The Enchanted Tales
A Resource Pack by the Blue Orange Theatre
Blue Orange Arts presents The Enchanted Tales – three 30 minute
timeless classics. Rumpelstiltskin by The Brothers Grimm is a
fairytale which tells the story of a malevolent imp who grants a wish
to a miller’s daughter but with strings attached. The Snow Queen by
Hans Christian Andersen tells the tale of a young boy held prisoner in
the Queen’s ice palace – can the love of his friend release him? And
Ali Baba from the Arabian Nights is a tale of forty thieves, a magic
cave, greed and secret treasure.
Blue Orange Theatre – December 2013
©
RESOURCE PACK
The Enchanted
Tales
PERFORMANCE DATES – Monday 9th
December – Saturday 28th December 2013
1. A Brief Synopsis
2. Summary (scene by scene)
3. Company Cast list and
Biographies
4. About the Authors
5. Interview with Production
Team
6. Costume Designs
7. Applied Drama exercises
Copyright of Blue Orange Theatre ©
Contents:
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The performance comprises of three traditional folk tales of approximately 30 minutes each in
length.
1.
A Brief Synopsis
RUMPELSTILTSKIN by The Brothers Grimm
Adapted by Eric Gracey
A miller, full of his own self importance lies to a Prince, telling him that his daughter can
spin straw into gold. The Prince, being a little hard up and greedy, calls for the girl, shuts her
in a tower filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands that she spin the straw into
gold by morning or he will kill her.
Not knowing how to make gold from straw the poor girl
has given up all hope when an imp-like creature
(Rumpelstiltskin) appears in the room and spins the
straw into gold for her in return for her necklace. The
Prince is very pleased and takes the girl to a larger room
filled with straw to repeat the feat. The imp spins in
return for the girl's ring. On the third day, when the girl
has been taken to an even larger room filled with straw
and told by the Prince that he will marry her if she can fill
this room with gold or kill her if she cannot. The Miller’s
daughter has nothing left with which to pay the strange
creature so Rumpelstiltskin makes her promise that her
firstborn child will be given to him, and spins the room
full of gold a final time.
When the imp comes to claim the child he is astonished and angry that the Queen guesses
his name correctly. The Queen manages to keep her child and Rumpelstiltskin receives a gift
that he never could have thought possible.
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The Prince keeps his promise and marries the miller's
daughter, but when their first child is born, the imp returns to claim his payment: "Now give
me what you promised." The Queen offers him all the wealth she has if she may keep the
child. The imp has no interest in her riches, but finally consents to give up his claim to the
child if she is able to guess his name within three days. She is granted three guesses, but
before the final night, her messenger who she sends out into the kingdom to find the imp’s
name comes across the imp's remote mountain cottage and watches, unseen, as the imp
hops about his fire and sings. In his song's lyrics, he reveals his name.
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THE SNOW QUEEN by Hans Christian Andersen
Adapted by Roman De Fruscan
A magic mirror made by an evil troll many years ago breaks into a million pieces. Some pieces
are so small that you cannot see them with the naked eye. The mirror reflects all that is wrong
and evil in the world and anyone who is unfortunate enough to touch a piece or is pricked by a
shard becomes cold and heartless.
Years later, a little boy, Kay, and a little girl, Gerda, who live next door to each other are the
best of friends. Kay's grandpa tells the children about the Snow Queen an evil woman who has
touched the broken mirror and lives in her ice cold snow kingdom. Looking out of his frosted
window, Kay, one winter, sees the Snow Queen, who beckons him to come with her. Kay draws
back in fear from the window.
It was on a pleasant summer's day that splinters from the trollmirror get into Kay's heart and eyes while he and Gerda are
looking at a picture book in their window-box garden. Kay's
personality changes: he becomes cruel and aggressive. He
destroys their window-box garden, he makes fun of his grandpa,
and he no longer cares about Gerda, since all of them now
appear bad and ugly to him. The only beautiful and perfect
things to him now are the tiny snowflakes that he sees through a
magnifying glass.
