Gloucester Welcomes Refugees- Halloween spooktacular!
Gloucester Welcomes Refugees- Halloween spooktacular!
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The Backstory:
The Backstory:
Gloucester welcomes refugees raises money for refugees in Gloucester and one of their team contacted the higher education PA department at Gloucester college to help them raise money at Halloween.
They commissioned us to put on a mix of an escape room and Halloween walkthrough type experience, and were incredibly open to any ideas we had, so we all started brainstorming and Misty started writing a script so we would have a starting point. We researched and brainstormed the type of performance we would put on and found examples to base ours off in our local (ish) area:
We then adjusted the techniques to fit our storyline and characters and we had the start of a performance!
Here is our first meeting with the rep from Gloucester welcomes refugees, where we explain our ideas, get some more information, and get a plan started:
https://youtu.be/tZYUy0i003o?si=4K9VOgWtZfxHXV3Z
The Script:
The Script:
This script was written specifically for this project so it means that alot of the issues productions usually face (finding the right number of actors, fitting actors into the role, finding an appropriate space etc), were avoided. Each one of us had a character built around who we wanted that character to be (e.g. I played a little girl trapped in a dolls body) and the script was written to accommodate the space we had available to us (the college theatre), so there was no need for the usual issues like multirole-ing, quick changes or constraints with the area, and so we had an easy to follow guide on how to create this performance, wrapped up into a script!
The Space:
The Space:
The theatre is a 10x10m (?) black box type, with lighting and sound rigging at the top, 4 full sides of curtains and staging can be put up around the space easily. There is also a costume cupboard, props cupboard/back room and a pink room that all connect together, so our original plan was to utilise 3 of the 4 rooms: start with the pink room in the back, lead them through to the props cupboard in the middle and have the main theatre as the final room, having them exit via the fire escape in the theatre. However, when we asked if the pink room would be available, we were told that it would be unlikely, so we changed our plans to have the escape room take place in the theatre and backroom only and leave the pink room out of it. We would create corridors to guide people through the rooms and split the theatre into two rooms, still allowing for the 3 puzzle rooms intended.
However, because of how much space we were using as a performance area, we had very little in ways of backstage space. Usually we have 3 out of 4 sides of the theatre to use, as well as the whole backroom as backstage space. But this time, 2 of the corridors were filled with chairs, staging and other theatre stuff that we needed to store somewhere, 1 ½ corridors were part of the walkways and the whole backroom was being used as a puzzle room, so we had to squeeze as much backstage space as possible into the few spaces we had left in the theatre. We found that by sectioning off the costume cupboard, genie lift and space around that area, it provided enough backstage area for us to hide and move round if needed, but also provided a good emergency escape route in case the fire exit was unavailable (all part of the risk assessment!) so worked well as a cornered off space where the audience couldn’t go.
The Set:
The Set:
The set was a challenge... because of the nature of our location (a college theatre AKA, a shared space), all our set had to be put up and taken down after almost every rehearsal, as we took up the whole theatre and other classes needed to use it. We first had to figure out how to separate the rooms. We debated between partitioning boards and stage pieces to create corridors and rooms but eventually settled on using a mix of green partitioning boards, and old covid screens to make the room walls. We asked around and rounded up as many boards as possible from other departments in the college and started plotting out the size and shapes of the room. We then used tape to mark the ‘wall’ positions on the floor, so that we had a clear guide to where our set needed to be placed everytime we had to put it up and take it down. We marked up the theatre space but realised that the curtains that would be used as one of the walkways, was very narrow. Having a narrow corridor not only poses a health and safety risk, but it also means that anyone in a wheelchair cannot use the escape room as they won't fit. This limited our customer base and so we needed to find a way to extend the curtains. Moving them was not an option as they are permanently fixed to the railing at the top, but we could line things up to hold the curtains back and create the space needed. We had no more boards or screens, but after fiddling around with which direction they had to face, we found that using the foldaway chairs did the job, we just needed to mark up any trip hazards with warning tape and ensure that the space was wide enough for wheelchair access (at least 32 inches wide).
Where and When:
Where and When:
We had to consider where the performance would take place. Discussing what was appropriate, cost effective and available to us on the day. The obvious place was in the theatre at college. It is available to us, is equipped with sound and lighting rigs, has a large space and we have access to props, costumes and set on site. Since we would not be required to travel for this performance, the theatre was the best venue and so we chose to perform there.
