A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Visual Story

A visual resource for children and adults with

Autism, Asperger’s, Sensory Processing Disorder and associated condi-tions.

This resource is intended to help prepare any visitors for a new experi-ence and to help them to become familiar with the show, surroundings

and situation.

The show

The show lasts for 1 hour and 35 minutes including a 15 minute interval.

There are four puppeteers and many puppets in the show.

The show has recorded music. Sometimes the Nosey Neighbour talks directly to the audi-ence, telling us the story of what is happening.

Synopsis

One day, while killing crabs during a rainstorm that has lasted for several days, a man discov-ers a homeless, disoriented old man in his courtyard who happens to have very large wings.

The family and their neighbour conclude that the old man must be an angel who had tried to come and take their sick child to heaven. The family take pity on their visitor, especially after their child recovers.

They keep the old man in their chicken coop, and he soon begins to attract crowds of curious visitors. Father Gonzaga, the local priest, tells the people that the old man is probably not an angel because he’s shabby and doesn’t speak Latin. Father Gonzaga decides to ask his bishop for guidance.

Despite Father Gonzaga’s efforts, word of the old man’s existence soon spreads, and pilgrims come from all over to seek advice and healing from him. The crowd eventually grows so large and disorderly with the sick and curious that the family begins to charge admission.

Father Gonzaga does his best to restrain the crowd, even as he waits for the Church’s opinion on the old man. When he is deemed to be a fake people quickly turn against the Old Man and leave to search for the next big thing.

The family have nevertheless grown quite wealthy from the admission fees they had charged. The old man continues to stay with them, still in the chicken coop. Just as everyone loses faith in him he begins to regain his strength. His feathers grow back and he begins to sing. One day the old man stretches his wings and takes off into the air, and the boy watches him disap-pear over the horizon.

Characters

As this is a puppetry show, the characters are played by puppets.

Nosey – The Nosey Neighbour acts The Very Old Man with

as the narrator Enormous Wings

The Boy Mother and Father

There are lots of other puppets in the show, including all the people who come to meet The Very Old Man, crabs, a dog and a chicken!

Father Gonzago The Bank Manager

The Blue Boy

In this section special alerts are written in blue ink.

When you enter the auditorium the stage is empty and dark apart from some pieces of set.

The puppeteers enter the auditorium from the back and walk down the isle towards the stage.

The puppeteers have grey make up on their faces which is darker around their eyes (you can see the make up in this picture).

They stare at the audience members, as they walk past but they won’t touch you or talk to you.

The town is being invaded by hundreds of crabs. The town’s people are trying to get rid of them.

There is a storm brewing, it is raining and thunder can be heard.

The Nosey Neighbour tells the audi-

ence about the boy next door who

is ill, just before the old man falls to

earth.

As the man falls the storm

Intensifies and gets louder. When

the Nosey Neighbour comes to look

at the man she screams as he flaps

his wings.

A crowd gathers to inspect

the old man. They can’t

work out if it’s an angel or a

demon.

When the sick boy is

miraculously recovered and the

crabs have all gone the crowd

decide he must be an angel.

The villagers sing a song to

welcome him.

The boys parents claim him as

their own as he fell into their

back garden and they put him

in the chicken coop.

He sings to himself but no-one

can understand him

News of the miracle cure has

spread and is already in the

newspapers! Visitors start to ar-

rive in the hope of a miracle of

their own. Mother realises that

this could be an opportunity to

make some money so decides to

charge people ‘5 tups’ to meet

the old man.

Father Gonzago arrives to

inspect the old man. He

performs three tests to

find out if the old man is

an angel. The Blue Boy

helps him. The old man

fails the tests and Father

Gonzago declares that he

is a fraud and not an angel.

When the crowds leave the boy

comes to visit the old man. He

sings to the boy. The boy

wants to help him escape but

Nosey comes along and sends

him away.

