Adapted from the book by Margery Williamss3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/juiceboxcreative... ·...

The Velveteen Rabbit Adapted from the book by Margery Williams

Parents Notes

Parents Notes – The Velveteen Rabbit

2

About Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is Australia’s flagship puppetry company dedicated to the development and creation of the art form. Through puppetry we share stories that celebrate what it is to be human; connecting audiences across generations.

Over the course of our 35 year history, we have entertained and enriched the lives of

hundreds of thousands of audience members both in Australia and abroad.

Spare Parts offers meaningful and exciting theatre experiences that respect the

intelligence and emotional growth of our young audience.

Puppetry uniquely addresses the imaginative mind and while Spare Parts Puppet

Theatre’s focus is on young people we create work that can challenge, excite and

entertain audiences of all ages.

We have created these Parent’s Notes to enhance the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre

experience, for children and adults alike. We hope you find them useful.

To find out more information on Spare Parts Puppet Theatre or our current production of The Velveteen Rabbit please visit: http://www.sppt.asn.au/


3

The Velveteen Rabbit Adapted from the book by Margery Williams

“Where the young stay young and the old grow young forever” A boy receives a Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas. The Velveteen Rabbit is snubbed by other more expensive or mechanical toys, the latter of which fancy themselves

real. One day while talking with the Skin Horse, the Rabbit learns that a toy becomes real if its owner really and truly loves it. The Skin Horse makes the Velveteen Rabbit aware that "...once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always”.

When the boy's action figure, Bandito gets broken, the Velveteen soon takes his

place as the boy's constant companion. The Rabbit becomes shabbier, but the boy loves him no matter what. In the garden, the Velveteen Rabbit meets actual rabbits, and learns about the differences between himself and the real rabbits when the real

rabbits prove he is not real by his inability to hop and jump.

The Velveteen Rabbit's companionship with the boy lasts until the boy falls ill with scarlet fever. The boy becomes too ill to play for a very long time; upon his recovery,

the doctor orders all the toys the boy has played with, including the Rabbit, be burned in order to disinfect the nursery.

While awaiting the bonfire, in which the Velveteen Rabbit will be burned, the Rabbit cries a real tear. This tear brings forth the Magic Fairy. She tells the Rabbit that he was only real to the boy, and then brings him to the garden and casts her magic,

making him real to everybody. He soon discovers that he is a real rabbit at last and runs to join the other rabbits in the wild.

The Creative Team

Director: Philip Mitchell Adapting Writer: Greg Lissaman Designer: Zoe Atkinson Composer: Lee Buddle Lighting: Graham Walne Puppet Construction: Jiri Zmitko Production Manager: Chad Wetton Assistant Stage Manager: Sarah McKellar Performers: Jessica Harlond Kenny, Bec Bradley, Nick Pages-Oliver

The Puppet Designs

The puppets in The Velveteen Rabbit vary from toys that have been adapted for manipulation and life size rod puppets. Soft toy animation is an aspect of puppetry

similar to Object Theatre where any object with the aide of an experienced puppeteer can be animated and develop character. The Velveteen Rabbit will explore this form

of puppetry together with rod puppets and traditional marionettes.


4

Character List

Characters Puppet Style The Velveteen Rabbit: A Stuffed toy and a life size rod puppet Fairy: A fully strung traditional marionette Horse, swan, turkey, bear: Stuffed toys Bandito, the trucks: Mechanical toys

About the book by Margery Williams Margery Williams (1881-1944) was born in London and lived alternatively in the United States and England. She first wrote and published books for adults. The Velveteen Rabbit, her first attempt at writing for children has become her most well-known work and a children’s literature classic.

About the story she said, "It was by a sort of accident that The Velveteen Rabbit became the beginning of all the stories I have written since… By thinking about toys and remembering toys, they suddenly become very much alive.

Toys I had loved as a little girl — my almost forgotten Tubby, who was the rabbit, and Old Dobbin, the Skin Horse, and the toys my children had loved." Research Margery Williams What are some interesting facts about this author?


