Prepare

Years 3 and 4 Achievement Standard addressed

By the end of Year 4, students describe and discuss similarities and differences between drama they make, perform and view. They discuss how they and others organise the elements of drama in their drama.

Students use relationships, tension, time and place and narrative structure when improvising and performing devised and scripted drama. They collaborate to plan, make and perform drama that communicates ideas.

After viewing the performance

Tune-in

Post-performance discussion. In groups of three to four students discuss and create a dot point list of the key messages that they believe the production of Rumpelstiltskin highlighted to them. Students can use Padlet or Popplet to record and share ideas.

Each group feeds their ideas back to the whole class.

Suggested resources:

Padlet
Popplet

Explore and Apply

Rumpelstiltskin was written by Rosemary Myers and Julianne O’Brien using Propp’s analysis of the folk tale to support the narrative structure.

Using the Folk Tale Narrative Structure developed by Julianne O’Brien, brainstorm a narrative as a whole class. Document each section of the narrative on the white board for all students to see. Model the acceptance of ideas for students, by taking on their concepts, extending and advancing them and allowing students to also do this within the brainstorming and discussion.

Suggested resources:

Folk Tale Narrative Structure

Critique

Students share their experiences of attending a performance of Rumpelstiltskin with the wider school community.

Each student chooses a key moment or scene from the performance to describe in a polished piece of writing the length of a paragraph. Students are to describe, using adjectives, the visual aspects of the scene as well as verbs to describe what the actors were ‘doing’ on stage, using their voice, body, movement and language, to tell the story. Students should try to make conclusions about what key message the scene highlighted to the audience.

As extension for capable students: Ask students to make connections to the narrative structure explored in the whole class-planning task.

Share students’ paragraph responses in the school newsletter. Include photographs of your students in the foyer or at the front of the theatre.

Windmill and State Theatre love reading student reviews of our works. Please email student reviews to education@windmill.org.au

Create

Photocopy the Folk Tale Narrative Structure linked below to A3 size so that students can gather around the sheet. Students with low literacy can be supported with the use of simple illustrations to represent each stage of the narrative.

In small groups of three to five students use  the template to devise their own folk tale narrative. Encourage students to listen to everyone’s ideas and document their ideas as dot points on the sheet.

Students are then to bring each section of the story to life by devising the scene. This includes acting out ideas, developing dialogue and action, adding props and costume pieces as required and available. Students should be encouraged to consider the action of the actor on stage. How can they best show the thoughts, feelings and motivations of the character using their voice, body, movement and language.

This task will require several lessons and is best facilitated with the classroom teacher circulating from group to group, watching sections of the scenes and encouraging students to develop the characters, dialogue, action and stagecraft.

Teachers can help to enhance the quality of their students’ performance work in this way by questioning students and asking key questions about their use of the elements of drama linked below.

Suggested resources:

Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale
Folk Tale Narrative Structure
Elements of Drama (taken from Australian Curriculum, The Arts: Drama)

Curriculum links

Use voice, body, movement and language to sustain role and relationships and create dramatic action with a sense of time and place (ACADRM032)

Shape and perform dramatic action using narrative structures and tension in devised and scripted drama, including exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drama (ACADRM033)

Identify intended purposes and meaning of drama, starting with Australian drama, including drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, using the elements of drama to make comparisons (ACADRR034)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Prepare

Years 5 and 6 Achievement Standard addressed

By the end of Year 6, students explain how dramatic action and meaning is communicated in drama they make, perform and view. They explain how drama from different cultures, times and places influences their own drama making.

Students work collaboratively as they use the elements of drama to shape character, voice and movement in improvisation, playbuilding and performances of devised and scripted drama for audiences.

After viewing the performance

Tune-in

Post-performance discussion. Ask students to consider how the design elements in Rumpelstiltskin (costume, set, sound, projection and lighting) contributed to the impact on the audience. Encourage students to identify how the individual costumes helped to signal key information about the character to the audience.

