BEOWULF
TEACHER RESOURCE PACK FOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH PUPILS IN YEARS 5 AND UP
BEOWULF By Chris Thorpe Directed by Justin Audibert
FROM 3 OCT - 3 NOV 2017 FOR PUPILS IN SCHOOL YEARS 5 - 8 WHAT WILL YOU FIGHT FOR? At the end of this tale I’ll go to fight a dragon And I’ll be no more Beowulf is the oldest surviving poem in the English language. Writer Chris Thorpe and director Justin Audibert shine new perspective on this seminal text, drawing out the connections between the ancient and the modern worlds in this tale of heroism, fear, bravery, and anguish in the battle for life. An exciting, adventurous and atmospheric new interpretation performed with live music.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE PACK p.4 ABOUT THE PLAY p.5 MAKING THE PLAY: INTERVIEW WITH WRITER CHRIS THORPE MAKING THE PLAY: INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER DANNY SAUL
p.7 p.12
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: SESSION ONE - INTRODUCING THE STORY
p.14
Introduces the children to key characters and themes within the story.
SESSION TWO - HROTHGAR THE KING
p.17
Builds the world of the play before Beowulf’s arrival and a sense of King Hrothgar’s power and reputation before the monster Grendel attacks.
SESSION THREE - HROTHGAR’S WARRIORS
p.19
Asks the children to begin to think as Hrothgar’s warriors, explore the warrior code and imagine what would have been important to a proud warrior class.
SESSION FOUR - PLANS TO DEFEAT THE MONSTER
p.22
Explores the response of the warriors to the arrival of the monster Grendel. After great success, victory over their enemies and great wealth, they experience something very different – terror, failure and defeat.
SESSION FIVE - TO STAY OR GO? HROTHGAR’S DECISION
p.24
Looks at the difficult decision Hrothgar has to make on behalf of his people; considering the different opinions and perspectives that would inform such a decision.
SESSION SIX - THE ARRIVAL OF BEOWULF
p.26
Explores Beowulf’s arrival at Heorot, and how he reacts to King Hrothgar and his warriors and the air of defeat.
SESSION SEVEN - BEOWULF’S DECISION
p.29
Children act out the moment Beowulf decides to kill Grendel’s mother and answer the question Beowulf poses in the play: ‘Was I a good King?’
RESOURCES FOR ACTIVITIES
p.30
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TEACHER RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION This pack is for teachers bringing pupils to see Beowulf in autumn 2017. The Unicorn production of Beowulf is a new interpretation by Chris Thorpe of the classic Old English poem. Set in early 8th or 9th Century Scandinavia, it tells the story of the heroic acts of Beowulf, a warrior from Geatland (Southern Sweden) who travels north to help King Hrothgar and his people, who are being terrorised by Grendel, a horrific monster. Beowulf demonstrates great bravery and leadership when he defeats Grendel in a bitter and violent battle. But Beowulf then finds himself facing Grendel’s mother who offers him a choice; to continue the cycle of violence or draw a halt to the fighting and make peace. Told through powerful poetic language and accompanied by atmospheric live music, Beowulf will draw the audience into a world of terrifying monsters and steadfast heroes as it explores themes of fear and bravery, leadership and decision-making in difficult times. The classroom activities are designed to support and extend pupils’ visit to the theatre and offer teachers ways to pick up on and explore the themes in the play, before and after a visit. They will use drama and storytelling as ways of exploring ideas that are relevant to the play and to support teachers in meeting National Curriculum requirements: ‘All pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They should have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances.’ National Curriculum The resources also include contextual information about the original poem Beowulf and historical context that will help connect your visit to the play with curriculum work around the Anglo-Saxons. Resources will also provide National Curriculum links at Key Stage Two: to English through the development of spoken word and poetry, as well as PSHE and citizenship. There will be a free teacher CPD day for Beowulf on Tues 26 September 2017 from 10am – 4pm where teachers can find out more about the show and gain practical experience of the classroom activities, before leading them with a class. To find out more about the CPD or to book your place, email schools@unicorntheatre.com.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
ABOUT THE PLAY Chris Thorpe’s new version of Beowulf begins with the hero of the poem addressing the audience directly. He tells us how the story will end, when he is defeated in battle by a dragon. He challenges the audience to make a judgment. Was I a good king? Did I treat you all fairly? Beowulf, the narrator of his own story, goes back to a time long ago, before he was king, when he set out on a journey to the Northlands to help a people he had heard were in grave trouble. He and his band of warriors arrive in the land of the Danes, ruled over by King Hrothgar. First met with suspicion, they are finally welcomed into Heorot; a great hall which has been built, according to tradition, to house the treasures from the Danes’ victories and celebrate the heroism of Hrothgar’s warriors. However, for twelve years Heorot has been under siege from a terrifying monster, Grendel. Each night Grendel steals into the great hall and takes someone while they sleep. Grendel, a prowler in the dark, A monster of teeth and terror and stinking breath When Beowulf and his warriors arrive to offer their services to the Danes, they find Hrothgar a shell of a king. And I can tell you, honestly, I have never seen A leader as beaten, a King as soul-wrenched Hrothgar is like a ship becalmed Hrothgar is like a spilled wine-cup The skin of his cheeks sucked back on his face-bones The fingernails gripping his throne-arms all bloody Beowulf pledges to help them overcome the despair and fear they feel, and to fight for them to defeat the monster. One of the Danes, Unferth, casts doubt on whether Beowulf can do it. She has heard the tales of his heroism, but doesn’t believe he will save them. She questions why would he succeed, when their finest warriors have failed? Beowulf listens to what Unferth has to say and asks for one night to prove himself. When night comes, Grendel arrives at the great hall. Beowulf is terrified as he witnesses the full horror of the monster devouring two sleeping warriors. Drawing on all his strength, Beowulf attacks Grendel and they become locked in battle. The monster has him in a terrifying grip and Beowulf feels himself coming close to death when Unferth comes to his aide, and Grendel, turning attention onto her, loosens its hold on Beowulf. Page 5
TEACHER RESOURCES Taking his chance, Beowulf rips the monster’s arm out of its socket and Grendel runs from Heorot in agony, towards the swamp that is its home, carrying Unferth with it. Beowulf follows in pursuit. Arriving at the side of a lake, Beowulf finds Unferth dying. Unferth gives Beowulf the dagger she dreamt would kill Grendel. He takes it and dives into the lake to find the monster. At the bottom of the lake, Beowulf finds Grendel. The monster is in a cave filled with the armour and remains of the Danes it has dragged there. Grendel is still alive, but badly wounded. Beowulf takes out the dagger and plunges it into the monster’s heart. And I am full of what I have done Of a great evil gone from the universe And I shout to the dripping cavern walls I shout victory over our enemies I shout for the living who will not now die For the worst that is now past And for the better times to come At this moment, a figure appears; it is Grendel’s mother. The monster’s mother speaks to Beowulf, offering a pact that would end the violence. In that moment Beowulf has a choice to make: to finish the cycle of violence with Grendel’s death and make peace, or to carry through and destroy the monster’s mother as well. Beowulf acts decisively, as a warrior hero, and kills the monster’s mother with one blow. Beowulf returns to the great hall victorious and is honoured with gold by the Danes. When he returns home to Geatland he is eventually made king. Fifty years pass and then a dragon comes. This is the dragon that will kill Beowulf. In his last moments, as he faces the dragon, Beowulf thinks about the choice that Grendel’s mother gave him and what kind of king he was. As he did at the beginning of the play, Beowulf asks us, the audience, to judge whether he was a good king.
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MAKING THE PLAY
INTERVIEW WITH WRITER CHRIS THORPE WHY DID YOU AGREE TO WRITE A NEW VERSION OF BEOWULF? The Unicorn sets me interesting challenges, both of the plays I have written for the Unicorn have been adaptations of, or inspired by, existing, quite old works. I really relish that. (Chris’ last play for the Unicorn was a contemporary response to Dr Faustus.) Beowulf is one of those stories that people think they know, but we don’t really, we just know the big details. It’s far enough away in time that it really asks you to find what’s in it that is still, on a gut level, familiar about human behaviour. It’s quite easy to see the story as something that exists in a separate bubble of time, a long time ago, and feel the world has completely changed since then. The pleasure - well the pleasure and the horror of it - is in realising that, even though the detail is different, we haven’t changed that much.
