primary PACK for key stage 2
Introduction
This pack has been designed to give primary teachers a range of ideas, inspiration and activities for your pupils following their
visit to see Wicked. All activities have been created to enhance pupils’ understanding of the production in a fun and dynamic way.
The following plans should challenge pupils to use key curriculum skills in English, Drama, Music & Art.
wicked english
Comprehension
Narrative Synopsis
Refer to the Wicked Introductory Pack and Production Images Pack for a reminder of the synopsis
As a class, discuss the production. Note down on the board the story in chronological order. Think in particular about Elphaba’s
character and her journey through the story.
Ask pupils to work individually to write the story of the production in their own words. Pupils can refer to the notes on the board,
but will need to think about how one event leads to another, and how best to write the synopsis.
Pupils may instead create the story in the form of an illustrated storyboard.
Scene Analysis
Refer to Scene Act One, Scene Thirteen in the Script Extracts Pack
Read aloud the first half of the scene, up to the moment where Madame Morrible reveals The Grimmerie.
In groups or individually, pupils should answer the following questions:
• How do you think Elphaba feels at the beginning of the scene, meeting the Wizard for the first time?
• Why do you think the Wizard uses the big mechanical head?
• What characteristics does the Wizard show during the song he sings?
• Why do you think Madame Morrible and the Wizard behave so kindly to Elphaba and Glinda?
Read aloud the rest of the scene.
Now put some Question Words into a hat for the pupils to draw
out – e.g Where / What / How / When... Pupils pull out a name
to help them generate a question about the scene, each time
beginning with the word they are given. The rest of the class
then has to answer the question.
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Rewriting the Scene
Think again about the scene. In groups, ask pupils to create a freeze frame of the scene, perhaps creating different frozen positions
for the beginning middle and end. Once they have created their freeze frames, think about what each character’s thought bubbles or
speech bubbles would be in the scene – they may want to write these into giant thought and speech bubbles and show them alongside
their poses.
Each group should also come up with a title for each frozen pose.
Now pupils should rewrite this scene as prose – like you might find in a novel.
It might be helpful for them to also think about setting here too using adjectives to describe the Wizard’s Palace or the transformation
of the monkeys.
Character Profiles
Working in groups, pupils should choose 1 character to focus on
Group Activity
In groups, ask pupils to draw a simple outline of the character on a
large sheet of paper. Within the outline, write adjectives which
describe the internal qualities of the character, those which they
might feel about themselves. Outside the outline, list how other
people perceive them.
Individually pupils should use these sheets to help write a
character description or biography about each character.
Pupils may want to refer to the Character Profiles in the Wicked Introduction Pack to help them
Good? Or Wicked?
Use the Synopsis in the Wicked Introductory Pack and the Script Extracts to help you
Considering the following questions, pupils should choose a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ character from Wicked to write a profile on.
• 1) What are the internal qualities of each character which makes them good or bad?
• 2) How do other people see them?
• 3) What does the character say that implies they are good or bad?
• 4) What does the character do make them good or bad?
• 5) What has happened in their past to make them behave in this way?
• 6) Is your character wholly good or bad, or do they have characteristics which are both good and bad?
Pupils should use the synopsis, scripts and evidence from what happens in the play to support your argument.
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imaginative writing
Wicked is based on an existing story, but author Gregory Maguire chose to reveal a different side of that story, the ‘real’ story behind the
Wicked Witch of the West. Now pupils can test out their own imaginative writing.
Short Story Writing
Choose a character from a book you know well. Write a short story that reveals a different side to the same character, explaining their
actions or revealing something extra the reader does not know.
Diary Entry
Imagine you are Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Boq or Nessarose the
night of the Ozdust Ball.
Remember what happens in the scene:
Glinda convinces Boq to take Nessarose to the Ozdust Ball,
in order that she can go with Fiyero. Nessarose, excited and
not understanding Glinda’s selfish motive, tells Elphaba of
how kind Glinda was to do this for her.
As a joke, Glinda gives Elphaba a ridiculous hat, and tells her it
is the height of fashion. Because of Glinda’s apparent goodness
towards her sister, Elphaba believes she really means well and
likes the hat.
