The Borrowers Supplemental Studyguide

An Arden Study Guide A Resource for Students and Teachers Compiled by Harry Watermeier

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Writers Author Mary Norton

Chapter One: The Writers Author Mary Norton

Playwright Charles Way

Chapter Two: Synopsis of the Play

Chapter Three: Our Production

Chapter Four: Puppet Theatre

Chapter Five: Adaptation: How The Borrowers reached the stage

from the page...

Chapter Six:

My borrowed Home!

Chapter Seven: You’re the Author!

Chapter Eight: Pod needs Help!

Chapter Nine: Homily’s Kitchen Chapter Ten: Thoughts about The Borrowers

Mary Norton was born in London in December of 1903. She was raised in a town near the English countryside called Leighton Buzzard--the very town that would later become the setting of her Borrowers series. Norton was educated at a convent school, and during WWII she worked for the British government in both the War Office and the Purchasing Commission. After moving to New York City, she began writing short stories and articles to help support her three young children--in fact, most of her writing was based on original bedtime stories she told them! Norton later enchanted readers of all ages with her stories of Borrowers: people barely six inches high who own nothing, share freely, and take whatever they need from human beans!

...and Playwright Charles Way

Charles Way was born in 1955 in Devon, England. He trained to become an actor at The Rose Buford College of Speech and Drama. While training as an actor, Way began to write plays for his fellow students to perform. Way toured many different parts of England as an actor and writer, often performing for schools and audiences of young people. By the late 1970s, Way’s focus drifted from acting to playwrighting. As his career as a playwright developed, Way began to be known as a children’s playwright. Way has said that he sees no difference between writing for children and writing for adults, and has “without a doubt found great joy and inspiration by creating plays for children and young people.” In his mid thirties, he began to write a series of plays for “family audiences”--plays which adults and kids could watch together with strong story lines and real theatre magic. This series began with The Borrowers, first performed at London’s Polka Theatre in 1999.

Chapter Two: Synopsis of the Play

In the opening moments of the play, we are introduced to a bizzarre and fascinating cast of characters.

One is refered to only as “Boy.” He is a meek and sickly child who has recently returned from India with a case of the Rheumatic Fever. His newly appointed carers--the grimy “Campfurl” and the dastardly “Mrs. Driver” are an ominous pair indeed. These three characters will occupy Aunt Sophie’s mansion--a dark and drafty cave of a place where the boy is meant to recover. After meeting these strange human beans, we travel underneath Aunt Sophie’s floorboards and are introduced to a family of borrowers--father Pod Clock, mother Homily Clock, and precocious daughter Arrietty Clock--none of them more than a few inches high!

Homily and Arrietty are in their kitchen preparing dinner. Suddenly, Pod bursts into the scene looking quite frightened. Homily asks Pod what’s wrong, and he explains that he had “been seen” by a human above the floorboards while on a borrowing trip. “Being seen” is a terrifying event in the life of a borrower, and the family discusses the possibility of fleeing Aunt Sophie’s mansion to live in the countryside. The possibility of a new world--a life beyond the cooped-up and cramped surroundings of Aunt Sophie’s floorboards is thrilling for Arrietty. However, her hopes of a new home are quickly dashed as Pod and Homily warn her of the dangers of the outside world. Pod and Homily agree that their home is a little cramped, and that Arrietty could use a little time above the floorboards. Although it takes a little convincing from Homily, Pod agrees to take Arrietty on his next borrowing adventure. Arrietty jumps, dances, and twirls with excitment--she has wanted to go borrowing with her father for as long as she can remember. Little does she know the trouble this borrowing trip will cause.

Pod and Arrietty then make their way through a collection of dark tunnels and passageways to reach above-ground. Before he ventures out to borrow supplies requested by Homily, Pod tells Arrietty to stay near the tunnel that will lead her back to their home. Despite this

