A Visual Story

Hello, we hope you’re looking forward to watching balletLORENT’s The Lost Happy the stage and touch the set. Endings. These notes are for you to read before you come to the theatre. They tell you what happens in the dance and also what to expect when you visit the theatre. When the performance is about to start the lights in the auditorium will get a bit darker and the doors to the auditorium will close. Arriving at the theatre As you arrive at the theatre you will come into the foyer where you will find the box About the Performance office. You can collect your tickets from here if you have not already got them. The Lost Happy Endings is a dance production performed by 10 professional dancers. They will be joined on stage by children who are from local primary schools. It could be busy and loud in the foyer and box office areas. You can put your hands over your ears. In this production we tell the story of The Lost Happy Endings through dance theatre. The performers mostly dance to tell the story, but they will also sometimes There will also be toilets in the foyer areas that you can use before you enter the act. They will not talk throughout the performance. auditorium. There is music throughout the whole performance which sometimes gets loud. Once you have your tickets you can make your way to the auditorium. Sometimes There is also a recorded narration with a female voice. This is to help you follow the the doors to the auditorium remain closed until just before the performance is due story. The lights will change lots of times throughout the performance – sometimes to start, but you can wait near the doors until they are opened by an usher. they will get darker, but it will only go fully dark at the start and end of Act 1 and Act 2. If it gets too bright, or too noisy you can cover your eyes or ears. If you would like There will be ushers there to check your tickets, help you find your seat and answer to go out into the foyer you can with your parent or carer. any questions you may have. All the seats are numbered, but don’t worry if you can’t find yours – an usher will be able to help. The performance is split into two acts – the first will last approx. 40 minutes and the second will last approx. 38 minutes. There will be a break between acts of You may hear loud bells ringing and tannoy announcements in the foyer before approximately 20 minutes. During this time the stage technicians will enter the the performance. Don’t worry about this – it is just to let the audience know the stage and move the set into a different position. The audience is welcome to walk performance will start shortly. around, go to the toilet, and talk during the break. Loud bells or announcements in the foyer areas will let the audience know when it is time to take your seat for Act 2. When you enter the auditorium you will see the stage in front of with the set for the first act all set up. Only the performers and stage technicians are allowed to go onto 1 Characters

There are many characters in The Lost Happy Endings. Some of them look like humans, and some look like fairytale characters, animals and trees. As the dancers play the different characters, they will move in different ways. Each dancer in the show plays more than one character. Here are some of the characters:

Jub Witch Gorilla Wolf

Bat Elephant Stick Insect Trees

Three Bears Sleeping Beauty Cinderella Goldilocks 2 Princess Frog Old Woman Alice in Wonderland

Hansel & Gretel Prince Kind Witch Snow White

Emperor Parents Children

3 Act 1 Story Notes These notes describe what happens in the dance. If there are any sudden sounds, actions or changes you will see this symbol ! When text is narrated, it will be shown in orange

Jub climbs the oak tree, watched on by the animals. She reaches in to her green The lights will go dark except for a moon in The music changes, and a stick insect sack and pulls out lots of happy endings. ! These are represented by small the sky. appears in the dark forest undergrowth. fibre optic lights and LEDs. They will be moved around throughout the performance by different characters. If you find them distracting, you can It’s early evening, and Jub is high up in her Sometimes the eyes of owls flashed from close your eyes in these moments. ! treehouse getting ready to go out into the the trees like torches and made her jump, forest. or bats skimmed the top of her head like The animals, and trees take the happy endings and dance with them as if they are living frisbees and she squeaked with blowing on the wind. Each evening Jub had to shoulder her big alarm. green sack and carry all the Happy Endings Some of the Endings drifted away like breath and others fluttered upwards like of stories from one end of the forest to the A bat flies into the forest – with large moths fumbling for light. Some looked like fireflies disappearing among the other in time for everybody’s bedtime. wings it flutters around Jub’s tree. Jub kindling of the leaves and twigs. is not afraid as the animals all appear Jub takes her green sack, and climbs down friendly. A friendly wolf crawls through the A mighty but friendly elephant enters the clearing where Jub is scattering the from the treehouse. forest. happy endings. Jub plays with the elephant, and he takes more of the happy endings. Jub’s job was important and she was very Once she had reached the edge of the proud of it. forest, Jub had to climb to the top of a When the last Ending was out of the sack, Jub would scamper and rustle her way huge old oak tree, still with her sack on down to the ground and set off homewards through the darkening woods. Jub skips and dances through the forest. her back, and sit on the tallest branch. From under the trees, a friendly gorilla Three tree branches dance around Jub as she heads home to her tree house. wakes up and goes to meet Jub. They say Then, very carefully, Jub would open the hello to each other, and then Jub skips off sack and shake out the Happy Endings She knew that all over the land the happy endings were safe in their books and on her journey. into the violet evening air. She was good spreading their joy like light. at this because she had six fingers on each She collects rubbish that has gathered in small hand. Jub climbs back into her treehouse and falls fast asleep wrapped in her blanket. the undergrowth. 4 Families of children and their parents enter the stage, ! The lights get darker and there is loud spooky The wolf crosses the forest and gently collects a happy dressed in night clothes and pyjamas. They are getting music ! The Moon turns a deep red colour ending from a sleeping child to take back to Jub. He ready for bed with their duvets, pillows and story dances around, playing with the happy ending like books. Each family finds their bedroom space. They A dark witch crawls out from the forest undergrowth. a precious possession. Other animals appear – all dance with joy and love for each other. Parents and She is crawling and slithering around as if she is old gathering happy endings back from the bedrooms of children read their story books. Everyone is happy! and weak. happy sleeping children.

