Oyster Boy (quoted from Haste Theatre website)
"OYSTER BOY is a dark comedy and tells the story of a boy who is born with an Oyster-shell-shaped head and his parents’ struggle to raise their extraordinary son. A bittersweet tale of the trials of love and what it means to be Other, OYSTER BOY reminds us that we should be careful what we wish for and of the delicacy of life. The fairy tale-like world of the show introduces us to a range of larger-than-life characters that are sure to entertain and delight audiences of all ages. Drawing on a range of theatrical and filmic influences, this peculiar story is told through a rich blend of physical storytelling, live choral singing, clown, dance and puppetry. With this colourful, multilingual production, Haste invites you into a sensitive, funny and surreal world.
CAST LIST: Elly-Beaman Brinklow (Chorus/Dr. Plumcock), Valeria Compagnoni (Jim), Elena Costanzi (Chorus/Molly), Jesse Dupré (Chorus/Polly), Anna Plasberg-Hill (Alice), Sophie Taylor (Chorus/Anthony)"
Performance
- Costume: stripes gave an Italian theme and this was reinforced by the accents of some of the actors. Woman playing the man was made clear by the wig and the costume, (clear for a younger audience to follow)
- Mother giving birth: built tension as it was all happening behind the blue sheet and the actors would pop up with different facial expressions which again created humour. The Oyster Boy being covered up for a while after he was born continued this tension and we wanted to see what he looked like, making the audience more intrigued.
- First sight of Oyster Boy, the audience was shocked and it was also quite funny because of the large head in comparison to the body - very surreal and would again appeal to the younger audience because of this bizarre-looking child.
- The blue sheet was also used as the ocean which was very interesting and a good multi-use of a simple prop. The woman moving her arms to look as though she was swimming in the sea was clever and also created humour. Multi-prop use could be used in our piece.
- The ending contrasted with the jolly and fun themes used throughout; emotion was created but the ending was ironic and returned to the fun and humorous outlook on the story - "what would the next child look like?"
- Exaggerated physicality and facial expressions created humour and also made the story clear and concise for a younger audience. Expressed the emotions clearly and also related well to the light-heartedness of the quirky story.
- Nice contrast of emotional moments, themes of love, but made light-hearted and not too heavy by the physicality and jokes.
Workshop
- Becoming an animal and turning that animal into a personification - made us think about how to create humour and also how to think about characterisation in a different way. How can we compare our character to something more basic and build it up into a more complex character?
- Granny's Porridge - Freezing in funny positions, particularly when the props were introduced. Again demonstrated how we can create humour and make the audience laugh by being silly. In the form of a game, the task was given objective and this therefore made it more interesting and people would lose their inhibition to win the game, so the poses were more funny and unusual.
"OYSTER BOY is a dark comedy and tells the story of a boy who is born with an Oyster-shell-shaped head and his parents’ struggle to raise their extraordinary son. A bittersweet tale of the trials of love and what it means to be Other, OYSTER BOY reminds us that we should be careful what we wish for and of the delicacy of life. The fairy tale-like world of the show introduces us to a range of larger-than-life characters that are sure to entertain and delight audiences of all ages. Drawing on a range of theatrical and filmic influences, this peculiar story is told through a rich blend of physical storytelling, live choral singing, clown, dance and puppetry. With this colourful, multilingual production, Haste invites you into a sensitive, funny and surreal world.CAST LIST: Elly-Beaman Brinklow (Chorus/Dr. Plumcock), Valeria Compagnoni (Jim), Elena Costanzi (Chorus/Molly), Jesse Dupré (Chorus/Polly), Anna Plasberg-Hill (Alice), Sophie Taylor (Chorus/Anthony)"
Performance
- Use of music: ukulele gave a happy and jolly atmosphere accompanied by funny lyrics and rhyming couplets which would appeal to the younger audience as well as an older audience. The music gave an opportunity for scene transition as it distracted the audience and focused the attention on the lower stage rather than what was happening behind them.
- Costume: stripes gave an Italian theme and this was reinforced by the accents of some of the actors. Woman playing the man was made clear by the wig and the costume, (clear for a younger audience to follow)
- Mother giving birth: built tension as it was all happening behind the blue sheet and the actors would pop up with different facial expressions which again created humour. The Oyster Boy being covered up for a while after he was born continued this tension and we wanted to see what he looked like, making the audience more intrigued.
- First sight of Oyster Boy, the audience was shocked and it was also quite funny because of the large head in comparison to the body - very surreal and would again appeal to the younger audience because of this bizarre-looking child.
- The blue sheet was also used as the ocean which was very interesting and a good multi-use of a simple prop. The woman moving her arms to look as though she was swimming in the sea was clever and also created humour. Multi-prop use could be used in our piece.
- The ending contrasted with the jolly and fun themes used throughout; emotion was created but the ending was ironic and returned to the fun and humorous outlook on the story - "what would the next child look like?"
- Exaggerated physicality and facial expressions created humour and also made the story clear and concise for a younger audience. Expressed the emotions clearly and also related well to the light-heartedness of the quirky story.
- Nice contrast of emotional moments, themes of love, but made light-hearted and not too heavy by the physicality and jokes.
Workshop
- Becoming an animal and turning that animal into a personification - made us think about how to create humour and also how to think about characterisation in a different way. How can we compare our character to something more basic and build it up into a more complex character?
- Granny's Porridge - Freezing in funny positions, particularly when the props were introduced. Again demonstrated how we can create humour and make the audience laugh by being silly. In the form of a game, the task was given objective and this therefore made it more interesting and people would lose their inhibition to win the game, so the poses were more funny and unusual.
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