order from her worried father, Arrietty wanders away from the tunnel, and begins to explore this strange and fascinating world above the floorboards. She wanders down the seemingly endless hallways of Aunt Sophie’s mansion, and discovers “The Boy!” Though the boy is frightened, he speaks to Arrietty. Arrietty explains what it means to be a borrower. The boy upsets Arrietty when he tells her that he believes all other borrowers to be extinct. He tells Arrietty that she is the last of her kind. Arrietty pleads with “The Boy,” tells him that she can’t be the last borrower left because of her Uncle Hendreary, who lives in a badger’s set only two fields away from Aunt Sophie’s mansion. Pod then discovers Arrietty talking to “The Boy.” Arrietty runs back to the tunnel with her father, knowing she’s upset him by the heartbroken look he wears on his face. Arrietty’s meeting with the boy proves to be a momentous event for the Clocks--it changes their lives forever. This meeting between human bean and borrower also sparks an exciting chain of events that make up the action-packed remainder of the play. Late one night, The Clocks are discovered by Mrs. Driver as “The Boy” tries to drop borrowed items under the floorboards. The Clocks frantically try to escape while Mrs. Driver destroys their home with a screwdriver. The Clocks wind up in an orchard near Aunt Sophie’s mansion. They trudge through the wilderness, with little food and few supplies, in an attempt to find their long lost Uncle Hendreary. They encounter many dangerous elements of nature on their journey, and discover an old muddy boot that they transform into a modest but respectable new home. Soon the Clocks befriend the mysterious and stoic “Spiller,” a fellow borrower from the wild who helps the Clocks survive a harsh winter. The quest to find Uncle Hendreary becomes increasingly desperate. Pod searches the nearby badger set daily, but can find only foxes and debris--he is exhausted and, as the difficult weeks go by, close to death. Spiller promises to take Pod’s place and find Uncle Hendreary. The Clock’s situation grows more desperate, as they face many challenges and meet new characters near the play’s end: they battle Mrs. Driver, meet a family of Gypsies, and are even pursued by police! Their perseverance is rewarded by the play’s end, when they are happily reunited with Uncle Hendreary and his family!

Chapter Three: Our Production In order to bring a play to life on stage, a scenic designer must build the world in which the play will take place. The world of The Borrowers is an exciting one--made up of cramped, shadowy tunnels, secret passageways, vast structures and dense forests of grass--it allows any scenic designer’s imagination to run wild. The Borrowers also allows ordinary objects (like a pair of boots or a spool of thread) to take on extraordinary qualities. In the following pages we’ll learn a bit about the fascinating scenic design process.

Scenic Designer Lewis Folden said that the most challenging part of designing the set for The Borrowers was creating a world in which both normal sized human beans and tiny borrowers exist side by side. Folden said: “Both sizes are played by human actors. The need was for us to create a set that lets the audience accept this difference as believable, and it wasn’t easy. If the setting didn’t support the scale issues too, they wouldn’t be nearly as successful.”

When Folden talks about scale, he’s simply talking about size. Basically, elements of the set (like blades of grass) had to be made larger than normal to make the actors look smaller.

Folden thought that the idea of compartimentalization (making things small, putting them in boxes, organizing them into different categories) was an important element of the set design. He tried to suggest this idea with his set design. Folden has said, “I was taken by how much the Borrowers had compartimentalized their world.” The Clock family live in a kind of box, “hiding from the real world” above the floorboards.

......If you were a set designer, what kind of set would you create? How would

you hide the borrowers from Mrs. Driver and Campfurl?

Design your set in

the space provided below.....

Folden “borrowed” some ideas from two of his favorite artists to help him create his sets for the play. The pictures to the right and below are of works by Joseph Cornell and Louise Nevelson. Folden looked to these artists for inspiration.

....Now you can compare your design with Lewis Folden’s after you see the show!

How is his design different from yours? Are there any similarities between the two?

Did you like Folden’s design? Why or why not?

Chapter Four: Puppet Theatre Arden Theatre Company’s production of The Borrowers uses puppets to create a sense of scale, and depict the Clock family as mystical, otherworldly beings--more than just miniature people. Puppets have been used as important storytelling tools for literally thousands of years. To this day, puppetry acts as a major form of theatrical expression and storytelling.

Below you’ll find an overview of the many and varied types of puppets used in the theatre today.

Bunraku Puppet: These puppets are a type of

wood carved puppet originally made to stand out when lit by nothing but firelight. These puppets were developed in Japan over a thousands years ago as important devices in religious ceremonies.

The puppeteers dress in all black to blend into a black background--yet their presence adds a certain mystery to the puppets.

Marionette:

These puppets are suspended and controlled by a number of strings, and sometimes a central rod attached to a control bar held from above by the puppeteer. This form of puppetry is complex and sophisticated to operate, requiring a puppeteer of great skill. Hundreds of years ago, the Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays. Later they were used in Italy as comedic devices, and even performed Shakespeare.

Supermarionation: This method of puppetry was in-

vented by Gerry Anderson which assisted in his television series Thunderbirds in electronically moving the mouths of marionettes to create the illusion of life-like speech. The marionettes were still controlled by human manipulators with strings. Anderson’s invention was very influencial for later technicians who would use puppets to develop animatronic special effects that are now a common sight on film and television.

