A Visual Story
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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.