WHICH TRANSLATION HAVE YOU USED FOR YOUR VERSION OF THE POEM? Anyone who claims to have read the original Beowulf is either an expert in Old English (which I’m not), or is using one of the translations or adaptations which stand in for the original. Seamus Heaney’s translation of the poem is an incredible piece of work. I don’t claim to have read the original all the way through; I have read some to get the feeling of the sound, the feeling of that original language. I don’t think I’ve strayed too far from the original story. I’ve given it a new ending and I’ve linked things in the story that aren’t linked. I’ve also made sure it’s not a story in which all we’re seeing is white men with beards, because I think that is an absolutely necessary change to make for the people who are going to come and see it at the Unicorn, and because we live in a world that is in no way as homogeneous as the world of Beowulf. I’ve also kept the way it speaks to the audience. The rhythm of my version as it starts is quite modern, but when we get into the meat of the story, what creeps in is a sense of a driving rhythm and alliteration. This is inspired by the verse of the original and its use of alliteration, so although we might get parts where it feels like I’ve jettisoned the rules, then in comes poetic language which is closer to the original.
WHY DO BEOWULF AND HIS WARRIORS TRAVEL INTO THE NORTHLANDS TO HELP THE DANES? THEY HAD NO NEED TO GO, THE THREAT WASN’T TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE, THE GEATS. They make a decision to go and fight with these other people that they feel kinship with. There’s a certain amount of fellowship between them, a shared history. It’s not their own community, but Page 7
TEACHER RESOURCES there are links between the two communities, they are in effect fighting to protect their own. And if someone is in clear and present danger, it’s not necessarily the worst idea to go and attempt to protect them. And they go for the glory – that’s the way that status is gained in that society - there’s a benefit. There’s also a feeling of duty; this is what you do as a warrior.
THE WORLD DEPICTED IS THAT OF WARRIOR HEROES, WHERE PROBLEMS ARE RESOLVED THROUGH THE SWORD. HOW DOES THE PLAY APPROACH THE THEME OF VIOLENCE FOR ITS YOUNG AUDIENCE? The idea that Beowulf is outside the boundaries of what that age group are exposed to is not right; in terms of narrative violence, fictional violence. We may have a more subtle understanding of psychology, or think we do, we may have more science on hand to test out theories about it, but the world still tells people that solving problems, both personal and global, with violence is an acceptable solution. It’s not a pacifist play, I’m not trying to say that violence, or action, is never a solution to a problem, because I don’t believe that. What I am saying is that violence is a solution that’s applied far too readily and far too frequently. Actually the biggest problem for me is that we assume because one particular situation calls for the ‘last resort’ use of violence it then follows that other situations that might look similar call for violence as a solution, and that just isn’t true. We are constructed and encouraged to think that if something works in one situation it will work in another. We like to recognise patterns and we do that with the use of violence as much as we do with anything else.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT BEOWULF’S DECISION ABOUT WHETHER TO KILL GRENDEL’S MOTHER? It’s very clear in that moment that he’s offered a choice in a way that he isn’t in the original. In Grendel’s mother there’s another world view, and there’s an equality of intelligence, and depth of understanding - a willingness to talk. Which Beowulf makes the choice to ignore. In the original, the mother of the monster is also a monster, that’s the narrative structure. Whereas in this version, the mother of a monster is not necessarily a monster, and does not, once you have dealt with the monster, need to be dispatched with the same violence. I think that’s a different angle in my version; it’s an argument about violence that isn’t in the original. I wanted to introduce an examination of something that isn’t intentionally in the original poem.
SO YOU LEAVE THE AUDIENCE TO THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OR POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHOICE BEOWULF MADE? At the end, Beowulf has saved everyone and everything is great and then fifty years later a dragon turns up and kills him. It gives you license as a writer to ask ‘what could the reason for that dragon be?’ The original never really suggests a link between the two; you are free to imagine a link between the choices he has made to use violence and the long term consequences that come back to bite him and his people. And it makes you think about what we might store up for the future if we use violence Page 8
TEACHER RESOURCES in the wrong way in the present. And if we do fight someone’s violence with violence, how far should we go with that? It’s maybe not a good idea to destroy the thing that the violence came out of (which isn’t itself violent). I think you can draw very clear parallels with the way that we talk about the relationship between terrorist organisations and religions today - we blame a larger framework much more than we should, for the actions of a very, very small minority. That massive gap of fifty years in the original story gifts you the opportunity to think about now.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LANGUAGE AND THE POETRY IN YOUR VERSION OF BEOWULF? I didn’t want to hit the rhythm straight away, because it just says ‘ok, we’re watching a poem’ and you can let it just carry you. It’s important it starts talking to the audience in a way that demands attention, because it doesn’t have the rhythm to lean on, and then it starts to drive itself along by bringing that rhythm in. But even when that rhythm is there, it alternates with passages where Beowulf is talking in a much more contemporary way, stepping out of that rhythmic drive and saying ‘what I was thinking at this moment was...’ in much freer, more contemporary language. I think if you immediately go in at a rhythmic level what you’re saying is ‘ok, this is just a poem about something that happened a long time ago’. And what you need to be saying is, ‘we’re all in the room together and I’m going to tell you some stuff and then we’re going to think about it’.
BEOWULF ASKS THE AUDIENCE TO CONSIDER WHAT KIND OF KING OR LEADER HE IS. IS THAT THE OVER-ARCHING QUESTION THE PLAY IS POSING? It asks the question on a larger scale but also an everyday scale, because it’s about leadership, not just about kings. Leadership can be as much about the decisions you make for yourself, about situations that you’re faced with. The play asks what makes a good decision - is it that once you’ve found a solution you just keep using that solution over and over again? Or does there have to be a certain amount of listening before you make an assessment of each situation on its own merits? People the age of this audience have an emerging awareness of different kinds of leadership; how the societies they live in are structured and led. So hopefully this will help them wonder about how those decisions get made. There’s also a really useful question for all of us to ask about how we apply decision-making in our everyday actions, particularly when we come into conflict with ideas or behaviours that we might not necessarily understand or like.
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MAKING THE PLAY
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JUSTIN AUDIBERT WHY DID YOU WANT TO DIRECT BEOWULF? It’s a text that I’ve known about for quite a long time. It’s like the English Iliad I suppose, in that we have lots of famous, brilliant poets who have tried to create versions of it and re-imagine it. It’s ever shifting and talks to lots of different times. Ultimately it’s a story which asks the questions: Who is a hero and what does being a hero mean? This question is resonant through the ages, and I think for audiences here at The Unicorn it’s a huge question – we go through the early years of our lives, and we look up to people and we look up to idols and then there comes that point when you realize that your mum and dad are not superman or superwoman or your best mate isn’t an all action, demon-slaying superhero. There’s a thing about that journey that I’m really excited about; that in the experience of watching this show our audience go on that journey of “oh my god, this person is amazing, they’re a mega star” and then they realize that all of us are flawed, all of us have weaknesses and make mistakes
WHAT ELEMENTS OF THE STORY ARE PARTICULARLY RELEVANT FOR A YOUNG AUDIENCE?? Who you worship and why - who your heroes are? But also what is in the darkness, what lies in the darkness? That’s why the story has so much resonance; Grendel signifies darkness, what we are afraid of. It asks us what are the things in your soul, the things on the edge of your periphery and just beyond that you are scared of? And we all have that. How do heroes help us conquer our fears? And actually at the end of the day – do we need heroes, or should we change things ourselves? Do heroes inhibit that idea because we look to other people to solve problems? All of that interests me.
