Go Noah Go!

Education Pack

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John Wright, the founder of Little Angel Theatre, was born in South Africa in 1906. He travelled to England in 1935 and worked as an assistant stage manager for the Ballet Rambert while studying at the Central School of Art and Design. During this time he saw a puppet performance by Podrecca’s Piccoli and became hooked. John made his very first puppet in 1938. In 1961 John and his troupe found a derelict temperance hall in Islington and transformed it into a theatre, designed for the presentation of marionette shows. It opened on Saturday 24th November 1961. This was to be the first purpose built puppet theatre the country had seen for many years and the only one with a permanent long string marionette bridge constructed backstage. The bridge was designed for puppeteers to stand on while they manipulate long stringed puppets who perform on the stage below leaving the audience unable to see the puppeteers. The original bridge is used to this day. The theatre has a traditional ‘proscenium arch’ and seats 100 audience members. John Wright died in 1991 but the work of the theatre continued apace with family, friends and supporters working tirelessly to continue in his footsteps to make sure John’s legacy would delight generations to come.

How did Little Angel Theatre start? start? Theatre Angel Little did How

“Over the next 30 years, the Little Angel team created and performed over 30 full-scale shows” A Great Flood is coming and Mr and Mrs Noah have been set the most impossible task: to take two of each animal and build them a home!

A magical ark that is built on stage, over 50 carved animals and a host of songs to sing along with make this production one of Little Angel Theatre’s most successful and impressive shows.

John Agard’s stunning Caribbean adaptation of this timeless story, combines

puppetry, masks, stories and songs.

Our production is based on the story of Noah and his Ark. Noah's Ark is the vessel by which God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the world's animals from a world-engulfing flood. According to the Bible (in Genesis), God gave Noah instructions for building the ark. Seven days before the deluge, God told Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals. The story goes on to describe the ark being afloat for 150 days and then coming to rest on the Mountains of Ararat and the subsequent receding of the waters. The story is repeated, with variations, in the Torah and Quran, where the ark appears as Safina Nūḥ ("Noah's boat"). The Genesis flood narrative is similar to numerous otherflood myths from a variety of cultures. The earliest known written flood myth is the Sumerian flood myth found in the Epic of Ziusudra. Our version is set in the Caribbean.

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Although there are many flood stories and myths from around the world and in

different religions the version of the story that most people are familiar with comes from the Christian faith. The story can be found in the Old Testament. It is in the book of genesis (6:1—9:17). Christians believe that the story teaches them to respect the world that God has created and each other. They believe that the flood God sent was to punish people for their bad behaviour on earth. God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe humankind off the face of the earth. But one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favour in God's eyes.

With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth. God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God

commanded him to do.

After they had entered the ark, rain fell for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.

Finally after an entire year, God invited Noah to come out of the ark. Immediately, Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to give thanks to God for deliverance. God was pleased

Noahs Ark Noahs with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done.

Later God established a covenant with Noah: "Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a sign of this everlasting covenant, God set a rainbow in the clouds.

Could it really have happened?

Research, Discuss and Estimate to work out:

 How many animals would have been on the ark? (2 of each kind!)

 How far would Noah have had to travel to collect all the animals?

 How big would the ark have had to have been?

 Make a list of the food that would need to be on board to keep all the animals happy.

 Which animals would NOT need to come on board the ark but would survive a flood?

 Different animals need different habitats/temperatures to survive. Some animals are preda- tors and it could be dangerous to keep them together. Design an ark that takes these things into consideration.

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John Agard has taken the Bible story and given it a Caribbean Twist!

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Characters

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Quiz and Word Search 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Answer the questions then find the answers in the word search!

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Mask Making Look carefullyLook at the patterns materials and used to make the masks. masksrepresenting The fathermother and on are African God based tribal designs. cut outstickor cut on eyes and a mouth. shape. Unfold cutand forslit a thenose, incard ahalfand cuttingA4 half moon byyourmask foldinga owndraw piece of point, usestarting alarge plate paper or thetemplatetheUse on nextpagea as MakingTips Mask by two! two animalmask.Pair An upfriend a you with sothe same make animalgoyou and can weathermask: A Rainstorm, Sunshine, snow or rainbow? a of One the elements:Earth, Fire, Water Air.or Why notmake maska represent:to

fabric, wool,feathers, junkobjects, glitter, sequins. Decorateitabove). using things like coloured paper, theme or Choose a character(seefor your mask ideas

Before you cut out the eye holes check that you can see through! You may need to move the position of the eyes to match your own face! Make a hole for the mouth or draw/stick a mouth on to suit your character. For a stronger mask use card. Make a Frog Puppet agination. Add noses,ears, tails, decoration etc.depending on the creature Note Scissors Pens, coloured pencils,googly eyes(optional) Extra paperfor decoration (white foreyes, red for tongue) A4paper (green, orwhatever colour you want your frog to be!) Whatyouneed:

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The Frogs told Noah the story of how they got, and lost their tails. Make a frog — Younow have a frog puppetthat has very a bigmouth! Putyour thumb in thefrog the endofit into thefrogsmouth. Drawor stick eyes on to frog. the Cut out along tongue from redpaper and glue Youusecan this method to makeother animals or crazycreatures from your im- so thatso you can take it off when you tell the story! youIf want to tell the story then makea tail! Use a paper cliporVelcro to attach it

puppet and tell the story. ’ slower jaw and your otherfingers in the upper jaw.

Links and resources Illustrator Author ISBN: Go Noah Go! www.littleangeltheatre.com About Little Angel Theatre Ellie Kurttz. Education resource pack written by Sarah Schofield,. Production photographs by Contact: Twitter! us onFollow https://twitter.com/LittleATheatre friendsLittle AngelTheatreMake with keepto toup with date the latest news www.facebook.com Contact MakingWorkshopsPuppet Angel Theatrevisual Little stories childrenfor the autistic on spectrum Also available: shows.our of filmsshort Two featuringAngel Little Theatre the about process on putting one of 2/9654.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/putting presentsee and theand puppets in action! TubeYouto Visit watch trailers, and behindfilmsclips the scenes of our shows past http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=little+angel+theatre&sm=3 0340514191 : John: Agard [email protected] [email protected] : Judy: Brown

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