We discussed when the performance would take place. Because of the nature of the performance, we could not exceed more than 5 audience members, as then the puzzles and problems would become too easy to solve and groups could not be effectively controlled. Therefore, we would have to perform multiple times throughout the day and across various days to get as many audience members as possible to donate (pay) to the charity. We originally discussed doing performances across the final week of term (23rd- 27th October) but decided that would not be possible due to prior commitments from the college, and the extent of work to be done in the time limit we had. Therefore, we decided to spread it across the last 2 days of college, the 26th and 27th October, and put on 10 shows across those 2 days. These shows would be about 45 minutes long (15 minutes per room, 3 rooms) and we would sell tickets at hourly intervals, giving us 15 minutes between performances to re-set the puzzles and prepare for the next show. These together mean that we can put on as many performances as possible, raise as much money as possible but still be wary of exhausting ourselves and giving ourselves time to rest and re-set the performance.
The Performance Type:
The Performance Type:
This kind of performance relies heavily on audience interaction and participation. An escape room is designed to make the audience look around, interact with the scene and props, and use what is around them to solve puzzles to ‘escape’ the room. Therefore, the performance needs to be versatile and easily adaptable to a range of audience types, e.g. if someone comes through with hypersensitive ears or is easily overstimulated, performers need to tone down their act to accommodate that person. Equally, if someone comes through who has lots of escape room experience and is not scared of anything, performers can ramp up their performance to adapt to that audience member. This all depends on the conditions on the day, and actors need to do a quick evaluation on every member of each performance to determine how they should act and interact with that member.
The Budget:
The Budget:
We were not given an exact budget for this production but, as it was for a charity, we wanted to raise as much money as possible while spending as little as possible, to gain a greater profit margin for the organisation. So, we decided to try and keep our budget as low as possible (ideally under £250) and make £200 during the performance, (10 performances at £20 per group). £250 gives us money for props, costumes, equipment and ‘freebies’ for the visitors (because people always expect something for their money, and a little freebie, goes a long way) and still provides us wiggle room in case anything goes wrong.
But the big question... How were we going to pull all this off in just over a month? (39 days from beginning to end). We evaluated each person in class and played to their strengths and weaknesses, (e.g. I naturally take a leadership role but am not good at moving scenery around, so I would fit an overall management role better than I would suit set management or scenery design.) We also considered what roles each person had in the performance. Some of these roles mean that those actors are unable to do anything backstage, as they will be with the audience the entire time, therefore, who was available to be backstage and who wasn’t during the performances?
We decided that overall, the backstage roles would be:
Stage Manager- Charlotte Rich
Deputy stage manager- Josh Jarvis
Assistant stage manager- Jay Greening
Script writer- Misty Coates
SFX Artist- Charlotte Rich
Makeup/hair application- Misty Coates
Makeup/hair design- Hollyann Freeman, Basia Klimek
Marketing- Elijah Matos
Sound and lighting tech- Josh Jarvis
Set manager- Sam Gwilliam
Costume manager- Jay Greening
Prop master- Jay Greening
Head of recording- Ryan Thornton
The Characters:
The Characters:
Because this is an original script, we could add in as many characters as we liked! There are 8 Actors in our class (not including the lecturer) and so it made sense to have 8 characters. Each one of us were left in charge of deciding: 1) Who our character would be? 2) What was our character? 3) What did they look like? 4) How did they act and move? And 5) Why were they there?
I decided to play to my childish side and create a character out of a merge of a little girl and a broken doll. I wanted her to look like a classic 60's doll: Pink dress, White tights, pigtails with bows etc, whilst also having the demented broken look to her; cracks on her face, blood running down her cheeks, etc. This character would act like a child, be playful and happy one second, but when something was done wrong, I wanted her to switch to this demonic, haunted toy until things were put right again, so I decided to incorporate this switch into one of the puzzles ( the final one). I also wanted to incorporate a child-like fear into the character, to make the audience remember that once she was just a scared child, so interacted with the other characters in timid and scared ways to show this. She was called Laurie.
But why was she there? After talking with my roommate (the other actor in my main puzzle room), we decided that his character (a train conductor and joint owner of the 'toy factory') would push my character in front of a moving train to kill me, then I would return to haunt the toy factory along with the others he has killed. The 'others' include:
The CEO- Owner of the 'Miss Maggie's Toy Factory', Brother to the Train Conductor, Uncle to the Tour guide.