Elphaba arrives at the ball wearing the hat and everyone laughs at her. Defiant, she begins to dance anyway, on her own.
Glinda, with Fiyero, cannot laugh at her, and feels guilty for what she has done. Dancing with Elphaba, the rest of the class
decide that as Glinda is dancing with Elphaba, this must make her dance cool – and everyone joins in.
Write your chosen character’s diary entry for that night.
Change the ending
Talk about the ending of the story, where Elphaba and Fiyero run away together and don’t tell Glinda what has really happened to them.
Everyone in Oz believes they are dead. What kind of ending is it?
Now, choose a different ending for the play and rewrite it. Use a different ending technique to help you. Examples might include
anti-climax, moral, happy ending, cliff-hanger, tragic, traditional tale, and rewrite using one of these.
News Report
Choose a moment from the play to write about. Pretend you are a reporter and write a newspaper report about this moment, using
features of news reporting to help to retell the story in this style.
You may want to adapt this and ask pupils to work in groups to create TV news scripts to perform, as if they are a reporter on the scene,
or a TV anchor in the studio.
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Wonderful Words
Wicked is full of made-up words like:
Braverism, Congratulotions, Definish, Disgusticified, Clocktick,
Swankified, Gratituion, Clandestinedly, Discoverates...
Can you think of any of your own new words you would want to
add to the dictionary? What do the words mean?
You can use the following beginnings to help the pupils create
their words:
DingaUnbel
FabuIntri
MagAbso
AstroSill
Writing a spell
Read Elphaba’s spell that she casts on Fiyero which turns him into a scarecrow:
ELEKA NAHMEN NAHMEN
AH TUM AH TUM ELEKA NAHMEN
ELEKA NAHMEN NAHMEN
AH TUM AH TUM ELEKA NAHMEN...
LET HIS FLESH NOT BE TORN
LET HIS BLOOD LEAVE NO STAIN
THOUGH THEY BEAT HIM
LET HIM FEEL NO PAIN
LET HIS BONES NEVER BREAK
AND HOWEVER THEY TRY
TO DESTROY HIM
LET HIM NEVER DIE
LET HIM NEVER DIE
ELEKA NAHMEN NAHMEN
AH TUM AH TUM ELEKA NAHMEN
ELEKA NAHMEN NAHMEN
AH TUM AH TUM ELEKA... ELEKA...
If you could create a spell, what would it do? Write your own magical spell, thinking of what magical language you might want to use,
and which English words you would use so that, like Elphaba’s, we can still understand it.
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WICKED DRAMA
Games & Warm Up Activities
Animal Freeze
Ask the pupils to walk around the room, imagining all the different talking
animals in Oz. When you shout ‘Freeze’, pupils should freeze in a pose of one
particular animal of their choice. Ask some of the pupils which animals they are.
Casting a Spell
Get the pupils into pairs. One person in the pair is either a witch or a wizard, and they can cast spells. The other person will be
transformed. Talk to the class about what you might look like when casting a spell (do you have a wand, how would you point,
is there a magic word to say.) Now talk about what you might be transformed into. In their pair, pupils decide on 2 or 3 magic
spells they want to cast and what happens after they cast it. Each different spell should have a different effect, so the pupils
need to concentrate on which spell is being said and what happens.
A spell might transform their partner into an object or an animal, or it might give them a certain quality, like they smile all the time.
Taking turns as a pair, one pupil casts the spell, and the other one acts out what has happened to them.
Share back their spells with the class.
Chinese Whispers
In Oz, rumours start to spring up about Elphaba which aren’t true, such as she melts if she gets wet, or she has an extra eye, or she
can shed her skin like a snake. Talk to pupils about rumours, what they are and how they can be harmful.
Sit the pupils in a circle, and play a game of Chinese Whispers, starting the whisper off each time with a true fact like “the school is in
a big building” or “Brad and Angelina are married.” See what you hear at the end of the circle!
Make Someone Feel...
In Wicked, we see characters treated in very different ways. Think about the difference between how Glinda is treated at Shiz University
and how Elphaba is treated when she first arrives.
