Units 5 & 6 Research

Little Shop of Horrors Research

1. What is the background context to the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors'?

Little Shop of Horrors is set in the 1960's in a place called 'Skidrow'. 'Skidrow' is the name used to refer to a place that is often poverty-stricken, dark and gloomy. The musical covers the everyday lives and wishes of three main characters, Audrey, Seymour and Mushnik. Audrey wishes for the 'American dream' life. Seymour wishes he had Audrey and Mushnik wishes he was rich and successful.
 

2.Who were the different versions of 'Little Shop...' written and directed by? What other musicals have the writers of the stage version also been involved with?

The 1960's film was directed by Roger Corman and was written by Charles B. Griffith.

The 1980's musical film was directed by Frank Oz and written by Howard Ashman

The music was composed by Menkin.

3.What is the central story of 'Little Shop of Horrors' and what aspects of American culture does it include/refer to?

The Little Shop of Horrors is about a poor boy who works in a flower shop down on skid row with his boss, and and college, Audrey whom he loves. The boy, Seymour, likes to collect strange plants and one day when an eclipse happens he discovers this odd plant which he buys and takes back to the shop. He later discovers that the plant onto likes blood and Seymour begins to feed the plant his blood in attempt to make it grow. The plant becomes an attraction to the shop but as the plant grows it demands more than just blood. The more Seymour feeds the plant the more he gets what he wants.

'B' movies and Little Shop of Horrors

1. We are going to watch some examples of 'B' movie trailers and excerpts, record characteristics of the 'B' movies.

• They are very dramatic/melodramatic.
• They often use large fonts inspired by cartoons.
• Dramatic loud music.
• Dramatic narrative and voices.
• All very similar to each other, e.g damsel in distress, aliens, world domination.
• Genres are often Sci-fi, Horror, thrillers.
• Acting is wooden. 
• Comic book inspired.
• Illistrated.

2. Having now watched an excerpt of the original 'little shop of horrors' (1960), what characteristics of the 'B' movie does it display?

• Dramatic music
• Comic book feel
• Acting is very wooden
• Cartoon styled font
• Strong narrative voice

3. We are now going to watch the scene from the 1986 film version of 'Little Shop of Horrors'. Use the space below to note down stylistic and narrative elements that link to and/or are inspired by the 'B' movie genre. 

• Booming narrative voice
• Cartoon styled font
• Comic book inspired
• dramatic
• only really two different sets used throughout the majority of the film.

'The curious incident of the dog in the night time'

Analyse the effectiveness of solutions to a production design brief in performing arts.

1. Outline the narrative of 'Curious Incident'.

The narrative is from Christopher's point of view however, is generally not spoken by him directly. The main person who tells the story is actually Siobhan (Christopher's teacher), who reads from the book Christopher writes which he treats as a journal. 

2. Briefly describe the characters in 'Curious Incident' and their stories.

Christopher is an autistic boy who has a rat named Toby. He really likes maths and is taking his maths A-Levels. He lives with his dad and believes his mum is dead.

Christopher's dad lied to Christopher when his mum left and told him she was dead because he didn't know how to explain to him that she'd just left. You later discover that he was the one who killed the dog.

Christopher's mum left with their neighbours husband and moved to London because she didn't know how to handle Christopher.

Siobhan, Christopher's teacher helps tell the story through Christopher's eyes. We don't learn much about her as a character other than Christopher trusts her.

3. Discuss how the following production elements are used to support the narrative;

SET
The set is very simple with only a few boxes on the side that are used throughout the play as different things. For example, a fish bowl or a TV. When the boxes need to be moved it's moved by the actors on stage. The walls would open up into cupboards where they would store parts of train tracks that Christopher sets out across the stage throughout the first part of the play. 

COSTUME

The costumes were casual clothing, something that you see people wearing on the street. There were certain actors who played multiple characters so they'd often wear the same outfit throughout however, put on something simple, like a police jacket, to show they have changed character.

LIGHTING

A lot of the lighting had strobe effects to mirror how Christopher was feeling when he was overwhelmed.

ENTRANCES AND EXITS INTO SCENES/ONTO THE STAGE

The sides of the stage both had doors leading out and so did the back of the stage. Most of the cast would sit on the side of the stage in a neutral position. 

SPECIAL EFFECTS
When Christopher draws on the floor in chalk it is reflected onto the walls so that the members of the audience can see whats going on at all angles. They also use special effects on the floor when Christopher is trying to find his way to the train station and to his mothers house.

4. Discuss and describe how the following production elements are used to reflect the inner thoughts, feelings and 'interior narrative' of the main protagonist Christopher and his Autism;

DIGITAL ELEMENTS AND EFFECTS/VIDEO

When Christopher is gets off the train to London and has to get on a tube, adverts flashed across the walls in an overwhelming manor to mirror how Christopher saw everything and to highlight how overwhelming and extreme it was for him. When Christopher would have a panic attack numbers and words would flash across the floor and walls in extreme speed starting from Christopher.