HOW DO YOU IMAGINE STAGING THE PIECE? We’re going to stage this with one woman performing the text, with one very talented multiinstrumentalist supporting her. We’re going to paint a landscape musically and within the storytelling the music will push the narrative forward as well. The text is very rich and at times complex; there will be interplay between the performer and the musician, Danny Saul, in the nature of the delivery. There are two really big moments of violence in the story, and I don’t know much about the design yet because I’m still in early conversations with Samal (Blak, the designer) but in those moments we’re not acting out the fighting, but the performer will have to something incredibly physical in those moments, be that perform that text climbing up something upside down, or stretched, I don’t know yet but that performer will be doing the text at the Page 10
TEACHER RESOURCES same time as being in a place of physical extremity. You as an audience will be like “Oohh” and you’ll feel for their life – that’s the sense that I want to get, that you’re like “they could die doing this” which is what Beowulf goes through.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO USE THEATRE ELEMENTS; DESIGN, SOUND, LIGHTS ETC, TO BRING THE STORY TO LIFE? The space is amazing, I imagine loads of the space at the back will be open, so you’ll get that sense of the mead hall, and the darkness in the cave, it’ll be huge and expansive. I want to create a sense of the darkness and the vastness, and one person against the darkness. Chris (Thorpe) has written a metaphor about how we deal with terror and how we deal with terrorism and the choice we make on that, and what’s that quote – “darkness is just the absence of light”. I want to play with that idea – I’m really interested in that.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT HOW YOU’VE CAST THE PLAY AND WHY? Like all these things it’s just your instincts isn’t it? I read it and I thought it can’t be a voice from London that would feel wrong to me, it needs to be a voice from somewhere else from the North in some shape or form, it felt right to me. I’m always interested in the assumptions people make; look at the film Dunkirk which is getting quite a lot of flack – quite rightly. It’s a brilliant film I’m really excited about seeing the film, but actually it’s neglected to portray all of the people of color working in the merchant navy, and working in the British expeditionary forces. None of them are in the film, it’s all white men in the film, and actually that’s not true. In the same way that this story of Beowulf, is held up as a paragon of ‘ old Englishness’ – yet actually we don’t know the routes of the story, it could be from anywhere, so I’m really interested in the sense of “otherness” that a person of color brings to the idea of ‘what is Englishness?’ which is a question that is plaguing our society in an enormous way at the moment. And we’ve had thousands of years of men telling stories. I know that I say this being a director telling stories and I’m a man, but I’m more interested in hearing women tell stories now really, I’m more interested in the way they recount the past world and imagine the future one. The fact that I, Chris, and Danny are all men, it feels important to have another energy in the room and that feels really right to me, but that’s instinct.
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MAKING THE PLAY
INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER AND PERFORMER DANNY SAUL CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE MUSIC YOU WILL BE CREATING FOR BEOWULF AND HOW IT WILL BE USED WITHIN THE PRODUCTION? As this is a contemporary retelling of the Beowulf poem, I’m exploring sound and music that is entirely contemporary in style. The music is intended to be expressive of the characters, their emotions and the locations the play is set in. The tale is set in Scandinavia and this region has a rich history of metal music (specifically that termed as ‘black metal’, which came to fruition – and some notoriety - during the mid/late 80’s to early 90’s). Black metal has a particularly cold rough and icy characteristic sound that Chris (the playwright) had in mind from the outset, and so this is something I relish in developing for the play. Musically aggressive and fast, it conveys to me the imagery of the harsh, frozen Northlands, and of Beowulf’s warrior strength, while also presenting perhaps a lesser heard form of music in the context of theatre. I work with a lot of really crazy synthesiser musical equipment and laptop computers. Use of technology allows me to create an even broader palette of materials to explore within each performance, and by contrasting synthesizer and laptop pieces with metal styles, the music can contribute to the pacing of the story as it unfolds - moments of tension propelling the narrative forward, contrasted with calmer moments of gradually unfolding passages. I was particularly excited by this project as Justin (Audibert, the director) and Chris, approached me not only to compose the music, but also to perform it live each night in response to the emotion and physicality of Debbie’s performance (Debbie Korley, the actor). This presents many opportunities to explore varied musical avenues and many challenges as a single performer with only one pair of hands!. I’m having to design a fairly elaborate performance system in order to navigate through the pieces as a live performance with flow. So, there’s some full-on heavy metal in there, some atmospheric ambient pieces, some crazy abstract synth sounds, and dare I say there might be a little techno/electro in there too.
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DRAMA ACTIVITIES Beowulf seems to be an eloquent evocation and celebration of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ideal. The poem describes a world in which fame and renown are won through great deeds and the best a man can hope for in this life is to be remembered as a hero after his death. - ‘The Anglo-Saxan World’ by Nicholas Higham and Martin Ryan
These activities are designed for use before and after your visit to the Unicorn Theatre’s production of Beowulf. They help teachers and children build a drama focussing on King Hrothgar and his warriors in the lead up to Beowulf’s arrival to help them. Once the most powerful and respected Kingdom in the Northlands, Hrothgar and his people have been terrorised for years by a monster which attacks them in the dark. The drama work will ask the children to consider what kind of King Hrothgar is and examine the bonds and codes of behaviour that bind him, his warriors and his people together. The activities have been grouped together in 7 sessions which will give teachers a sense of the progression of activities. However they are designed to be flexible and teachers can restructure the activities to suit their particular class and other curriculum work.
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SESSION ONE
INTRODUCING THE STORY AIMS To introduce children to key characters and themes within the story.
RESOURCES Characters names and key themes written up, lines of text.
STRATEGIES Fruit bowl, STOP GO, still image, simple devising.
INTRODUCTION Start by explaining that you are going to be coming to see Beowulf at the Unicorn Theatre and briefly discuss what they know about Beowulf. What images, characters or plot lines spring to mind? Some children may have seen a film, TV or animated version, as well as those who have read the story. This brief discussion will allow you to gauge the prior knowledge children have and reassure them that if they know nothing that is also fine. These activities are designed to touch lightly on the characters and themes and to allow for ‘not knowing’, but beginning to sense what the story might be about.
STAGE ONE: DEVISED MOMENTS • Briefly discuss with the class the meaning of these five key themes that they will encounter in the play and the drama work: honour, belonging, kith and kin, loyalty and trust, fear. • Move the children into five groups and give each group one of the themes, ask them to create a group image based on their theme as you count them down from 10 to 0. • Now give each group the line of text which goes with their theme (Resource 1) and ask them to add their text to the image. They can move the image and develop it if they want. They will need to decide how they are going to say the lines of text: will one person read the text, or will they share it out amongst the group? Will they speak the lines before or after showing their image, or weave it in with the image and action? –– Honour - ‘There are these moments that heroes are made in when there is a clear reason to fight.’ –– Belonging - ‘One more of their friends had been taken in the dark.’ –– Kith and Kin - ‘We were their sisters and couldn’t stand by, we were their brothers and couldn’t watch this happen.’ –– Loyalty and Trust - ‘Trust is not easily given by the damaged.’ –– Fear - ‘The fear worm stirred, uncoiling in our bellies and each of us knew the others also felt it.’
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TEACHER RESOURCES • See all of the group’s images and text in any order. When you have seen everyone’s work discuss what kind of story they think this might be. This is about what the themes, images and text have sparked in their imaginations, and not about right or wrong answers. • Give the children a little context for the story; explain that it is the oldest surviving story written in Old English; that it tells a story set in Scandinavia around the 5th century, in what would have been a pre-Christian world; it was written down in Anglo Saxon Britain, probably by Monks in the 9th century. • Beowulf has been told and retold many times; Seamus Heaney did a famous translation, Michael Morpurgo, Brian Pattern and Kevin Crossley Holland have all written versions for children. Our new adaptation for the stage has been written by Chris Thorpe in 2017.