Send 1 pupil out of the room. As a class, the remaining pupils should decide on how they want to make that person feel when they
come back in. Do they want to make them feel important, royal, funny, or like an outcast (they can choose their own examples.)
Discuss how you might make the person feel this way, through a repeated gesture, speech, or movement. Pupils can practise what they
will do or say a few times as a class.
When you are ready, let the other pupil back into the classroom. See if they can guess how they’re meant to feel.
Share back how it was to be made to feel that way, and how it was to act that way.
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Glinda Says
A different take on Simon Says! Ask 1 pupil to lead the game and stand at the front of the class. Everyone else is facing them,
and standing up.
The leaders needs to issue simple instructions to the rest of the class. When they say “Glinda says...” then the rest of the pupils need
to do what they say, for example “Glinda says put your hands over your head.” But when they say “Elphaba says...” the pupils shouldn’t
do what they say.
Pupils who get their response wrong are out of the game. Swap over the pupil playing “Glinda.”
Think about how people view Elphaba in a different way at the end of the play – people do listen to what she says. So change the rules
of the game – pupils should do what “Elphaba says...” but not do what “Glinda says…”
Character Work
Frozen Emotions
Look at the images of the characters above. What can we tell about their
character from how they are standing and their facial expressions?
Get pupils to stand in a space in the room facing you. Ask them to
think about how they are standing and find a neutral position –
feet shoulder width apart, weight evenly balanced, arms by their sides
and looking straight ahead. This is an important position for an actor,
as it should tell the audience very little about you as a character.
It’s a position you build a character onto.
Now, call out 1 word emotions that they should portray in their faces only their
faces to start with): Examples might include: sad, happy, content, jealous, guilty,
ashamed, proud. Now repeat the exercise but now they should use their whole
body as well as their face. Share back some good examples to the class.
Character Poses
Now think of those characters again. Ask each pupil to choose one of the characters to become. Which 3 words would they use to
describe that character?
For example: Fiyero - proud, popular, thoughtful
Get the pupils to create a frozen pose as their character for each characteristic, so they have 3 poses in all.
Once they are happy with this physicality, try to get them to walk round the room as their character. What happens when they meet
another character, can they say hello in character?
Children can also work in pairs for this and while frozen, the partner can ‘direct’ by physically moving the character into the correct
body/ language/ facial expression.
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Conscience Alley
You may want to refer to the Script Extracts Pack for this section
A useful technique for exploring any kind of dilemma faced by a character, providing an opportunity to analyse a decisive moment
in greater detail. The class forms two lines facing each other. Each side plays two sides of one character’s conscious and decides
on a line / word to repeat over and over again as the ‘character’ walks through the alley.
For example, you might choose Glinda when she is invited to go to Oz with Elphaba (you can refer to this moment in the Script
Extracts Pack to remind you.)
The teacher takes the role of the character and walks between the lines as each member of the group speaks their advice.
It can be organised so that those on one side give opposing advice to those on the other.
Children can take in turns to play the character, to know what it feels like to be in their shoes.
Creating Scenes
Frozen Images
Get the pupils into groups. Ask them to choose 3 moments in the
play and create a frozen image of each moment. These should
happen in chronological order. Scenes could include:
• Elphaba and Glinda meet at Shiz for the first time
• Fiyero arrives at Shiz
• In class with Dr Dillamond
• Dr Dillamond is arrested
• Elphaba and Glinda arrive in Oz
• They meet the Wizard
• Elphaba casts her spell and transforms the monkey
• Elphaba comes back to visit Nessa / Boq becomes the Tin Man
• Fiyero leaves the guards and saves Elphaba
• Elphaba pretends to melt
• Glinda announces that Elphaba is dead
Once they have created their frozen images to tell the story,
get pupils to try to transition slowly between the 3 images,
so that they create 1 silent moving picture. Share these back.
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Script Work
Use the Script Extracts Pack for this section
Get the pupils into pairs or small groups. Pass out the scripts in the pack provided. Ask pupils to choose their characters and read
each scene through out loud in their groups.