The stars whispered to themselves in the black sky. Jub wakes from her sleep and begins her chores of cleaning and ironing in her tree house as the animals “Hello, my small deario.” collate the happy endings in the tree next to hers.

The witch approaches the treehouse where Jub is By the time she’d shopped, cooked, laundered, ironed, sleeping. She forages around and reaches up toward and read a bit of her new book, the Happy Endings Jub. had flown back to the forest like homing pigeons and were hanging from the ancient silver birch all ready for “What’s in the sack?” Jub to collect once again.

Slowly, the witch slinks away back towards her home in Jub sees the elephant has old used paper caught the undergrowth. around him. She helps untangle him from the rubbish and then carries on to collect the happy endings back ! The lights go dark, and the moon changes back into her sack. to white !

5 !The lights go dark, and the music becomes Large sheets of discarded plastic, and fog blow ! Loud Music – you can cover your ears if you want slightly more spooky.! through the forest and consume the clearing. The to. ! elephant is caught in more rubbish and struggles to One evening, as Jub set off with her full sack, she find his way in the dark. Jub is confused and doesn’t The dark witch appears again from the undergrowth and noticed scarves of mist draped in the trees. One of know what to do. She is getting lost amongst the confronts Jub. She threatens Jub and tries to steal Jub’s them noosed itself round Jub’s neck, soft and damp, plastic, the fog, and the darkness. ! The lights go sack. and made her shiver. dark – there is only a spot light on the plastic around Jub. The plastic makes quite a lot of A twisted old woman with a face like the bark of a tree A mist appears around the tree that Jub is sitting in. noise as it is moved. You can cover your ears if and horrible claw hands appeared in front of Jub. Wind blows, and the mist catches Jub around the neck. you want to. ! “Hello, my small deario.” ! This is represented by a long sheet of silk fabric being floated across the stage by performers. No The elephant is now completely covered in rubbish. “What’s in the sack?” one is hurt ! He dances alone as more waste collects at his feet. “Let me pass, please,” said Jub. Jub hurries into the birch tree and gathers as much The shadowy trees looked villainous: tall ghouls with rubbish from the branches as she can. “What’s in the sack, I said!” long arms and twiggy fingers. Jub is left alone, lost, and worried. Jub struggles with the witch who is being vicious to her. Three treelike figures dance around the tree that Jub is sat in. They appear to be blowing in the wind and look “Let me alone!” gasped Jub. “I must go on.” a little bit scary. They carry her from the tree and slowly “Shut up!” said the vicious old woman, and she spat green whisk her wearily through the forest. spittle in Jub’s face.

