Study Guide. Penobscot Theatre Company

Transcription

1 Study Guide Penobscot Theatre Company 1

2 About Your Visit This study guide is provided to help you prepare for your visit to Penobscot Theatre Company to see our production of Beauty and the Beast. We hope that you will find the guide informative, interesting and fun! Inside, you will find a summary of the play, information about the story the play was based on, activities and other neat stuff! We know that many of you have been to the theatre before and that s great! Some of you have never been to the theatre before, though, and we are so happy to have you join us! Welcome! Here are some things to keep in mind for your first visit: The actors LOVE to hear you laugh and clap! That kind of response is always welcomed! Talking during the show or making loud noises is distracting to the performers and the audience, though, so wait until intermission or after the show to talk to your friends about how much you enjoyed the play. This play is set in a magical place and time before cell phones, so please turn yours off or leave it at home. We want the show to transport you back in time! We invite you and your group to stay in the theatre following the performance to talk to the actors and musicians in the show! They love answering questions so, if you think of one, don t hesitate to ask it! Teachers, a great pre- show activity is coming up with questions for the talk back session. Our theatre is almost one hundred years old and we love it very much. We d like to keep it around for another hundred years or more, so please be gentle with our seats and doors and our carpets and floors. We just renovated the inside of the theatre! If you ve been here before, can you tell what has changed? We LOVE hearing from you! If you have a question or a comment about the show or if you want to write a letter to the actors, please do! Guess what? We write back! Our address is Penobscot Theatre Company, attn.: Education, 131 Main St, Bangor, ME Thank you for coming to visit us! Enjoy the show! 2

3 Characters The Beast/Prince Adam Belle Lumiere Cogsworth Mrs. Potts Babette Madame de la Grande Bouche Chip Maurice Lefou Gaston Monsieur D Arque Narrator Ensemble A Prince transformed into a beast for his lack of compassion A vibrant, intelligent young woman who longs for adventure A debonair enchanted candelabra A tightly- wound enchanted mantle clock A kind- hearted enchanted teapot A saucy, flirtatious enchanted feather duster A former opera diva, turned into a wardrobe Mrs. Pott s young son, turned into a teacup Belle s loving, eccentric inventor father Gaston s bumbling sidekick Vain, narcissistic villain of the story Scheming proprietor of the insane asylum Narrates story Silly girls, enchanted objects, townspeople, tavern patrons, angry mob, enchantress. Discussion: Many of the characters have names that give us clues into their characters. For example: Mrs. Potts is turned into an enchanted teapot. Why is Lumiere named Lumiere? How about Cogsworth? 3

4 Synopsis The story of Beauty and the Beast onstage begins with a beggar woman, seeking shelter in the chill of a brutal winter evening. At the castle of a haughty, vain prince, she is turned away because the prince finds her ugly. The prince and his household are aghast as the beggar woman turns into a lovely enchantress who curses the entire castle for the prince s rejection. The enchantress turns the prince into a hideous beast and all of his servants into household objects before giving the prince a charmed rose and a warning he must find true love before the last petal falls or he and his servants will remain forever changed. Fast forward ten years and we re introduced to Belle, an intelligent young woman on her way to buy a book in town. As we meet the residents of the town, they paint a picture of Belle as being beautiful, yet odd, and Belle declares that she wants more than her provincial life. Belle catches the eye of the very handsome but not too bright Gaston before making her way home where she finds her father Maurice readying for a journey to an invention fair. Along Maurice s way, he is attacked by a pack of wolves. Maurice survives, only to find himself alone in a wintry forest with only one option for shelter: the Beast s castle. Maurice makes the acquaintance of some of the Beast s transformed servants before the Beast returns and immediately throws Maurice into his dungeon for trespassing. Belle, not yet knowing of her father s peril, meets Gaston in town and summarily rejects his proposal of marriage but not before seeing Gaston s sidekick, LeFou, wearing the scarf she had knitted for her father. Belle knows that her father s life is in danger and she makes her way to the Beast s castle to rescue him. At the castle, Belle makes a deal with the Beast: her life for her father s. Maurice is free and Belle becomes an unwilling resident of the castle. Meanwhile, Gaston sulks over being rejected by Belle yet again in a local tavern. LeFou, ever the faithful companion, outlines all of Gaston s best qualities as the town joins in. Maurice, disheveled and wild- eyed, enters the tavern with tales of a hideous beast that has captured Belle. Back at the castle, servants Cogsworth (who has been turned into a clock), Mrs. Potts (teapot), her son Chip (teacup) and Lumiere (candelabra) serve Belle dinner against the Beast s orders and give her a tour of the castle. Though they tell Belle not to venture into the West 4