Shadow Puppets:

These puppets are cut-out figures held between a source of light and a translucent (see-through) screen. Shadow puppets are usually flat, two dimensional figures, but can form solid silhouettes, or be decorated with various amounts of cut-out details. Color can also be introduced into the cut out shapes to provide different dimensions.

Effects can also be created by moving the puppet (or light source) out of focus. These are elegant, beautiful puppets popular in Middle Eastern Theatre.

Jim Henson’s Muppets: Jim Henson created

the lovable Muppets, a troupe of fuzzy, googley eyed puppets who starred in TV shows and movies. The Muppets were part of the original cast of the TV show Sesame Street--the show made stars of Henson creations like Kermit the Frog, Bert and Ernie, and Big Bird. The Muppets are popular with both children and adults--everyone has a favorite Muppet. Which is your favorite?

Hand and Glove Puppet: These are pup-

pets controlled by one hand of the puppeteer that occupies the inside of the puppet. Many parts of the puppet are usually not much larger than the hand itself. A sock puppet is a particularly simple type of hand puppet. With nothing more than a sock or a paper bag, you can have a hand puppet of your very own!

....Now you can design a Spiller puppet of your very own! Follow the simple directions in the exercise below to create a Spiller finger puppet!

Chapter Five: Adaptation How The Borrowers reached the stage from the page...

The Borrowers began as a series of novels by author Mary Norton. Now, playwright Charles Way has brought the novels to the stage through the process of adaptation.

First, color in the Spiller drawing above and cut out this page from the study guide.

Next, glue the page face up onto a thin piece of cardboard--the back of a cereal box would be perfect! Then, cut your Spiller out from the page. Be sure to cut holes in the drawing’s legs. Now pop your fingers through the holes in the legs. Look how you can make Spiller run, dash, dart and borrow to help the Clocks!

Adaptation is the process of changing a certain type of material (like the book The Borrowers) so it can be viewed and enjoyed in a new and different way. For example, let’s say you’ve read Mary Norton’s Borrowers. Because the story has been adapted into a play, you can see Arrietty, Pod, and Homily played by real-live people. The characters literally come to life!

Playwright Charles Way took scenes from Mary Norton’s book, and reworked them so they could become scenes of a play. Look at the image below. This is a passage of text from The Borrowers novel. Notice how Norton uses descriptions to create the images of setting, character, and action. When writing a novel, an author uses these descriptive words to build the world of their story. This kind of writing has to be changed (or adapted) so it can work as a play.

Try to adapt...look at the text below. It’s another passage from Mary Norton’s novel. Like playwright Charles Way, try to adapt this passage into a page of your very own script! Keep in mind that a script uses dialogue and action to create a scene.

“Homily glared at the boy--he was only a child after all.

‘Put it back!’ she said,‘put the roof back at once!’ Her eyes flashed and her curlers seemed to quiver. He knelt down then, but Homily did not flinch as the great face slowly came claser. She saw his under lip, pink and full--like an enormous exaggeration of Arrietty’s--and she saw it wobble slightly.

‘But I’ve got something for you,’ he said.

Homily’s expression did not change and Arrietty called out from her place in the doorway:‘What is it?’

The boy reached behind him and very gingerly, careful to keep it upright, he held a wooden object above their heads.‘It’s this,’ he said, and very carefully, his tongue out and breathing heavily, he lowered the object slowly into their hole: it was a doll’s dresser, complete with plates...“

Look at the image to the right. This is a page of Charles Way’s script.

Read this page, then the passage above. Did you notice that both are depictions of the same scene?

How is the scene in the script different from the scene in the book?

What is different about the writing style? Notice in the script, descriptive words have been replaced with dialogue and action. A playwright provides the actors with words to say and actions to perform.

Pod: Put it back! Put the roof back at once!

Boy: But I have something for you.

(Silence) Arrietty: What? What have you got?

Boy: This.

(The boy lowers a chair. Behind him a life size chair is pushed on by an enormous hand.)

Arrietty: Oh mother look.

Homily (coldly):Yes--its a very nice chair.

Arrietty: There mother, you always wanted something like that.

Homily:Yes. Thank you very much. Will you please put the sky--roof--back?

Pod: Oh--just about fit me that would. Nicely made and all.

Homily: Pod--I’m going to scream.

