My name is Samantha Jocelyn; I am an International Baccalaureate Diploma student. To enhance my studies, I’m currently taking a higher level Theater Arts class at the local Youth Theatre in Indonesia. I heard you were in need of assistance in directing a pantomime play of Cinderella by Damian Trasler, David Lovesy, and Steve Clark (TLC Creative). This prompted me to write this letter and offer you my support.
Pantomime is a unique form of art and with basic information, a brief history of this genre and fundamentals on how this type of play is performed, I am confident it will help you direct the play.A solid foundation of any project is knowledge and that’s what I’m offering. I have thoroughly researched the origin and technique of pantomime. The word “pantomime,” means a form of entertainment, commonly performed during the Christmas Season.
So you might want to choose to perform the play during this time. Origins of pantomime or “Panto,” dates back to the middle ages, coinciding with customs of the Italian “Commedia dell’Arte.From being a feature that describes solo comic performances of the Bacchanalia, a wild and mystic festival given in honor of the Roman and Greek god Bacchus, performed as an after-piece to a long evening’s rendition of humor and tragedy. Pantomime plays showed permanence in evolving throughout the 18th century and by 1800, took its rightful place among the arts.
It had worldwide popularity. In l868, a production of “Humpty Dumpty,” played 1200 performances in New York, making it the most successful pantomime in American history. Pantomime is predominately designed for entertaining children.Elements that prefect a successful pantomime is a strong story line. The fairy tale or fable must be retold well, with all the necessary basics of good versus evil, with the “happy ever after” ending emerging victoriously. Simply stated, a pantomime must be entertaining throughout, play including musical numbers, especially where children are the primary audience.
Frequently, it is the first live theatre seen by children, and they’re first impression of the arts is key to shaping a lifelong passion. This creates a tremendous responsibility on the director to present a memorable performance.Aside from being presented during Christmas season, pantomimes are also performed during Easter. The director needs to take these factors into consideration for scheduling practices for the play, arranging meetings with staff; such as costume designer, make-up artist, and obviously the actors.
Fundamentals and the history of pantomime has a role in understanding the roots of the play, however the director’s job is paramount. As the director, you are solely responsible for the composition, pictographic, movement, rhythm, and pantomimic dramatization.The director must interpret and analyze the script with total creativity, constantly considering the production’s budget. Before any production decisions are made or even discussed, a key questions must be answered, “Who is your target audience? ” As mentioned previously, pantomime, originally and presently, geared for children’s entertainment.
In the play’s opening segment, Buttons, addresses the audience by saying, “Hello boys and girls! ” Sufficient to say, you have a house full of wide-eyed, excited children.You’re decisions, as a director, on the theatrical elements of your play must be suitable for a young, impressionable audience. The specifics of your position begin with evaluating the arrangement of the play and how the dramatic action is incorporated, a primary function. In Cinderella, the cause-to-effect relationship of incidents faced by the characters unified the play’s dramatic actions. Once this is clarified, the next step, is to identify the setting of the play. Traditional pantomime contexts are positioned in older settings, your version of Cinderella should follow suit.
The props, backdrops, and costumes should be colorful and timely. Before constructing the set, be aware that pantomimes are usually performed on a proscenium stage. The stage has two wings on both sides with half curtains and a main curtain. You’ll need to utilize the area of the stage accordingly to project a proper pantomime.
Since part of a director’s job is to coordinate with the staff, you should discuss the stage settings with the set designer. Be sure this person understands your foresight of the setting, that you want it to be “traditional. ” Also, explain in details, your visualization of each scene.Each setting should compliment the theme and time period.
Emphasize, to the set designer, along with the prop people, that the props must be of that particular time period. A mythical period of a simple girl transformed to a beautiful princess, a majestic castle and common townspeople. Your set designer and team are essential in recreating the scripts demands. As stated in the script, the play would start with Buttons addressing the audience and giving them some information about the characters, indicating that the play does not start at the very beginning of the story.The actual story starts after the introduction of the characters, and with the entrance of Cinderella and the Baron on stage.
This narrative format is typical of pantomime. The audience is comfortable with knowing something of the characters beforehand, especially effective for younger viewers. Subsequent to that, the major conflict and the theme of the play is identified. The conflict in any entertainment genre is the key element. It offers additional interest to the play and animation for the audience.Cinderella is basically about good against evil, (necessary criteria for pantomime) the discord of the story is when Cinderella is consistently exploited by her stepsisters, and not allowed to attend the Prince’s ball.
Conducting casting calls is the next step. Choosing the right performers for the play makes constitutes a success or a failure. In every pantomime, there is a stock of characters such as the dame, principal boy, principal girl, and the simpletons. It is a daunting and stressful task to decide which candidate is perfect for the part.The director must know explicit qualities of each character, to assist in the selection.