STAGE TWO: STOP GO • Begin a game of STOP and GO; ask the children to move about the hall on their own, ask them to try and keep evenly spread across the space and work together to find a common pace; neither too fast nor too slow. • When you say STOP ask them to stop where they are as still as a statue; comment on those who have focus and concentration. Notice the way in which if you stop in a difficult pose, with one foot off the floor for example, then it is impossible to be completely still. • When you say GO ask them to move off. • Try a few rounds to build the class’ discipline in the game. Now explain that when you say STOP you are going to introduce a few of the characters we have already met in the game of Fruit-bowl and you are going to add some of the ways they are described in the play. Ask them to embody the character in the way they imagine them to be from the descrpition: –– A fearless warrior who travels a great distance to help a people in need, ‘the bravest of the brave’ –– A King ‘a parent who cannot protect his children’ –– A monster, ‘a prowler in the dark, a monster of teeth and terror and stinking breath’ –– Warriors ‘dripping with despair, paralysed with fear’
STAGE THREE: BEOWULF ‘FRUIT BOWL’ • Make a circle of chairs with enough seats for everyone in the class. The teacher stands in the centre of the circle. • Begin by introducing the names of the characters and explaining what their role is in the story. Having the unfamiliar names written out will help children learn and identify them. Encourage the class to say them out loud with you: –– Hrothgar: is the King of the Danes. –– Heorot: not a person but the place at the heart of the story. It is the great wooden mead hall that King Hrothgar has had built and where the whole settlement gathers to feast and celebrate. –– Grendel: a creature who lives in the marshland. He creeps into Heorot like ‘a loathsome shadow’ and brings terror to Hrothgar and his people. –– Beowulf: a warrior who arrives at Heorot with his band of warriors. He has been sent by his king, King Hygelac to help Hrothgar and his people defeat Grendel. –– The Warriors: King Hrothgar’s Warriors who are loyal, fearless and brave. They have sworn allegiance to Hrothgar, to each other and to all their kith and kin. • Walk round the circle and assign each person one of the four names: Hrothgar, Heorot, Grendel, Beowulf. Repeat in the same order round the circle and, finally, include yourself in the names. • Stand in the middle of the circle and explain that when you call out a name everyone who has that Page 15
TEACHER RESOURCES name has to leave their chair and find another. They have to cross the circle and not just slide into a space that might be next to them. • When you call out “The Warriors” everyone has to cross the circle to find another seat. • Stay in the centre for two or three rounds until everyone knows the game. When you are sure the class is working together, join in and find a seat. This means that one of the class will end up in the centre and will have to choose which character’s name to call. • You can vary the game by calling out the character’s role rather than their name or calling two names simultaneously.
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SESSION TWO
HROTHGAR THE KING AIMS To create a sense of Hrothgar’s power and reputation before the monster Grendel attacks.
RESOURCES Story Whoosh script, images of Viking shields, Great Shield template.
STRATEGIES Story Whoosh, still image, teacher-in-role.
INTRODUCTION The poem describes a world in which fame and renown are won through great deeds and the best a man can hope for in this life is to be remembered as a hero after his death. Recap on the work you did in the last session and what children remember of the characters and the context for the play and drama work. Explain that you are going to focus on the character of Hrothgar and what happened in the Northlands many years before Beowulf arrived on the scene.
STAGE ONE: STORY WHOOSH • Outline that you are going to explore the character of King Hrothgar and his warriors and what happens before the arrival of Beowulf. • Run the Story Whoosh (Resource 2) 1. Organise the group into a circle, read each moment of the Story Whoosh out and ask children from around the circle to come into the middle and make a freeze frame showing what is happening. 2. Continue the narration until the ‘Whoosh’ when that group is ‘whooshed’ out of the circle back to their seats. Then bring the next pupils into the middle of the circle to make the next moments. Continue in this way until you have finished the story. 3. Discuss with the class what questions they have about the story. Explain that when they come to see the play at the Unicorn they will find out what happens next in the story when Beowulf arrives, but that we are going to go back to the beginning and explore what King Hrothgar and his people were like before Grendel arrived. • A Story Whoosh is a way of acting out a story with the whole class and allows you see the main narrative, action and characters in a story in broad brush strokes. It is important to go around the circle with each child taking part in turn, making it an accessible and inclusive activity in which all children contribute to telling the story. The teacher takes an active role as narrator/director and supports the children in the creation of the images.
STAGE TWO: THE GREAT SHIELD • Discuss with the class the way an Anglo Saxon warrior’s shield was a very important and personal piece of defensive weaponry. They were constructed of wood and metal and often had images Page 17
TEACHER RESOURCES
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embossed in silver or bronze that showed battles the warrior had fought, the gods they put their trust in and mythological beasts. There is also historical evidence to suggest that the Anglo Saxons created shields for ceremonial purposes. Decorated with gold and silver and inlaid with crystal and garnet these shields were too large and unwieldy to be carried in battle. You could look at the remains of the great shield found at Sutton Hoo. (Resource 3) This activity takes the idea of a ceremonial shield as a way of creating the story of King Hrothgar, and his ancestors. Explain to the class that the shield will commemorate King Hrothgar, the most powerful King in the Northlands, the images will decorate the great shield for the opening of Heorot, and will take its place on the wall of the grand mead hall, on its opening Hrothgar was at the height of his powers and success when he built Heorot and commissioned the Great Shield. He wanted the Shield to remember him and his ancestors before him, as great leaders. Ask the class to discuss what qualities they think a good King would need to have in those days. Move the class into groups of around 5 or 6 and ask them to imagine they are the master crafts people who will design the images that show Hrothgar as the great Kings he is, in order that he can be remembered for many more generations. Show them some examples of silverwork from the time. Give each group a title to use to help them create a moment in the life of King Hrothgar. –– –– –– –– –– ––
Hrothgar the Fearless Hrothgar the Honest Hrothgar the Fair Hrothgar the Wise Hrothgar the Powerful Hrothgar the Proud
• They can include Hrothgar’s ancestors, his warriors, his enemies, and mythical beasts. These are the stories that will live on after Hrothgar.
STAGE THREE: PRESENTING TO THE MASTER GOLDSMITH • When groups have created their image, explain that you will play the role of the master goldsmith who will need to check and ratify their images. • Ask each group to show their image and, in-role, question them on the detail of their proposed image; asking them to articulate what is important to capture in the image they have created for the shield and why? What will it tell future generations about their great King? • When you have seen all of the panels for the shield, congratulate the groups for their insight and agree on the final designs for the shield. • Children could work in groups to create artwork of the shield, or as a whole class an actual size shield would make a fantastic display. This is a very light touch use of Teacher-in-role; it gives the children the opportunity to speak from the perspective of ‘those who want to honour their King and show future generations how powerful he was.’ It also gives you the opportunity to develop their ideas and find connections between the groups work.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
SESSION THREE
HROTHGAR’S WARRIORS AIMS For children to begin to think as Hrothgar’s warriors might think, explore the warrior code and imagine what would have been important to a proud warrior class.
RESOURCES Images of mead halls, and Viking and Anglo Saxon Gold, Hrothgar’s cloak.
STRATEGIES STOP GO, moving images, ritual space, teacher-in-role.
INTRODUCTION Start with a brief discussion about Hrothgar’s warriors: What do you think life would have been like for a warrior in those days? How important do you think it was to pledge allegiance to your King? And what did it mean to be loyal to your kith and kin?
STAGE ONE: STOP AND GO • Tell the class that you are going to play a focused game of STOP and GO which will concentrate on the warriors in the story. 1. STOP - stand as one of Hrothgar’s warriors. Imagine you are holding your weapons: a spear or a sword and shield and are showing the fearlessness needed for battle. 2. On GO - walk as a warrior might walk. 3. STOP - show how a warrior pledges allegiance to King Hrothgar. 4. GO - walk again as a warrior 5. STOP - become a warrior protecting King Hrothgar in battle 6. STOP: in threes, show two warriors helping a wounded warrior to safety • Now ask the groups of three to work on their images of this moment in a little more detail. Ask the threes to now create two images; one the moment on the battlefield where they are helping the wounded warrior and; a second image which shows them safely away from the battlefield and enemies, helping the wounded back towards Heorot. • Explain that even though one of their warriors is wounded, Hrothgar and his warriors have been successful once again in defending their land, gaining more land and riches for their tribe. They are the most successful and respected King and warriors in the Northlands. • When they have established their two images ask them to move in slow motion between one and the other. • You can help by asking all groups to rehearse together; start with image one and then as you count down from 10 to 0 ask them to move to their second image. • See the images; ask half the class to show and the other half to be audience, then swap around. Reflect on what images the groups have created, and what they notice about what is important to the warriors they have imagined.
