THE IRON MAN VISUAL STORY This visual resource is for children and young adults visiting the Unicorn Theatre to see a performance of THE IRON MAN. This visual story is intended to help prepare you for a new experience and help you to become familiar with the surroundings and the performance. This performance is loud, high energy in places and contains numerous dark scenes with moderate threat and fantasy sequences. These sequences are frequent but not sustained. There are some sequences where characters are in danger but these are not prolonged or intense. We have made the usual amendments to the volume and lighting levels but due to the nature of the show you will experience moments of startling sound effects and darkness.
Welcome to the Unicorn Theatre. We are a theatre for children and adults. This is what the building looks like from the outside. This is the main entrance of the theatre. There are some steps before you get to the front door. The words and pictures on the windows tell you what shows and activities are happening inside.
When you enter through the front door, you will see a big space with lots of tables and chairs in an area called the Foyer. There are also some instructions on the floor tiles, you can choose to follow these instructions or you can ignore them.
The Box Office is also in the Foyer. This is where you can buy tickets or collect tickets that you have already paid for. There may be other adults and children waiting to buy or collect tickets when you arrive.
You will be met by one of the Ushers, who will be wearing a dark red shirt with white writing like the one above. You can ask an usher if you have any questions and they will do their best to help you. When it s time for The Iron Man to start, you will hear a bell and an Usher will tell you where you need to go.
You might see some adults and children sitting at some of the tables having something to eat or drink from our Unicornershop.
There is a cafe in the Foyer called the Unicornershop where you can buy drinks and snacks. You can also bring your own drinks and snacks with you. You can also purchase a copy of THE IRON MAN book.
If you need to use the Toilet, they are downstairs from the Foyer. Look for the stairs going down or you can use the Lift.
These are the boys toilets. These are the girls toilets.
When you enter the Weston Theatre you will see a big open space, a very big cardboard puppet of The Iron Man surrounded by lights on the floor and the purple bench seats. You can find your seats and make yourself comfortable. The usher can help you find your seat. You will hear music all around the space. You might hear clanging and drums like machinery. You will hear background sound like this throughout the performance.
There are 3 performers in the show. These three performers control all of the puppets and move around the space. Somtimes they can t be seen. They work together for the whole show.
The main puppet characters are: The Iron Man The Boy The Space Bat Angel Dragon
When the show begins there will be no lights on stage but the lights over your seats will stay on. You will see The Iron Man on stage and you will hear a voice telling you the words from the book. This is the narrator. You will hear this voice throughout the performance. Sometimes the voice gets louder. You might hear it echo around you. This is just a recorded voice. The lighting and sound will change a lot when the different puppets are used. You will hear sounds from machinery, lots of beeps and bangs. The lights will also move around the space.
There will be a screen on The Iron Man tummy. This is an image of rain and the narrator will tell you the start of the story. The Iron Man will fall down and break into lots of pieces on the stage and you will see the performers move around and put him back together. This will make a loud noise. The performers will make it look like The Iron Man is putting himself back together. You will hear lots of machine noises like ticking and drumming in this scene. When The Iron Man is back together the performers will walk him towards you and he will look around. The music will get louder and then the stage will get very dark.
You will see a big screen at the back of the stage and there will be images of The Iron Man moving through the village eating all the metal items like fences, cars, machinery and tractors. You will see an image of The Little Boy in his bedroom. He is taking pictures of an owl outside his bedroom window. The Little Boy likes to take pictures.
The medium sized Iron Man puppet will walk onto the stage with glowing eyes. The Little Boy puppet using a camera with a flash will arrive. He is chasing a bird to try and get a good picture of it. The Little Boy is wearing a stripy top. The Little Boy doesn t see The Iron Man and climbs all over him to get a picture of the bird.
The Little Boy falls when he is climbing and The Iron Man wakes up. The Little Boy is a bit scared but stops to take a picture and then runs away. You will see The Little Boy on the screen run home to tell his Mum and Dad what he has seen. The farmers in the village all call each other and you will see telephones on the big screen. You will hear lots of telephones ringing. You will see The Iron Man move around the village eating more of the metal items and the music will get a bit louder. It will then get very dark on stage.
You will see little sets of headlights on a very dark stage. These are tractors and others vehicles. They are all working together to dig a big hole. You will see a light on the stage get bigger and bigger to show the size of the hole. The tractors and cars look like they are doing a dance. The music of engines and clanging will get much louder and it will be dark.
You will see The Little Boy and a dog puppet and they trick The Iron Man who falls into the hole. The deep hole will have smoke and a red light in it. It will look quite scary but don t worry. The music will get a bit louder. You will see a screen image of The Iron Man falling down a deep hole and the farmers in the village filling the hole to keep him buried.
You will see all the performers having a picnic on top of the filled hole. The performers will sing and show you all the food at the picnic. The Iron Man crashes through the picnic and scares the family with his big red eyes but The Little Boy is not scared, he speaks to The Iron Man and says sorry. He asks The Iron Man to follow him to a scrap yard. The Iron Man likes to eat metal so this would be a lovely place for him and he can stop eating the cars and machinery that the farmers need. The Little Boy leads the Iron Man and all the farmers through the village; you will see this on the big screen. You will see the scrap yard and lots of bulbs on the stage. The Iron Man likes the scrap yard. He makes himself some roller-skates and moves around the stage. The Iron Man needs to use the toilet and you will hear his metal droppings fall to the floor.
You will hear the loud voiceover again and he will explain there is a large star in the sky and no-one knows what it is. You will see a strange bird creature called the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon flying around the space. The space will get darker and the music will get louder then, the lights will flash a bit. You will see The Iron Man talking to the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon and they test each other s strength.
The Iron Man lies on top of some flames and makes himself very hot to show how strong he is. Don t worry the fire will not move from the stage. The Iron Man asks the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon to fly into the sun if he is strong enough. They Iron Man and Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon both make themselves very hot twice. The music gets much louder when this happens and the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon dances around the stage with flashing lights. This moment is quite bright and shocking, you can close your eyes if you need to but don t worry it won t last very long.
You will see lots of brightly coloured planets drop down and the performers will build a machine that shows the calm Space-Bat-Angel- Dragon flying around the earth. You will hear the voiceover again and some louder sounds effects and different lighting. The performers will come out to the middle of the stage and bow for you. The stage will get darker and the actors will move for you to clap. You can if you want to.
This is the end of the show. During the show you might find something funny, you can laugh if ou want to. During the show you might see or hear something that makes you feel sad. It s okay to feel sad but don t forget it s not real. You might hear other people in the audience cheer, clap, shout out or scream. You can join in if you want to. During the show you might feel that you need to take some time out. If you do, don t worry about it, find an Usher and let them know. They will take you to the chill out space where you can relax and return to the show when you feel ready.