Explore and Apply

Using Google Images and Pinterest create a range of images of set and costume designs that demonstrate the elements and principles of design. Print A4 sized images to display or project images for the class to view.

Explore the elements and principles of design with students by identifying them in the examples you have chosen.

The elements of design are the visible aspects that we see in costume and set design:

• Line
• Shape
• Colour
• Texture
• Space
• Proportion

The principles of design guide how we assemble the visual aspects (the elements of design) to make the overall composition:

• Balance
• Unity
• Variety
• Harmony
• Movement
• Rhythm
• Emphasis

Provide some additional set and costume designs for students to consider. In small groups ask students to identify which elements and principles they can see in the designs. Students can also generate adjectives and phrases to describe the mood and impression the design conveys to the viewer.

This learning activity can also be undertaken before coming to view Rumpelstiltskin so that students can identify the elements and principles in the production design.

Suggested resources:

Elements and Principles of Design
Pintrest – for teacher planning only

Critique

Students use one costume design from Rumpelstiltskin to analyse.

Using the language and terminology of the elements and principles of design from the previous task, students will critique the costume in 200 words. They will comment on what the costume communicated to the audience about the character as well as how the actor used the costume to influence their physical portrayal of the character.

Students are best to consider how the actor wore or touched the costume, as well as how it influenced the way that they moved.

Create

Working in groups of three or four students devise a TV news report from an event that occurred in Rumpelstiltskin. Students will develop their characters using voice, movement and emotion.

Groups may choose to report on an event from the play that was either staged or described. Possible events could include:

• Launch of a new fashion line
• Baby goes missing
• Family is reunited
• Wedding of Malcolm and Harriet
• Other important events

The TV news report can include reporters both in the studio and on location as well as characters from the events. Students should use their voice and movement to create their character and use the elements of drama to help shape their performance.

Each student should consider the elements and principles of design and create their own costume to denote the nature of their character to the audience. Students could consider artistic and cultural influences to inform their design. Highlight how Oxlade has used the 60s, art deco and other cultural ideas to influence the designs in Windmill and State Theatre’s version of Rumpelstiltskin.

Consider if you would like your students to perform in front of their classmates or to present as a filmed performance. If filming, remember to allow time for students to edit their scenes together in a collaborative way.

Suggested Resources

Elements of Drama
iMovie – alternatively use any other movie editing app or software used on your school site.

Curriculum links

Explore dramatic action, empathy and space in improvisations, playbuilding and scripted drama to develop characters and situations (ACADRM035)

Develop skills and techniques of voice and movement to create character, mood and atmosphere and focus dramatic action (ACADRM036)

Rehearse and perform devised and scripted drama that develops narrative, drives dramatic tension, and uses dramatic symbol, performance styles and design elements to share community and cultural stories and engage an audience (ACADRM037)

• Literacy
• ICT capability
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Intercultural understanding

Prepare

Years 7 and 8 Achievement Standard addressed

By the end of Year 8, students identify and analyse how the elements of drama are used, combined and manipulated in different styles. They apply this knowledge in drama they make and perform. They evaluate how they and others from different cultures, times and places communicate meaning and intent through drama.

Students collaborate to devise, interpret and perform drama. They manipulate the elements of drama, narrative and structure to control and communicate meaning. They apply different performance styles and conventions to convey status, relationships and intentions.

They use performance skills and design elements to shape and focus theatrical effect for an audience.

After viewing the performance

Tune-in

Facilitate a whole class discussion about the production of Rumpelstiltskin. How did the performance connect with the audience at an emotional level?

Explore and Apply

Students choose one of the songs featured on pages 9 to 13 of this Study Guide. In pairs students explore the lyrics. What function do the lyrics serve in the story (advance the story, commentary of the themes of the play, greater insight into the character(s) and their feelings)? What impact and meaning did this song convey to the audience when you viewed the performance?

Students can use Popplet to record their ideas and share with the whole class.

