So… This week has been an experience. The world has gone into a pandemic and due to the new COVID-19 virus all our performances have been canceled and we have to go home as we will be put on lock down. Our first reaction was, what are we going to do about our finale performances. We basically have been asked to record everything we have so far and they will use the recording as a way of grading us. For me and Shannon we had quite a bit of material so we were fine with that however, we felt sad that we didn’t get to actually perform. We needed a good 20 minutes of the performances so we decided to create one of our ideas up last minute, granted it wasn’t as developed as we may have liked it to be, but the lectures have been amazing and understand that it wasn’t performance-ready and they are going to take that into consideration when marking.
We started our rehearsals by finding a way to piece that scenes we had together, yes it wasn’t up to the standard we wanted bit it flowed and made sense the running order was:
- Opening scene- ‘Circle of food’
- Dialogue about what takeaway we wanted to order
- argument into the song ‘Therapy’
- dialogue whilst talking about food and the TV
- (possible creation of fridge confessions section would go here)
- more dialogue in our bedrooms
- perform ‘eyes of food’
- confessions section
- coping with being fat ‘Fat bitches rap’
- dialogue ending about what we ordered
It was very ‘slapdash’ but it worked and it showed us what we created in the best way due to the circumstances. The three main parts that we had to work on were the choreography to ‘eyes of food’, creating fridge confessions, and setting the ‘fat bitches’ rap. We had a lot of work cut out for us which meant long and stressful rehearsals for the next couple of days but I know we will be able to pull it off the best way we can.
Eyes of food choreography
This song is about being in love with food so the dance needed to be cheesy and actually involve the food. It didn’t take us very long to create this dance as its not a very long song and believe it or not it is very easy to sing and dance to food. We wanted it to start off slow and then break out into a dance number. Whist working out the movement we had an idea when we sing the last line of the song we start eating the food so that it sounds muffled in the mics like our mouths are full, again this adds a comedic aspect. We did not record the dance however we recorded a rehearsal before the actual recording for the finale if you skip to 11:37 on the video you will see the movement.
The creation of Fat Bitches
This rap we use as a coping mechanism in the performance, a way of dealing with weight, the love of food, etc… It was created to make audience participation they would get up and dance and follow our movements as a way of achieving the aspect of everyone relating to the situations addressed throughout the show. We wanted the rap to be very funny and have a high energy level so that the audience could match that level. Shannon took the lead on this song as I had my own solo, also she is a way better rapper than me I’m the lyrics guru, in this section We wanted freestyle movement in this section however we did create a little bit of movement for the beginning part then we spring off into freestyle, then we go back to a choreographed section for the audience to follow us. Again due to the rush of things we do not have a video of us practicing the rap it is the video if you skip to 15:42 you will see what we hand in mind. We also finished the lyrics to this song this week, it matched our aim perfectly as in the song we talk about finding ways to be okay with body image, overeating and indulging which is our aim and it also tells the audience that it is okay to feel this way it makes light of a bad situation. We decided in involve a rap to be original, and we took ideas from video’s we watched when researching as we don’t know a lot about rapping. (Research & Methodology)
Fat Bitches Lyrics
Hey here we go here we go fat bitches here we go….
The fat bitches are here, and we are coming to stay, can’t tell you why we look like this way, we like food really really like food
So, this is why we are singing to you
I’m Shannon, she’s Bree not like the cheese don’t be silly
I said fat bitches that’s what we are
We’re not offending anyone else but our arse
Come on, come on come on we gotta rap rap this song
When I say fat, you say bitches
Fat ….
Fat…
Trying do this show but oh no all I got in my head is maccies yo
I said F to the O to the O to the D, food in my head what else can I see,
Fat bitches yeah, we are the best, more to hold when you’re at rest,
I don’t really know what else to say but I’m gunna do the fat dance anyway…
We want the audience to get up on their feet… we’re gunna do the fat dance follow me…
Shake to the right then shake to the left
To the right, left to the right left
Put your hand on your hips and give em a twist
Please join in otherwisw your knickers will get a twist
We are going to give the fat dance another go
3,2,1 YO
Now you’ve got the fat dance Yeah that’s it
Brittany stewart & Shannon Burrows. (2020) Fat Bitches. Worcester – Backing track available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTOpemD2QTA (accessed 14/5/2020)
Fridge confessions
This was a scene we were so looking forward to creating as we had so many different ideas. Fridge confessions were about bringing a fridge full of food to life, so basically the fridge would become a character in the performance. One of the ways we wanted to do this was to turn the fridge into a puppet using string and live cameras. The name of the fridge was Frenchie, he was a good and evil character in the performance we would reveal to the audience our deepest darkest thought about body image, weight and food addictions using the animated fridge to also keep it light-hearted. We did not get to make this scene the way we wanted to so we created a sample of maybe what it might be like so that the audience and our lectures would have a small idea of where we were going with this idea. This was the scene I was most looking forward to creating so do to it halfway felt disappointing, So the way we decided to do it was for me to control the fridge and become Frenchie, Frenchies personality as said before is good and evil He will convince you to stick on your diet but then also make you eat the bad things and make you feel even worse about it, as you can see this was a dark path we were going down. I think going down that dark path was a good choice because our performance is so light-hearted we needed that change to keep our audience interested. We created a script that we had to use in the recording as it was too much to learn in two days but I think the illusion was still there.