Discuss in groups what is happening in the scene. Each group should be able to answer the following questions:
• What is happening in the scene?
• Who has the power or status in the scene?
• What does each character want in the scene?
• How does each character feel in the scene?
• Who does your character like or dislike in the scene?
Put the scene on its feet and ask pupils to act it out. Think back to their characters’ feelings and what they want in the scene.
Watch each scene as they rehearse and help them to decide on staging – who should stand where in the scene? It might be helpful
for them to plan this based on who has the most power in the scene and who each character likes or dislikes.
In the Emerald City
As a class, create the town of Oz. To do this, firstly brainstorm what they would find in Oz, from shops, to people, to street sellers,
entertainers or lampposts. They can be as fantastical as they like! One by one, ask pupils to freeze in the position of something or
someone that they would find in Oz. This may require pupils to work in groups to create buildings or larger objects. Pupils position
should then position themselves in the room in relation to each other to form the town. You can then walk through the streets and
explore the town. You may want to swap pupils into this role as well.
You might want to add props to this scene to help them.
Can they create a soundscape of Oz too? What would you hear if you walked down the street? Ask pupils what noises they think they
might hear. One by one, ask pupils to begin making that sound, repeating it again and again while other children join in so that you
begin to build a Soundscape of Oz.
See if they can be sensitive to the volume of everything else which is happening – it may help to pretend they are a giant stereo –
and you control the volume by using your arms and gestures.
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WICKED Movement & Music
Class Dance
Think about the scene where Elphaba comes into the Ozdust ball
and dances. At first the rest of the guests at the dance ridicule her,
but once Glinda joins in too, they start to copy her moves, so the
whole room is dancing together.
As a class, you are going to recreate the scene, but using your own
dance moves.
Stand in a space in the room where you can see each other (but not
in a circle.)
Play the song Dancing Through Life
As a class, take turns following 1 pupil’s dance move. Their dance move needs
to be easy and repetitive so that other people can follow it for a few seconds.
The teacher calls out different people’s names to lead the dance, when she does,
everyone should look at that person and follow the dance that they do.
At the end of the dance, ask the class – did they prefer to be the leader or the follower? What kinds of moves worked best?
Group Choreography
Now working in groups listen to the song again. Ask the pupils in their group to choreograph a dance to the chorus of the song.
Once they have all learned the dance, share it with the rest of the class.
Group Singing
Use the Script Extracts Pack for this section
Using the lyrics for the song, pupils should learn the song to sing, then add their dances back in creating a short musical number!
Pupils should think about the lyrics as they are singing them. What is the feeling in the song? How could they convey this through
their face and body?
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WICKED ART & DESIGN
Drawing / Painting
Wicked takes place in a fantastical land of Oz.
Using your imaginations, create a drawing of what you think Oz looks like. What colours would you be able to see, what features would
there be on the landscape? Remember that the centre of Oz is called The Emerald City, and there is a pathway throughout called
The Yellow Brick Road...
Costume Design
Look at some of the clothes which are worn in Oz. What do you
notice about them? What colours, fabrics and styles are used?
Imagine you live in Oz. What would you wear there? Draw an
outline of yourself on a large piece of card. Using different
materials, create a Costume Collage on the outline to create
your own 2D costume to wear in Oz.
Make sure you think about any accessories to use as well –
hats, glasses, boots, umbrellas all fit in in the Emerald City!
Poster Design
It may help to look at the Production Images & Marketing Images Pack for this section
Imagine Wicked needs a new publicity poster. Design the poster!
Think about the colours to use and what you’d like to show.
Is your poster going to focus on the characters or the setting?
Or something more abstract?
As well as looking at the Wicked resources, it may help to do
some research into other theatre or film posters so you get a
sense of what you think is most eye-catching and what best
draws in audiences.
E
ORIA THEATR
APOLLO VICT
sador Theatre Group
1LG • Part of the Ambas
Wilton Road, London
© WLPL 2015. Graphics
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SW1V
adapted by Dewynters,
London based on original
concept by Serino Coyne,
New York. Printed by
Dewynters.
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