For instance, the dame is usually a good-hearted character, traditionally played by a man. In Cinderella, there are two dames; but they are not your typical dames, they’re the ‘baddies’ in this play. Then there are Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters, Listeria and Salmonella. The ugly stepsisters are the comedic heart of the play, so make certain the actors you cast can be funny, but heart-warming. So men should be playing the role of Listeria and Salmonela, without being made look like transvestites.
The actor chosen for Prince Charming should be handsome, project fearlessness and sensitivity. As the fairy tale goes, Prince Charming is the main, male character and clearly, Cinderella is the main, female character. She should be sweet, feminine, kind, and plucky so be sure that the actress performing Cinderella portrays these characteristics as believable as possible. Because it is a modern audience, you don’t want Cinderella to look rather “wishy-washy,” children are very impressionable. Buttons, however, is an archetype of a ‘Simple Simon’, a good character who has the audience’s sympathy.
He frequently chats to the audience alone on the stage and would ask them to greet him each time he appears and sometimes asks for the audience’s help in looking after a particular thing. It is important for Buttons to establish a good relationship with the audience; thus, it is also important to find an actor who is suitable for the role and could play it whatever the reaction of the audience would be. Other characters included in the play are; Baron Hardup, Dandini, the Fairy Godmother, the Major Domo, and the chorus. Baron Hardup, Cinderella’s father, who is deep in debt because of his wife and stepdaughters.
The actor should be able to convey aristocracy, despite the simplicity of his clothes. Dandini is the prince’s servant who switched places with the prince so he could find the woman who would love him for himself, not as a Prince. The Fairy Godmother is the immortal being in this play. The role should be played by a person that looks bubbly and charming.
The Major Domo’s character should be able to portray a person who stands proud despite being a servant in the palace. Every character is important, the chorus should be chosen wisely and by they’re musical ability.After the castings, you should start with the read-through rehearsals. Rehearsals could be done in parts, in scenes, as well as a whole.
As the director it’s essential to manage time effectively. You may direct the rhythm, vocabulary, and tempo of speeches while in rehearsal. Always keeping in mind that in a pantomime, the immortals, in this case the fairy godmother, usually spoke in rhymes. Make each comical occurrence work within the boundaries of the original script. The costumes and make-up of the characters, in a pantomime, are equally as important as the characters themselves.For the ugly sisters, you may want to give them exaggerated clothing.
Utilize the costumer designer’s expertise. For their make-up, tell the make-up artist that thick and heavy make-up should be put on and that manly features of these characters should be highlighted to let the audience know that they are men. Prince Charming’s character should have a few samples of royal clothing designs. Choose, with the costume designer, one that is the most appropriate for the actor, to wear. I don’t think he would not need a lot of make-up, just enough to accentuate his features.
Since her stepsisters repress her, the costume of Cinderella should be a typical dress worn by a lower class and her make-up should be simple and light. The ball gown should be stunning, making all heads turn when she walks into the room. Buttons wears a uniform and is also works for the ugly stepsisters; I suggest you give him butler type costume and a hat. Like the prince, his make-up should also be light and should emphasize his manly features.
The costume of Baron Hardup should be simple yet still expressing nobility. His make-up should also be light, highlighting his manly features.Dandini’s costume, should be posh, but should be less royal than that of the prince. Major Domo and other servants should also wear posh clothes similar to Dandini’s, but each should signify that there are differences in their positions. The townsfolk should be given simple clothes, the guests at the ball should be given formal clothes, and the monster should be given a scary costume.
Discuss the design of their costumes with the costume designer. Their make-up should be light and simple, and for men, it should emphasize their manly features. The Fairy Godmother’s costume should be enchanting and colorful.Wands and wings signify these beings so do not forget these. Light make-up should also be applied while eye shadow should be artistically applied near the eye are to let the character look more enchanting.
The character’s movement, blocking, and stage directions are vital in the presentation. Information about these is provided in the script but not all are detailed; therefore, I would have to fill you in with some more pantomime basics. An important fact that you need to keep in mind is that good pantomime characters always exit to the right and the bad ones exit to the left.However, chasing scenes are different. Whoever is being chased should still exit according to their character’s exit and the ones chasing could follow even if they are good or bad in the story.
Another important thing that should be considered is the sound effects and the music that would be played, as well as the lighting of the stage that would be utilized during every scene. The sound effects and the music are already given in the script. The lighting of the stage, however, should put emphasis on the setting and indicate the time of the day.Additionally, it should give different effects for different scenes in the play, like a fantasy effect when the fairy godmother grants Cinderella’s deepest desire, and a scary effect when the characters is lost in the woods. Talk to the person in charge of the lighting about how you would like each scene to be lighted. After instructing the staff, you may do some general rehearsals, technical rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and previews for professional theatres before the big night.
Keep all these in mind and your play will surely be a success Hope I have helped you. Good luck!