A large gnarly looking tree enters the clearing. It grabs The witch grabs Jub’s sack and pushes her to the ground. Jub and throws her to the floor. Jub retaliates, but ! The performers are pretending and no one is hurt ! the large tree catches her and entwines its branches around her. Jub is scared and panics as she tries to “I’m having this, my six-fingered deario,” she snarled, and escape. ! The characters are pretending to fight hobbled rapidly away into the darkness and the fog. and no one is hurt ! Jub is distraught, alone, and frustrated. Her movement shows these emotions. 6 Children in their bedrooms are once Fairytale characters pass through the land - they are representing the stories the children are reading. Everything is not as it again getting ready for bed. Lights flash to should be, and strange things happen to the characters. A series of fantasy montage scenes will follow – in each scene lights indicate each of the bedrooms. and the moon will change colour and the characters will portray unusual events. ! The performers are pretending and no one is hurt ! Children in their beds read their bedtime stories. But tonight there were to be no Hansel and Gretel were trapped screaming in the Gingerbread House while the wicked witch made the oven hotter and hotter. Happy Endings. The Big Bad Wolf gobbled up Little Red Riding Hood and enjoyed every red mouthful. The Frog who was picked up by a Princess was horrified when she tried to kiss him and hopped away in terror. Alice in Wonderland drowned in a pool of her own tears. Cinderella’s foot was too big for the glass slipper. The little boy didn’t shout out that the Emperor had no clothes on, so the Emperor went everywhere stark-bollock naked. Snow White died when she bit the poisonous apple and she stayed dead for ever. Nothing and no-one could wake Sleeping Beauty. And as for Pinocchio, he refused to stop lying. In fact, his nose grew so long that he arrived everywhere a whole day before he set off. Goldilocks changed the locks on the cottage of the Three Bears. Soon the night was filled with the awful sound of frightened or disappointed children weeping and wailing in their beds.

The children are upset because the endings of their bedtime stories are not right – all the characters have unhappy endings where they would normally be happy! The children begin crying and throwing their books down or ripping them up. They are sad. ! The lights will highlight each child’s bedroom by flashing gently. !

! The music will get louder and more frenetic as the children are getting upset. You can cover your ears now if you want to. !

On and on the children read and worse and worse the stories became. 7 More and more children appear in their bedrooms – all upset by the stories. Their parents try to console them but it doesn’t work, and now the parents are becoming upset and distressed too. ! The performers are pretending – you can see their emotions by the way they are moving. !

Jub is in her treehouse, hearing and seeing all that is going on. She is clearly upset and worried for the children.

Rocking back and forth in her tree, Jub moaned with sorrow. Exhausted, she fell, like a terribly sad, sad ending.

Jub falls from her treehouse in despair.

! She falls onto a crash mat and is not hurt !

INTERVAL

! The lights on stage will go dark for a moment ! The show will start again in 20 minutes. You will see the stage crew changing the set ready for Act 2.