Suggested resource:

Popplet

Critique

Students share their experiences of attending a performance of Rumpelstiltskin with the wider school community.

Each student chooses a key moment or scene from the performance to describe in a polished piece of writing the length of a paragraph. Students are to describe, using adjectives, the visual aspects of the scene as well as verbs to describe what the actors were ‘doing’ on stage, using their voice, body, movement and language, to tell the story. Students should try to make conclusions about what key message the scene highlighted to the audience.

Share students’ paragraph responses in the school newsletter. Include photographs of your students in the foyer or at the front of the theatre.

Windmill and State Theatre love reading student reviews of our works. Please email student reviews to education@windmill.org.au

Create

In small groups choose a minor character from Rumpelstiltskin whose backstory was not told in the production. For example Malcolm, Rat and Crow.

Using the given circumstances (facts about the character’s past, present and future) that you have discovered about the character, devise a scene exploring a significant life event that has shaped that character. Be inventive developing the other influential people in their life and an event that really shaped them.

Consider the inclusion of song within the scene. Students can take an established song and modify the lyrics to suit the context. The lyrics can be sung, rapped or spoken.

Often instrumental versions of songs can be found online to support students with this task.

Encourage students to incorporate movement and choreography where confident to further amplify the events, feeling or mood created in the song.

Curriculum links

Combine the elements of drama in devised and scripted drama to explore and develop issues, ideas and themes (ACADRM040)

Develop roles and characters consistent with situation, dramatic forms and performance styles to convey status, relationships and intentions (ACADRM041)

Plan, structure and rehearse drama, exploring ways to communicate and refine dramatic meaning for theatrical effect (ACADRM042)

Develop and refine expressive skills in voice and movement to communicate ideas and dramatic action in different performance styles and conventions, including contemporary Australian drama styles developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists (ACADRM043)

Analyse how the elements of drama have been combined in devised and scripted drama to convey different forms, performance styles and dramatic meaning (ACADRR045)

• Literacy
• ICT capability
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Prepare

Years 9 and 10 Achievement Standard addressed

By the end of Year 10, students analyse the elements of drama, forms and performance styles and evaluate meaning and aesthetic effect in drama they devise, interpret, perform and view. They use their experiences of drama practices from different cultures, places and times to evaluate drama from different viewpoints.

Students develop and sustain different roles and characters for given circumstances and intentions. They perform devised and scripted drama in different forms, styles and performance spaces. They collaborate with others to plan, direct, produce, rehearse and refine performances. They select and use the elements of drama, narrative and structure in directing and acting to engage audiences. They refine performance and expressive skills in voice and movement to convey dramatic action.

After viewing the performance

Tune-in

Facilitate a whole class discussion about the production of Rumpelstiltskin. How did the performance connect with the audience at an emotional level?

Explore and Apply

As a class watch the Creating Rumpelstiltskin clip on the Windmill Theatre website. Allow students to write notes about the intentions of creative team, led by Rosemary Myers.

Facilitate students to discuss the combined use of theatrical elements in the key scenes identified.

Encourage students to use the mind map approach to ensure that they cover all information and plan the content of each paragraph of their theatre review.

Suggested resources

Rumpelstiltskin show page
Theatre Review Mind Map Paragraph Planner

Critique

As a class, write a topic sentence and the beginning of a paragraph on the whiteboard with students, prompting them to use highly descriptive language and consider the impact and meaning of the work on the audience. Model the drafting process of inserting new information, combining sentences and clarifying meaning.

Create

Students write a theatre review of Rumpelstiltskin using the provided structure. Teachers are encouraged to set word limits and consider oral reviews to suit the learning needs of their student cohort. Teachers should consider the use of class time to signify to students the importance of developing review writing skills. Students benefit from reading samples of their review work to each other and identifying where vivid images are created for the reader.