When Gerda gets to the Snow Queen's palace, she finds Kay alone and almost immobile on the
frozen lake, which the Snow Queen calls the "Mirror of Reason" on which her throne sits.
Gerda finds Kay engaged in a task that the Snow Queen gave him: If he is able to write his
name in the ice the Snow Queen will release him from her power. Gerda finding him, runs up
to him, and weeps warm tears on him, which melt his heart, burning away the troll-mirror
splinter in it. Kay bursts into tears, dislodging the splinter from his eye. Gerda kisses Kay a few
times, and he becomes cheerful and healthy again, with sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks: he is
saved by the power of Gerda's love. Kay and Gerda then leave the Snow Queen's domain and
return home
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The following winter he goes out with his sled to the market
square and hitches it to a curious white sleigh carriage, driven
by the Snow Queen, who appears as a woman in a white furcoat. She talks to Kay and takes him into her sleigh. She kisses
him twice: once to numb him from the cold, and the second
time to cause him to forget about Gerda and his family. Kay is then taken to the Snow Queen's
palace where he is contented to live due to the splinters of the troll-mirror in his heart and
eyes. Gerda, who is heartbroken at Kay's disappearance, goes out to look for him. She
questions everyone and everything about Kay's whereabouts. At the home of the old sorceress,
she is told that Kay is not dead, but that Kay is with the Snow Queen. Gerda decides to rescue
Kay and has many adventures on her way to the Ice Kingdom
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Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves adapted by Eric Gracey
Ali Baba and his brother Kasim are the sons of a merchant. After their father’s death Kasim
becomes greedy and takes over his father’s business and marries into wealth. However, Ali Baba
marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter. One day Ali Baba is hard at work
cutting firewood in the forest when he hears a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure cave.
The entrance to the cave is sealed by magic and is only opened by the magic words ‘Open Sesame’
and closed by the words ‘Close Sesame’. When the thieves have left the forest Ali enters the cave
himself and takes some treasure home.
The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another
person must know their secret, and set out to track him down.
One of the thieves comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions
that he has just sewn a dead man's body back together.
Realizing that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead
the way to the house where the deed was performed. Baba Mustafa is blindfolded again and
manages to retrace his steps and find Kasim’s house. The thief marks the door with a symbol, for
the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, Morgiana sees
all of this and being loyal to her master foils the thieves plan by marking all the houses nearby with
a similar marking. When the forty thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house
and their leader, in a furious rage, kills the unsuccessful thief. The next day, another thief revisits
Baba Mustafa and tries again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's
front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps, and
the second thief is killed for his failure as well. At last, the leader of the Thieves goes and looks for
himself. This time, he memorises every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.
The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant who is in need of Ali Baba’s help. He brings
with him his many mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven
hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again,
Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring
boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are all dead,
and escapes. The next morning Morgiana tells Ali Baba about the thieves in the jars; they bury
them, and Ali Baba shows his gratitude by giving Morgiana her freedom. After some time, the chief
of thieves seeks revenge and establishes himself as a merchant and befriends Ali Baba's son. He is
invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. However the thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a
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Ali Baba and his wife borrow his sister-in-law’s weighing scales to weigh the treasures he has
collected from the cave. However, Kasim’s crafty wife has placed a blob of wax into the scales to
find out what Ali Baba is up to. To her surprise she finds a gold coin stuck to the wax and tells her
husband. Kasim persuades Ali Baba to tell him where he found these beautiful treasures, and Ali
Baba tells him about the magical cave. Kasim goes to the cave and enters with the magic words,
but in his greed and excitement over the treasure, he forgets the magic words to get back out again.
The thieves find him there and kill him. When Kasim does not return, Ali Baba goes to the cave to
look for him and finds his brothers body quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the
entrance of the cave as a warning to anyone else who might try to enter. Ali Baba brings his
brother’s body home and entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave girl at his brother’s house to disguise
the body as having died from natural causes. Firstly she buys
medicines from an apothecary and tells him that Kasim is
gravely ill. Then she finds an old tailor called Baba Mustafa
who she blindfolds and leads to Kasim’s house. Overnight
Baba Mustafa stitches the pieces of Kasim’s body back
together, so that no-one will be suspicious. Then Ali Baba and
his family give Kasim a proper burial, without any one asking
any questions that might reveal the truth.
