Shadow Play

Shadow Play with Terrapin

A new creative workshop for Grades 3 and 4

Terrapin’s workshop series opens a world of storytelling potential to teachers and students through the medium of shadow puppetry, a form that can easily be explored further at home or in the classroom.

Students will experience a taster of all the key ingredients in putting on a show: story, character, design and construction, direction, sound effects and performance. And, of course, an appreciative audience! The final three-minute performance will be filmed so that those behind the scenes can see what they’ve created.

The workshop caters to a wide range of personalities and learning types, from the boisterous to the introverted. It tackles the challenging topic of facing real fears through a humorous storytelling mode and lively puppets. A combination of structured story templates and puppetry techniques, combined with opportunities for children to invent characters and direct action, allows them to express themselves while learning.

Participating classes are sent a story template for the class to complete in the weeks leading up to the workshop. On workshop day, they will be introduced to the potential of shadow play before getting stuck into the construction of the characters they’ve dreamed up. The class will then divide themselves up according to interest into the sound effects orchestra, puppeteers, backstage technicians and audience. After learning their roles, the lights will dim and the narrator will lead the way through the story. Mistakes and giggles are all part of the fun!

DELIVERY DETAILS

Duration: recess to end of school day

Number of students: 1 class (maximum 30)

Cost per student: $10

AVAILABILITY & BOOKINGS

We’re currently not taking bookings for Shadow Play. For more information on Shadow Play, please contact info@terrapin.org.au.

Led by a master puppet maker

Bryony Anderson, Terrapin’s resident designer and maker, will lead the workshop with the assistance of another specialist facilitator. Bryony has a passion for creating innovative work from frugal resources. Since 1997, her puppets and constructions for visual performance have toured nationally and internationally with many Australian theatre, puppetry and performance companies. She has also been an exhibiting artist, a creative director of community projects, and a mentor. She is one of Australia’s most lauded puppet makers.

In addition to her puppet design work, Bryony has conducted over 100 community workshops in communities from the Central Desert and rural Victoria to inner Sydney and coastal NSW, with ages ranging from preschool to the elderly. She has held mentoring roles in project design for emerging artists, work experience for local high school students, and professional development for makers in her solar-powered bush workshop and interstate.