Windmill and State Theatre love reading student reviews of our works. Please email student reviews to education@windmill.org.au

Curriculum links

Evaluate how the elements of drama, forms and performance styles in devised and scripted drama convey meaning and aesthetic effect (ACADRR052)

Analyse a range of drama from contemporary and past times to explore differing viewpoints and enrich their drama making, starting with drama from Australia and including drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and consider drama in international contexts (ACADRR053)

• Literacy
• ICT capability
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Acting

The art of living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, performance

Actor

An individual who plays a role or character in a dramatic performance

Ad-lib

Non-scripted lines, actions or stage business not written in the script

Aside

When an actor steps out of the action of the play to make comments to the audience

Audience

An individual or group of people watching a performance

Audition

Trying out for a role in a play; they may be cold readings, prepared readings, monologues or scenes

Blocking

The arrangement of the actors’ movements on stage with respect to each other and the stage space

Cast

The people selected to play roles in the show

Character

An imaginary/real person, animal or thing an actor pretends to be

Characterisation

The art of developing believable people from roles in a play

Costume

Clothing or body paint designed to represent a particular idea, character, tradition, culture or period in time

Critique

Constructive criticism of the effectiveness of the work, or the appropriateness of the choices made by the creator or performer. This may be presented in written or oral form and can be informal or formal

Cue

The last few words of a line that give an actor a connection to their lines or the words or action that enables a technician to start sounds, lights, set changes, etc

Curtain Call

Bows at the end of a show

Design

The creative process of developing production elements such as costumes, lights, sets, makeup, props and sound

Director

The person responsible for the overall unity of the production (In Britain called the producer). The director’s role during rehearsal can be described in simplest terms as the audience of the cast. In this role the director provides comments, feedback and advice to ensure the story is well told

Down Stage

The area of the stage closest to the audience

Dress Rehearsals

The final rehearsals in which the actors are costumed

Emotions

Feelings that characters express in a situation, story or play

Ensemble

Working as a group

Exposition

The segment of a play in which all elements necessary to the understanding of the play are revealed, such as period, place and time

Farce

A comedy with exaggerated characterisations, plots and physical humour

Floor Plan

A line drawing that shows the placement of set pieces and set props

Foreshadowing

Clues to what is coming in the plot

Fourth Wall

The invisible barrier between the stage and the audience

Freeze

A sudden and immediate stoppage in action and motion that creates a tableau during a dramatic work

Front of House (FOH)

The ushers and ticket collectors

Genre

The type of play such as romantic comedy, murder mystery etc

Gesture

Hand and facial movements

General Public (GP)

The audience

House

The area of the auditorium used for audience seating

Improvisation

The art of creating spontaneous characters and lines as a scene proceeds without prior preparation

Levels

This can be stage areas where platforms, ramps and stairs are used or body positions in a scene such as lying down, kneeling, sitting etc

Lighting (LX)

The artificial lighting conditions which illuminate the actors on stage and to assist in the creation of a mood or effect

Lighting Designer

The person responsible for the texture, colour and position of stage lighting for a show

Make-up

Techniques which use cosmetics to transform an actor into a character

Melodrama

A dramatic form popular in the 1800s characterised by stock characters and plots, cliff-hanging events, heart tugging emotional appeals, the celebration of virtue, and a strongly moralistic tone

Mime

A performance in which the action or story is conveyed through the use of movements and gestures without words. Tradition often associated with Marcelle Marceau, Mr Bean and others

Monotone

Speaking without varying tone, rate, volume or inflection

Movement Elements

Time, space, energy, relationship, dynamics, body movements e.g. high, low, quick, slow etc

Mugging

Making faces while performing

Musical Theatre

A style of theatre incorporating music, song, dance, and story

Narrative

The story of the drama – could be through narration, voice over or movement

Opening Night

The first night a play is performed

Pace

The speed of speech or movement. Part of the director’s role to ensure the intention of the line or scene is achieved

Pantomime

Acting without speech, may also be rhythmical dance

Pitch

The highness or lowness of the voice

Preview

Seeing a show or portion of a show prior to opening night

Props

Properties (props) are small articles used on stage which are not part of the scenery or costume (e.g. walking stick, cup and saucer, murder weapon etc)

Proscenium (arch)

The “frame” that creates the fourth wall in a theatre

Run through

Rehearsing the entire show from beginning to end

Scenes

The divisions of the acts of the plays, i.e. Act 1, Act 11 etc.