As the crowds return Father

Gonzago arrives back to find

more people coming to visit

the old man in search of a

miracle. He is annoyed that

the villagers had ignored him

and so decides to write to ‘his

Highest Eminence’ to verify if

the man is an angel or not

once and for all. The Blue

Boy writes a letter and is sent

off to deliver it.

Mother dreams of getting rich and the boy

visits the man in his chicken coop. The

Blue Boy dashes off on his bike to deliver

the invitation. On the way he tells lots of

people about the old man, even though

he’s been told to keep it a secret.

A series of strange characters come and

visit the old man looking for a cure to their

problems, but instead of fixing them weird

things start to happen to them. One man,

who comes with the problem of feeling

itchy leaves with flowers growing out of

his head!

One of the puppeteers holds up a TV and acts as a tel-

evision news presenter.

At first she speaks quietly but then nosey turns the

volume up on the television and her voice is louder.

News has spread about the old man and now the

whole world knows about him. Tourists arrive from all

over the world and mother increases the price to meet

the old man to ‘ten tups’’. The Nosey Neighbour

opens a tea shop to sell cake to the tourists.

A bank has opened in the village and

the bank manager is trying to con-

vince everyone to invest their new

found wealth with him.

The villagers are excited to welcome

more visitors and the esteemed holy

guest to their village, they sing a wel-

come song as they wait.

An aeroplane with a banner and the

words ‘welcome’ fly above the village

and the boy and the old man watch it.

Nosey tells the boy to leave the old man

alone, and then tells the audience that

we have 15 minutes to wait for ‘his emi-

nence’ to arrive. This is the interval.

Interval—This is a break in the play and lasts about 15 minutes. During this time you can get

out of your seat and go to the toilet or have something to eat or drink. You can talk and move

about. During the interval in this show the puppeteers start to prepare the stage for the sec-

ond half. They decorate the stage and also the auditorium where the audience are sitting..

They might climb over the seats where you are sitting to hang up some bunting.

The village is prepared for the

party to welcome his eminence.

They have made food and pre-

pared entertainment. The old

man is tied to a fence on display

for all to see. They practice the

performance they have pre-

pared which includes the village

dog doing tricks, a human pyra-

mid and a tight rope walking

chicken!

The human pyramid crashes

down.

After a practice of the welcome

speech the villagers sing their

welcome song.

While the villagers sing we

see the Blue Boy as he

attempts to deliver the invi-

tation by bike, by boat and

by balloon.

The balloon pops offstage.

When they finally receive the

message from the Blue Boy that

his Eminence is not coming the

party descends into a drunken

sing song.

The banker returns to try and grab all the money he

can before it disappears. He eats the bank notes

and his tummy expands. (His tummy is made from a

balloon).

The bankers tummy pops as he is so full of money.

While everyone else is busy eating, drink-

ing and dancing the boy secretly releases

the Very Old Man from his ties.

The television news announcer

returns to tell the world that

the Very Old Man is a fake.

Everyone leaves the village in

search of miracles elsewhere.

Away from the madness below

the boy and the Very Old Man

sit on the roof of the house.

The old man sings to the boy

before taking off into the sky

and flying away.

The next morning Nosey tells us how the village

has changed since the old man left. The tourists

have gone and with it the money. Mother and

father are happy but Father Gonzago has gone

mad and was last seen running naked into the

wilderness.

She isn’t sure if the old man was an angel or not,

but she keeps one of his feathers just in case.

The old man returns with a golden glow as

the boy watches him fly into the distance he

leaves a trail of glitter behind him.

Golden glitter falls on the boy and the

lights go out.

This is the end of the show.

The puppeteers come back on

stage to take a bow.

The audience will clap. You

can clap to show them that

you enjoyed the show if you

want to.

The puppeteers bring some of

the puppets back on to the

stage to take a bow. You can

clap for the puppets as well if

you want to.

The puppets have a little dance

and music plays before they

leave the stage.