Reassessing My Character

After finding out that our pantomime changed from Jack & the Beanstalk to Aladdin, roles were automatically to a transferred. An example of this would be the role of the Jack's mother to Widow Twankey (Aladdin's mother); pantomimes have many stock characters (these are characters who are so well known by trait e.g. A King's body language is defined by a confident, well postured form and is known to look down their nose at others.

Who am I?	Where am I?	What am I doing?
A young (estimated age of 21), spritely, attitude coated, not overly wealthy, vain, obsessive, lazy but confident spirit of the ring who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. I am rather sarcastic and like to show off. I wear very obvious and bright jewellery and my make-up encompasses my flirty yet respectful nature.	Similar to the Genie, I’m held captive with an object although mine is a ring. Within my living quarters I’m based in a living room which is rather cluttered and has a television as I’m always up to date with the latest shows.	I’m either watching TV, or doing something that benefit me e.g. painting my nails, doing my make-up or eating. I am a compulsive eater due to my increased boredom within the ring.

What do I see?	Why am I here?	How do I feel?
Bright colours, I’m surrounded by red, orange and green.  There is an organised mess within my space, photo frames on the wall containing pictures of my family. There is also a world map which covers 2/3 of the wall.	It is a rite of passage; once 18 I was placed inside a ring and given the responsible of guiding those in need in trying times.	Lonely as the only interaction I encounter is when the ring is rubbed which summons me. Content as I know that I have to do what I do, although I do feel an overwhelming sense of imprisonment

My Story: 

I am the Spirit of the Ring, a guardian if you will. Once living with my family whom I loved dearly, then once I reached 18 had to take the path paved for me. I am one of the more successful spirits, not to mention the most beautiful. Money is something I am not bound by; I live each day as it comes. A lover of food and television, I have a great amount of time to myself. Every few years I put my knowledge to use and train those before they are allocated to a ring. My greatest wish is to be able to roam the universe freely which is why I have a large world map on my living room wall.

More Developmental Activities

We also worked with balloons. The aim of the exercise was to keep the balloons in the air, however, we had to do so in character. At first, we were all distracted by the objective of the game we lost all composure with our characterisation; to help focus ourselves, we then carried on with the same task although in silence. This encouraged greater emphasis on our movements, exaggerated facial expressions, and a sense of teamwork and understanding between characters. Saskia (our villainous character) for example, would try to push balloons down, whereas, Michael (our Emperor) would send his guards to keep them up.

Here is footage for one of the first rehearsals off script that we had. It's incredibly bare as I was still coming to grips with my character as well as my lines.