As a company, we spoke about many potential ideas for scenes that myself and Ollie as the writing team went away and worked on. Music is a key point of interest for me as it has always been a large part of my life, having played the piano since I was six years old. The first scene we completed was a collection of song lyrics that related to growing up, collecting a large amount of lyrics and setting it out like a conversation between a child and an adult with the child saying how much they want to grow up and be independent, but then the adult voice contesting this saying how they want to go back to a simpler time when they were free from responsibility. * The song “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift was part of this scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYeO6LwgEes
Another song that was a particular inspiration for me was ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda the Musical. This song sums up what some children believe constitutes as an adult and it is a humorous way of showing their naivety. Lines like ‘when I grow up, I will be smart enough to answer all the questions that you need to know the answers to before you’re grown up’ (Matilda the Musical Cast, 2011) is a particular line that stood out as we were discussing that, as supposedly “adults” ourselves, we are still continuously learning how to survive. Even our parents or “adults” who are older and wiser are learning new things constantly. This song prompted the idea of possibly interviewing some children to find out their views about what they think makes an adult. ** We feel that this would be an interesting, more fair and appropriate way of showing the views of children instead of trying to play a young person ourselves by using stereotypes.
Looking into films has further interested me in this area too. Father of the Bride is an interesting case study as when the protagonist’s daughter announces she is getting married, he goes through a sort of mid-life crisis: starts wearing his old clothes and dyes his hair. He cannot accept that his daughter has grown up and he is also not as young as he once was.
Hannah.
* This scene never made it into the final performance due to copyright issues.
** One interview was successfully conducted between one of our company members and her seven year old cousin. This scene became the opening of Shoes to Fill and was a humorous and cute way to open the performance.
Works Cited
Matilda the Musical Cast (2011) When I Grow Up. [CD track] 3 mins. 36 secs. Matilda the Musical Soundtrack. UK: Rsc Enterprise Ltd.
Shyer, C. (dir.) (1991) Father of the Bride. [DVD] USA: Touchstone Pictures.
tanakorn love (2013) Never Grow Up Lyrics [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYeO6LwgEes [Accessed 12 February 2015].