...It was an eye. Or it looked like an eye. Clear and bright like the color of the sky. An eye like her

own but enormous. A glaring eye. Breathless with fear, she sat up. And the eye blinked. A great fringe of lashes came curving down and flew up again out of sight. Cautiously, Arrietty moved her legs: she would slide noiselessly in among the grass stems and slither down the bank.

“Don’t move!” said a voice, and the voice, like the eye, was enormous but, somehow, hushed--and hoarse like a surge of wind through the grating on a stormy night in March.

Arrietty froze. “So this is it,” she thought, “the worst and most terrible thing of all: I have been ‘seen’!

Whatever happened to Eggletina will now, almost certainly, happen to me!”

There was a pause and Arrietty, her heart pounding in her ears, heard the breath again drawn swiftly into the vast lungs. “or,” said the voice, whispering still, “I shall hit you with my ash stick!”

Suddenly Arrietty became calm. “Why?” She asked.

Now write your own adaptation in the space provided below! Bring The Borrowers to the stage!

A giant eye is revealed upstage...

Chapter Six: My Borrowed Home!

What if you were a borrower? Where would you live? What would your home be like?

Would you sleep in a cigar box like Arrietty? Would you wallpaper your house with old letters like Homily? In the space provided below, draw a picture of your very own borrowed home!

Chapter Seven:You’re the author!

Author Mary Norton wrote many sequels to her Borrowers novel, including: The Borrowers Afield,The Borrowers Afloat,The Borrowers Aloft, and The Borrowers Avenged.

If you were the author, where would you take The Clocks next? Use the space below to write your very own Borrowers adventure!

Use the picture above for inspiration! What would happen if the Clock family was dropped into the setting like this? It’s up to you!

Chapter Eight: Pod Needs Help!

Learn how to use fractions to help Pod and Spiller on their latest borrowing adventure! See story problems below: Arrietty needs pencils so she can write in her diary! The pencils must be nice and sharp! Pod spots twenty-six pencils on Aunt Sophie’s kitchen table. Eight of the pencils are sharp. What fraction of the pencils are not sharp?

Homily needs feathers to make Arrietty a winter coat!

Mrs. Driver has five pillows on her bed. One of them is a feather pillow. What fraction of the pillows are not feather pillows?

Homily needs eggs to make this evening’s dinner. Pod sneaks past Mrs. Driver’s bedroom and into the kitchen. After opening the refridgerator, he sees a carton of twelve eggs. Five of the eggs are cracked. What fraction of the eggs are not cracked?

Bonus Question: Spiller is on the hunt for a new pet goldfish. There are eight fish in Campfurl’s aquarium. Two of the fish are goldfish. What fraction of the fish are not goldfish?

Making It Through The Maze! Help Pod get through the complicated passages beneath the floorboards and borrow the red blotting paper for Homily.

Chapter Nine: Homily’s Kitchen

Homily, Pod and Arrietty are often in their kitchen enjoying treats like cinnamon crumb cake, sliced almonds, and raspberry jam. Follow our authentic Leighton Buzzard

recipe with a parent to make a delicious British delicacy!

Pat A Cake Scones: Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup whipping cream 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Make a big dent in the center of the flour mixture. Add the whippping cream and lemon peel. Stir until the mixture is crumbly. Coat hands with a little flour. Use your hands to gently knead the dough in the mixing bowl until it can be formed into a ball. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll or pat the dough into a 7 and 1/2 inch circle. Using a knife, cut the dough like a pizza into 6 or 8 wedges to make scones. Place scones about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Lightly brush scones with additional cream; sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake about 18 minutes or until scones are golden brown on the tops are the bottoms. Serve warm.

Chapter Ten: Thoughts about The Borrowers The following questions can help you think about The Borrowers a bit more.You can talk about these questions with a group of classmates, or write down your answers.

1. What would it be like to live as a borrower? Would you enjoy living beneath floorboards, or would you get a bit restless like Arrietty?

2. If you could choose where you would live as a borrower, where would you live?

3. Would you like to have a gigantic version of an everyday item? Would you like a giant spool of thread? A giant sugar lump? A huge wheel of cheese?

4. If you could have a giant insect for a pet, what kind would you have?

5. Would you rather be an indoor borrower like Pod and Homily, or an outdoor borrower like Spiller? Why? 6. What was your favorite scene in the play? Why? 7. Who was your favorite character in the play? Why? 8. Did you like the music in the play? What did you like about it? Did it help to tell the story of The Borrowers?

9. What did you think about the puppets in the show? Did they make the humans seem large or did you have to use your imagination a bit?

10. What did you think of the set when you first sat down in your seat? Did your opinion change when the show was over?