Драматизация сказки

«ОТКРЫТЫЕ КУПЧИНСКИЕ ЧТЕНИЯ»

ГОРОДСКАЯ НАУЧНО-ПРАКТИЧЕСКАЯ КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ

ПРОЕКТНЫХ РАБОТ НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

Филологическая секция

(Иностранные языки)

Dramatization of The Stone Flower

г.Санкт-Петербург

2019

Contents

Introduction

Project's relevance  

It is very important for Russian schoolchildren to read and to know Russian folk literature because it is a basis for building a Russian civic identity among students in general education schools. They become aware that they belong to the nation with a very rich history and culture and this makes them feel proud of their motherland. Starlight Student’s Books by V.Evans et al. for primary education have a range of Russian fairy tales. One of them is a fairy tale called The Stone Flower. The Stone Flower is an abridged version of the Russian fairy tale written by the Russian author P. Bazhov. So the group of the students of the 5th Grade decided to make up a play based on P. Bazhov’s fairy tale applying all the rules of script writing and after that to dramatize the written play.

Project aim

The team focused on creation of the play The Stone Flower based on the fairy tale from the Student’s Book Starlight 4 by V.Evans et al.

Project objectives:

• collect and analyze information about writing scripts for plays
• create a dramatization of the fairy tale The Stone Flower 
• make up a presentation for the play
• stage the play
• make a product - a script of the play

Methods Applied

For conducting the project the following methods were applied: brainstorming, collection and analysis of the material, creative writing, translation from Russian into English.

Project description

The group of students who took part in the project were suggested to choose their own form of participating in the project. They could find a written play for acting out, they could write their own material (they have to make sure their work is original and does not plagiarize other works) or they could create an adaptation of a story. At first, two students of the project group tried the second variant, having written their own short plays (both in Russia and in English) but their ideas were not supported by the rest of the group. After brainstorming the group decided to make an adaptation of the story The Stone Flower which all the students were familiar with in the course of the previous school year when they were reading the story in the Student’s Books for their English classes.

The fairy tale by P.Bazhov is in the public domain so it was not necessary to buy the rights to the book and it was possible to adapt it to a play. The first step was to read the fairy tale again, taking notes on the characters, on the plot lines, the dialogues, and the setting. The geography and culture of the characters from the fairy tale were familiar so the context of the tale was clear for the whole group.

It was necessary to decide on a storyline from the book to fit the group’s vision of the performance. The story by P.Bazhov has more than one theme but it appeared to be impossible to fit the whole book, all of its characters and all of its scenes into a short play so the story was simplified: some characters and scenes were cut out. Then the key scenes that showed the main conflict problems and were connected to the storyline were determined and the group decided how many acts and scenes the play would eventually have.  At first, the students created 6 scenes for the play but it appeared to be too long for the performance so the dramatization was shortened to a one-act play with 5 short scenes.

After deciding on the details of the storyline it was necessary to write the dialogues. Some dialogues were taken right from the fairy tale in the Student’s Book, some were created by the project group to fit the storyline. The dialogue is very important as the dialogue, basically, tells the audience what is happening in the play. After writing the dialogue, it was a good idea to define some directions for the actors: their movements and sometimes gestures or feelings. Actually it is not necessary to script out every movement the actors will make, only those that are important for the story.

After deciding on how to stage the play, the project group started assigning roles. The number of roles in this play was adapted to fit the number of students who were willing to perform in the dramatization. It is advisable to assign the non-speaking parts or the parts with one, two lines to shyer students. The students who like to sing could perform in the choir. As well as working on sets and props, students who did not wish to perform worked on presentation. In this way they felt like an important part of the production. The group agreed that visual presentation in Power Point with several photographs depicting the set of every scene of the play would be necessary. The photos were taken from the internet.

The parents took part in helping with the costumes and the project group also got in contact with a local drama club asking them to lend some costumes. Some students of the project group made the necessary props (a vase, stones etc) with the help of our school technology teacher. The boys brought some tools from home.

It is necessary to start rehearsing the play well in advance of the real performance because rehearsal process is a very important part of any production. Finally, before the actual performance it is essential to have one full dress and technical rehearsal so that everybody knows exactly what to do in the actual performance.

The product of the project was a printed version of the play itself. It would be a good idea to create also a show programs (also known as playbills). The playbills should be easy to read and nicely made including all the necessary information: title and graphic (for the cover); dates and times; location of performance; cast list with actors’ names and roles; crew list, including all other team members.  

The Play

The Stone Flower - a one-act play

Written by the students of the 5th Grade

Based on the abridged fairy tale by P.Bazhov

scene 1 – a workshop now

scene 2 – a forest now

scene 3 – a village 2 weeks later

scene 4 – a copper mountain now

scene 5 – a copper mountain 3 years later

Characters:

Prokopich, a famous craftsman who makes jewellery. He uses malachite, a beautiful green stone.

Danila, an orphan who lives with Prokopich and learns to be a craftsman.

Katya, a girl who lives in the village. She is going to marry Danila.

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, a wizardess who knows the secret of craftsmanship.

The narrator, People from the village.

Scene I.

