Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
MR McGEE AND THE BITING FLEA Teaching Resource We invite you to read the following material in order to understand the intentions of the activities we are offering in relation to this production PATCH THEATRE COMPANY VISION To keep the artist alive in the child through theatre. MISSION To generate live theatre experiences that engage children, inspire their imaginations and motivate their creative play. HISTORY Patch Theatre Company has presented 98 new works to more than 1.25 million children and their families nationally and internationally since it began in 1972. Patch Theatre specialises in presenting quality in-theatre works to 4-8 year old children, their teachers, carers and families. Since 2002, Patch has presented its repertoire of works for 4-8 year olds to schools and families in Adelaide and regional South Australia, at the Sydney Opera House and the Victorian Arts Centre, to 27 major Australian venues in a national Playing Australia tour and at international children’s festivals in the US, Canada, Korea, Singapore and Japan. Every child is an artist; the challenge is to keep them so. Pablo Picasso PATCH THEATRE COMPANY WHAT WE DO AND WHY WE DO IT? Children are evolving beings passing through the most complex and rapid developmental phases of their lives, during which two thirds of their potential as humans will be hard-wired! Our contribution to that development, we consider very seriously indeed. Patch Theatre celebrates story and play in the lives of children and their carers, believing that if play is the engine for childhood learning; then the vehicle for their communication is story. Patch Theatre’s creative output is built upon three pillars of artistic exploration reference, assemblage, interactivity – each relating to the importance of story and play in children’s lives. Reference: It is not possible for children to assimilate new experiences without having previous experience to build on. To this end, our work is strongly referential. We source our content from literature, folklore, art, childhood culture or other areas of relevant childhood experience, which allow opportunities for prior connection, reflection and revisitation of the content presented in our productions. Assemblage: Patch has been examining the possibilities of theatrical assemblages of stories for children. Assemblages, because they comprise a collection of short theatrical ideas, support children’s comprehension by providing manageable chunks of experience for them to process. Story assemblages also allow variety and flexibility within the one production, a factor that supports children’s engagement and cognition. Interactivity: We believe that children’s theatre should have a sense of a conversation about it because the deeper the sensory engagement is for children, the more solidly the experience will be absorbed. Our objective is to push well beyond the join in the chorus modes of interaction common in children’s theatre, by extending our exploration to audience constructed imagery and audience involvement in symbolic play, role play, game structures, story construction and story sequencing. Understanding Children: Patch Theatre believes an essential ingredient in the process of producing work for young children is an awareness of their way of comprehending the world. A confused or scared child will not process anything very well. Children need a reassuring environment and concrete support for conceptual ideas. They can only absorb meaning in relatively small chunks. Arts for children should refine, clarify and extend their experience. Our goal? Simple yet wondrous, mysterious and fantastical stories that are deeply rendered at a child’s level of comprehension and perspective. Elegant simplicity! Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 2 of 14 THE 100 LANGUAGES OF CHILDREN Patch Theatre has been investigating the use of performance languages for and by children. Our explorations are inspired by the renowned early childhood philosophy and practice, taking place in the district of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. The term performance language we use simply as a device to challenge the range of ways children use to construct meaning through play. For example, leaves from trees can be collected and arranged in rows. This is a collection of symbols but not a language because it tells us nothing in particular. But if the children used the leaves combined with their own movement and sound to give their impression of a strong wind, then the relationship between the leaves, the children’s movements and sounds would represent a performance language. It is the relationship among the symbols that converts the medium into the message and it is the presence of a message that motivates children to construct meaning. Another example of a performance language is when a DJ communicates meaning through music, mixing, scratching and spoken word. There are thousands of examples of performance languages. It is when we give children the licence to explore and discover ways to make meaning through the use of a limited palette of elements that we surprise ourselves with the amazing aptitude children have for creation. The exploration of performance languages by children bring together the key vehicles of early childhood learning – story and play. The 100 Languages of Children A Poem by Loris Malaguzzi (founder of Reggio Emilia) The child has a hundred languages A hundred hands A hundred thoughts A hundred ways of thinking Of playing, of speaking A hundred ways of listening Of marvelling Of loving A hundred joys