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TEACHER RESOURCES STAGE TWO: BUILDING HEOROT Remind the class that because Hrothgar and his warriors have been so successful Hrothgar built Heorot as a symbol of their strength and success. They are going to create the first time they gather in the newly finished mead hall, and the King is ready to hear the praises the warriors have for each other’s courage and to present generous gifts. It is a time of belief in a safe and prosperous future. • Start by marking out a large rectangular space to represent Heorot with masking tape, with a door indicated at one end. At the other place a chair that will be the throne where Hrothgar will sit. • Place a bench along each wall of Heorot, where all the warriors will be seated. • As you create the space talk about the things you will need to imagine together; the wooden walls where the shields will be hung, the firelight, the candles and sconces, the glint of the gold mead cups, the fire, the smell of food. There are images of mead halls online you could use to help imagine the space. • Explain to the class that they will be in role as Hrothgar’s warriors and that you will be taking on the role of Hrothgar. Demonstrate how, when you put on the cloak, you ‘become’ Hrothgar . • This night in Heorot Hrothgar and his warriors will be celebrating their success in battle, the borders of their lands are secure and the settlement is safe. • Explain how the King would share his riches, giving out gold treasures to his warriors as an emblem of their loyalty and courage in battle. Look at images of torques, clasps, rings, intricate daggers, and gold cups which were given out at the time to help inform the drama. • Finally identify a group to be the warriors who carry in the heavy ceremonial Shield that will hang on the wall behind Hrothgar’s chair.
STAGE THREE: MOVING INTO THE DRAMA – HROTHGAR THE GOLD GIVER • Ask the children to take up position on the benches as the warriors awaiting their King to arrive when he will begin the official opening of the Mead Hall. • Explain that you will come in, in role as Hrothgar, and when you speak it will be as if it is between the King and his warriors. Ask the warriors to think about what they will do when Hrothgar arrives. Do they stay seated? Or is there a way to greet the King? • Ask the shield bearers to be ready to carry the Ceremonial Shield and hang it on the wall behind the throne when Hrothgar asks them. • When the warriors are seated in Heorot, enter as the King with the shield carriers following, as Hrothgar ask them to hang the shield on the wall above the throne and take their seats. • As Hrothgar welcome the warriors and congratulate them on the success they have had in securing the borders of their Kingdom and remembering the struggles they have faced in the past. Draw on the work that was created in the Stop and Go and the Ceremonial Shield activities. Remind them that you are now the strongest, bravest, most successful tribe in the Northlands and that all your neighbours fear and respect you. • Asks the warriors to share their stories of their great achievements as a people; it may be stories of our ancestors, or their fellow warriors - their own achievements but to tell him what they have seen their comrades do. • Call up warriors and give out gifts of gold - mead cups; torques; rings; shoulder clasps and other treasure - to the most courageous and to those who have survived injury. • Finally asks all warriors to stand and to raise their mead cups and to make the toast: May Heorot be a place full of living joy unbounded. To the King and his warriors. We are the strongest! Page 20
TEACHER RESOURCES • Come out of role and talk with the class about Hrothgar and his warriors, referring to what has been created in the activity. What is the feeling amongst the warriors at this time? What sort of King is Hrothgar? What sort of future do they imagine they will have? What would a place of living joy unbounded be like?
TEACHER IN ROLE AS HROTHGAR Taking on the role of Hrothgar will require teachers to improvise the dialogue that takes place between the King and his warriors, responding to what the children in-role as the warriors bring to the drama. Before you begin it will help to think about the physical aspects of the role: the way you sit, stand and walk as Hrothgar and the way you use language will have an impact on how the ‘warriors’ present themselves. It is not about acting a character, but playing a role as truthfully as you can within the context of the drama. This part of the drama is intended to establishes Hrothgar and his warriors as proud, successful, and respected people, at the height of their success, and the great hall of Heorot as a symbol of this success and a place of safety. In role as Hrothgar, teachers need think about Hrothgar’s confidence in the allegiance of his warriors, their courage and skill in battle; his belief that the settlement will go from strength to strength and that they will continue to prosper. The building of Heorot is mark of all of this success and this belief in the future. During the teacher in role improvisation with the warriors, teachers need to keep Hrothgar’s confidence and belief in the future at the centre whatever doubts anyone else may have. Throughout this Hrothgar presents himself as a confident king who is sure that the settlement is secure and that the strength of his warriors will keep the people safe.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
SESSION FOUR
PLANS TO DEFEAT THE MONSTER AIMS To explore the response of the warriors to the arrival of Grendel. After a period of success, growth and stability, undefeated heroes, they experience something very different – failure and defeat.
RESOURCES Story Whoosh script.
STRATEGIES Story-Whoosh; teacher narration; still image; paired improvisation; listening hand; reflective discussion.
STAGE ONE: STORY-WHOOSH
• Run the second slightly different version of the Story-Whoosh (Resource 4). This version takes you up to the night of the first attack by Grendel.
STAGE TWO: THE MORNING AFTER THE ATTACK • At the end of the Story Whoosh the whole class will be in the final image of the warriors the morning after Grendel strikes. • Ask the class to form pairs or groups of three with the ‘warriors’ they are sitting nearest to. • Ask them to imagine what the warriors might say to each other about what happened last night and what they have found in the mead hall this morning. What sort of conversations might be going on? What might have shocked them most about what has happened? What evidence is left of Grendel’s visit? What might they have heard during the attack? What do they think they should do next? • Having generated some ideas now ask the class to improvise those conversations as the warriors. • Let the conversations flow and then stop the class to explain that they are going to listen in to each other’s conversations. • Explain that you are going to use the ‘listening hand’; you will move around the groups and when you hold your open hand over a group, that group’s conversation will come to life and everyone can hear it. When you close your hand, that group falls silent and you will move on to another group and bring their conversation to life with your open hand ‘microphone’. • When it is their turn each group can choose to continue their conversation from where they left off in the improvisation or rerun what they have already said. • Discuss with the class what the warriors’ responses to Grendel’s arrival at Heorot have been. Explore the differences in response as well as the things which connect them as Hrothgar’s warriors.
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TEACHER RESOURCES STAGE THREE: HOPES FOR SUCCESS AND THE MOMENT OF FAILURE • Explain how you are now going to create short scenes which show what Hrothgar’s warriors did to try and deal with the monster Grendel, and the way in which each of the plans ended in failure. • Read the text from The Unicorn Theatre production and as a class briefly discuss what they think it might mean – can they think of examples of what the warriors might have done when they ‘tried iron’, or when they ‘tried quiet’? We’ve tried iron and we have tried quiet We have tried chanting the spells of our parents We have searched day after day for its warren But nothing prevents it, and we can do nothing • Divide the class into groups of four or five and explain that in their group they are going to create a scene which shows one of the warriors’ plans to defeat Grendel. • Ask the groups to create a scene in three stages: 1. The warriors discuss their plan - each character can speak no more than two lines of dialogue. 2. A still image that shows the warriors putting their plan into action 3. A final image showing how the plan fails. • When the groups have established all three elements, ask them to find a way to move between the two still images that brings the scene to life. • Give the groups enough working time and support them in creating their scenes; especially in editing down the dialogue in the first moment to a line per character. • After watching each of the scenes ask the class to respond to what they have seen and discuss the impact of the failure of the plan on the warriors. Also ask for comments on the way the scenes have been presented and why certain things have been effective for the audience; giving positive feedback to each other will support their development in drama.
DISCUSSION • Finish the session by reminding the class that Hrothgar and the warriors are powerless to stop Grendel and that the attacks go on. No matter how many guards keep watch, no matter how vigilant they are, Grendel is still able to find his way into Heorot. He comes in silence, in the still of the night when the fires have burned low. But, now, even in the broadest daylight, all of Hrothgar’s warriors, and even Hrothgar himself, are waiting for a sign that Grendel is on the move. Fear accompanies even the thought of the monster. • How do they think things might have changed at Heorot over the years of attack, and why do the warriors keep on trying to find a way to defeat Grendel? He could have killed many warriors in one night, but chooses to pick off his victims one at a time. Why do they think that might be?
