Alexandra Green: Unit 5&6 Research

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

1. Outline the narrative of "Curious Incident".

The narrative of Curious Incident is entirely from the point of view of a 15 year old boy with severe autism. Act 1 begins with Christopher standing over a dog with a pitchfork stuck in it. After being falsely accused of murdering the dog Christopher decides to solve the mystery of who killed Wellington been though his dad, Ed, firmly tells him not to. He records all his findings in a book and keeps his counsellor/ T.A Sibohan updated. He is forced to step out of his comfort zone and speaks to all the neighbours seeing if they know anything about what happened to Wellington. This is how he meets Mrs Alexander who reveals that Mr Shears (the ex husband of Wellington's owner Mrs Shears) was having an affair with Christopher's mother, Judy, who he believed to be dead. Ed finds Christopher's book and confiscates it, knowing he is getting too close to the truth of what happened to both his mother and Wellington. Christopher makes it his mission to find it, he is successful but also finds dozens of letters addressed to him seemingly from his mother although they are dated after the date Christopher believed she died. It is revealed that Christopher's mother is alive and had in reality, run away to London with Mr Shears. Ed tells Christopher about the fact that he'd begun to fall for Mrs Shears and had been so angry when she rejected him that he'd stabbed Wellington in the heat of the moment. The mystery of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is solved but Christopher decided to go to London to find his mother, believing that if his father was capable of killing Wellington, he was capable of killing him too. Act 2 begins with Christopher going on a very stressful trip to London trying to get to live there permanently as he no longer feels safe at home with his father. This is much to the dismay of Mr Shears. Christopher's dad turns up trying to convince him to move back to Swindon with him. After Mr Shears assaults Christopher his mother breaks up with him and decides to move back to Swindon with Christopher who has an A-level maths exam coming up. In the end Christopher's father apologises to Christopher for the lies ans killing Welllington. He gifts Christopher with a golden retriever puppy as a peace offering. It is revealed that Christopher achieved an A* in his A-level maths paper and Sibohan breaks the fourth wall, telling the audience that the book Christopher researched his investigation in was turning into the play the audience is watching. The play ends with Christopher living with his mum but going to see the puppy who he has named Sammy. He tells Sibohan that he thinks because he got through this he can get through anything. He asks for reassurance however Sibohan doesn't answer. The stage blacks.

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

Christopher: Christopher is the 15 year old protagonist. The play is from his point of view. Christopher has severe autism and is exceptionally good at maths, getting an A* in Maths A-level 2 years early. He also loves physics and everything space related. His life ambition is to become an astronaut.

Ed: Ed is Christopher's father. He works as a plumber. His ex-wife Judy, Christopher's mother, left him for their next-door neighbour Roger Shears, he chose to tell Christopher that she'd died of a heart attack and he hides the letters she sends to Christopher. He is romantically interested in Mrs Shears, the ex-wife on the man his wife ran off with, however she doesn't share these feelings. He is the one who stabbed Wellington.

Sibohan: Sibohan is Christopher's TA/counsellor. She helps Christopher a lot however she will always agree with Ed's judgement as Christopher's father. She is the person Christopher trusts the most and she resembles a mother figure to him.

Judy: Judy is Christopher's mother and ex-wife of Ed. She moved from Swindon to London 2 years ago with her boyfriend Roger Shears who she cheated on Ed with. She has not seen Christopher for 2 years however, she writes him a letter every week. She doesn't know that Christopher believes she's dead

Roger/Mr Shears: Mr Shears is Judy's boyfriend. He had an affair with her that ended his marriage. They live together in west London and have done for 2 years. He is a jealous man with violent tenancies. He dislikes Christopher and cannot understand his autism.

Mrs Shears: Mrs Shears is Mr Shears' ex-wife. She is the owner of Wellington- the dog who is found dead at the beginning of the play. She is Ed's romantic interest however she doesn't reciprocate his feelings. She is bitter about her ex-husband and greatly dislikes Judy.

Mrs Alexander: Mrs Alexander is Christopher's elderly neighbour. She knows the neighbourhood gossip. She is the person who tells Christopher that his mother ran off with Mr Shears and that despite what his father told him, she is not dead.