Once word had gotten out about his brother killing a child, the factory was shut down and an investigation opened into other murders in and around the factory... murders he had committed. To escape punishment, he sealed himself in his factory, but then became trapped with no food or water. He now haunts the factory, as a malnourished and dried up tyrant. Played by Ryan Thornton.
The Tour Guide- Daughter to the Train Conductor and niece to the CEO. When she first heard about the missing people around the factory, she went to investigate. unfortunatly her uncle found her trying to make a phone call and decided to keep her quiet for good, by sewing her mouth shut. He then tied her down and removed her heart, spleen and breadbox, his version of the 1965 board game. She now does her best to help others avoid the same fate she did by guiding the audience through the factory. Played by Misty Coates.
The Train Conductor- Co-owner of the factory and disgraced train conductor, he is father to the Tour guide and Brother to the CEO.
Once word had gotten out that he pushed young Laurie Infront of the train, the factory closed and all the murders were discovered. To escape punishment, he hung himself and now haunts the abandoned factory with the people he and his brother killed. Played by Sam Gwilliam.
Jack- Jack used to be a painter at the factory...that was until he witnessed a murder and was killed by the CEO to keep him quiet. He now lives blindfolded and alone in his un-finished jack in the box, only coming into the last room when The little girl and Mannequin man are around. Played by Jay Greening.
The Mannequin - the Mannequin used to be a worker at the factory. However when he tripped and fell into a steaming pool of black liquid plastic, he came out as a walking, but not talking mannequin man, only being able to move around in the shadows, where no-one can see him. He haunts the last room, along with The little girl and Jack and is played by Elijah Matos.
The crocodile- One of the factory workers missing children. When she wondered off alone, the CEO found her and suffocated her, eventually stuffing her body into a crocodile teddy bear when she now is trapped forever! Played by Hollyann Freeman.
A little girl- This little girl is just looking for her Mummy and Daddy...unbeknownst to her, they were just another 2 of the CEOs victims. He keeps her around now just for sport, but has locked her parents necklace in a bird cage. Find all 3 of the keys so she can unlock it, and you can escape... Don't find all 3 keys and stay trapped in the toy factory forever! Played by Basia Klimek.
Overview of Miss Maggie's Toy box!
Overview of Miss Maggie's Toy box!
This includes a general overview of the storyline, rooms, characters and costumes and a prop and set list for each room
Risk assessments
Risk assessments
The risk assessments....
Not only was it important to do thorough risk assessments because its part of the course, but also because it makes us really think about the work we're doing and the possible repercussions and scenarios that may take place because our actions.
What are risk assessments?
What are risk assessments?
A risk assessment is an assessment of potential and existing risks in the workplace, how they pose a risk and how big of a risk they impose.
For example:
You've spilt some water on the theatre vinyl floor.
What do you do? You leave the water.
What could happen? Someone could slip on it (large risk and high probability), and cause injury to themselves; ranging from a bit of a bruise (low impact or small injury), to head injury and concussion (high impact and life altering injury).
What should you do to eliminate or decrease the risk of someone injuring themselves? You place a wet floor sign down and then clean up the spill, ensuring the floor is fully dry before removing the wet floor sign.
Unfortunately, in a theatre, there are lots of existing and potential risks already, let alone when you add a Halloween project into the mix.
Things like burning bulbs, genie lift protocols, falling lights and speakers are already risk assessed and have had precautions put in place by the college, as it is a shared area and they have to ensure it is safe for people to be in. We took this existing risk assessment and updated it to fit the theatre as it is now and how we would be setting it up for the production.
The biggest thing we had to consider were trip hazards. As this was an interactive walkthrough, we had partitioning board legs to highlight and expose (to make it obvious its there), lighting wires to tape down (so they wouldn't get tangled around feet) and, as SFX artist, I had to consider if any of the SFX products would cause issues for the actors, (one of the main products is liquid latex. Latex is a known allergen, hence why you get latex free gloves...and other products...) so I had to organise 'Patch tests' to test for that allergen on every* actor. I did my patch tests in 2 stages:
*the ones I was applying products too
Stage 1 - applying a small amount of product to an area on the wrist/inner arm area. I started here because its a sensitive part of the body (so will react quickest if there is a reaction), but is not close to the airway so, if there is a reaction, there's no risk of compromised breathing.
