buttonface - theater lakritz

Buttonface

Materials and information for use in class as preparation and for reflection

Content

Theater Lakritz – who we are ..................................................................................... 2

The play – Buttonface ................................................................................................. 3

Preparing to visit the theatre ....................................................................................... 4

Activity 1: Fear and courage .................................................................................... 5

Activity 2: Describing fear ........................................................................................ 6

Activity 3: What was your fear? ............................................................................... 7

Activity 4: Research ................................................................................................. 8

Activities for after the visit ......................................................................................... 10

Activity 1: What's still in your head? ...................................................................... 10

Activity 2: Freezeframes ........................................................................................ 11

Activity 3: Photograph your fear ............................................................................ 12

Activity 4: Courage ................................................................................................ 13

Vocabulary ................................................................................................................ 14

Pictures ..................................................................................................................... 16

Imprint....................................................................................................................... 18

2

Theater Lakritz – who we are Theater Lakritz is an independent company in Darmstadt. We have been continually

producing for a young audience since the year 2000. We are a part of the Freien Szene

Darmstadt (an independent theatre association) and are based at the Theater Moller

Haus in Darmstadt. Theater Lakritz is also a member of the national association of

independent professional theatre (LaProf) and of the Assitej Deutschland.

Our company consists of a multi-professional team with a rotating cast. We work on

projects in the areas of children's- and youth theatre and cultural education. Alongside

traditional and narrative theatre, physical theatre has a big influence on our style, as

does clowning.

We see theatre as a communicative art, or many arts becoming one, which thrives on

the relationship and dialogue between the players and the audience. Providing access

to a theatrical experience outside of a traditional theatre itself has always been a driving

force behind our company. In our quest to make theatre accessible we define theatrics

quite broadly, and make use of mixed media in our works and advertising, including

educational elements and photography.

We are a mobile company and currently have seven pieces in our repertoire. All our

works are conceptualised as mobile productions and we will gladly pack our bags and

perform our pieces at your school, theatre or cultural centre. We also offer educational

materials to accompany each piece and the opportunity to book pedagogic theatre

workshops as an aid to preparation and reflection.

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The play – Buttonface

A play about fear and more (from 8 years)

The story of the little girl Angelique and her doll, Buttonface, a strange, roughly-made

patchwork creature with buttons for eyes, is a tale about fear and courage, truth and

lies—and comes with a big dollop of magic.

In the colours and sounds of the fascinating city of New Orleans, Angelique finds out

what it means to be afraid and how you can overcome fear. Her journey takes her all

the way to the realm of the dead where she discovers that you don’t need magic to

be brave and that there’s nothing wrong with owning up to being scared. A play to

give you lovely shuddery feelings and help you laugh away your fear.

English version for native speakers from 8 years and English classes from Year 7.

Play: Björn Lehn (solo)

Production: Julia Lehn/ Ben Ting and Ensemble

Text: Benjamin Ting

Translation: Imogen Taylor / Isabell Armstrong-Cowell

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Preparing to visit the theatre

Theatre is an fleeting art. The story unfolds anew for each audience, and no matter

how many times a piece is performed, each performance is unique and can never be

totally recreated. For the duration of the performance each person in the theatre,

audience members and cast alike, are part of a dynamic moment. The curtain falls, the

lights go up and only memories remain. The magic of the moment is also the magic of

the transitory: memories, moving and confusing, are the only things the audience takes

home. The point of the educational material is to help prepare for and process these

magical memories.

In the first part of the folder you will find exercises and worksheets which may be helpful

in preparing to visit the theatre and offer a first look at the themes of the piece. The

second part of the folder serves to deepen understanding of the themes and explain

the work related to the piece. The instructions are partially in English so that the

prefabricated worksheets can be used in English lessons. The tasks on the sheets are

divided in two levels of difficulty (suitable for primary and secondary classes), although

the division is only a suggestion and task suitability can of course be assessed by the

class teacher. Additionally, the folder contains a vocabulary list of terminology

important to an understanding of the performance.

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Activity 1: Fear and courage Brainstorming the topics of fear and courage

Materials: two tennis balls

Duration: about 5 minutes

Why? Developing initial ideas on the topics + building concentration

All the children stand in a circle. The supervisor starts the activity by passing a ball to

the person on their right. The ball carries the title of “Fear/Angst” and is passed around

the circle with each person holding the ball saying a word connected to fear (i.e.

darkness/tremble/spider/...). Each person remembers their word and repeats it in a

second round.

Now a second ball is brought in which is passed around to the left with the tile of

“Courage/Mut”. Again, each person says a word and commits it to memory. When both

words, on the topics of fear (to the right) and courage (to the left) have been repeated,

both balls are passed around at the same time to practice concentration and create a

colourful collection of thematically suitable words.

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Activity 2: Describing fear

Materials: Paper and Pencil


Why? Getting creative – finding terms and situations that illustrate fear

„Fear is a strange feeling...“

For primary students: Form small groups and try to describe the sensation of FEAR.

Imagine that you have to explain the feeling to someone who has never experienced

fear before and can't imagine what it feels like. You can use words from the vocabulary

list to help you.

For secondary students: Describe fear in the most flowery language you can think

of. Use similes, search for quotes or definitions that describe the sensation of fear and

name situations that can trigger fear. Fill your text with such a spooky atmosphere that

even a person who has never experienced fear before could gain an understanding of

the emotion by reading it.