3&4. Discuss how the following production elements are used to support the narrative and reflect the thoughts and feelings of Christopher and his autism

SET
The Curious Incident stage is very simplistic when you look at it at first. The floor and walls are a black grid with white lines separating the squares:

There are also white blocks that run along the perimeter of the 3 stage walls. Like the grid lines these light up and change colour. Although this initially looks very simple there are all sorts of details that you can't see until they are used on stage. For example, there are draws and small trapdoors in the walls and floor that different props are kept and taken from throughout the show. There is also a table that slots into the wall and blends in with the grid so it seems like it just appears out of nowhere. There are also notches in the wall that are used in the train station scene and during the more abstract, physical sections of the play. The front section of the stage also lifts and is used during a scene in act 2 to represent a train track.

COSTUME

The costumes in Curious Incident support the narrative very well in a naturalistic manner. The character of Christopher wears clothes that a normal teen boy would wear: tracksuit bottoms, a t-shirt and a hoodie. His costume represents him well as he speaks often about how he likes the colours red and blue, he wears a red t-shirt and a blue hoodie. An additional detail to Christopher's costume is that each actor who plays Christopher is allowed to select a pair of blue sneakers so no two actors play Christopher in the same shoes, metaphorically representing that each actor will play Christopher differently from each other and show the audience their perspective as Christopher, they literally put themselves in his shoes. The costumes further support the narrative as shown by the character of Eddie, who wears a dark green polo shirt and jeans. His polo shirt is his work uniform showing he is a hard-working character however the jeans help to emphases the fact he is also quite casual in manner. Some costumes were actually put on on stage for example, an ensemble members put on a high-vis jacket during the station scene to represent the fact she was now a different character. This helped incorporate the costume element into the non naturalistic style of the play and it really worked even though the costume pieces themselves matched the characters in a naturalistic manner.

PROJECTIONS & LIGHTING

The lighting in Curious Incident was extremely creative and was an enormous part of the narrative of the show. The lights were particularly significant and over-whelming in the scene in act 2 where Christopher uses the tube. There was a lot of strobe lighting being used as well as projections being displayed onto the back wall of the stage including projections of "Mind The Gap", various different adverts and every so often, a silhouette of a dog running and clearing all the ads before they popped up again. The sound and lights got more intense until Christopher arrived at his destination at which point it went totally silent. This was really effective in keeping the narrative focused on the way Christopher sees the world as someone with autism. The use of lighting and projections in show highlighted to the audience how it might feel to an autistic person tying to get around simple every day activities such as going on a train.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SOUND EFFECTS

The special effects were vital in supporting the narrative. The scene in Paddington was the best example of this although examples can be found throughout the show. In the scene Christopher has a fit and as his feeling of being overwhelmed escalates so does the music and sound and a white noise sound effect is added. They also used a variety of projections on the wall, as I mentioned above with the scene in Paddington.

PROPS

The props used were very effective and were used in both natural and non naturalistic ways. Props such as the exercise book Christopher is using to record the investigation of who killed Wellington in is very naturalistic, it is just a normal exercise book. However, props such as the train set are more abstract. While the prop itself is a normal model train set the way it is used makes it more implicit. Christopher builds and adds to the track at different points and all the while doing it, never actually mentions the fact that he is building a train set. He retrieves the props from different areas of the stage, including from small trapdoors in the floor of the stage.

SMOKE EFFECTS

The best example of how smoke effects were used during the show is during the scene where Christopher tries to catch a tube from Paddington. While waiting for the train Christopher attempts to retrieve his rat Toby from where he's escaped to on the track.The use of smoke really helped to heighten the realism of the scene and make the audience feel that a train really was coming and Christopher was actually in danger. It also helped to make the stage seem like a dirty, smokey tube station although no set pieces were added.

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

I think the production elements were hugely successful in bringing the story of Curious Incident to life. Every different element added another layer to the narrative and helped the audience to develop a much deeper connection to the character of Christopher because of all the effects to make the audience see the world in the same overwhelming fashion as Christopher does. All the elements worked well together and helped to create a narrative on top of the actors telling the story on stage. The way they used the stage, the set, the props, the lighting, sound, projections and even each other is what made the story original and engaging and overall an unforgettable story.

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

I've learned that there isn't 1 element which is more important than the others. For example, lighting isn't more important than set or props because it's the way all the different elements come together that makes a stage production successful. To design a successful stage production you need to be able to ensure that all elements are effective together because if one of them falls short the overall production will not work as it should.