Stage 2 (only completed if no reaction was present in stage 1) - applying a small amount of product on the skin behind or just below the ear. This area is the most sensitive and most likely to react if a reaction is going to occur. However, because of how close this test is to the airway, if a reaction does occur, there is a much higher risk of anaphylaxis and compromised breathing. Therefore, a risk assessment of the SFX risk assessment needs to be done (a risk assessment of a risk assessment...omg) to determine the safest way to carry out the patch tests, hence, adding in step 1. Step 1 meant that I could 'test the waters' of the actors, and see if any of them would react in a much more controlled way than leaping straight into the deep end and patch testing on the neck. Call me paranoid, but I grew up with an engineer for a mother, who does very thorough risk assessments daily, its second nature now!)
Here is the overall risk assessment for the Halloween spooktacular 2023.
Stage 1 tests:
Jay- No reaction
Hollyann- No reaction but no reason to progress to Stage 2, as latex unneeded
Ryan- No reaction
Basia- Small reaction detected on hand at time. Progressing to stage 2 with caution
Elijah- No reaction but no reason to progress to Stage 2, as latex unneeded
Stage 2 tests:
Basia- Reaction detected but not visible. Itching, burning and tingling sensations described and so test was discontinued and plans changed for her characters makeup look.
Ryan- No reaction detected but plans changed due to time on day to apply.
Jay- Reaction detected but not visible. Itching and tingling sensation described so test was discontinued. Costume chosen was adapted which meant that no latex was required.
The Performances!!
The Performances!!
Run throughs:
Run throughs:
The Trailer:
The Trailer:
Showdays!
Showdays!
Evaluations
Evaluations
How did the performances go?
The performances went well across the 2 days. Originally we had 10 slots scheduled in (6 on Thursday between 1pm and 8pm, and 4 on Friday from 11am to 4pm) but only 8 of them sold so we had a bit more time during the days to get ready for the shows. Each performance ran to time and we actually over estimated the time on each performance quite a bit. We were usually left with between 20 and 30 minutes at the end to re-set and get ready for the next show so it was a very relaxed transition between performances, which effected everyone's stress levels positively! We set out to create a Halloween themed, escape room/walkthrough hybrid to raise as much money as possible for Gloucester Welcomes Refugees. We managed to raise £160 for them and performed in 8 shows across 2 days. We had 5 weeks to get everything done and I think we managed to put on a really good walkthrough experience given the time, place and financial limitations we had.
We ran into a few issues in each performance but found that one of the groups in particular was difficult to deal with. They showed a lot of disrespect to the actors of the performance (first by kicking one, second by addressing/referring to one out of character (backstage etiquette: when someone's in character, they are that character. Not the actor playing said character), and kept accusing actors in room 3 of touching the audience (which, due to health and safety and overall comfort of both actors and audience, we prohibited from the performances), which interrupted the experience. This group however, gave us a really good experience to learn from.
If an actor is motionless in an interactive performance, you can expect people to assume you are part of the set and so will interact with you appropriately (and however harshly...), so we need to take that into consideration in the pre-production stages. In this case, we could have had the actor elevated and sitting cross legged to avoid potential kicks and being stepped on by sitting on the floor.
As performing artists, one of the first things we are taught is backstage etiquette. If your on stage; Your in character, you don't talk backstage, if you can see the audience, the audience can see you etc etc etc, but not everyone might be aware of these protocols. As general members of the public, we are not expected to know every rule about every industry, are we? So, as actors we cant blame people for not being aware that some normal activities, like calling someone their name or even just talking to other audience members, is disrespectful. In this case, we could have had the Tour guide go round and introduce the characters in each room more thoroughly, so the actors would be addressed as their characters and audience members would know who is a character and what is a prop or part of the scene.
Finally, as a general rule of thumb, fright festivals, walkthroughs and escape room actors don't generally touch any of the audience members. There are many reasons for this: you don't know how that audience member will react to being touched (will they stay still or will they punch on instinct?), if they are comfortable being touched or if its even safe to touch them, (think back to COVID-19...shaking hands was restricted for a reason, hands are a huge germ carrier and maybe this audience member has no immune system), and it also opens up the actors and production itself to a lot of potential trouble. Interacting with the audience is one thing, but touching them is a totally different one. What happens if you go to touch their back and they turn around suddenly? Or you tap their shoulder and they panic and fall over, injuring themselves directly because of that touch? As performing artists, again, this in common knowledge, but to members of the public this could all be brand new. For this production, we could have put out an advisory, saying that although the actors will approach and get close to audience members, they will NOT touch them, or have the Tour Guide say at the beginning that actors will approach and get close but will not make contact at any point.