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Activity 3: What was your fear? Materials: Paper and pencil

Duration: about 10-15 minutes

Why? Getting creative and connecting to others

For primary students: A lot of adults can still very clearly remember the things that

particularly scared them as children. Find yourself an adult (your parents, your

teachers, your grandparents) and get them to do an interview with you: What were they

the most afraid of when they were your age? What did they do about it? Do they still

feel the same fear today? Or is there something else that scares them now?

For secondary students: Conduct an interview with an adult and find out what their

fears about the future used to be and/or still are. Which moments on the road to

adulthood frightened them? Which situations in their life required courage? Were there

people who helped them to overcome their fears and find courage? Write your

questions down and add your interviewees answers to each one.

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Activity 4: Research

Materials: Paper and pencil, Smartphone


Why? To become familiar with the terms used in the piece, to accumulate some background knowledge

For all levels: In small groups, do some online research about the titles and images

below. What role do these things play in New Orleans? What could their relevance be

to this play? Collect your results as a class.

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Voodoo ___________________________________________

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The City of Dead – Mausoleums _____________________________________

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New Orleans _____________________________________

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Mardi Gras _____________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

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Activities for after the visit Activity 1: What's still in your head? Materials: no materials necessary


Why? Remembering the viewed piece, collecting and clarifying favourite moments as well as irritations

For all levels;

Variation 1: The class stands in a circle. The group puts together everything they still

remember about the play. This is done by passing a ball around, with each person

holding the ball getting to share a memory. The following questions/ aspects could be

considered:

• What did we watch?

• Could you understand the language used?

• Which characters appeared in the play?

• Did the role changes work?

• What were our favourite moments?

• What did you think of the live music? Did it support the mood in the different scenes?

• If you could change something about the piece, what would it be?

• Did any questions come up while you were watching the play?

Variation 2: Photographs from the piece (to be found in the chapter “Pictures” or on

the Lakritz-homepage) are hung up to inspire thoughts and jog memories.

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Activity 2: Freezeframes Materials: no materials necessary


Why? We remember the piece we watched and physically and theatrically recreate what we experienced

For primary students:

Variation 1: One student is the “photographer” and uses the other students as models

to recreate a scene from the play that they remember. They add all the other members

of their group to the scene one by one. When they are satisfied with the poses, they

take a picture with their imaginary camera- KLICK! The models have to remain

motionless while the rest of the class tries to guess which scene they are representing. Variation 2: The supervisor throws a title ("Your greatest fear" / "Your posture once

you've defeated your fear" / „Samdi“) into the room and then starts to count down from

ten. The students have these ten seconds to arrange themselves into a freezframe for

the given title. The supervisor pretends to take (or actually takes) a photo and then

gives the class a new title. The students can of course come up with their own titles

related to the topic.

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Activity 3: Photograph your fear Materials: Smartphone


Why? To find a creative way to process one's fears and practice presentation and visual communication

For secondary students: Go searching for things that frighten you. Find places and

objects around you that represent your fears and photograph them. You could also use

facial expressions or poses – anything that visually represents your fears. Give your

photo a title and briefly describe it.

Title of the photo:

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Variation 1: If there's interest in it, an exhibition of the photos can be set up in the

classroom. All the pictures are displayed with their respective titles and descriptions

and each one is presented by the photographer in person.

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Activity 4: Courage Materials: Paper and Pens


Why? Being creative and getting into contact with yourself

For primary students: Mama Brigitte says: „Without fear, there’d be no courage.“

What defines courage for you and when was the last time you were courageous?

For secondary students: Mama Brigitte says: „Without fear, there’d be no courage.“

What defines courage for you? Describe situations using examples. Be sure to also

use negative examples – what it means to not have courage. When was the last time

you were courageous? Name and describe a specific siuation.

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Vocabulary

English Deutsch

Buttonface Knopfgesicht

fear Angst

magic Magie

scared verängstigt

thunder Donner

the dark Dunkelheit

firework Feuerwerk

festivities/celebrations Feierlichkeiten

death Tod

cemetary/ graveyard Friedhof

realm das Reich

mausoleums Mausoleen

trickster Gauner/ Trickbetrüger

masks Masken

skull Schädel

doll Puppe

present Geschenk

fluke Glücksfall/ Zufall/ Zufallstreffer

rubbish lit.: Müll, colloq.: Unsinn

shortcut Abkürzung

garden gate Gartentor

fence Zaun

calf Kalb

homeless obdachlos

shabby verwahrlost/ heruntergekommen

to count zählen

head Kopf

courage Mut

jugglers Jongleure

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stitch/ to stitch N. Naht, v. nähen

ugly hässlich

vampire Vampir

pitiful erbärmlich/bemitleidenswert

reproachful vorwurfsvoll

flashlight Taschenlampe

useful nützlich

fake gefälscht

brave mutig/ tapfer

powerful stark/ mächtig

blanket (Bett)Decke

to tinker basteln/ tüfteln

encounter Begegnung/ Treffen

to flick a switch Schalter umlegen

flithy dreckig

tug der Ruck/ das Ziehen

to own up to sth. etw. eingestehen/ zugeben

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Pictures

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Imprint © Theater Lakritz 2019

Redaktion: Nele Hoffmann

Übersetzung ins Englische: Isabel Armstrong-Cowell

Fotos: Anna Lehn

Buchungen, Theaterpädagogik und weitere Informationen: kontakt@theater-

lakrtiz.com / https://theater-lakritz.com/

Theater Lakritz GbR | Gesellschafter: Julia und Björn Lehn

buttonface - theater lakritz

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