For singing and understanding A hundred worlds to discover A hundred worlds to invent A hundred worlds to dream The child has a hundred languages And a hundred, hundred, hundred more … But we steal ninety nine We separate the head from the body And tell the child to think without their hands To do without their heads Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 3 of 14 To listen and not to speak To understand without joy To love and to marvel Only at Easter and Christmas We tell the child To discover the world already there We tell the child That work and play That reality and fantasy Science and imagination Reason and dream Are things That do not belong together And thus we tell the child That the hundred is not there But the child knows The hundred is there! MR McGEE AND THE BITING FLEA The six Pamela Allen stories we tell in this production are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Mr McGee Alexander’s Outing Belinda Brown Bread and Honey Inside Mary Elizabeth’s House Mr McGee and the Biting Flea We build the presentation of these stories around a mix of musical treatments (from barbershop to Beach Boys) linked to a range of visual elements common to children’s play (toys, dolls, cushions, dress-ups, play-dough, bowls, pans, utensils, balloons etc.). The stories emerge from dozens of suitcases, trunks and crates as three curious McGee characters explore their contents. The following poem explains the set up of the production. The Three McGees The three McGees have a job In a place where stories lob Arranged in cases, trunks and bags A clue is written on the tags Cos from her home, Pamela Allen Sends in stories by the gallon She packs them up just for fun In trunks and cases – every one Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 4 of 14 Every day a different way So what we’ll get, well who can say Cos no-one knows what’s there or not You open up to see what’s what. Then all together every day The three McGees put on display The very best of what they’ve got Of cows and ducks and who knows what Stories all to make us laugh Though some are sad and some are daft All are full of dance and din One has wiggly apple skin Another has a big fat king In every one, a song to sing The three McGees just love to play With everything that comes their way What stories will the three McGees Have to tell us if you please? What has Pamela packed today For the three McGees to play? Activities for children What follows are some suggestions for small group explorations. We can’t predict what children’s responses may be to these explorations. Every group will differ. The objective is for children to discover new ways to express meaning through story by playing with the possibilities of a limited palette of elements. We have chosen three of the six stories around which to do these preperformance explorations – Mr McGee, Alexander’s Outing and Brown, Bread and Honey. However, we urge you to read all the stories to the children as many times as possible prior to the performance as this will enhance their experience of the production. (See book list on Page 4.) Mr McGee A Small Group Project Read ‘Mr McGee’ to the children. The Languages of Apple Skins and Apple Peelers Supply small groups of children (4-6) with apple peelers and an apple and demonstrate how to peel an apple safely. Let the children practice peeling their apples. When they have the hang of it, get them to try to peel a nice long piece of wiggly skin. When they each have a piece of wiggly skin that they like, read the story again and get the children Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 5 of 14 to be Mr McGee as you read. Let them each choose how they might play the story out as you read. Some will do lots, others won’t and that’s OK because those that don’t will get something from those that do. Ask the children to use the apple peeler to help make the curious bird that is in the story. Where are the bird’s wings and its beak? Show us how your bird flies. Show us how your bird pecks Mr McGee. The Languages of Balloons This is project balloon for small groups. It could go anywhere or nowhere. It will depend on your ability to provoke questions from the children and support them when they want to test their ideas. Allow them time to play and explore possibilities. Tell them you want to know everything they can find out about balloons. Encourage diagrams and demonstration … expression of meaning through graphic languages and performance languages. Here are some starting points: Give each child a balloon and show them how to blow them up safely. Ask if anyone can make noises with the air from a balloon. Talk about the fear of popping a balloon. Explore that fear … what is it that makes us scared? Can we overcome that fear? Get them to practice blowing up balloons and making sounds with the balloons. Encourage experimentation. Put a piece of sticky tape on a balloon and push a needle into the balloon - it won’t burst – it will just deflate. Without the sticky tape, it will burst. Try popping a balloon, if you have addressed the fear issue. Why does the sticky tape stop the balloon from popping? How can you test your idea? Connect a long tube to the balloon. How can you use the air from a blown-up balloon for other things? Why do some balloons float up into the air and others don’t? (Helium is lighter than air.) Why does a hot air balloon float? (Hot air is lighter than cold air.) What about Zeppelins? The Hindenburg was full of hydrogen, which was explosive and therefore dangerous. (Hydrogen is lighter than air too!) Make up a balloon game using different coloured balloons. What are the rules of the game? Make up a story beginning “Once upon a time there were 3 balloons … a red balloon, a white balloon, a blue balloon and they were the very best of friends until … one day”. Act out your story using the balloons. Put some music on and do ‘the dance of the bouncing balloon(s).’ Can you make your dance into a simple story? What happens in your story? Tell your ‘bouncing balloon’ story as a dance with music and movement but no words. Try different music with your story-dance (slow sad music, happy bouncy music, classical, jazz, pop, dance-beats). How does different music change the way the story feels? We want you to tell us one of the special things you’ve discovered about balloons in a simple song that you make up. (Maybe listen to some songs and take note Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 6 of 14 that songs often have a verse and a chorus and ask the group to do a verse and a chorus.) Eg: Verse My face goes red when I blow up balloons My face goes red when I blow up balloons The more I blow; the redder it goes The more I blow; the redder it goes My face goes red when I blow up balloons Chorus I like balloons I like balloons I like balloons I like to make them go boom! Verse My cheeks get tired when I blow up balloons My cheeks get tired when I blow up balloons The more they stretch; the tireder I get The more they stretch; the tireder I get My cheeks get tired when I blow up balloons Chorus I like balloons I like balloons I like balloons I like to make them go boom! Finally, use a pump and a big balloon for Mc McGee, some small balloons for the townsfolk, an apple and an apple peeler and work out how you can tell the story of Mr McGee using only the things listed above and someone to tell the story. You can draw faces on the balloons with texta pens. Alexander’s Outing A Small Group Project Read ‘Alexander’s Outing’ to the children. Places and Maps In Alexander’s Outing, Pamela Allen tells a story about places that really exist in Sydney. She has painted pictures in her book of those real places. Discuss the idea of place and how to show where a place is. Where do you live? Where is it? How do you show where you live compared to where the school is? This can lead to a whole project on maps and identifying where places are. Where is Sydney? Who has been there? Who has seen it on TV? How can we imagine where it is? How can we get there? What do maps tell us about where Sydney is? Read the book again. Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 7 of 14 Draw a simple map together showing how the ducks get from their home pond to Hyde Park and back, showing the pond by the harbour, the bottle tree, the iron gates, Art Gallery Road, the Art Gallery, College Street, Hyde Park and the Archibald Fountain. After you have done this exercise, you may want to show the same on a street map of Sydney. Miniature Performances Either buy a collection of rubber duckies – one big one for mum and little ones for her children – or ask the children to bring their rubber duckies from home. Use a big bowl of water as a starting point and float the duckies in the bowl. Announce “Alexander lived with his mother and his four brothers and sisters in the most beautiful place in the whole of Sydney”. Then get the children to decide what they’re going to use or make to represent the bottle tree, the iron gates, the Art Gallery, College Street, the hole in Hyde Park and the Archibald Fountain. List the ideas and then get the children to decide which ideas are best. Let everyone contribute and go with the ideas that most excite the children and support the children in seeing their ideas realised. (Even if you see that an idea won’t work, allow the children to discover that, so that they learn to modify their own choices from a need to - the best learning comes from trying things out - good learning involves frustration and wrong choices.) Some guiding questions may be: Can the hole hold water so that the rubber duckie will float to the top? Will the duckie fit into the hole? What will we use for the fountain? Can we get water from it with containers to fill the hole? See if you can get a full miniature storytelling production underway, designed and created by the children themselves. It can be as simple or as complicated as the children’s imaginations dictate. Often complex solutions will lead to simpler ones … the journey is what is important. “We will never cease from exploration and the end of our exploring will be to arrive at the beginning and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Elliot Record the outcome on video and take stills of each scene. The children may want to show their stories to other children. Brown Bread and Honey Activities Read the story ’Brown Bread and Honey’ to the children. Listen to the song. (An MP3 of the song is downloadable for teaching purposes from the Patch website - www.patchtheatre.org.au) Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 8 of 14 Playing with Chants – this can be done with a larger group. There are some lovely rhythmic chants in this story. Have the children chant the first two chants in rhythm and until they know them and the story quite well. Then every time you read the story, get them to join in on those chants. Encourage the children to clap in rhythm as they chant. Chant One: STIRRING AND WHIRRING MIXING AND FIXING BASTING AND TASTING SNIFFING AND WHIFFING SIPPING AND DIPPING MAKING AND BAKING CHOPPING AND LOPPING STEWING AND BREWING Chant Two: MILKSHAKES AND MUFFINS PUDDINGS AND PUMPKINS CHICKEN AND CHOCOLATE PAVLOVA AND PIKELETS CURRY AND CORDIAL LAMINGTONS AND LIQUORICE