5

Theatre Etiquette

Discuss appropriate audience behaviour with your child prior to attending The Velveteen Rabbit. Basic Theatre Etiquette for young audience members:

§ Go to the toilet before the performance.

§ Attending a theatre performance is different from attending a movie.

The performers can hear you if you talk or make a lot of noise. Keep

quite during the performance and be respectful of the performer.

Remember they can see and hear you to.

§ It’s okay to laugh at the funny parts of the performance.

§ Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

§ You should not eat during the performance. Give the performers your

full attention.

§ Clap at the end of the performance if you enjoyed what you saw.


6

Meet Performer – Rebecca Bradley Where are you from? I was born in Perth, WA. What character do you play in The Velveteen Rabbit? I play the Velveteen Rabbit. I also play the boy, Jordie, his mum and I do the voice for the fairy. Why did you want to become a performer? Theatre and drama was what I enjoyed most when I was at school. I loved getting to create characters, stories, the props and costumes and telling stories. It meant I got to use my imagination, invent, explore and play. I think it also helped me in my emotional development and self-awareness. Who inspires you? People who make brave choices to pursue their dreams. What is your favourite children book? Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Did you have a favourite toy growing up? Funnily enough it was a rabbit! The rabbit was knitted for me by my grandmother, and I called it Florence. If I wanted to become a performer what advice would you give me? Your imagination, creativity, self-awareness, confidence and perseverance will be your most vital assets if you want to be a performer. Do anything that fosters those things. Play and make believe as much as you can. Write, draw, dance, sing and meditate. Learn what makes stories interesting for you. See as much theatre as you can and look for training opportunities you can access. If it is your dream, go for it!


7

Conversation starters:

Back from the Theatre

- Did you enjoy the performance? What did you or did you not like about it?

- What was the performance about?

- What puppets did you see? What kind of toys did you notice in the performance?

- What was the lighting and sound like?

- What were the main parts of the set?

The toy characters

- Who was the new toy? Who were the older toys?

- Did all the toys get along together? How did the toys welcome the velveteen rabbit?

- Describe the different types of toys the boy had.

- Discuss the characters of those toys and their relationships with each other

- Why did the Velveteen Rabbit keep asking questions to the other toys?

- Could the Velveteen Rabbit hop? Why not?


8

Music from the show

Keep the magic alive even after leaving the theatre and download the songs from The Velveteen Rabbit soundtrack. Lee Buddle is the composer for The Velveteen Rabbit and he has put together various music genres to create the soundtrack for the show. The following scores have been used in the composition: Peer Gynt Suite ('In The Hall Of The Mountain King' and 'Morning') - Edward Greig

Suite No 11 in D minor for Harpsichord (Sarabande) - G.F. Handel

The Planets Suite (Saturn) - Gustav Holst

40th Symphony in G minor (1st Mvt) - W.A. Mozart

'William Tell Overture' - Rossini

"Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Opening only - '2001 Theme') - R. Strauss

Firebird Suite - Stravinsky

The Rite Of Spring (Le Sacre Du Printemps) - Stravinsky

Violin Concerto - 'Capriccio' - Stravinsky

5th Symphony (2nd Mvt) - Tchaikovsky

6th Symphony (4th Mvt) – Tchaikovsky

Nutcracker Suite ('Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy') -Tchaikovsky

Ride Of The Valkyries from "Die Walkure" Act 3 - Wagner


9

Scarlet Fever

In the book we learn that, one day, the boy becomes sick with scarlet fever, and the rabbit sits with him as he recovers. As the boy was very sick with scarlet fever the

rabbit in the story, at the end the toy rabbit had to be burnt in case he had any germs.

What is Scarlet Fever?

• Up until the early 20th century, scarlet fever was a common condition among children.

• The disease was very common during the time in which Margery Williams wrote her book, in 1922.

• Scarlet fever is a type of bacterial throat infection that also features a red (scarlet) rash.

• Scarlet fever usually affects primary aged children. • It is spread by coughing, sneezing, touching contaminated surfaces or being in

contact with an infected person.

Treatment • Scarlet fever is treated with antibiotics. • Most people who are treated with antibiotics recover in a week. • If left untreated it can sometimes spread to other parts of the body and cause

more serious health problems.

