About a month ago I was invited to perform both my “Jabberwocky!” and “Edward Lear’s Nonsense” suitcase shows as part of Wakefield Literature Festival for a Toddler group at Wakefield Grammar School Foundation, (Mulberry House). The shows went down very well with the adults, the babies and the toddlers as well. You can see from the photo’s that some of the children took me up on the offer of a “behind the scenes tour”, letting them get a closer look at the puppets.
Camilla Field, (Director of Marketing for Wakefield Grammar School Foundation) was good enough to take all the photographs you see on this post.
As it was European Languages Day and Camilla had asked if we had anything suitable for the Pre-prep children in the afternoon. So Leo Nolan (a long term collaborator and founder member of Midland Red Theatre Co. and Rough Magic Theatre) and myself put on a little show called “Nursery Rhymes with Monsieur le Fou” (CLICK HERE for Leo’s website). Leo plays Monsieur le Fou, a very silly French man who teaches the children Nursery Rhymes in French, and I play Miss Construed who is British and interprets between him and the children in the audience. We look at saying Hello, Incy Wincy Spider and Little Miss Muffet as well as indulging in a spot of birthday cake baking for Miss Muffet’s Birthday. This provides the opportunity to look at various animal and food names along the way.
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- Miss Construed asks what Monsieur le Fou will sing first
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- M. le Fou explains he will sing a song about saying “Hello!”
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- “Bonjour, bonjour, Salut, salut!”
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- The audience work out that we can get milk for our cake from a cow
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- “Please, please can we have some milk Ms. Cow?”
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- Eggs or Oeufs
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- Honey or Miel
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- A Boulanger mixes our cake
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- A Birthday Cake that doubles as a hat!
If you would like to Book “Nursery Rhymes with Monsieur le Fou” or either of my Shadow Puppet Suitcase shows then please CLICK HERE to contact me.
The children’s animal costumes, honey pot, eggs and basket were created by Joy Nolan-Evans. CLICK HERE to see more of her work on her new blog
Puppet Lady 