STUDY GUIDE FOR TEACHERS THE LITTLE OLD MAN ADAPTED FORM THE STORY BY BARBRO LINDGREN A PUPPET PLAY FOR CHILDREN AGED THREE TO TEN

Transcription

1 STUDY GUIDE FOR TEACHERS THE LITTLE OLD MAN ADAPTED FORM THE STORY BY BARBRO LINDGREN A PUPPET PLAY FOR CHILDREN AGED THREE TO TEN CREATED BY FRANK RADER AND CHRIS MCGREGOR FOR THEATRE BAGGER ARTS SOCIETY STUDY GUIDE BY HILARY STRANG

2 SYNOPSIS With warmth, The Little Old Man tells the story of a lonely old man s determined search for friendship. Through his stick-to-itiveness, he works through self-doubt, bullying and jealousy, and makes two friends! THEME How do you make and maintain friendships? The main characters create friendships that are sometimes fraught, sometimes pure delight and always coloured by the changing seasons in which they live. The play s theme of friendship is echoed in the style of the storytelling. The puppets and manipulators play together and the performers (manipulators and puppets) create a relationship with the audience. The old man s over-riding obstacle of aloneness and his child-like quality allows a child to safely identify with him. His determination is admirable. Children relate to this story about a deep concern in their own lives, as well as to the production s playfulness. An understanding of connectedness is fully experienced.

3 ROD PUPPETS Puppets can do anything they are magic, says director Chris McGregor, and they can act out a child s imaginative play. Puppet maker Frank Rader explains that small rod puppets were chosen to tell this story to young children, because their simplicity (as opposed to, say, marionettes) matched the simplicity of the story. Also, the creators wanted to build an intimate world in which a small child would feel at home. In this style of puppetry, the manipulators are fully integrated into the performance and can be seen taking care of the puppets; changing the scenery; and interplaying with each other, the audience and the puppets. This mirrors the relationship children have with toys and creates an instant sympathy. Importantly, the audience sees the benevolence of those in control. A story of love, loneliness, fear and hope told through beautifully crafted rod puppets for ages 3 and up. Living in an unfriendly town, a little old man is desperately lonely. One day he decides to put up signs through the entire forest: Lonely Little Old Man is looking for a Friend. The results are eye-opening for our little friend as he discovers the complexities and joys of friendship and belonging. Four hands, twelve expressive rod puppets and an original jazz piano score bring this modern Swedish short story to life. The Little Old Man has received raves reviews in Nanaimo and Vancouver. The tale s tender simplicity is as soothing as a lullaby, and Theatre Bagger s staging makes it a delight. (The Georgia Straight May 2008) a charming adaptation [that] goes a long way toward letting kids absorb this small piece of theatre in a simple but engaging way. (The Vancouver Sun May 2008)

4 QUOTES from our audiences: All three of us were delighted with the entire production; the story, the puppets, the puppeteers, the lighting and sound As a former preschool educator and someone who is still plays daily with children, I saw that "The Little Old Man" engaged the audience of children and adults alike The discussions we had on the way home were rich and amusing. I really enjoyed "The Little Old Man". I thought it was very inventive and appealing We have had some extremely positive feedback from it and some people have bought subscriptions to our Just Kidding series because of it. I was enthralled by a simple and eloquent story told by beautifully crafted puppets and their skilled actor/manipulator co-stars The relationship between the human performers and the main puppet characters was beautiful The Little Old Man is a piece that can be enjoyed by anyone at any age. Its intelligence and honest pathos brings hope, beauty and compassion to our human vulnerabilities Thanks for the show. It s a lovely story with lots for the kids to munch on with their little hearts and brains, and very beautiful to watch too. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed your show. Congrats again on the show. It was a real treat. The very alive puppets, the impressionistic setting, the playful puppeteers, the resonant story all make entrancing theatre. In its funny, gentle and beautiful way, it allows plenty of room to connect to the story on one's own terms. But universally, the audience understands "Aaaahhhh, in a difficult world, there is joy and beauty and care and hope!" I was amazed at how much emotion is in those little puppets I just want to say thanks for the tickets to see your show. Alexina has been inspired since, as doing puppets show is now part of our play routine...old man and dog puppet play...and kick in the butt puppet acting all great stuff. Alexina was mesmerized right from the start of the show, when things and your faces, would just pop out from behind the set... she thought she was on to something and she was right! Your show is quite magical, and pulled us in the world of your story quite gently. Next thing we knew, Alexina was fully involved and pulling for the old man to make a friend. I've brought her to a few shows, and I think this is the one that she's reacted the best to... she got right into it, was quite involved in the story, and was responding to the characters and the magic on stage quite vocally... she gave some nice ooohhss with the trees and season changing.