CUSTARD AND CAKE AND MORE AND MORE Then begin to read the following version of the story and have the children learn the CAPITALISED section as CHANTS (with clapping) and RESPONSES so that the story becomes interactive. An adult reads the lower case sections. BROWN, BREAD AND HONEY (interactive version) THE KING’S COOKS COOKED THE KING’S COOKS COOKED ALL DAY, EVERY DAY IN THE CASTLE KITCHEN THE KING’S COOKS COOKED MEALS FOR THE KING STIRRING AND WHIRRING MIXING AND FIXING BASTING AND TASTING SNIFFING AND WHIFFING SIPPING AND DIPPING MAKING AND BAKING CHOPPING AND LOPPING STEWING AND BREWING Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 9 of 14 THE KING’S COOKS COOKED THE KING’S COOKS COOKED ALL DAY, EVERY DAY IN THE CASTLE KITCHEN THE KING’S COOKS COOKED THE KING’S COOKS COOKED MEALS FOR THE KING The King was the most important person in the land. He lived in a big castle on the top of a high hill. With his friend the stable boy, the king loved to jump, he loved to run and he loved to ride his horse. But what the King loved most of all was food THE KING’S COOKS COOKED THE KING’S COOKS COOKED ALL DAY, EVERY DAY IN THE CASTLE KITCHEN THE KING’S COOKS COOKED MEALS FOR THE KING THERE WERE … MILKSHAKES AND MUFFINS PUDDINGS AND PUMPKINS CHICKEN AND CHOCOLATE PAVLOVA AND PIKELETS CURRY, CORDIAL LAMINGTONS, LIQUORICE CUSTARD, CAKE AND THE KING … HE MANAGED… TO EAT IT ALL But gradually … little by little … bit by bit … he got slower ... and slower … and heavier … and heavier … Until he was … too slow to run … too tired to jump … and too heavy for his poor horse. Nothing he did was fun anymore. Nothing he ate tasted good anymore. This curry your highness? TOO HOT! Gravy … your majesty? Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 10 of 14 TOO GREASY! Muffins sir? TOO MUSHY! Stuffing my lord? TOO STICKY! The cooks were sad and they tried harder and harder to make bigger and better meals to please the King. THE KING’S COOKS COOKED THE KING’S COOKS COOKED ALL DAY, EVERY DAY IN THE CASTLE KITCHEN THE KING’S COOKS COOKED MEALS FOR THE KING AND THE KING HE MANAGED TO EAT IT ALL One night after a big dinner, the king got very, very sick “Oooowww … my tummy hurts! Oooowww … I feel terrible! Oo oooh! … I never want to see another pie ever again! Oo oooh! … and it’s all your fault! You cooks! You did this to me! You’re fired! All of you! Go away! Leave me alone! Pack your bags and leave! Ooooowwwwhhhh!” So the cooks went away. Next morning the King felt a little better and wanted some breakfast… “Cooks! Cooks!!” But there were no cooks left in the castle. (THE FOLLOWING CAN BE DONE AS A CHANT WITH HAND CLAPPING) He asked the maid Who cleaned in the kitchen … Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 11 of 14 CAN YOU COOK? CAN YOU COOK? But the maid had heard him Complain about the curry So she said, “NO! I CAN’T.” He asked the gardener Who grew the gardenias … CAN YOU COOK? CAN YOU COOK? The gardener had heard him Grizzle about the gravy so he said, “NO I CAN’T.” He asked the minister In charge of the money … CAN YOU COOK? CAN YOU COOK? The minister had heard him Moan about the muffins so he said, “NO I CAN’T”. He asked the soldier Who served as the sentry … CAN YOU COOK? CAN YOU COOK? The soldier had heard him Screeching about the stuffing so he said, “NO, I CAN’T.” (CHANT FINISHES HERE) And when there was no-one left to ask, the king sat down just where he was and cried. And he was still sitting there the next day, when the stable boy found him. “Would you like some brown bread and honey, your majesty?” “Thank you.” the King said. “This is yummy!” “Can I have some more?” “There isn’t any more,” said the stable boy. “That’s all there is!” “I’m so sorry,” said the King, “but I was so-o-o-o-o hungry.” “It’s okay … I can bring some more tomorrow.” Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 12 of 14 And he did. Then next day the stable boy brought two lunches in two little boxes. “That’s for you,” he said giving one to the King. “Thank you,“ said the King. “Yum… Brown bread and honey!” Every day From then on The stable boy and the King Would sit under a shady tree to eat their lunch From two little boxes Until … At last … One day … The King could jump and run And ride his horse again. This made the King very happy. And as for the cooks, well they all ended up performing a story called … (WE FINISH OFF WITH ONE FINAL HAND CLAPPING CHANT) BROWN, BREAD AND HONEY … It’s the King’s favourite food … BROWN, BREAD AND HONEY And the King loves the story of … BROWN, BREAD AND HONEY And when the story’s over … they all sit down to eat together … BROWN, BREAD AND HONEY Yum! PLAY DOUGH A Small Group Project Finally provide a small group with a big wad of play dough. Ask the children to see if they can make a performance of the story very simply, using mainly the play-dough and the chant version of the story. They may want to include a few other elements but ask them to try to use only things that are used in a kitchen for cooking or eating. (That’s their performance limited palette) They might want to bring them from home after a planning session. Get them to talk about the things that are important in the story: Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 13 of 14 The king becoming a big blob, and then becoming thin again. The two main characters … the stable boy and the king. The way the stable boy helps the king become less greedy and selfish. What they like about the story. What they want to show people when they make a performance of the story. How can they best do that? Patch Theatre Company’s Teaching Resource - Mr. McGee & The Biting Flea Page 14 of 14