8 Act 2

Jub is in an upturned tree. She is still upset that the happy A question mark appears in the sky – The witch had a sad and difficult life. No one would know endings have been lost and the children cannot sleep. sparkling golden lights make this effect that she had once been young and brimming with hope. The moon is red and the lights are dark to represent the happen. nightime. As Jub writes, the witch appears from the dark. We see that Suddenly Jub knew exactly what to do. She she is much younger now, and happy. In the following It grew dark. would write her own Happy Ending on the dream montage scene, the witch enacts three times that night! She held tightly to the Golden Pen she fell in love with different people. Sadly, each relationship The witch dances into a clearing with Jub’s sack of happy and began. ended in heartache for the witch. The poor witch had faced endings. She throws the sack to the ground and begins rejection on several occasions in her life. The witch becomes rummaging inside to pull out the happy endings. As Jub begins writing with the pen, families lonely as she watches others falling in love. immediately appear consoled. They are When the witch first opened the sack of Happy Endings reunited with the children who are now Time passes. The witch transforms from a happy and she was furious. The same old same old! They were happy once again. Parents and children lively young lady into a sad and bitter older woman. Her worthless to a witch. They were boring and stupid. hug to show their happiness and love for movement becomes fractured and disjointed as we see her one another. Jub is excited! She dances all age. Parents enter – still upset and distressed. They are around the forest, writing on the sky, and frantically trying to understand what has happened to every surface she can find. Her imagination Jub is continuing to write with her golden pen. the happy endings, and they are now getting frustrated creates wonderful new endings to the at themselves and each other. stories. She had been betrayed in love, thrice. She had longed for children, but this was not to be. The witch lived in the trunk Jub is left alone. The elephant passes through again – still of a dead tree in the darkest, thorniest part of the forest. sadly wrapped in plastic. But as Jub writes As she slept, she dreamed of a Golden Pen which could the plastic is shed, and the elephant dances Tonight, the witch decided that she was going to burn the write on night itself. When she awoke in the evening away, free. sack of happy endings to make a fire for herself. She was there was the Golden Pen beside her. She held the going to dance around that fire and shout out terrible, bad Golden Pen between her fingers and drew a question Jub wraps herself in her blanket and settles words, and then drink poison berry juice and smoke a clay mark on the night air. It floated before her, a perfect gold herself down to continue writing. pipe. ? glowing in the darkness. 9 Jub lights the tip of her golden pen, representing her depiction of the witch. The stage goes dark except for the full red moon. Another witch dressed in light clothing appears swinging in the trees on a broomstick. This witch was Sat in the overturned tree, the witch takes a pipe and begins to smoke it ! happy, free, and joyfully danced around the forest. smoke appears from the pipe – this is a stage effect, and the witch is not really smoking the pipe. ! Fairytale characters appear whisking red and This woman too had suffered in her life, but she had watered her heart like a orange fabric around like fire whipping and licking the night sky, as their stories plant and she was full of fun and liveliness. are burning and smouldering. The magical fire surrounds the witch in the tree. The lights flicker gently orange and red. The dark witch initially pushes away the happy witch as she doesn’t comprehend how she could be so lively. She believed that hard truth is better than fairytale fiction. That way, there could be no disappointment. She snatched hold of the witch’s hands and began to dance with her. A dance the witch remembered from her youth. The fairytale characters frantically read their own tales with alternative outcomes. They dance furiously. The two witches dance a lively jig, and we see the dark witch’s woes wash away slowly. They become friends very quickly. The witch takes happy endings out of the green sack, and, one by one, snubs out the little lights. Each fairytale character drops to the ground, like their lives Jub continues writing with her golden pen atop her tree. have been extinguished. Jub, seeing what happened, leaps up the tree, and with a wave of her golden pen, she writes a new ending, wakes the fairytale The new witch explained that she lived in the greenest of forests and that characters, and rights the wrongs. Together, the fairytale characters hoist Jub she would love a companion. Even better, she had her broom stick with her, higher into the forest canopy. The witch dances with joy, in her own peculiar and if the witch agreed, they could set off now, and be in good time for a way. night cap.

A flash of gold caught the witch’s eye, and she picked up a happy ending that Jub makes way for the two witches to climb the tree together. she had never read, or heard of, or imagined. Jub was just approaching the spot where they had sat, when a broom stick The witch picks up the new happy ending inquisitively. with two witches on it flew over her head, scattering the lost happy endings over the forest floor. In this happy ending, a lonely broken hearted woman had allowed herself to become more and more bitter with time. 10 But one night, there was a step behind her, and there was another witch. Jub is alone in the dark forest. Slowly, animals appear In the following fantasy montage scene, all the The fantasy slowly disappears, and one child is left asleep from the undergrowth, and the trees and branches beloved fairytale characters enact the newly on their own. Tenderly, the gorilla approaches the little wave in the wind – each carrying little lights of happy imagined endings to their stories, whilst the children girl, and very gently wakes her. The two play, mimicking endings they have gathered. They dance around Jub, read their books and dream. each other. The girl skips with joy. who is overjoyed. One by one, Jub places the happy endings gently back into her green sack. That night, everything returned to normal. Almost. On her way home at last, Jub dropped the golden pen. Snow White lived, but refused to go with the The gorilla hands Jub a light. Jub hands it back to Prince and remained with the seven dwarves to Jub skips away into the forest with her sack full of happy the gorilla for him to keep. They are both very good learn forestry. Hansel and Gretel opened a vegan endings. friends and hug one another before gorilla leaves. restaurant with the witch. Pinocchio grew up to become Prime Minister. Cinderella formed a band The little girl takes the golden pen, climbs the tallest tree The stage goes dark. with the Ugly Sisters. And so on… and sits.

Children make their way to bed with their books and One by one, the animals of the forest appear in the And I wrote this with it. blankets. dreams of the sleeping children. They are whisked away into a surreal dream world – dancing, playing, The End! ! The lights on stage will go dark for a creating fantasies where anything and everything moment ! can happen. They show love for each other and are overjoyed as they climb, run, and boogie. At the end the performers will come to the front of the The children sparkle in every colour and shape of stage to bow. You can clap your hands to show that you character that their vivid imaginations can conjure! enjoyed the show if you want to.

!As other members of the audience clap, it may be loud. You may cover your ears if you want to!

The lights will come on in the auditorium and it will be time to go home.

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