THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OFPINOCCHIO
Teacher’s Resource Pack KS3/4
Registered Company No. 06357511The Yard, 46 Goods Station Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2DB
tel – 01892 458023email – [email protected]
www.strangeface.co.uk
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Response Checklist for Students:
• Did you understand the performance throughout?• What were the objectives of the company and how well did they meet them?• 3 of the company of 4 actors play many roles, how well defined were these
changes?• How did the company’s use of space affect the audience’s perception of the
characters and story?• Did the company consider the social context when shaping the performance?• Did the set and costume contribute to a cohesive piece?• Have you made any sketches or diagrams to help recall the performance
afterwards?• How did the combination of mask and puppet work?• How did the use of live music add to the production?• Was the piece told in an original way?• What traditional techniques were used?• How did the lighting support the story?• Did you speak to the company at the end to ask any questions you might have?
Performance & Production SkillsPerformanceStrangeface specialize in mask theatre.
Using a mask forces the actor to use their whole body to show a character andemotion. If you don’t have a mask cover up the faces of the students and ask the restof the group to be the audience; to read character and emotion from the shouldersdown.
• What do you notice about the smallest movements?• How exaggerated can the movements be?• Can you make a body look sad?• Can you make a body look happy?
(Tip: In general drooping your body makes it look sad and taking in a great bigbreath, lifting from the chest, makes it look happy. Gestures help too – sad handsmight be floppy or pleading, happy hands might be waving or thumbs up)
• What other emotions and feelings can you show just using your body?
Most of the actors in this production have many different characters to play.
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• Ask each student to think about 3 distinct types of character and show thempurely physically
(Tip: Old Man and Little Girl, Rich Woman and Poor Man)
• Look at archetypes and how they can help the reader/audience quicklyunderstand what is happening.
Archetype (Oxford English Dictionary)/aarkitip/
• noun 1 a very typical example. 2 an original model. 3 a recurrent motif in literatureor art.
— ORIGIN Greek arkhetupon, from arkhe- ‘primitive’ + tupos ‘a model’.
Find comparative characters in:
• Pinocchio• Fairy Tales/Pantomime/Shakespeare• Modern References – (Tip: The Simpsons is particularly good!!)• Commedia dell’Arte
Ask the students to play a game of Guess Who by entering in character withoutspeaking – and the audience suggesting the specific archetype.
We use Half-Masks, this means that the actors have their mouths free.
• What does that mean they can do?
(Tip: Talk and make different and exaggerated shapes with their mouth such assloping jaw, tongue out, jutting jaw, becoming chinless, cheesy grin, trembling bottomlip)
NB. We particularly like Barry Grantham’s Playing Commedia, Toby Wilsher’s The MaskHandbook and Tony Davies’ Masks in Action as reference books.
DesignOne of the most important practical issues was giving the performers a screen tochange behind and costumes that could be changed easily.
Bearing this consideration in mind design a set and/or costumes for the piece.
• When will you set the story?• What kind of theatre/space will your set fit in?
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• What considerations have to be made when designing sets and costumes formask theatre?
• What lighting would you use?• We perform end-on, why do you think that is?• What visual inspirations do you recognize for our designer?• What visual artists would inspire you for this piece?
ArtA successful mask usually distills one or two aspects of personality and is quite oftenasymmetrical.
• Using handfuls of clay make machetes (designs for masks) for the characters inthis play.
It maybe useful to work in front of a mirror to pull a face that shows a particularemotion and then refer back to it. Are there expressions in language that may helpe.g. nosey, wide-eyed, wizened…
You can experiment with the clay whilst it is moist, if you leave it to dry out you willhave a design to keep.
WritingWrite text or dialogue for:
• Two old friends• A young boy and his elderly carer• The internal conflict• Good Boy, Naughty Boy• A Scam• Rascals• The new-found Mother• The chance encounter
• Take an existing story and plan your own adaptation of it.
• The company uses song as well as spoken word. Discuss the function songshave. Look at another play and choose moments the writer might express thethoughts of the characters in song, write it.
• What considerations need to be made when writing for mask? Write a shortscene about an offer for two masked characters and experiment with thenumber of words that might be required.
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Devised & Group WorkWe have a group of characters we call a Chorus.
Chorus (Oxford English Dictionary)
• noun (pl. choruses) 1 a part of a song, which is repeated after each verse. 2something said at the same time by many people. 3 a large group of singers,especially one performing with an orchestra. 4 a piece of choral music, especially oneforming part of an opera or oratorio. 5 (in ancient Greek tragedy) a group ofperformers who comment on the main action.
• verb (chorused, chorusing) (of a group of people) say the same thing at the sametime.
In our play the Chorus are very different characters who act as a group of storytellersand stage managers in this piece and do not observe a 4th wall. Choruses were alsoused in Ancient Greek theatre wearing identical masks. We think that this meant theyall acted as one.
• Experiment with the difference between these 2 types of chorus by askinggroups of pupils to find ways to tell nursery rhymes as one voice and by dividingthe lines up.
• If the chorus have different personalities does that help us to understand thestory better?
• Is it possible for a group to speak (and move) altogether? What makes it easier?(tip: have a leader at the front) What makes it difficult? How does the audiencefeel? What is communicated and shown well when a group act all together?
Devise a short piece by letting a group of individual characters dictate a story. Use aset of masks or strong physical choices to build a “family” of characters. Explore theirdreams and fears, expertise and foolishness through a series of hot-seating exercisesand group improvisation.
• What world do they naturally inhabit together?• Are any of the group actually related?• Are they drawn together by circumstance?• Give the characters real props to play with – what scenarios come to mind?
Follow the instructions of the moment!
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Working in our Theatrical StyleStrangeface began working outdoors in unusual spaces and for all ages. Site Specificand Intergenerational Theatre are two major areas of theatrical growth and companieslike Goat and Monkey and Knee High also use these elements in their work.
www.goatandmonkey.co.ukwww.kneehigh.co.uk
• What challenges face a company when they play to an audience of mixed ages?• What benefits does it bring?
Although we are currently working indoors we have continued to make performancesfor non-traditional venues and woven stories around buildings.
• Is there a non-traditional venue you could use for an adaptation?• For a half mask piece?• Is there a venue that inspires you to create a story?
Artistic Director Russell Dean believes strongly that it isn’t necessary for every personto understand every word or gesture. He feels that the overall experience of sitting ina room with those older or younger than yourself can be a part of a bondingexperience and remind you that theatre can be a life long love.
• Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer• Do you think we achieved this aim?
We have combined the use of half mask with puppetry and live music in order tocreate a story that plays on your senses of sight and hearing more than a naturalisticperformance might. We feel that once the audience accepts the more exaggeratedappearance, the “lie” of the actor wearing the mask, that they are already moreinvolved in the story than they might have been otherwise. Music has a similar effectof working on the audience’s emotions, bypassing their rational thoughts.
• Using music and soundscapes, mask and/or puppet/object manipulation andcreate a 5 minute piece that creates a more visual world
Mask doesn’t work well with a fourth wall! We include ad-libs and improvisation in ourperformances
• Devise a piece that relies on interaction with the audience throughout or inplaces (Tip: Shakespeare and Restoration Comedy uses the same idea in theirasides)