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TEACHER RESOURCES
SESSION FIVE
TO STAY OR GO? HROTHGAR’S DECISION AIMS To explore a difficult decision Hrothgar may have had to make on behalf of his people; considering the different opinions and perspectives that would inform such a decision.
STRATEGIES Discussion; paired improvisations; listening hand; agreement line.
INTRODUCTION This activity draws on the work that has been created in the previous session. Despite the plans to defeat Grendel that Hrothgar’s warriors have devised, the raids on Heorot have continued and they have suffered many losses. Heorot is no longer a safe place for the people to gather. In this activity the class explores the tension that Hrothgar’s might be experiencing as he needs to make a decision as the leader of his people; should they stay, or leave the Kingdom that they have built and start again somewhere else?
STAGE ONE: DISCUSSION - TO STAY OR TO GO? • Introduce the idea to the class that Hrothgar has begun to think about whether he and his people should leave this place. He has to make a decision on behalf of all the people in his kingdom, not just the warriors, but all the families, the children, and the older people in the community. • Ask the class to come up with all the reasons they can think of to stay where they are and all the reasons to leave. They will need to consider what would be lost by leaving and having to start all over again, and what could be gained. Write their ideas up so that everyone can see them.
STAGE TWO: HROTHGAR SEEKS ADVICE • Move the class into pairs and ask them to decide who they think King Hrothgar might turn to for advice; it might be one of his trusted warriors, his wife, his son. It needs to be someone he can be completely honest with. Remind the class that in this world Hrothgar’s reputation and legacy is very important. It matters how he will be remembered after he is gone. • Ask the pairs to decide who will play King Hrothgar in their improvisation and who will play the person he is confiding in (explain that they will swap over and will both have the chance to imagine they are Hrothgar and the other person in the scene). • Set up the idea of the listening hand again; give pairs a little time to improvise their conversations and then use the ‘listening hand’ to hear some of the conversations. Give pairs the chance to swap around and try the other role. Again listen in to some of the discussions between Hrothgar and his trusted confidant.
STAGE THREE: THE AGREEMENT LINE • Explain that you are going to set up an agreement line across the hall space. At one end of the room is the statement: ‘Hrothgar and his people must leave’. At the other: ‘Hrothgar and his people must stay’. Page 24
TEACHER RESOURCES • Ask everyone to stand where in the room they feel in relation to the two statements. They can completely agree with one statement, or they may feel ambivalent and place themselves somewhere in the middle. • Ask some of the class to talk about why they are standing where they are. Ask them to share some of their thinking about the decision and the things which would affect Hrothgar, his warriors and his people in taking a particular course of action. • Some children may want to change their position after they have heard other people’s opinions and perspectives.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
SESSION SIX
THE ARRIVAL OF BEOWULF AIMS To explore Beowulf’s arrival at Heorot, and contrast King Hrothgar and his warriors with Beowulf and his men.
RESOURCES Music for underscoring, text extract.
STRATEGIES STOP GO, moving-images, underscoring, whole class image, thought-tracking, hot-seating.
INTRODUCTION Accounts of what has been happening at Heorot have travelled across the seas and King Hygelac the great Geat King, who is bound in friendship and allegiance to Hrothgar, sends his best warriors lead by Beowulf to help defeat Grendel. The story of Beowulf begins when he arrives with his warriors to assist Hrothgar.
STAGE ONE: HROTHGARS WARRIORS • Start the work with a game of STOP and GO. Explain that you are going to remind your selves of what happened to Hrothgar and his warriors over the years; exploring the impact 12 years of attacks by the monster have had on them and their morale. –– –– –– –– –– –– ––
Hrothgar’s warriors ready for battle Warriors showing allegiance to King Hrothgar Warriors: The morning after Grendel’s first attack In Twos: Warriors keeping watch on the borders for Grendel In Twos: Warriors waiting in Heorot for Grendel to make an attack In Twos: warriors trying not to showing their fear In Fours: Warriors years after the first attack - still trying to show they are fearless
• Add to the STOP and GO images by using some of the ideas that the class generated earlier in their drama work which showed the warriors attempting to track down and destroy Grendel, but failing. • Discuss what the class thinks the impact of years of attack by Grendel’s might have had on Hrothgar, his warriors and Heorot. • Read the class the text which describes what Beowulf and his warriors witness when they first arrive: King Hrothgar: And I tell you I have never seen a leader as beaten, a King as soulwrenched Page 26
TEACHER RESOURCES The warriors: There is no shine left upon their armour, there are no songs left in their mumbled voices. Heorot the mead hall: Standing like a sad dog in the middle of the marshes, cowed and frightened, cringing from roof to doorway.
STAGE TWO: TWELVE YEARS OF TERROR • Explain that they are going to create a moving-image which shows the changes that have happened to King Hrothgar and his warriors over the years. There have been many deaths, many warriors have been taken by Grendel, and every night they spend in Heorot could be their last. But they are still loyal to Hrothgar and still sworn in allegiance to him. They are still warriors. • Divide the class into groups of 5-6. Ask them to create two moments that take place between • Hrothgar and his warriors in the mead hall, titled: The opening of the great mead hall Heorot. Twelve years later: will Grendel come tonight? • It will be helpful for each group to have a chair that could be used as a throne. • Explain that the two images should be similar but they should try to show the changes that have taken place in what Hrothgar and his warriors are thinking and feeling. • Once the groups have created the two images ask the groups to find a way of transforming smoothly from image 1 to image 2. Again you could introduce a count down from 10 to 0. Introduce some music to underscore their movement pieces. You could give the groups an option of 2 or 3 pieces to choose from. • Look at each of the groups in turn and ask the class to respond to the changes between the moments and how this physical shift can show the impact of Grendel on the thoughts and feelings of Hrothgar and his warriors.
STAGE THREE: BEOWULF ARRIVES IN HEOROT
• Move into groups of about 6 and give the groups the text (Resource 5). • Ask the groups to create a still picture of Beowulf’s warriors the moment they have entered Heorot and see Hrothgar and his warriors for the first time. Explain that this is the moment before Hrothgar and his men realise they have guests. It is a moment when Beowulf and his warriors see Hrothgar before he sees them. • Make sure the children have read the text closely in order to identify Beowulf and his warrior’s attitude towards the Danes. • When all groups have created the image ask one group to show their final image of Hrothgar and his warriors ‘Twelve years later: will Grendel come tonight’. • Now ask one group to add their still picture of Beowulf and his warriors seeing Hrothgar and his men. It is important to show the moment before Hrothgar and his warriors see Beowulf. • Ask the rest of the class to thought track Beowulf and his warriors in that moment; take it in turns to rest their hand on the shoulder of one of the characters and speak their thoughts in the first person. • Now ask the people playing Hrothgar and his warriors to look up and notice Beowulf and his men watching them. Ask them to move in slow motion – it is as if we are slowing down time, so that we can examine the split second reaction. • Now ask the audience to thought track King Hrothgar and his warriors.
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TEACHER RESOURCES STAGE FOUR: BEOWULF’S REACTION • Ask for volunteers and hot seat Beowulf, Hrothgar and their warriors after this encounter. • For Beowulf and his warriors you could ask: “What did you thing of Hrothgar’s warriors when you first saw them? Why do you think they are in the state that they are? Do you think they have done everything possible to defeat Grendel? What would you like to say to them? Do you think you could end up like them?” • For Hrothgar’s warriors: What did you think when you looked up and saw Beowulf and his warriors for the first time? What do you think of the way they were looking at you? Do you think it is possible Beowulf and his warriors can save you? How can you keep your dignity in this situation? What would you say to Beowulf about what you have been through over the last twelve years? Do you think they can possibly understand? Discuss why they think Beowulf responded in the way he did. Where do you think his feelings of disgust came from? Why did he want to shake them and shout in their faces? Was his response justified? Is Beowulf lacking in empathy in this moment? If so, why might that be?