5 Wing, she does anyway and spies a rose in a bell jar which she reaches out to touch. Her curiosity is interrupted by a violent (though accidental) shove by the Beast and she runs from the castle in fear. Regretful of his anger, the Beast runs off to find Belle, only to be attacked by wolves in the forest. Belle, despite the fact that she could run to freedom, helps the Beast back to the castle where a grateful Beast gives Belle the use of his massive library. As Gaston conspires with the local Asylum keeper to imprison Maurice, Belle and the Beast have a lovely dinner and dance together. Though Belle enjoys her dinner and dancing with the Beast, she tells him how homesick she is for her father. The Beast allows Belle to use a magic mirror to see her father and Belle sees Maurice in great distress, being taken away to the Asylum. Knowing that the last petal of the enchanted rose is about to fall, the Beast tells Belle to go to her father and Belle bids the Beast a tearful goodbye. Belle arrives in town to save her father from an angry mob determined to haul Maurice off to the Asylum and proves her father s sanity by showing them the Beast via the magic mirror. The image of the Beast inflames the mob and Gaston leads them to the castle despite Belle s protestations of the Beast s kindness. Belle and Maurice reach the castle just after Gaston s angry mob and they see the Beast s servants valiantly holding off the attack. Gaston finds the Beast who has lost the will to live following Belle s departure. Gaston beats and mocks the Beast until Belle arrives and the Beast turns on Gaston, prepared to kill him. The fear in Gaston s eyes stops the Beast from killing Gaston, however, Gaston stabs the Beast as he is momentarily reunited with Belle. Gaston then loses his footing and falls to his death. Belle pleads with the Beast to stay alive, but he dies in her arms. Sobbing, Belle tells the Beast that she loves him just as the last rose petal falls. Belle s words evoke a powerful magic that brings the Beast back to life and transforms him back into his human form. Just as the Beast became human again, so do all his servants and everyone (except for Gaston) lives happily ever after. Discussion questions: What lessons is this story attempting to teach? What kind of words would you use to describe Belle? The Beast? Gaston? If Belle is the heroine of the play, who is the villain the Beast or Gaston? 5

6 Beauty Before Disney Beauty and the Beast, the story, started its life in 1740 as La Belle et la Bête, a fairytale originally written by Gabrielle- Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. It was edited and rewritten by Jeanne- Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 before being rewritten by Andrew Lang in The Lang version of the story is the most commonly known version of the story, having appeared in Lang s Blue Fairy Book. Even before Barbot de Villeneuve s published version, the story had been told as early as 4000 years ago. Various versions have all included Belle (literally named Beauty in many iterations of the story) going to live at the Beast s castle in exchange for her father. Historians have theorized that the fairy tale structure of this story and other animal bridegroom stories was to help young women come to terms with arranged marriages. The biggest difference between the Villeneuve and Beaumont retellings is that Villeneuve implied that it was the Beast that needed to change whereas Beaumont suggested the onus of change rested with Beauty. Another thing common to nearly all dramatic versions of the story is the fact that audiences found the Beast a more compelling character than the Prince he turns back into. Writer Terri Windling states Beauty s task [is] to look where others would not, and to perceive the man within the Beast. The Beast s own task is patience, and the reclaiming of the human within himself. Fundamental differences between the Disney version of the story and previous iterations exist, however. As with many Disney films, the hero or heroine is completely good while the villain is completely bad. In other stories, both Beauty and the Beast are allowed to be flawed characters who change throughout the story, ultimately becoming the best versions of themselves. 6

7 Fairy Tales Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. G.K. Chesterton Fairy tales, as we know them, have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. What accounts for their staying power? Why do we keep reading them? Do fairy tales still have importance in today s society? Fairy tales and myths originally served a few purposes. First of all, they re an introduction to story structure for young people. Also, they deal with the conflict between good and evil and how a hero can overcome evil. Through stories, the elders of a culture pass on the values of that culture to the young people in their world. Fairy tales have some common elements. Pick one element from each column and write your own! HERO VILLAIN SETTING PROBLEM MAGICAL ELEMENTS Orphan Dragon Castle Can t go to ball Talking frog Knight Witch Seaside Werewolves Fairy godmother Queen Giant Forest No food in land Magic mirror Boy Wizard Medieval England Bear Fairy King Cottage in the woods Librarian Wicked Magic school Stepmother Sibling kidnapped by elves Sleeping curse Everyone has lost the ability to dream Enchanted swan Portal to another world Genie Girl Monster Enchanted ship Poverty A violin that only plays for royalty Most fairy tales have four elements: The status quo (meaning, how things are at the moment the story begins), the destabilizing moment (what happens to shake up the world of the hero/heroine), consequences and the Resolution. Here s a familiar example: Three Little Pigs Status Quo: 3 happy pig brothers leave their mother s house to live alone Destabilizing Moment: Their mother tells them to build houses to protect them from the Big, Bad Wolf Consequences: If they don t, the wolf will eat them Resolution: One pig builds a brick house which keeps he and his brothers safe. 7

8 Color your own rose! 8

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10 Thank you for coming to see us at the theatre! Come back soon! 10