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dance with a dagger and plunges it into his heart. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but
when he finds out the thief wanted to kill him, he is extremely grateful and rewards Morgiana by
marrying her to his son. At the end of the story, Ali Baba remains as the only person who knows
the secret words to the magical cave.
2.
Summary scene by scene
Rumpelstiltskin:
Scene 1: Gretchen and her father meet the Prince
Scene 2: Gretchen meets Rumpelstiltskin who spins the straw into gold for a necklace
Scene 3: The prince sends Gretchen to a larger room to spin more gold
Scene 4: Rumpelstiltskin agrees to spin gold for a precious ring
Scene 5: The Prince tells Gretchen to spin more straw into gold and if she succeeds they will marry
Scene 6: Rumpelstiltskin asks for Gretchen’s first born child if he spins the gold for her
Scene 7: Rumpelstiltskin bargains with Gretchen: If she can guess his name she can keep her baby
Scene 8: The next day Gretchen guesses the wrong name
Scene 9: The Attendant spies Rumpelstiltskin in the forest
Scene 10: Gretchen guesses the wrong name but is given one more chance and guesses correctly
Scene 11: Gretchen meets Rumpelstiltskin again years later, and gives him the gift of laughter
The Snow Queen:
Scene 1: The Narrator greets the audience and introduces the Snow Queen
Scene 2: We meet Gerda and Kay, two children who live in Denmark. They visit the garden
Scene 3: Winter draws in and Gerda and Kay have to stay indoors
Scene 4: Kay dreams of the Snow Queen
Scene 5: Summer comes again and Kay and Gerda walk in the garden. Kay gets a shard of glass in
his eye (which moves to his heart) from the Snow Queen that turns him bitter
Scene 6: Winter returns and Kay dreams of the Snow Queen and flies out of his window to join her
Scene 7: Gerda meets a Raven and asks if he knows where Kay is
Scene 8: Gerda meets two robbers in the forest but is saved by a girl who takes her to her castle
Scene 9: The Snow Queen orders Kay to write in the ice
Scene 10: Gerda meets an old wise woman who warns her about the Snow Queen
Scene 11: Gerda arrives at the Ice Palace and writes ‘Gerda’ in the ice for Kay
Scene 12: Gerda kisses Kay and the ice from his heart melts along with the Ice Palace
Scene 13: Gerda and Kay return home to Grandpa where the weather is sunny and warm
Scene 1: We meet Ali Baba and Kasim and learn of their father’s death
Scene 2: Ali Baba sees the forty thieves enter into the magical cave, and enters himself later on
Scene 3: Ali Baba takes gold home to his wife and they ask Kasim’s wife for her weighing scales
Scene 4: Kasim learns about the cave and greedily enters but is killed
Scene 5: Morgiana asks Baba Mustafa for help
Scene 6: Baba Mustafa leads a thief to Kasim’s house, and he marks the door
Scene 7: The captain leads the thieves to Kasim’s house, they hide in oil jars
Scene 8: The captain comes round for dinner to exact his revenge
Scene 9: Morgiana and Abdulla (Ali Baba’s son) marry
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Ali Baba:
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3.