We then decided that Frenchie the Fridge needed his own song, we used a song from the rocky horror show called ‘feed me’. For those who are not familiar with it its a song that the killer plant sings to get someone to feed it humans so it can grow. You can see why it was a perfect fit we changed the lyrics to get the fridge to manipulate Shannon into eat the cake and to make her feel terrible. I think we could have gone further with this but with the time we had it was the best we could do.
Eat me lyrics
Frenchie The Fridge (Bree)
Eat it
Eat it
Eat it
Eat it Shannon
Eat it till you get fat
That’s right gal.
You can eat it
Eat it shannon
Eat it all night long
Because if you eat it shannon
You can rock a muffin top
Shannon
I don’t want a muffin top
I don’t want to get any chubbier
How am I meant get slimmer of the week
If I eat this delicious cake
Bree
Ill make it worth your while, Shannon
Shannon
Huh?
Bree
Why do you think fat people are always jolly because greasy food makes you happy nobody is happy on a diet
Shannon
You’re a Fridge, just a indest fridge.
Bree
Do I like like just a fridge im everything you want in life your only friend shannon, I can be anything I want to be
Shannon
Like what?
Bree
Take over your be everything you need
The only thing that matters
Is Frenchie the fridge.
Would you like a chocolate cake
Or a dip into the cookie jar
How about a date with Mcdonalds
Your gonna eat it
How’d ya like a bag of grated cheese
Cheese on every meal
Red Leicester is your fave
Your gonna eat it
Im your fridge
Im your friend
Im your only Bae
Take a chance and eat the cake
You know you really really really really really really really really really really want the choccy cake
Come on shannon Don’t be a bore
Eat the cake and let your taste buds explore
Show them your chubby love handles
Your gonna eat it
Shannon
What have I done
What have I donnneeee
I ate the cake, because I love caloriess
Should I tell bree
Or hide the evidence.
Alan Menken. (1986) Little shop of horrors feed me Seymour. United States Warner Bros.
Rehearsal Video of Fridge confessions
Tim’s feedback
We have shown Tim this scene and he really enjoyed it. He said that for the time we had we did a really good job of showing a snippet of the ideas we had in mind. He gave us a few notes to think about which were:
- People aren’t used to this, explore it being out of people’s comfort zones. Push music theater
- Don’t throw away lines give them to the audience
- Record and show are learning is there
- We are delivering a show, two intentions in a room.
- Feels natural, good style for us
- Fits on
- Originality has got better
- Likes the rap- audience interaction
- We also need to start to look at the little islands we’ve got., we need to explore links
- It will happen natirialing
- Don’t forget the foreshadowing
- Versions of ourselves not characters he likes
- Ourselves in quotes
- The odd couple- felix and ?. Close proximity. It’s fun, temperament.
- It’s got a good arch
- Do we have dark places? What’s the deeper message?
- Take it too far that’s it not funny- Stuart Lee comedian. Little bit dangerous
- Fridge is the voice on the shoulder
- Person can’t say it your same
- Danger- push it Forster
- Nicely crafted world explore a kick through
- Slagging off-people there vs people at home
- Push out comfort context
- Even if it’s a glimmer
- Think how can you use audience reactions- play with it
- Meanwhile- improvises our doing them selves
- Who’s line is it anyway
The final rehearsal
The final rehearsal before the recording went very well we used the drama studio and lighting to just give our audience the ideas of what it would have been. Here is a recording of the full rehearsal with all the elements fitted together.
The recording of the performance
The performance went very well the audience seemed to enjoy and laugh which is the reaction we wanted, we wanted our audience to have fun. We got some of our friends to take pictures during the performance. I enjoyed doing it and I think that it went really well. The parts did fit together nicely, however, I think that if we got the chance to do it again we would find better ways to fit the performance together I just don’t feel that it was up to the standard we wanted it to be. The lectures seemed to enjoy it and join in on audience interaction which I think helped boost our confidence on stage. I think it would of been better if we would of been able to have our radio mics and we were obstructed by the hand held mics but the again I think the lectures will take that in consideration.
Reflection
So this week has been good because we got a lot of work done and i’m proud of how quickly we made a piece. It is also very sad we won’t be able to do our performance. All together we created a good 20 minutes which was excellent as it will give the lectures more to go off. If I had to pick a favorite part it would be the fridge confessions because I love the change in mood and it was fun to become my inner demon and be in control of the inner demon. If we had to do this again I would definitely work on this scene because I think there is more to go into a lot deeper thinking and it would give us more material to use. In terms of tasks next week I think we need to create an actual script to show the lectures what we wanted to create but did not get a chance to.
Final Performance Project 