Jabberwocky Visual Story

A visual resource for children and young adults with

Autism, Aspergers, Sensory Processing Disorder and associated conditions.

This resource is intended to help prepare any visitors for a new experience and to help them to become familiar

with the surroundings and situation. The show The show lasts for 1 hour and there is no interval. There are four puppeteers in the show. The show mostly has recorded music but some of the dialogue is spoken by the actors. The only words used in the show are from the poem which you can read on the next page. What Happens The play is based upon the nonsense poem The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, and focuses on a young boy’s adventure in a mysterious forest. In the play we see the boy interact with many different monsters in the forest, including the JubJub Bird and the Bandersnatch Through meeting these monsters we see the boy gain courage and skill, all preparing him for a final fight with the scariest monster of them all…The Jabberwock!

Jabberwocky

BY LEWIS CARROLL ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Characters

The main character is played by 3 puppets:

A small marionette puppet

A large marionette puppet

A large rod puppet

This is a Slithy Tove. There are two of these in the show. This is a Bandersnatch: This is a Mome Rath There are four in the show.

This is the Bandersnatch – he has very long arms and legs. This is the Jubjub Bird

This is a Borogove. There are two of these in the show. This is a Prawn. There are two of these in the show.

And this is the Jabberwock In this section information that is particularly important such as warning of loud noises is in blue font. Play notes The show opens with the actors bringing the small boy puppet through the audience. One of the actors then reads The Jabberwocky poem to the boy. The small boy then enters his house before setting out on his adventure. The big boy comes out of the house and the house begins to attack him. They have a play fight. Two Prawns then enter the stage and interact with the boy. Large pieces of wood then appear on stage and create a forest.

Once the forest has been created a series of Mome Raths and Slithy Toves appear. Large green pieces of set now appear and the Mome Raths begin to search the forest for a sword. At this point there is a storm and sound effects are used which may be loud.

After the storm Slithy Toves appear on stage and the boy rides on their back to the front of the stage. The Slithy Toves are mean to the boy. Two Borogove Birds appear at the front of the stage and scare the Slithy Toves off. These birds can jump out very suddenly and can also be rather loud. More pieces of wood are now used at the front of the stage to create a forest. The boy becomes friends with the Borogoves and they help him pull the sword out of the ground. The boy rides away on the Borogoves and there is another storm, again this sound effect can be quite loud. During the storm Mome Raths appear and are frightened away by the Bandersnatch. The Bandersnatch eats one of the Mome Raths. On the front of the stage the boy and the Bandersnatch soon become friends and the Bandersnatch teaches the boy how to defy gravity in order to help him in his battle with the Jabberwock.

During this section the Bandersnatch does come into the aisle and interact with the audience. If you do not want to interact with the puppet that is fine, you do not have to. The Jubjub Bird appears next and begins to practise fighting with the boy. The Jubjub Bird keeps changing shape. The boy now exits on a Borogove and the set is moved to look like the ocean. The boy rides on the waves in a boat. At this point the storm starts again and the same sound effect is used which can be quite loud.

The boy then falls from the boat and flies down a hole. He lands on the floor and the Prawns swim across the stage. At this point the Jabberwock enters and the sound of a very high pitched noise is played. If you do not like it you can cover your ears. The noise does not last for a very long time. The Jabberwock and the boy now fight and the boy wins. Once the Jabberwock is dead the wooden trees fall back onto the stage and the Mome Raths appear again to celebrate. The boy then chops off the Jabberwock’s head and there is a short blackout. The boy then takes the Jabberwock’s head back to the house and snow starts to fall.

The end.

We hope that you enjoyed the show at Little Angel Theatre!