Company cast list and biographies
Actors:
Kaz Luckins: Kaz’s acting credits are very diverse, ranging from Shakespeare to pantomime
villains, princes and fairies with bag ladies and tarts in between. She is no stranger to The Blue
Orange Theatre having performed in the sell-out musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,
A Christmas Carol, Dracula, Cinderella and The Musical of Musicals. She is also an instructor for
STAGEFIGHT, a company that specializes in performance combat and film fighting.
www.stagefight.co.uk
James Nicholas: After studying theatre studies at the University of Leeds, James trained to be
an actor in Birmingham. Since then he has been busy as an actor, director, writer and drama
facilitator. Recent acting credits include Boyet in Love's Labours Lost, Sparkish in The Country
Wife and roles in new plays Whispers (with Bootlegs and Baptists) in Sheffield, and Sorry at the
Theatre in the Mill in Bradford. James helped run and deliver the BBC's Schools Question Time
initiative for eight years and is a guest drama and acting facilitator for the University of
Manchester and Dark Horse Theatre Company. He has worked extensively in community theatre
with the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. Last year James directed Hyde for Thunder
Road Theatre Company at Harrogate Theatre
Kate Cansdale: is a recent graduate of The Academy of Live & Recorded Arts North (ALRA),
where she completed an MA in Professional Acting. She has also studied Drama & Theatre at
Aberystwyth University. She has appeared in shows such as Much Ado About Nothing, Three Birds
Alighting on a Field & Jane Eyre with Oldham Coliseum. Recently, she has been filming ‘Bolton
Storyworld’ in the North West and also working in voice-over. This is Kate’s debut production with
Blue Orange and, as a proud West Midlands native; she is thrilled to be performing in Birmingham
for the first time.
Alex Nikitas: Alex is making his fourth appearance at the Blue Orange Theatre, following
previous performances in the Arabian Nights, Messy Jessie and Peter Pan. He is also currently
rehearsing The Rule of Pontius Pilate in the Old Joint Stock’s Easter Production of ‘A Passion for
Birmingham.’ He trained at Birmingham Theatre School and previous credits include Doctors
(BBC TV) The Romantics (Radio 4) and The Alien in Big School, Alien Invasion for the Belgrade.
In addition he is a storyteller and writer, specialising in adapting Greek Myths and English fairytales for performance. Alex has also written three plays for children. The most recent: Down To
Earth explored environmental themes as part of a schools project funded by Black Country
Creative Partnerships.
Directors:
Ian Craddock: Ian trained at the Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art (Now
BSA) as a teacher and actor in the 70‘s. After teaching for six years as head of Drama in a
secondary school he became a professional actor in 1980. His acting work includes playing in the
West End, national tours, rep, television, film and playing villain and dame in pantomime,
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Jamie Robertson: Jamie trained at Staffordshire University and has a working background in
education, working with young people in Schools, Colleges and Universities. Since graduating in
2010, Jamie has enjoyed performing as part of small scale theatre company, Uproot Theatre, on
successful tours of two one man shows: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Around the World in 80
Days. Originally from Lichfield, Jamie is a keen runner and charity fundraiser and is thrilled to be
working at such an excellent independent theatre in the Second City. The Enchanted Tales will be
Jamie’s first appearance at The Blue Orange Theatre.
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national tours of children’s shows. Ian is also known as a director. After a spell of theatre
management Ian returned to the creative side of theatre last year and has appeared at the Blue
Orange in their productions - as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night and Dr. Bradman in Blithe Spirit
as well as directing Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus.
Marcus Fernando: trained in Drama and Archaeology, and has never quite worked out why. On
leaving he had to decide whether to dig or to declaim, and ended up in his first acting job, playing a
slimy water creature. He has since worked with major companies throughout the country,
including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Hammersmith Lyric and Theatre
Royal, Stratford East, as well as touring as an actor-musician with the musical “Buddy”, and
several tours with Middle Ground Theatre. International work has taken him to Canada, Croatia,
New Zealand, USA and Slovakia. He plays various instruments, is skilled in Stage Combat, and
trained in puppetry at the sadly missed Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre in Birmingham. Other Blue
Orange credits include directing “Treasure Island” and playing Dr Rance in “What the Butler Saw”.
Marcus still lives in Birmingham, with his partner Tina and two small sons Pascal and Sebastian.
