THE JUNGLE BOOK
In this essay I will tell you about an esthet class high school work at the cathedral school in Skara. We have made a performance about the The jungle book by Alexander Mörk Eidem, but this performs in the future, 2117.
Instead of the Indian jungle, we wanted to illustrate a future of Stockholm where space and time were replaced to make the show more relevant and gain a greater recognition factor for the more modern audience.
Everything takes place on Sergel's square in Stockholm in ruins. Mowgli is hanging out with the outcasts who took care of her when Shere Khan murdered her parents.The human girl Mowgli has many dangers that threatens her. Kaa who hypnotises everything and everyone, Joppe and Noppe, who are two bad monkey brats and last but not least, we have the biggest threat to kill her, Shere Khan. But Mowgli is not entirely alone when she has Baloo and Bagheera who keeps an eye on her. Mowgli has to find herself in a world that has difficulty to accept those who are different.
The purpose of this work is first and foremost that we would like to touch people by using theatre and dance, as this show contained many social problems. But we also do it, of course, because this is our high school work.
All dancers were either monkeys or wolves on stage. The monkeys were brats and wolves outlawed. The excellences were alcoholics, we tried to show it by using us liquor bottles, dirty and broken clothes.Another social problem that we wanted to touch the audience with was the occurrence of bullying. The bullying was mostly from the brats, the monkeys. Mowgli is the odd one and the outcast of the whole show. We also wanted to get some of racism and we got it through this. That Mowgli is a human and not a monkey, they are not of the same breed.
There was also group pressure in the show between monkeys and wolves. At the monkeys (brats) there was a large group pressure from the beginning against Mowgli. Just group pressure is a big problem today and we wanted to reach the audience with this, to find yourself and go your own way and defy society's norm that everyone should be equal.
I have been much involved on stage in my dances. I've been in for it, done my best and really thought it was fun. As a dancer played both wolf and monkey. To be extra clear, we were not the animal’s monkey and wolf literally, we had attributes to the different animals we would carry. Wolf, outlawed, poor. Monkey, brat, prudish. Our dances that we and our dance teachers have choreographed conveyed some emotions, message and places. For example, the “Banan Rebublic” should illustrate a club there you can dance and party.
I were not only on stage when I was dancing, I stayed on the stage after dances to be a statistic for those who played theatre. But we dancers also play a kind of theatre when we dance because we must have a facial expression all the time, which I think is really hard. But that's something I've been working on and have tried to improve.
I thought that the hardest thing on the stage was to keep character all the time and to really get into my role of wolf or monkey. I also helped to get in and out supplies, like stairs. And if something went wrong in a dance at the rehearsals that dropped away, it was easy to give up, because I'm such a person. But when we had an audience and there was a show, I gave it all and when I did wrong I tried to play on the mistakes I made and quickly get back to the choreography.
My participation behind the stage has been in the makeup group. I have worked a lot to correct how the theatres were going to make up themselves. I have painted on templates and written step by step how they should go for their makeup to their character. When I did the makeup I obviously had back thoughts. The first template I did was Tabaqui. There I wanted some more insecure person, but that she still tried in one way. So she got red lipstick and a lot of mascara. Tabaquis hair would be set at the beginning of the show because it would be released later in the show. Then we had the wolf Phao that I wanted very neutral because she would not show off that much. The only thing that would stand out was her bushy eyebrows. I also handled the makeup on the snake Thuu. I wanted her face to be white and that she would have red lenses to illustrate the white cobra. The girl who played Thuu wanted to take home the lenses before the show and try it at home but then she broke them. So it ended that she got to have only one lens on stage, but it didn’t matter because you got the right feeling anyway. Last but not least, I also handled the wolf Akela There I also thought of a neutral makeup, but I wanted to get the blue cold eyes with the light blue colour of the lens to get the real wolf feeling. We also had different make-up tests to make sure everything looks good and that everything goes as it should with lenses etc.We in the makeup group have also taken care of the hair of the different characters. I have also made some requisitions to order and buy make-up for school that we didn’t had before.
The makeup group was also the ones who split the class into the different lodges behind the scene. We pulled an actor and a dancer at a time to blend, so it wouldn’t break when people were to change their clothes. Then we also made boxes of names for each person in the class so they could have their clothes and their supplies.
When we in the makeup group finished our work faster than the other workgroups, I also helped the stage group to build on trees as we made of paper and glue. I also went to the costume group and helped them with sewing gloves to all the wolves, sewing military clothes for dancers, gluing and sewing feathers to the plumes we used in the jazz dance and I also sewed flags for the war dance we had. We used gloves and black nail polish for the wolves to make it more threatening and the black nail polish would infect chlorine. The plumes in the jazz did we made with white feathers to make it as big and filling as possible. We surrounded Joppe and Noppe with them in the jazz dance to illustrate a kind of a dream world.
After the production, the cleaning was left. We in makeup group were responsible for cleaning all the lodges behind the stage first and foremost. I dusted, swept and dried the floors. Dusted the shelves, washed mirrors, emptied paper bins, cleaned make-up cabinets and refrigerators. When I finished, I helped to erase the scenography. I helped to carry out parts of the ramp and the building stand that we used in this show.
To reach the result of this performance, have we worked hard with teachers during the class and even in the afternoons and evenings, with those who has been able to stay. The teachers have also given us notes after each stage and dance, which has helped us a lot in our process.
We have done a lot of work and cooperation together, which has led to a lot of twitching between us in class, but I think it was necessary so everyone got something small as they wanted.
The meeting with the audience is always something special. You noticed with both theatres and dancers that everyone raises a snap compared to the rehearsals. I'm always very nervous when it's time for the audience but it usually leaves after for some dances. The audience is very important for both theatre and dancers because you expect and really appreciates response, in the form of applause, laughter or similar.
I think that the final result of our production was really good, I am incredibly pleased and grateful, both about myself and my classmates. We have received a very good response from our dear and comments like "It's the best show I've ever seen."
We raised ourselves for each performance and we got more energy the more positive response we received from the audience. Though teachers, classmates and audiences, it really became the best production. It’s with a great patience and work that we have been able to achieve though this great cooperation, alone we are strong, together we are stronger!
“Oh boy you got much to learn, bananas make the world go round.”
Oh boy we got much to learn, but esteter make the world go round!
Namn: Frida Berlin
Klass: ES14
Datum: 11/05-17
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