Set Designer

The person responsible for creating and drawing the scenic elements of a play, this may also be the person who builds the scenery

Setting

The time and place in which a play takes place

Soliloquy

A monologue that reveals what a character is thinking

Sound Designer

The person responsible for creating sound effects to be used in a show

Stage Areas

The designated places onstage which are divided into upstage and downstage as well as right centre and left

Stage Combat

Fighting for the stage which is choreographed and safe for all actors

Stage Crew

Those persons responsible for technical operations during a show

Stage Directions

The designated entrances, exits and movements printed in a script

Stage Fright

When an actor feels nervous or frightened of appearing before an audience

Stage Left

The part of the stage to the actor’s left as she/he faces the audience

Stage Manager (SM)

The liaison between the director and the cast, the SM is responsible for cuing

Stage Right

The part of the stage to the actor’s right as she/he faces the audience

Stage Whisper

An exaggerated whisper that the audience can hear

Strike

The dismantling of the set, costumes and props after the final performance

Suspend Disbelief

The willingness of an audience to suspend their disbelief and accept the conventions employed for the duration of a performance. That is to agree to enter the fantasy world created and to accept it as if real for the duration of the performance

Symbol

A person, place, or object that stands for or represents an idea or quality and, when used or referred to, immediately summons an organised pattern of emotional and intellectual response

Tableau(x)

A still picture representing concrete thought that is physically created by actors

Technical Elements

Lighting, sound, set, design, make-up, props, and costume

Theme

The underlying meaning of a play or literary work

Timing

Speaking, moving or reacting at just the right minute

Tragedy

A play depicting terrible events in which the main character suffers a reversal or downfall

Understudy

An actor who prepares for and temporarily takes the place of an actor who is unable to perform

Vocal Expression

Creative use of the voice to communicate characters, stories and ideas

Voice Elements

Volume, timbre, projection, diction, dialect, tone, pitch, light, shade, register, articulation, and pace

Warm Up

To prepare the actor’s tools (mind, body and voice) for energised, creative work. An exercise or activity used to develop creative expression

A theatre review is a critical response that describes a theatre production and evaluates the effectiveness of the combined use of theatrical elements and their impact on an audience.

Theatrical elements include the actor (voice, body and emotion), the set, props, costumes, lighting, sound, multimedia, puppetry or any other element used.

Structure

Opening Paragraph

The opening paragraph introduces the viewer’s experience of the theatre and may contain a holistic evaluative comment.

It should mention the key artistic contributors as well as the overall intentions of the theatre makers (director, playwright, designers). It should acknowledge the style of the production.

First Paragraph

A topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph previews what the paragraph is about.

A description and evaluation of a key moment/scene from the exposition in the play that reflects on how the theatrical elements were combined to communicate meaning to the audience.

Second Paragraph

A topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph previews what the paragraph is about.

A description and evaluation of a key moment/scene from the exposition in the play that reflects on how the theatrical elements were combined to communicate meaning to the audience.

Third Paragraph

A topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph previews what the paragraph is about.

A description and evaluation of a key moment/scene from the exposition in the play that reflects on how the theatrical elements were combined to communicate meaning to the audience.

Concluding Paragraph

The concluding paragraph summarises the viewer’s opinion of the theatre experience. It does not provide a rating of the play. It can provide a concluding statement about what the play teaches the audience about life.

Language Features

• usually in past tense
• uses subject-specific language
• descriptive language
• third person voice
• analytical language
• modality (how certain we are about something)
• theme/theme essential
• nominalisation (using nouns in place of verbs)
• cast and crew referred to by their full names or last names
• in-text references (quotes or specific moments)