Tina Hofman: Tina is of Croatian origin but moved to the UK to train in physical theatre. Her
professional career is split between performing and directing, with a bit more of the latter. She did
some fun roles: once playing 9 characters in a single show, giving life to a shadow of Ariel, or being
a giant lizard stepping into a brave new world. She toured Canada and New Zealand with new
writing and performed to some really small communities in Canadian Rockies. Tina has worked at
the Blue Orange Theatre on numerous occasions such as performing in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal
Husband, directing Messy Jessie – an interactive theatre performance for children aged 0-5 and at
a stark contrast directing Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence.
Costume/Set Design:
Blue Orange Arts Ltd Trustees: Blue Orange Arts Ltd is managed by a board of trustees who
are all involved in the management and key decision-making process behind The Blue Orange
Theatre's programme of events. They are Mark Webster, Nusra Nazir, Karen Bennett, Kurly
Marwaha and Charles Harry. All being highly talented and multi-skilled individuals, they draw
upon many years of creative and managerial expertise and experience between them, particularly
within the areas of theatre (production, direction and management), events organisation, arts,
costume design and creation, entertainment, teaching, marketing, administration, technical sound
and lighting design, community and social work, media, amongst many others, to help make Blue
Orange Arts Ltd a success.
4.
About the Authors
Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859) were
German academics, cultural researchers and authors who
together published a number of infamous folklore tales.
They are among some of the most well-known storytellers of
folk tales, notably Cinderella, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin
and Snow White which have since been popularised through
film and TV adaptations. Their first collection of children’s
stories ‘Children’s and Household Tales’ was published in
1812. Initially there was wide spread criticism for their work, due to the stories dark and
frightening nature. However, their popularity grew as many adults believed that children’s’
discipline could be achieved through fear, and subsequently used the Grimm Tales as symbolic
references as to why children should behave themselves. The brothers spent their early years living
in the German town of Hanau. When their father died in 1796 the brothers were left poverty
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The Brothers Grimm - Rumpelstiltskin
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stricken for many years. They both attended the University of Marburg where their interest and
passion for folklore developed. Between 1812 and 1857 their first collection was revised and the
stories within it grew from 86 to over 200. The popularity of ‘The Grimms Tales’ endured well
beyond their lifetime. The tales are now available in more than 100 translations and have been
adapted by filmmakers such as Walt Disney.
Hans Christian Andersen – The Snow
Queen
Hans Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875) was a Danish author
and poet. Although he was extremely well known for his work
as a playwright, novelist and poet he is best remembered for
his fairy tales. Andersen’s fairy tales appeal to both children
and adults alike and have been translated into more than 125
languages worldwide. They were written to be entertaining
but also present lessons of virtue and morality. His work has
inspired plays, ballets, animation and films. Andersen was
born in Odense, Denmark as an only child. His father would read many stories to him as a young
child, notably The Arabian Nights (From which Ali Baba is taken) which ignited his passion for
stories. Andersen’s mother Ann Marie was uneducated and when Andersen’s father died in 1816,
she took up work as a washer woman to support her and Hans. Andersen was sent to a local school
for poor children where he received a basic education. He was forced to support himself financially
and worked as a weavers apprentice and a tailor. When he was 14 he moved to Copenhagen to seek
employment as an actor and attended the Royal Danish Theatre. Initially his stories were not met
with recognition due to difficulty translating and understanding the humour within the stories. In
1845 he had his breakthrough with the publication of four different translations of his tales,
including The Little Mermaid.
Antoine Galland (1646 – 1715) was a French archaeologist and
translator. He is most famous for being the first European
translator of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ – the tales from
which Ali Baba is taken from. He called the translation ‘Les
Mille et Une Nuits’ and it appeared in twelve volumes between
1704 and 1717. During the 1690’s Galland came across a
manuscript of ‘The Tales of Sinbad, The Sailor’ and in 1701 had
his translation of this story published in French. The success of
this encouraged him to work on translating the 14th Century
Manuscript of tales from ‘The Thousand and One Nights’. The
manuscript from which he worked was a Syrian Manuscript,
which was very difficult to translate from. However in 1709 a
Christian Monk called Hanna Diab recounted fourteen more
stories from this manuscript from memory. Mystery still
surrounds the origins of some of the most famous tales. For
example, there are no Arabic manuscripts of Aladdin and Ali Baba which are also known as the
‘Orphan Tales’ which pre-date Galland’s translation. This has led some scholars to believe that
Galland invented the stories himself and the Arabic versions are simply later renderings of his
original French. Ali Baba is thought to have been a traditional Arabic folklore tale which was
passed down through the generations of oral storytelling. Therefore to this day there is no way of
knowing who originally wrote or imagined the story of Ali Baba.