STAGE FIVE: DEVELOPMENT INTO WRITING - ONCE/ NOW • The aim of the activity is to: –– draw on the experience of the drama to craft a piece of writing that voices the interior thoughts and feelings of the warriors to events at Heorot –– contrast how things used to be with how they are when Beowulf and his warriors arrive –– devise a way of performing the text • When they arrive at Heorot Beowulf and his warriors meet a band of broken men who no longer seem to be worthy of the title ’warrior’. The extract of text, the drama work and the reflective discussion have enabled the class to explore how the two groups of warriors respond to each other in their first encounter. • This writing activity draws on all the understanding that has been developed over the course of the drama work but particularly on the still image work that depicts the meeting between the two groups of warriors – the responses that have been shown but not yet spoken. The activity draws from what has been created and explored over the sessions to craft a structured text that is both economical and precise in its use of language. The presentation of the work combines still image with the spoken text. • The writing frame is there to offer support and guidance but can be adapted as the groups develop their ideas. However, the central aim of the writing should be maintained within whatever changes are made when the groups are developing their work. • The size of the groups for this depends on how experienced the class is at working collaboratively on a writing task. For example: The class could work collaboratively in groups of 4/5 to craft the writing together or they could work in pairs on different sections and then join with another pair to create the final piece. The class could be divided into groups of 4/5 with each person writing one section and then working together to make these individual sections into a final collaborative piece. • Start by introducing the activity. Remind the class that they are drawing from what has already Page 28
TEACHER RESOURCES been created by everyone during the drama and that, for the writing, they have to think within the warrior world that they have imagined together. • Explain to the class that the writing will be a way of creating a piece of script that they are going to develop scenes in their groups that uses what they have written alongside the images they have created of the warriors. • Talk with the class about the changes that have occurred over the time between the building of the Mead Hall and the arrival of Beowulf and how they have experienced that in the drama work. • Introduce the frame that’s going to help them to start thinking about their writing. Once we …. Now we …. • Any verb that connects to the experience of the warriors can be put after ‘we’: thought, fought, were, carried, imagined, etc. • For example: Once we were warriors • The second line takes the same idea and makes a contrasting statement: Now we hide when we hear footsteps. • Then each of the lines can have another line added that extends the idea: Once we were warriors Courageous, invincible. Strong. Now we hide when we hear footsteps And even our own shadows scare us. • Groups may want to extend the lines by including a repeated line that will help to give the writing a structure. For example: Once we were warriors Courageous, invincible. Strong. Once we were warriors Now we hide when we hear footsteps And even our own shadows scare us. Once we were warriors. • Heorot, Hrothgar, Grendel, and any other aspect that has played a part in the drama can have lines composed in the same format: Once /Now with an additional line. Encourage the class to draw on images and events that happened in the work they have created. • When the class has developed their work ask them to work in their groups to devise a way of performing what they have written. They could find a way of creating a choral performance, for example, or speak it in conjunct with images that show the contrast between the lines. • Experimenting with how the way a line is delivered carries meaning is one of the key things to explore at this point.
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TEACHER RESOURCES
SESSION SEVEN
BEOWULF’S DECISION AIMS
To explore the decision Beowulf made to kill Grendel’s mother and answer the question Beowulf poses in the play: ‘Was I a good King?’
RESOURCES
Text extract.
STRATEGIES
Script reading, directing and acting, narration, hot-seating, agreement line.
STAGE ONE: BEOWULF AND GRENDEL – SCRIPT READING
• Remind the class of the question that was posed by Beowulf at the beginning and end of the play; ‘Was I a good King? Hear some of their immediate responses to that question. • Now either read the whole text (Resource 6) out to the class, or take it in turns to read two lines around the circle.
STAGE TWO: STAGING THE SCENE
• In groups of three give each the children the extract to perform. Ask one person to be the director, one Beowulf and the third Grendel’s mother. • Ask each group to highlight the lines in the script that they will use in their scene. • The director then directs the action and the actors perform; they may choose to use the text as it is written, or they could approximate the dialogue if they want to concentrate on the staging and physicality without the need to hold the scripts. • When they are happy with their scene they can try adding more of the text; with the director interspersing the action and dialogue with narration. • Ask groups to share their work, and discuss how seeing the moment enacted with actors playing Beowulf and Grendel’s mother differs from the Unicorn piece which is a narrative poem performed by one person.
STAGE THREE: HOT-SEATING
• Ask for one volunteer to be Beowulf, and take the hot-seat. Ask them to imagine that it is a few weeks after he has killed Grendel’s mother; he has been honoured by Hrothgar and his people, whose terror is now over. He has returned to his home in Geatland, where he is received back by his King and people as a hero. • Ask the rest of the class to think of questions they would like to put to Beowulf about what happened and the decision he has made. • Question Beowulf about what happened in the Northlands and the decision he took to kill Grendell.
STAGE FOUR: WAS I A GOOD KING? – AGREEMENT LINE
• Ask students to decide whether they thought Beowulf was a good king or not. • Assign one side of the room as Strongly Agree – that Beowulf was a good king - and the other as Strongly Disagree – he was not a good King. Ask students to stand where on the spectrum their opinion lies. Ask some people to speak about why they have stood where they are, and hear a range of thoughts in response to the question. Page 30
RESOURCES RESOURCE ONE • Honour: ‘There are these moments that heroes are made in when there is a clear reason to fight.’ • Belonging: ‘One more of their friends had been taken in the dark.’ • Kith and Kin: ‘We were their sisters and couldn’t stand by, we were their brothers and couldn’t watch this happen.’ • Loyalty and trust: ‘Trust is not easily given by the damaged.’ • Fear: ‘The fear worm stirred, uncoiling in our bellies and each of us knew the others also felt it.’
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RESOURCES RESOURCE TWO - STORY WHOOSH • There was once a great king whose name was Hrothgar. • Hrothgar led a group of fearless and loyal warriors who carried swords, spears and shields to protect themselves. • Hrothgar’s fearless warriors returned from battle victorious – bringing with them golden treasures, swords and jewels which they presented to King Hrothgar to show their allegiance. • Hrothgar gave each Warrior a golden treasure as a token of his thanks and to acknowledge the bonds between them. • Hrothgar and his men were the most successful warriors in the Northlands Whoosh • Hrothgar and his people were so successful that he decided to build a great Mead Hall at the centre of their land. Not just any hall, the greatest hall yet built in the northlands. The carpenters chopped down the trees, planed the planks of wood, and tied the great beams together and raised the roof. They created the greatest Mead Hall there had ever been. • When the building was constructed the carpenters worked on the fine carving on King Hrothgar’s throne and the tables and benches where the warriors would feast. Whoosh • • • • • •
The whole of Hrothgar’s people were getting ready for the opening of the great mead hall: Servants lit the great fire in the centre of the hall and the sconces; the lamps that lined each wall. Other servants polished the golden mead cups and placed them on the great banqueting tables. Cooks were turning the pig on its spit over the fire Brewers brought in jugs full of mead – a wine made from honey. Musicians tuned their instruments and practised their songs ready to tell the tales of great warriors. • Some warriors were hanging their heavy shields up on the walls • Other warriors were putting on their finest gold: rings on their fingers; torques around their necks and on their wrists, ornate clasps upon their cloaks. Whoosh • When Heorot was warm from the fires, the gold was gleaming in the light from the candles and sconces, King Hrothgar and his chieftain warriors took their places. • Hrothgar asked everyone in the hall to stand and to raise their mead cups in a toast. • Everyone stood and raised their mead cups (gold for the warriors, earthen ware for the servants) and made the toast. “May Heorot always be a place of feasting and celebration. We are the strongest.” Whoosh • Outside the walls of Heorot, Hrothgar’s guards watched over the borderlands. All night the guards kept watch. • Some looked south, they scanned the hills for signs of danger. And saw no one. • Other guards were posted facing East towards the river, their eyes constantly searching, listening for the sound of oars. But the river was still and calm. • One guard looked North to where the mist rose from the marshes beyond the borders of the Page 32
RESOURCES settlement and thought they saw something. • He looked and listened carefully. He must have been mistaken. Whoosh • In the morning the guard who had been watching the marshlands did not return from his night on watch. • Two of Hrothgar’s warriors set out to look for them. • At the far edge of the borderlands they found all that was left of the guard: a bent sword, broken shield, fragments of clothing and tracks leading back towards the marshes. Whoosh • That night Hrothgar doubled the guards at the doors of the mead hall. • And the great wooden doors of Heorot were closed and bolted, everything and everyone was still. • The logs on the fire burned low and the light from the candle flames flickered on the wooden walls of Heorot. Everything was quiet • The warriors wrapped themselves in their furs and settled down to sleep, with their swords ready at their sides. • Everyone heard the door open. But no one moved. No one could move. It was as if they were asleep but awake at the same time. • Everyone heard the slap of footsteps on the wooden floor – but still no one moved and no one uttered a sound in the great hall of Heorot. • The next morning when the warriors awoke from their sleep, they found that one of their warriors was missing. All that remained was a mangled shield and pool of blood. • The warriors got up and with their swords and shields at the ready they set off following the tracks into the marshland. They searched and searched but could not find the creature that had taken one of their won. Whoosh • The next night the great door at Heorot was secured and the guards at the door doubled. • The warriors lay ready their swords at their side, but when night fell all heard the door open and the sound of horrific footsteps slapping across the floor. No-one could move, they were powerless to stop the monster, Grendel, take another of them. Whoosh • Hrothgar and his warriors tried everything, but nothing worked. The strongest and bravest were powerless against the monster. • This went on for weeks, then the weeks turned into months and then the months turned into years. • They never knew when Grendel would strike, but Grendel always returned. No one was safe, children, grandmothers, the bravest warriors.