Little Shop Of Horrors

Little Shop Of Horrors: The Background

15/1/19

1. What is the background context to the musical Little Shop Of Horrors? Research original and subsequent versions and its style.

Little shop of horrors was originally a B movie made in 1960 in black and white. It featured Charles B. Griffith, Jack Nicholson and Jackie Joseph. In 1986 it was made into a musical movie film after premiering off-Broadway in 1982. It was written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and ran for 5 years before being made into the film where it was directed by Frank Oz. The musical features 3 girls as a narrating chorus. They are the embodiment of classic 60s Doo-Wop girls like the Supremes, this 60s style and theme runs throughout the both the musical film and stage musical. However, some of the plot-points were changed from the film, like the dentist being stabbed with his dentist tool (1960) to being suffocated with laughing gas (1986) or Audrey being abused in the musical and 1986 film.

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

1960 B-Movie:

Written by Charles B. Griffith, directed by Roger Corman. It was originally thought to be based on a 1932 story "Green Thoughts" by John Collier about a man eating plant. However, it is possible that Griffith may have been influenced by a 1905 story "The Flowering of A Strange Orchid"/ 1956 story "The Reluctant Orchid".

1986 Musical film:
Written by Howard Ashman, lyrics by Alan Menken, directed by Frank Oz. Ashman and Menken worked together primarily on Disney films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid. Menken alone wrote the music for Broadway musicals "Sister Act" and "Newsies".

(Off)Broadway Musical:
Premiered off-Broadway in 1982 and ran for 5 years. Opened on Broadway before being adapted into the popular film in 1986.

3a. What is the central story off "Little Shop of Horrors"?
The story of Little Shop of Horrors begins with a poor, clumsy orphan Seymour who works and lives in a flower shop in the bad part of time "Skid Row". He works for shop owner Mr Mushnik and works with the sweet but ditzy Audrey. It is revealed that for a few weeks before, Seymour found a strange looking plant after it suddenly appear after an unexpected total eclipse of the sun. After seeing how it improved business Seymour tries to figure out what makes the sick plant, who he's dubbed "Audrey II", thrive and completely by accident realises that blood is the one thing it responds to. Thing escalate from here with Seymour being manipulated by Audrey II into killing people, including Audrey's dentist boyfriend, Mr Mushnik and eventually, by accident, Audrey. The show ends differently depending on the version, in some the plant overtakes the world, in others Seymour kills it.

3b. What aspects of American culture does it include/refer to?
Little Shop of Horrors deals with issues of class struggle and poverty with the characters all being very poor and living in the bad end of town. Additionally, Audrey represents the typical 1960s housewife goals of most women at the time- wanting to have things that seem very standard these days like a washing machine, a TV and kids. The overall allegory of the story however, is don't let your greed overcome/ get you up, in the case of Little Shop, this is quite literal.

Little Shop of Horrors: B Movies

1. What are the stereotypical characteristics of the "B movie"?

General characteristics:

-Melodramatic

-Unbelievable story-lines

-Cheaply made

-Horror/ Sci-Fi elements

-Bad/ wooden acting

-Cartoon-style trailer

King Kong Trailer:

-Dramatic music

-Fake looking set/props

-Typical comic book/ cartoon style font

-Game show style voice speaking the voice over

-Stereotypical woman screaming

Posters:

-Catchy tagline

-Comic/ cartoon design

-Giant things like plants, spiders, apes which terrorise people

-Often has an underlying sexual theme (i.e half naked woman/ damsel in distress)

2. What characteristics of a typical B movie does the 1960 Little Shop of Horrors trailer have?

-Dramatic voice over

-Dramatic music

-Comic style font

-Wooden or over the top acting

-Woman screaming/ fainting melodramatically

-Sexualised woman

-Cheaply made/ unrealistic plant

3. What characteristics of a typical B movie does the 1986 trailer of Little Shop of Horrors have?

-Dramatic voice over

-Dramatic music

-Comic style font

-Wooden and over the top acting
-Sexualised woman

Little Shop of Horrors: America in the 1950s

I highlighted the sheet given and wrote all the points relevant to Little Shop Of Horrors. We also watched a series of Betty White adverts which really emphasised the view of woman in the 50s as being household and beauty objects.