Scarlet Fever – Activity Create a Scarlet Fever Glossary

Get your child to use Internet sources or a dictionary to research the meaning of the following terms all associated with scarlet fever and any other words they may not

understand.

v Scarlet Fever

v Antibiotics

v Treatment

v Infection

Have a discussion with your child about how modern medicine has changed

and why they no longer need to burn toys after a child has been sick with scarlet fever.


10

Create your own magical puppetry performance

with your toys at home

Draw on the performance of The Velveteen Rabbit and get your child to create their own enchanting puppetry performance with their toys from home.

Encourage your child to come up with an adventure for the toys to go on and then rehearse, develop and perform the puppet show.

If your child didn’t want The Velveteen Rabbit to end, why not get them to act our what they think may have happened next. Even better get them to come up with

a different ending.

What is Real?

At the end of the performance the Fairy tells the Velveteen Rabbit that he was only real to the boy, but then the Fairy casts her magic making the Rabbit real to everybody. Explore the idea with your child about what it means to be real and becoming real. Here are some questions to help get you started. • How do the toys feel about becoming real? How do they think they can become

real?

• Why do the model trucks think they are real?

• What happens when the Velveteen Rabbit meet the other rabbits in the bushes?

• How does the Velveteen Rabbit become real to the boy?

• Are the other rabbits wrong about the Velveteen Rabbit being real?

• In the story, who thinks the Velveteen Rabbit is not real?

• When the boy got sick, do you think the Velveteen Rabbit was afraid to stay by him? Why not?

• How does the Velveteen Rabbit become real to everybody?

• Is the Velveteen Rabbit real from the very beginning? Why?


11

Let’s recycle – Make your own junk toy In The Velveteen Rabbit story the nursery is the home of the old toys that may never get their owner’s attention back… which reminds some of us of our insatiable desire

for new ones and how we get bored of and abandon others…

What about trying to stop the waste? Have you ever heard of toy recycling? What you will need: ✓ Masking or Clear Tape ✓ Markers ✓ Scrap Paper ✓ Glue ✓ Scissors ✓ Recycled objects from around the house (e.g. buttons, old socks, bottle lids, pop sticks, old fabric). ✓Decorative items (e.g. Foil, fabric, pipe cleaners, felt) Get inspired! Research for ideas to recycle toys on the Internet. Write a narrative about your new recycled toy: After the toy has been created get your child to write a narrative about the toy and where it came from. The narrative can take place wherever you wish and should feature at least two characters. Get them to share their story with friends and family. Extension: Your child might like to create simple puppet people/characters that could feature in narrative with their toy and could even feature in their puppet show.


12

Write a Review

After seeing The Velveteen Rabbit get your child to write a review of the performance. What did they like? What didn’t they like? When finished send them in

to us at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre via the address below or send us an email. You can even review the show on our facebook page

(https://www.facebook.com/sparepartspuppets).

We would love to know what you think! Spare Parts Puppet Theatre PO BOX 897 Fremantle WA 6959 [email protected]


13

More children’s stories with themes about toys becoming real:

• Toy Story films - Produced by Pixar Animation Studios • Pinocchio - The classic fairytale • The Magic City - Written by Edith Nesbit • The Indian in the Cupboard – written by Lynne Reid Banks, and

illustrated by Brock Cole • Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear – by Matt Dray • The Winnie-The-Pooh books – by AA Milne


14

Image Gallery


15

The Velveteen Rabbit Glossary

Velveteen – a cotton fabric with a pile resembling velvet. Theatre – a building or outdoor area in which plays and other dramatic performance are given. Puppetry – a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – objects often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or controlled by a human called a puppeteer. Director – someone who supervises the actors and directs the action in the production of the show. Performer – a person who behaves in the manner of a character and entertains the audience. Composer – a person who writes music. Author – a writer of a book, article or document. Object Theatre – uses found objects to create a story with characters.

Adapted from the book by Margery Williamss3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/juiceboxcreative... ·...

Documents

Transcript of Adapted from the book by Margery Williamss3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/juiceboxcreative... ·...