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RESOURCES RESOURCE THREE https://goo.gl/WdzdJv
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RESOURCES RESOURCE FOUR - STORY WHOOSH • There was once a great king whose name was Hrothgar. • Hrothgar led a group of fearless and loyal warriors who carried swords, spears and shields to protect themselves in battle. • Hrothgar’s fearless warriors set out to defend their Kingdom. They returned victorious – bringing with them golden treasures, swords and jewels which they presented to King Hrothgar. • The Warriors showed their allegiance to their King. • Hrothgar gave each Warrior a treasure as a token of his thanks and to acknowledge the bonds between them. • Hrothgar and his men were the most successful warriors in the Northlands Whoosh • Hrothgar and his people were so successful that he decided to build a great Mead Hall at the centre of their land. Not just any hall, the greatest hall yet built in the northlands. • The carpenters chopped down the trees, planed the planks of wood, and tied the great beams together and raised the roof. They created the greatest Mead Hall there had ever been. • When the building was constructed the carpenters worked on the fine carving on King Hrothgar’s throne and the tables and benches where the warriors would feast. Whoosh • • • • •
Servants lit the great fire in the centre of the hall and the sconces; the lamps that lined each wall. Other servants polished the golden mead cups and placed them on the great banqueting tables. Cooks were turning the pig on its spit over the fire Brewers brought in jugs full of mead – a wine made from honey. Musicians tuned their instruments and practised their songs ready to tell the tales of great warriors. • Some warriors were hanging their heavy shields up on the walls • Other warriors were putting on their finest gold: rings on their fingers; torques around their necks and on their wrists, ornate clasps upon their cloaks. Whoosh • When Heorot was warm from the fires, the gold was gleaming in the light from the candles and sconces, King Hrothgar and his chieftain warriors took their places. • Hrothgar asked everyone in the hall to stand and to raise their mead cups in a toast. • All the warriors and their families, the cooks, the carpenters, the musicians, the brewers, the servants all stood and raised their mead cups (gold for the warriors, earthen ware for the servants) and made the toast. ‘May Heorot always be a place of feasting and celebration. We are the strongest’ Whoosh • Outside the walls of Heorot, Hrothgar’s guards watched over the borderlands. All night the guards kept watch. • Some looked South, they scanned the hills for signs of danger. And saw no one. • Other guards were posted facing East towards the river, their eyes constantly searching, listening for the sound of oars. But the river was still and calm. Page 35
RESOURCES • One guard looked North to where the mist rose from the marshes beyond the borders of the settlement and thought they saw something. • He looked and listened carefully. Maybe he was mistaken. Whoosh • In the morning the guard who had been watching the marshlands did not return from his night on watch. • Two warriors set out to look for him. • At the far edge of the borderlands they found all that was left of the guard: a bent sword, broken shield, fragments of clothing and tracks leading back towards the marshes. Whoosh • That night Hrothgar doubled the guards at the doors of the mead hall. • And the great wooden doors of Heorot were closed and bolted, everything and everyone was still. • The logs on the fire burned low and the light from the candle flames flickered on the wooden walls of Heorot. Everything was quiet • The warriors wrapped themselves in their furs and settled down to sleep, with their swords ready at their sides. (Make sure everyone is in the image as a warrior sleeping with their sword at their side). • Everyone heard the door open. But no one moved. No one could move. It was as if they were asleep but awake at the same time. • Everyone heard the slap of footsteps on the wooden floor – but still no one moved and no one uttered a sound in the great hall of Heorot. • Into the hall crept a shadow so loathsome • It seemed like the light of the fire itself faltered • An arm tipped with razors, and teeth bound with lake-moss, • Sucking up everything bright in the world. • It padded on webbed feet, its face swung low, sniffing • From one to the other it made an inspection • A leisurely circuit of everyone present • It paused to select as if browsing a banquet. • And then it was gone, whispered back to the marshes • All that was left were the signs of where their warrior brother had slept and blood on the floor, footprints leading to the open door.
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RESOURCES RESOURCE FIVE We had come here to help these people We had travelled far to help these people But it seemed to us, prepared, blade-ready It seemed to me, at the top of my game Full of the fortitude that leadership commanded That their bravery had been made so brittle Like a spun shard of sugar had shattered within them We wanted to shake them, to shout in their faces Ask them why they were so paralysed, so needy Looking at us with this dripping despair. I felt the shout of disgust in my throat I felt my lips begin to curl and curse their cowardice But we had come to fight, and fight we would.
RESOURCE SIX “You have killed my son” I had not thought of the beast slain before me As having a mother, but it made no difference Whatever had spawned it must also be evil The hole of its heart passing on all its malice “You have killed my son” she says As she steps into the light And her walk is human And her eyes are not hollow And her voice is sad “You have killed my son Brave warrior, and I understand you had to do it I will not condemn you for it I thought of it many times When he came back with another dead Dane Or howled in his pain and terror. And if he had come to my home in the night And carried off my fellow warriors I would hate him too.” The blade-light glows weakly, the cave shrinks around us Til only my face and her face are encompassed I look for the empty eyes, blank and fanatic But see a true creature of feeling and fore-thought I start in surprise, at the force of her feeling I almost forget that she brought forth foul Grendel She speaks and her voice is not human or monster But weary and full of both grief and acceptance “I would hate him too And I do, I wish he had not done The awful things he has, you have your reasons And I know he hated you But then, the Danes have killed plenty of monsters Page 37
RESOURCES He had his reasons also. So, Beowulf of the Geats Justified monster-killer Hero of the Danes I say this to youWhy don’t we let this death be the last death? Perhaps we can pull ourselves now from the spiral So you can return to the light-world with something That looks more like permanent peace than mere triumph I wish that my son had never existed Because he became so twisted with hatred He saw all his foes as fit only for killing With this death, can we find a way out of the cycle?” And she waits, this wise creature This mother ashamed of her failure This mother, admitting her weakness She waits. I ponder her words, the idea they put forward The difficult steps for both human and monster Imagine the world without warrior or conquest A place where an enemy might not be needed The silence, it stretches, our eyes locked together Two, balanced between the blood-past and blood-future And then as my answer, I raise the bright dagger And plunge the blade into her skull.”
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BEOWULF A Unicorn production
By Chris Thorpe Directed by Justin Audibert Resource pack written by Susanna Steele and Catherine Greenwood Developed with the help of children and staff at Christopher Hatton Primary School