Otherwise our performances went smoothly and we adapted really easily to which type of audience member we had in each time, how to interact with them and how 'intense' to make our performance.
SFX
For the SFX, I'm happy with how the heart turned out but wish that I had allocated more time into the makeup of some of the characters. Due to health and time reasons, latex wasn't used to create the effects, but I could have used a wider range of eyeshadow colours, used different products and spent more time making the looks more realistic than I did, however, I'm very happy with how the heart turned out! It was realistic enough to look like a heart and with the added lighting and blood, it looked really good in the performance. I'd have liked to get some nicer pictures of the heart but am still learning photography, so maybe next time!
Although the timeframe was tight, we managed to get everything done in time, although we did have to make some changes to ensure that we did. Our college week is 2 out of 5 days each week, for both HNC and HND, however, HNC's days are Monday and Friday, and HND's days are Thursday and Friday. To get this project done in time, meant that everyone (HNC and HND) had to try and be in every Monday, Thursday and Friday, taking our college week from 2 out of 5 days, to 3 out of 5 days, (to be honest though, it wasn't like it was a problem). We also had to make changes to hair and makeup designs, costume designs and set designs throughout the production because what we needed wasn't available when we needed it, so we had to find alternatives, (e.g. originally we were supposed to have the pink room-to the backroom-to the theatre, but because the pink room was in use we changed it to backroom-theatre-theatre.)
We received really good feedback from the groups about the SFX and overall were told that we used them really effectively. Not as many people had commented on the heart as I had hoped but the ones who did, found it really good, and the rest of the team loved how id done it, so I'm happy with how it went. Overall, I want to keep expanding my SFX skills and explore pyrotechnics and weather effects more, as well as work more closely on blending latex into the skin more seamlessly as I can make the effect, I just cant blend it well with the actors skin. I'm really happy with using paints, products and tools to create effects though and think that I did a good job making the heart.
Stagecraft
I'm really happy with how the stagecraft element of this production has played out. We worked well as a team and, despite having a short time frame (5 weeks), put on 8 performances and raised £160 for Charity, which is really good for our first term at College! The fact that we all split and took charge of different aspects of the production (Josh- lighting, Basia and Hollyann- Hair and makeup design, me- SFX, Sam and Ryan - set, Elijah- advertising/marketing and set, Jay-costume and props, Misty- wherever needed), was really productive because it meant that lots of things were getting done at once and, as long as we kept communicating with each other, we could make good progress creating the set, props and backstage aspects and then have as much time as possible rehearsing and prepping. We used Microsoft teams and WhatsApp as our main communication points (Teams mostly, WhatsApp for casual messages or updates) and found that this combination worked well, as Teams was able to upload the content and WhatsApp was able to keep us updated as its notifications are more reliable than Teams. We had regular informal meetings and a few 'formal' ones to keep everyone updated but because we were working closely together on the same project, we all kind of knew where we all stood, what to do and how to do it, so a lot of the meetings were mostly just progress updates and timeline checkpoints. One of the main things we had to tackle on a regular basis, was problem solving. Whether it was not being able to use a room, find a prop or making the set, we were constantly running into issues, but what performance ever goes smoothly? In a production company, you learn to think on your feet and solve problems without even realising that you are and many of these situations arose throughout the pre-production and post production process. We found alternative amazon products, gifts for the audience, props, set, costumes, sound effects and lighting and most of these problems were solved the same day they were discovered, as we just didn't have the time to spend thinking of solutions...we just had to figure it out. Luckily, were pretty good at that!
(The above picture is how the theatre looked at 10:30am on the 26th...2 1/2 before our first show. This is an example of when we didn't have time to stop and think of a solution we just had to get on and clear away the chairs, so we could get the set up)
Feedback from the commissioner: "I just want to say a huge thank you to you and the team for an amazing Halloween Spooktacular!! It was so much fun! The clues were really well thought through, costumes were great and the acting was amazing! You have raised Gloucester Welcomes £160, which is very much appreciated! If you have any photos, please send them over and we can do a post on social media, Thanks again."
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