5 Mandate and History of Theatre Bagger Arts Society Chris McGregor and Trevor Found are founding members of the company and are current co-artistic directors. Theatre Bagger Arts Society is an artistically driven professional theatre company. We are committed to creating theatre developed through an artistic process that gives expression and dignity to people's imaginations and dreams; that communicates to audiences stories of personal and universal meaning with a compassionate vision of the human spirit. Our mandate includes educating the public and deepening their understanding of the artistic process thus nurturing the public's appreciation of art and artists with a visceral and direct interactive connection. We perform in a variety of traditional and nontraditional theatrical venues in order to move the imagination of each audience member by presenting work that is high quality, unique and explores intelligence, beauty and compassion of our human vulnerabilities. Through stage productions, festivals, new play development and workshops, we promote a living Canadian theatre of image and action combined with text; a theatrical experience based in the art of physical expression using clown, mask, puppetry and image theatre for audiences of all ages (Theatre for Young Audiences and Adult Audiences). Theatre Bagger is dedicated to encouraging the growth and development of performers from all disciplines and designers of all nature as creative artists who play an integral role specifically in Vancouver s theatrical community. For the past sixteen years Theatre Bagger Arts Society has been honoured with several Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards and Nominations for outstanding work in the community including; Best Production, Best Actor, Best Use of a Non-Traditional Theater Venue and Best Director. This season Theatre Bagger was honoured with four Jessie Richardson nominations for our production of The Little Old Man. Significant Artistic Achievement: Ensemble Performance, Outstanding Artistic Creation: Direction, Significant Artistic Achievement: Puppet Design and Outstanding Production. Currently Theatre Bagger is creating and developing theatre for young audiences with the recent successful adaptation of the Swedish short story The Little Old Man. Since December 2007 it has been produced at several festival including; Nanaimo s TheatreOne s Just Kidding Series, the Vancouver International Children s Festival, Winterruption, The Spring Break Theatre Festival, The Surrey International Children s Festival in May 2009 and Theatre Bagger started producing plays for young people in 2001 producing six unique productions based in the traditions of clown, mask, puppets and physical theatre including; The Little Old Man, The Doug and Al Show adapted by Jerry Silver from books by Mark Thurman, The KinderKabaret, Pookie Flukesters I and II, and MasqueRaid using Frank Rader s expressive masks.

6 COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES Chris McGregor Director/Creator - Actor Chris is the co-founder and director of Theatre Bagger (see company history). He completed the Masters Program in Directing at the University of British Columbia in Artistic Director of Carousel Theatre on Granville Island from 2001 to 2006 directing several award winning main-stage and touring productions including; Anne, The Boy in the Tree House, My Game, Treasure Island, Suddenly Shakespeare, It s a Wonderful Life, Gremlin, A Christmas Carol and Wind in the Willows. He has toured all across Canada, the United States and Ireland as an actor with such companies as The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Cascade Theatre, Arête Physical Theatre, Green Thumb Theatre, Axis Theatre, Theatre Bagger, Full Figure Theatre, Gwaandak Theatre and Carousel Theatre. Tom Jones Artistic Associate - Actor Tom has performed in most of Theatre Bagger s productions over the years. Tom received a Jessie Richardson nomination for Best Actor playing Bonnie's better half, Clyde, in Shameless Hussies' hit Bonnie Dangerously; fast times with that guy Clyde. His other stage credits for the Hussies include their 1991 production, The Day Room. Tom has toured internationally with Axis & Touchstone Theatre's Jessie Award winning show The Number 14. Tom has also toured internationally with See Saw for Green Thumb Theatre for Young People. Not on tour, Tom performed as a witch in Macbeth for the Vancouver Playhouse. Favourite roles include Jane Eyre in The Bronte Brothers and twice he played Lucky in Waiting for Godot. Tom is a graduate of the BFA program in acting at the University of British Columbia. Frank Rader Puppet Designer/Creator Frank graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver B.C. with a major in Ceramics. Before that, he attended theatre school in Ontario. He has been making masks and puppets for performance and theatre schools for over twenty five years. His masks have been used in such institutions as the Stratford

7 Shakespeare Festival, the National Theatre School and The National Theatre (England). His masks are also in private collections in Canada, U.S.A., Australia, England, Switzerland and France. Recently he created the puppets ranging from 3 to 9 feet tall for Carousel Theatre's version of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol here in Vancouver. He is also one of the artistic directors of toto Mask, a company committed to the exploration and development of original mask and puppet performance. In September 2004 toto Mask completed a very successful run at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival with MasqueRaid, toto Mask has created 6 original mask pieces to date. Patrick Pennefather Composer/Sound Designer Patrick Pennefather (BFA Honours in Music, MFA Electro-Acoustic Music & Theatre) is a multi-award winning composer who has worked with numerous theatrical, dance, and corporate clients in Canada and internationally for the past 20 years. In that time he has created many compositions and designs for both live and recorded media. He has worked with the internationally renowned Electric Company Theatre, the multi-award winning Vancouver Theatre Sports League, Boca Del Lupo and Canada s own CBC Radio & Television and Bravo Television. His music and design have been heard in many contexts; theatre, ballet and modern dance, film, dance film, spectacle, circus, comedy, radio, podcast, e-advertising, and websites. Patrick s musical styles have been equally influenced by western music traditions as well as world music. His background and education in music performance and composition has developed in him a wide breadth of styles and traditions to call upon. The key has always been to create music that best suits the dramatic action at hand, while being memorable and interesting in its own right. You can check out more of his audio creations at Some Links to help you explore the World of Puppetry Everything you ever wanted to know about building puppets Puppetry Yellow Pages Puppeteers of America