Download - Buttonface - Theater Lakritz
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
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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
Duration: about 15 minutes
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
Duration: about 10-15 minutes
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
Duration: about 15 minutes
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
Duration: about 10 minutes
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
Duration: about 30 minutes
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
Duration: about 10-15 minutes
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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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