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Antoine Galland – Ali Baba
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Richard Francis Burton – The Arabian
Nights/Ali Baba
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 – 1890) was born in
Torquay, Devon and was an English geographer, explorer, translator,
writer, soldier, spy, linguist and poet. He was well known for his
travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and America. His early
education was provided by various tutors who were employed by his
parents and he began his formal education in 1829 at a preparatory
school in Richmond Surrey. He had an extraordinary knowledge of
languages and cultures which aided his translation of many infamous
novels and books. Burton also spoke 29 European, Asian and African
languages. Burton travelled to Mecca in 1853 in disguise and came
upon the manuscript of One Thousand and One Nights (now more
commonly known as The Arabian Nights) and translated the stories
into English. This was after Antoine Galland had translated them into French. He was a captain in
the army of the East India Company and served in India and in the Crimean War. In later life he
was awarded a knighthood and was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. It was Richard
Francis Burton’s translation of The Arabian Nights that Eric Gracey adapted his version from (as
seen in The Enchanted Tales).
5.
Interview with the Production Team
Why did you choose to put these three stories together?
“These three stories were chosen in particular as they were traditional, well known fairy-tales or
folklore stories. Not only do they attract and interest children but adults too. In putting together
three short stories we hope to provide something enjoyable for everyone. All three stories also have
lessons of virtue and moral which we think is perfect for a Christmas piece.”
Why did you design the set in the way you did?
Why did you use a cast of 5 actors who play multiple roles?
“All of the Blue Orange productions work in this way, with a small cast of around 5 or 6 actors
playing multiple roles. Not only does it help keep our cast sizes down (we are only a small venue
which means less of a crowded actors changing room!) but also allows the actors to have more
stage time. By playing various roles throughout we also try to give actors multiple roles that work
for the script, so that an actor’s two characters are never on stage at the same time. It also allows
for actor’s to develop their characterisation skills by playing characters that are contrasting
throughout. For example, in last year’s Christmas show, the same actor played Captain Hook and
Mr Darling (Wendy and the Boys Father). In doing this he got to act completely contrasting traits
as the evil villain and the caring loving father figure. See if you can spot the multiple roles in this
play and the contrast between characters.”
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“We wanted the set to be the same for all three pieces. Not only does this minimise the scene
changes between stories, but it makes rehearsing the pieces easier for the three different directors
as they know the set they have to direct around/with. We also decided to keep it very minimal in
order to encourage the audience to use their imagination in bringing the stories to life – which is
much more exciting than having hundreds of props on the stage! We also wanted the three pieces
to be very visual and symbolic, with material representing gold, treasures, snow and even people.”
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What were rehearsals like?
“We had three and a half weeks to rehearse all three plays which is generally the timescale we work
to. All of our plays have between a three and four week rehearsal period with the cast and crew
working 10am – 6pm. The last week of our rehearsals is called ‘Production Week’ which means
that the cast and crew use that week to build any set, collect props and costume and rehearse in the
theatre with the lights and sound. Then we have a ten day run of the performance which is open to
the public. Normally our shows are rehearsed in the Studio Space and in the final week we transfer
to the theatre in order for the actors to get used to the space and rehearse their entrances and exits
properly. We have had to structure our rehearsals very strictly for this production as we have three
plays, with three separate directors, one of whom was working in Croatia at the beginning of the
rehearsals and had to jump in once she had finished! We also pre-built the set prior to rehearsals
in order that all three pieces have the same set design, making it easier to block the plays.