PROPS

They had very basic props that were often hidden in the walls or the boxes on stage were used. Christopher sets out train tracks across the stage over act one. He adds small houses and buildings to show where he is representing, such as his home town and London. To represent London he uses a small model of the London eye.

SOUND EFFECTS

When Christopher gets overwhelmed, the music is louder and more intense.

SMOKE EFFECTS

They used smoke effects when the floor has opened up to give the impression of the tube tracks.

5. How successful do you think production elements were in bringing the story of Christopher and 'The Curious Incident' to life?

They used digital elements and lights to show the audience what was going on inside Christopher's head whilst he was having a panic attack. This creates a deeper understanding of the emotions Christopher is going through.

6. What have you learnt about designing a successful stage production from watching 'The curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'?

That even the simplest props can tell a lot about a character and help to tell the story, for example the white boxes on the stage acted as multiple different things, such as a fish tank or a TV.

28/01/19 log questions (project workshop)

1. Outline the scene you are working on and its narrative. Who are its characters and what point is it at the overall production?

The scene I'm working on is the beginning song 'Prologue'. This song introduces the shop and will also introduce the characters in the staging. The three doo-wop girls who kind of narrate the story sing the song.

2. Who is your character and what role/function do they play in the overall production and in your scene?

My character is Chiffon, one of the three doo-wop girls. Her role is mainly a singing role apart from one scene where the three girls play young urchins. They help to narrate the story and make it more dramatic. In the beginning scene she helps to introduce the shop and also foreshadow the events that will happen by referring to the shop as 'horror'.

3. What do you need to communicate about your character and the narrative in your performance and how are you going to do this?

My character, along with the other three girls are around 13/14 years old. They've dropped out of school and spend their time reading magazines and hanging out on Skidrow. As the three girls spend most of their on stage time sitting on the stairs to the shop, To keep in character I pretend to flick through magazines, file my nails or brush and play with my hair. I often turn to the other girls and pretend to show them something in the magazine or laugh about something.

Doo-Wop girl groups research

1. What was the background context to the development of the first 'Girl Groups' and what was different about their music?

Doo-wop girl groups were developed by African American youths in the style of rhythms and blues during the 1940's. They generally sung in harmonies and used hardly any instruments or none at all. They started to gain popularity in the 1950's and became even more successful during the 1960's. (En.wikipedia.org, 2019)

2. What is the social/political importance of these early Girl Groups?

In 1950's America, racism was still massively active, so for these girl groups to begin rising to the top, it was helping fight against racism. 

America in the 1950's

1. Reflecting on the video extracts you have seen and on class discussion, briefly describe the social, political and cultural landscape of america during the 1950's.

In the 1950's, although it was after the second world war and women had already proved that they could do a lot of hard work because they were called in to do the mens jobs whilst they were all at war, women would often stay at home and do the cooking and cleaning. However, the women who did work, would often face sexism and a lot of men didn't want to work with women because they claimed they weren't as quick and efficient as men and always left to get married or have children. 

Marriage was a big deal and there was a large baby boom, about 4 million babies per year in the 1950's (HISTORY, 2019), which meant that more houses were needed. Homes were mass produced into the suburbs as the cities became over populated. Many people moved to the suburbs, desperate to live the 'American dream' after the horrors of the second world war (Freeman, 2019).

Racism was still a large issue in 1950's America and it was starting to enter mainstream american life. Many white Americans pulled their children from their schools and put them into "all-white segregation academies" (HISTORY, 2019).

There was also a cold war going on between the United States and the Soviet Union. America believed that the spread of Communism anywhere meant that it would destroy democracy and capitalism everywhere. The american public worried communists could destroy american society and therefore destroy the american dream. (HISTORY, 2019)

2. How is this shown in the characters of 'Little Shop of Horrors'?

Audrey:

Audrey longs for the american dream, and to live in the suburbs with a husband and children. She reveals in the song 'Somewhere that's Green' that she wishes Seymour would be her husband. She also mentions wanting simple things like a "toaster" and a "washer and a dryer". Wanting these can also reflect on how woman often stayed at home to do the cooking and cleaning. She talks about how Seymour would mow the lawn, which reflects how men generally did all the hard work.

(YouTube, 2019)

Mr Mushnik:
Mr Mushnik is desperate for a successful business. He complains about how late Audrey is and is constantly yelling at Seymour.


Seymour:
Seymour spends the majority of the musical yearning after Audrey. When Audrey 2 (the plant) provides him the option to get Audrey to fall in love with him if he feeds the plant. The more he feeds the plant the more he gets what he wants. This shows the greed.


The doo-wop girls:
There was a rise of doo-wop girl groups during this time so using them in the musical accentuates the time period.