The curtain opens and we see an old man making something with his tools and a young man holding a vase. This is Prokopich and Danila. (There is a picture of a workshop on the screen (multimedia projector)

Prokopich: Danila, you are very talented. I taught you everything that I know and you became a better craftsman than me. This vase is beautiful.

Danila: (looks upset) But my vase does not have any living beauty. When you look at a flower, your heart fills with happiness because of its beauty. Stone is hard and cold and does not have such beauty.

P: Don’t say that! You don’t want to become a servant of the mistress of the copper mountain. Her workers live and work in the mountain and nobody ever sees them. Once long ago I was lucky enough to see their work.

D: Oh, tell me. What was it like?

P: Amazing. These workers understand the beauty of stone because they know all about the stone flower. If you see the flower, you will understand the beauty of the stone.

D: I need to look at something that has life in it. I’ll go to the forest to look at the flowers. Oh, how I would like to see the stone flower!

Scene II.

Danila is in the forest looking at the flowers. Enter Katya with a basket. She is sad. (There is a picture of a forest on the screen.)

Katya: Hello, Danila, Prokopich told me that you are in the forest again. Danila, you go to the forest every day. I hardly ever see you.

D: Don’t be sad, Katya, but I need to see the stone flower. I want to make the perfect vase. Only after that we can get married.

Katya starts crying and goes away, her friends try to comfort her.

Katya’s friends: Please, Katya, don’t cry. Everything will be all right.

Prokopich sees Katya crying and comes up to Danila.

P: (angrily) Why did you make Katya cry? You must get married to Katya now, my son and make your own family.

D: Oh, I am so sorry. I just … — I mean …. I love Katya and I really don’t mind marrying her.

Danila comes up to Katya.

D: Katya, listen, I’ve just been working really hard lately. I’m really sorry. I love you. Let’s get married, shall we?

K: Oh, Danila, I’m so happy.

Scene III.

Two weeks later before the wedding there is a big party in the village. People sing songs and dance. (There is a picture of a Russian village on the screen). Danila is sad. He is holding a vase in his hands and is looking at it intensely with disgust.

K: What’s wrong, Danila?

D: I’m not happy, Katya, but you don’t understand.

He breaks the vase and runs to the forest. (There is a picture of the copper mountain on the screen.)

Scene IV

Enter a beautiful woman, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain.

The Mistress of Copper Mountain: I’m the Mistress of Copper Mountain. Why did you come to my magic garden, Danila?

D: Please, Mistress, show me the Stone Flower. I want to understand the beauty of stone. I must see the Stone Flower!

The M. C. M: No, Danila. You will be sorry. Those who see my flower leave their family and come to live with me in my mountain. What about Prokopych and Katya? They love you.

D: I know. But I need to see the Stone Flower! I just can’t be happy without seeing the stone flower.

The M. C. M: All right. Come with me to my Magic Garden.

Scene V

Three years pass. K. lives alone and makes some brooches to earn money. One day she goes to the copper mountain, thinks about D., puts her head in her hands and begins to cry:

K: Danila, Danila, where are you? Where are you, Danila? Why did you leave me? Answer me!

The mistress appears.

The M. C. M: Why did you come to my Magic Garden? If you need the stones, take what you want and go away.

K: I don’t want your stones. Please, give me my Danila! Why did you take away the man I love?

The mistress laughs at her.

The M. C. M: I didn’t take him away.  He came to me! If you don’t believe me, ask him yourself!

Danila appears. He looks happy to see Katya.

The M. C. M: You must choose, Danila. If you go home with Katya, you will forget everything you learned in the mountain. If you stay here, you must forget her.

D: I’m sorry, but I can’t forget the people I love. I think about Katya every minute of the day.

The mistress smiles.

The M. C. M: All right, Danila. Go back home and for your honesty, I will reward you. You will not lose the craft that you have learned here. But you must not tell the people about my Magic Garden.

K. and D.: Thank you very much.

They go home happy. People in the village all ask.

People of the village: Danila, where did you go?

D: I went to study my craft with a master who lives far away.

The End

Conclusion

The aim of the project was achieved: the project team created the play The Stone Flower based on the fairy tale by P.Bazhov. While working on the project the team collected quite a large amount of information about script writing. Then, all the members of the project took part in dramatizing the play. It was the first time most of the students experienced doing drama and for everybody it was a great opportunity to test the performance skills and show the achievements beyond school classes. Other important skills were improved during implementing the project. First of all, cooperation. The students learned how to work in a team effectively, how to allocate responsibilities among the participants and how to reach an agreement on some controversial issues. Another important skill was creativity. The project group developed and tested their imagination. Besides, being part of a large project created confidence and a can-do attitude. Students also learned how to speak in a more articulate manner, they expanded their English vocabulary, they trained their memory because they tried to memorize their lines in a play and that required practice, determination and advanced memory skills. So, creating this project was very useful for each member of the team.

Literature:

Баранова К. М., Дули Д., Копылова В. В. и др. Английский язык. 4 класс В 2-х ч. Просвещение, Express Publishing, 2013

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/how-to-create-a-program-for-your-production/

https://www.wikihow.com/Design-a-Playbill

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Play-Based-on-a-Book

Аудиокурс для работы в классе УМК «Звёздный английский». Starlight (Class CD 4) http://old.p+rosv.ru/umk/starlight/info.aspx?ob_no=25772