop motion film despite always fancying giving it a go. So when our lecturer gave me the opportunity to have a play I jumped at the chance! The following film has NO credits... shame on me but I will list the people I need to thank at the end.

(Jason for the guidance, encouragement and inspiration. Katie and Emma for starring so wonderfully, Rosie for the genius performance and Group E for just being awesome)

Now this film took me 15 minutes to make with minimal effort as it was just a chance to tinker with the software required to produce a stop animation film. The software used was Zu3D which is designed for use by children so the interface is very easy to use and helps you get your ideas on film quickly.

Do I think this is a great idea to teach children? Of course! It is fun, it is creative and it is very educational. If you add in some sort of context for the pupils work you can get something truly amazing. Our lecturer showed us a video of children creating an anti bullying animation which was brilliant but the best I have seen so far is the following video made by a KS1 class (5-7 y.o.a) about the Great Fire of London.

Fantastic!

So a great afternoon lecture which has fired the inspiration up in my mind on how to give good ICT lessons. Why teach children to just word process when you can do stuff like this?

Til' later

C Squ

New banner... redesign and new focus

Dear all,

I am sorry that it has been nearly 18 months since I last wrote on this blog and that had been very infrequent. I am pleased to see that I am on my way to 20,000 views of this blog since its first post as it is more than I ever dreamed of and contemplated I would receive. It is also pleasing to me that the Meatloaf article still fires the imagination of many people 3 years since it was published.

Since 2012 I have changed my path in life from focusing solely on the performance arts aspect of where I want to be. I have in many ways 'found myself' since leaving this forum of mine, I have started on the journey to becoming a Primary School Teacher. This marks a shift in both my priorities and in the content I will publish here on headtheatre... some things will remain the same such as my 'On this day in Theatrical History' articles or the 'Just a Small One' pieces but I will be adding stories about primary level drama lessons and education ideas/experiences I have had as well. 

The blog will also be edited and I will find a way of archiving some of the old content to make it more convenient to read and find. As I shift this new idea/identity onto this website I will be attempting to make it more pupil/child friendly as well due to this being a resource for my own lessons in class so just wait to see some of the new features coming soon! I hope the blog will continue to be a place many of you visit to read some interesting facts and will stick around for some of the stories I have about enthusiastic learners, and not so enthusiastic learners, and kids drama in general.

Xtofer

aka

Mr S

Caliban's Hour Prologue

So after a recent book haul in London Mrs HT found me a novella by Tad Williams called 'Caliban's Hour.' This novella looks at what happened to Caliban post Tempest and in his early life. I was inspired to start adapting it into an audio performance and this resulting video is part one of the whole book eventually being recorded and posted. I would like to point out that I have no rights or claim to the copyrighted works of Tad Williams and have only done this out of enjoyment for his story and a desire to further explore the Caliban character.

 

 



New headtheatre blog

 

 

I have just recently launched my new blog based on books known as headtheatre's book journal. My first post went up last week so please give it a view at the link here.

Theatre in T.V. & Radio WB: 03/09/12

This is a new feature I wanted to add to the blog. Granted it should be from Saturday-Friday but I'm a bit late with this one. Let me know if you're planning to watch or listen to any of these and what you thought of them!

Monday 3rd September

Sky Arts 1      8.00p.m.
In Confidence - Alan Acykbourn

Radio 4          2.15p.m.
Afternoon Drama: Craven:Looking for Mr King
Comtemporary murder mystery starring Maxine Peake


Tuesday 4th September

Sky Arts 1      8.00p.m.
Voices of a Generation - Michael Gambon
Profile and Interview

Radio 4          4.30 p.m.
Great Lives: Stan Laurel
Ken Dodd explores the life of the comic actor.


Wednesday 5th September

Radio 4          2.15p.m.
Afternoon Drama: The Meaning of Love
Romantic Comedy

Radio 4 Extra   3.00p.m.
Death at the Desert Inn
Comedy Murder Mystery featuring characters such as Judy Garland, a showgirl and Broadway Agent. Starring Malcolm Sinclair as Noel Coward.


Thursday 6th September

BBC 2      4.00 a.m. (Friday Morning)
Shakespeare Unlocked: Julius Caesar
Exploring key scenes from the play.

Radio 4      2.15p.m.
Afternoon Drama: A9
By Helen Cooper.
Complications arise when war hero Bernard's will is revealed.


Friday 7th September

Sky Arts 2     7.00p.m.
Discovering Hamlet
The challenges of staging Shakespeare's play.

Sky Arts 2      8.00p.m.
Being Shakespeare
Simon Callow in his West End performance as the Bard.

Radio 4          2.15p.m.
Afternoon Drama: A Cold Supper Behind Harrods
by David Morley
50 years after the end of WW2 three veterans meet to discuss the murder of a colleague by the Gestapo. What they discover has shocking results. Starring David Jason, Stephanie Cole and Anton Lesser.

Radio 4         9.00p.m.
Friday Drama: An American Rose
by Charlotte Jones.
Tells the story of Rosemary Kennedy. Starring Fenella Woolgar.

Today in Theatrical History: The Grand Theatre, Fulham opens 1897

(Photo courtesy of theatretrust.org.uk)

 

On the 23rd of August 1897 the Grand Theatre Fulham opened just off Fulham high street with a performance of 'The Geisha' a musical written by Owen Hall with music and lyrics by Jones, Monckton and Greenbank. The theatre became a cinema known as the Shilling Theatre in 1912 but eventually started showing live performances again in 1937. The Theatre was demolished in 1960 and there are no signs of its existence on the spot where it once stood. To read more about this theatre please go to the theatre trust website here. Or to read a report from opening night and see some more pictures of the theatre and other Fulham venues please go to the arthurlloyd.co.uk website at the following link here. By all means read more of http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk as it is one of my favourite websites on the internet and is just a wonderful resource.