‘Blocking’ is the process of deciding where the actors enter, exit and move to scene by scene. Once
blocking has taken place, the actors can really work on their characterisation and bringing the
scene to life.”
Explain your use of costume throughout the three pieces?
“Due to the cast playing multiple roles, we had to keep costumes fairly simplistic, in order that they
can carry out costume changes quickly. We chose to signify a change of character simply by adding
or taking away a piece of costume, for example, a shawl or a hat. This then becomes a symbol of
that character. If that character dies in the story we leave that specific costume item on the floor –
signifying the characters death, which also allows the actor to slip off stage and prepare for their
next character.”
Why is the production performed on three sides rather than end on?
“We feel that in performing to three sides, the audience feel more connected to the play due to
their close proximity. If the seating was end on, sometimes the audience sitting at the back can end
up feeling detached from the action, and may miss certain elements of the play. It also means that
all of the seating generally has a great view (as there are fewer people sitting in-front of you) and
the actors develop their performance and special awareness, in ensuring that all audience
members get a great view throughout.”
“Ali Baba and The Snow Queen are set in two completely contrasting environments. Ali Baba is set
in Arabia which would be very warm and humid, whereas The Snow Queen obviously has lots of
snow and ice. We represent this by using different coloured gels in our lighting. We use warmer
coloured gels such as orange, red and yellow in order to create a warm atmosphere, and colder
colours such as blue and green to represent the icy palace of the Snow Queen. To create a darker
and more mysterious atmosphere we use less lighting, which draws the audiences focus into the
action. In doing this, it also creates shadows which further enhance the feeling of unease. See if
you can spot any other use of lighting or sound which you think may represent something.”
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Was there any specific use of lighting used, and if so why was it important?
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6.
Costume Designs
Costume Activity
These designs were drawn up for the story The Snow Queen. If you can remember what the
costumes for Rumpelstiltskin and Ali Baba looked like why not try drawing some sketches for them
as seen above?
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The costumes for this production were first thought up by the directors. The ideas are then drawn
into designs with fabric and colour notes. The costumes are sourced from shops, online or made
from scratch using fabric and patterns.
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Applied Drama Exercises
1. Alternative Endings
Write down alternative endings
for the three stories and in groups
of 4/5 create a freeze-frame (Still
frozen image) of your made up
endings. Once you are happy with
the images, bring them to life and
create a short 30 second scene
from each.
3. Letter Writing
Imagine you are the miller’s
daughter in the story of
Rumpelstiltskin. Write a letter
either to your father, a friend,
or perhaps even a newspaper
about being trapped and being
forced to spin gold.
5. Write & act a story from The
Arabian Nights
Imagine you are Richard Francis
Burton discovering the manuscript
of The Arabian Nights. Create a
short scene about Richard’s
journey and discovering the
manuscript. Who might he come
across? Does he encounter any
problems on his adventure?
2. Creative Writing
Imagine you have entered the cave
from Ali Baba’s story. Write a piece of
creative writing about what treasures
you see, what challenges you have
come up against and what you plan to
do with the treasure. Then in small
groups of 4/5 act out your creative
writing. Make sure everyone has a
part. Think creatively – people don’t
always have to play people. Perhaps
someone could act as the door to the
cave. This is called Physical Theatre.
4. Draw up set designs
Draw some basic set designs for
all three pieces. They can have the
same set or three different ones.
Be clear why you want each
component of the set and try to
be as creative as possible.
6. Create a Rumpelstitskin song
Place a hat on the floor and write
up words that you associate with
Rumpelstiltskin. Place the words
into the hat. Once you have
thought of as many as possible
create a short rhyming poem.
Once you have created the poem,
see if you can create a melody for
the song and sing the poem (Just
like Rumpelstiltskin sings in the
play)
Copyright of Blue Orange Theatre ©
7.
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Many thanks for watching our performance of The Enchanted
Tales. We hope you have found this resource pack useful, please
use this page to make notes or draw sketches from the show. We
look forward to welcoming you back soon!
Copyright of Blue Orange Theatre ©
Notes
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