The Theatres Act of 1843: Today in Theatrical History

(pic courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)



On the 22nd of August 1843 a new act of law was passed to eliminate the restrictions on regional theatre. Essentially it was designed to curb the powers of the Lord Chamberlain and to stop the patent theatres from continuing their monopoly of the industry. Prior to this act only the patent theatres were allowed to show spoken drama, although a minor adjustment to the previous act of 1788 allowed smaller theatres to produce spoken dramas with a magistrates license, which stopped many regional venues being able to flourish. When the act was passed it allowed local authorities to license theatres fully which led to the growth of musical hall, variety and the regional theatre scene. The other important change made by the law was the decision to stop the Lord Chamberlain from cherry picking which dramas could be shown, from 1843 onwards the Lord Chamberlain, George Sackville-West the 5th Earl De La Warr, would only be able to turn down a play if it:

'is fitting for the preservation of good manners, decorum or of the public peace to do so...'

Of course this would all change 124 years later with the 1968 Theatres Act.

Loring Mandel's 'Conspiracy' and how my vision came to life... just not by me.

Throughout my life I have been passionate about several things but I would say my two biggest are history and theatre. Growing up I was obsessed with WWII, not in a weird way, and watched hundreds of programmes about the evil that happened during that war and the people involved. It fascinated me and the main reason was because it throws up so many uncomfortable questions about the nature of humanity. Even today I cannot fathom what caused an entire section of Europe to ignore and dismiss the plight of certain sections of society or to justify them. I couldn't understand when younger the powerful weapon of fear and what it could do to nations and to the world. It is my lack of understanding and my desire to reconcile the facts with what I would do in that situation that dragged me back again and again to programmes about the Nazi's and the atrocities that were committed during those six years. When I reached University I was given the opportunity to play several characters in 'Fear and Misery of the Third Reich' a play by Bertolt Brecht which studies the culture of fear and the changing of the German society from within during the 1930s. It is a chilling play which I have never forgotten. I made it my mission to research as much as possible in the rehearsal period of the play, as an actor I make it my own personal quest to learn all I can regarding my character and setting, and part of what I wanted to look at was other plays/films about the Nazi regime and how they approached the stories. So I made a list including films such as 'Cabaret' and 'Bent', both of which I had previously seen and the latter being a play I never wish to witness again due to its content, then I looked into other pieces such as 'Hitler: Rise of Evil' before coming across Loring Mandel's wonderful work 'Conspiracy'.

'Conspiracy' is a dramatisation of the Wannsee Conference, the meeting of Nazi officials and beauracrats who put together the plan of how to exterminate the jews. It was written by Loring Mandel who took the minutes of the meeting, all of which were supposed to have been destroyed, and wove this script together. It is severely chilling and incredibly effective, if you have not seen it before please watch the following clip.

('Conspiracy' was written by Loring Mandel and produced by the BBC and HBO in 2001. It is distributed by HBO and its copyright belongs to those mentioned)

That is a real conversation that actually happened. The men on that day in that room applauded the idea of disposing of 60,000 people a day. It sickened me, not the fact that it happened as we know historically it did, the fact that these men sat around and allowed these horrific things to be said. The idea that fear drove them to such hatred, that the cost of a human life meant nothing to these people and it hit me in a way that I didn't expect. It made the whole situation seem more real and to hear this group of men discuss the way that their goverment would commit genocide and justify it was shocking.

After leaving University the film 'Conspiracy' stayed with me and I began to want to work towards a theatrical production of it. It struck me that it was a fantastic stage play, a sort of Nazi 12 angry men, and that it would be an excellent piece for students of WWII and the holocaust to see. In 2009 I tried finding out how to get hold of the script for the piece. I tried all the usual online film script websites and forums but found nothing. I then did a lot of research on the writer Loring Mandel and found out his agents information. I contacted his agent in LA several times and got no replies, I didn't really expect to as after all I was just some young actor from the UK wanting to put on a play. I didn't give up though, I kept researching Mandel and came across a contact which may or may not have been his family and I thought 'what the heck' so I emailed this contact and it was Mandel's family. They were incredibly nice and helpful and put me in touch with Loring. I got into contact with him and explained how much I loved his film and what I wanted to do with the play if it was available to be performed, rumours had been rife since 2001 that he was going to stage a production in NY, and that I would be using it as an educational tool. I didn't get anywhere with my enquiries but Loring Mandel and the rest of the Mandel family treated me so nicely I just notched it up as a failure that although disappointing was not a dead loss as I got to email someone I greatly admired. I would like to thank the Mandel family again for their help and politeness.

I hadn't given up on one day seeing 'Conspiracy' as a stage play as after all it was a popular film and on numerous occaisions Mandel himself said he wanted to do it. Well in 2010 a theatre company in Michigan managed to get the rights from Mandel to perform the play, the story about the process can be found at this link here, and in November 2011 it was performed for the very first time at the Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing Michigan. I am glad to hear it finally got performed and I hope the power of the piece came through. Sometimes its annoying when you know something would be a good play or production and for whatever reasons you do not get to accomplish what you want but knowing that it has now been performed and has been realised makes me happy. Plus who knows maybe one day the UK premiere of this wonderful play will be a FPTheatre Productions event directed by Christopher Squire... we can hope and plan... now where is that email address?