James and the Giant Peach - Seattle Children`s Theatre

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Table of Contents
Synopsis .....................................................................................................................................................
Washington State Learning Standards .........................................................................................
Roald Dahl – Troublemaker .............................................................................................................
A Chat with Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Songwriters ................................................................
About the Set ...........................................................................................................................................
About the Costumes .............................................................................................................................
About the Puppets .................................................................................................................................
Disaster and Resilience in the Work and Life of Roald Dahl ..............................................
Anthropomorphism – Imagining Things as Humans .............................................................
Let Me Introduce Myself – Interesting Animal Facts ..............................................................
Houses and Homes around the World ..........................................................................................
Words & Phrases That Might Be New to You .............................................................................
Jump Start – Give This a Try ..............................................................................................................
Drama in Action – Learn by Doing .................................................................................................
Activity Pages ..........................................................................................................................................
Booklist ......................................................................................................................................................
Share Your Thoughts ............................................................................................................................
2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12
13-14
15-16
17-18
19-20
21-24
25-27
28
29
30
31-34
35
36
SYNOPSIS
As we write this synopsis, the script for James and the Giant Peach is still being developed. There may
be some differences between what you read here and what you see in the show.
While young James sleeps fitfully, a ladybug and a grasshopper fly into his room
at the orphanage. James relives the tragic death of his parents, devoured by a
rhinoceros escaped from the London Zoo. He awakes from his nightmare, scaring
away the two insects, and the nurse arrives telling him to pack his bags. He
carefully wraps away his most treasured belongings, a pair of glasses and a scarf
that belonged to his parents. James is handed over to his only living relatives,
Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, who have come from a busy day of picking pockets.
Spiker and Sponge eagerly agree to accept James into their care in return for the
government stipend.
From their cottage, where he sleeps in the cellar, James can see the seashore and asks to visit his
old house. Thinking a trip to the beach a wonderful idea on such a hot day, Spiker and Sponge
order James to chop down an ancient peach tree for firewood while they enjoy the
seashore themselves. Preparing to chop, James prevents a centipede from eating
an earthworm. James then encounters a mysterious old man. At first terrified,
he becomes enthralled by what the old man says about the spells in his bag—
potions that promise unbelievable adventures. James chooses one made up of
slithering crocodile tongues, but spills it onto the ground around the peach tree
before he can put it to use. Distraught, he meets his two aunts returning from the
beach who marvel at the giant peach that has appeared suddenly in the barren tree.
Sensing financial opportunity, the two prepare to exploit the amazing fruit for as much money as
they can get. James, knowing that his potion made the peach grow to its miraculous size, dares to
ask that some of the profit be used to move to the seashore. To remind him
who is in charge, Spiker and Sponge break and tear his parents’ glasses and
scarf and banish him from the house to sleep outside
while wild boars crash through the undergrowth.
Fearful and desperate, James discovers a door into the peach and enters.
There he meets Earthworm and Centipede, whom he encountered before, as
well as other creatures, all now grown to human size—Spider, Grasshopper,
Ladybug and Glowworm, who illuminates the interior of the giant peach.
James fears becoming a meal for his new companions, but they soon put
him at ease—except for Centipede, who threatens him. Spider promises to
protect James.
In order that all might escape from the two menacing aunties, Centipede cuts through the stem of
the peach. The peach drops and rolls, apparently crushing Spiker and Sponge as it continues down
over the Cliffs of Dover into the sea. The peach proves seaworthy and all anticipate a pleasant
voyage to France. Only Earthworm fears the worst—being eaten by a fish.
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As the party sails on they realize they are not headed for France at all, but for the open ocean.
Thirst and hunger pains bring fears of starvation, until James realizes they can eat the delicious,
juicy flesh of the peach. Grasshopper plays his violin in celebration. He points out to James that he
fiddles using his thigh and wing, in contrast to crickets who fiddle with both wings. He also has
ears on each side of his tummy. The rest share fascinating facts about their kind—Earthworm is
both male and female!—and inspire James’ appreciation for the wonders of the world.
The creatures rejoice in being free from the cruelties of Spiker and Sponge. James shares his
continuing sorrow over the loss of his parents. Centipede remains resentful of him, because he is
a human. The others comfort James, telling him that his parents
will always be with him in the face of nature and in his own
special character
The waters grow rough. Centipede becomes seasick and vomits
over the side, attracting a flock of hungry seagulls. What’s more,
sharks have appeared and they are eating the peach. James thinks that they just might be able
to fly out of danger. He gets Spider to spin enough strands to tie the seagulls to the stem of the
peach. They have a tough time convincing Earthworm to act as bait to attract the seagulls. But
overcoming his fear of the worst kind of death, Earthworm flaunts his newfound courage and the
plan succeeds. They harness the seagulls, who carry the peach high into the air.
The crew congratulates James on his successful plan, but Centipede is angry that they have
befriended someone who is, to his mind, a bug-killing human. In his agitation, he falls into the
ocean. James risks his life to rescue him and Centipede realizes he owes James a profound apology.
Meanwhile, Spiker and Sponge, having survived the rolling peach, are on a
transatlantic cruise to escape from contracts they could no longer honor once the
peach disappeared. They spot the seagull-powered peach flying into New York City.
Spiker and Sponge convince the military to attack the presumed hostile peach
with helicopters and missiles, cutting the strands that connect the gulls. James
resourcefully unties the remaining strands while holding on to the stem and
maneuvers the peach onto the spire of the Empire State Building.
The passengers emerge safely and the gulls float James gently to
the ground. Spiker and Sponge rejoice that the peach, along with
James, is once more within their grasp, until it falls from the spire
and squishes them once and for all. Centipede is able now to give
James his heartfelt apology. All rejoice in the new family they have
created together. James models the peach pit into a house in Central Park for his
friends and each finds a fulfilling and fitting occupation in their newly adopted city.
4
WASHINGTON STATE LEARNING STANDARDS
James and the Giant Peach touches on many themes and ideas. Here are a few we believe would
make good Discussion Topics: Resourcefulness, Team Work, Resilience, Home.
We believe that seeing the show and using our Active Audience Guide can help you meet the
following Washington State Standards and address these 21st Century Skills:
• Growth Mindset (Belief that your intelligence and ability can increase with effort.)
• Perseverance
• Creative Thinking
• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Collaboration
In our 2014-15 season guides we will transition to Common Core Standards along with
Washington State schools.
Washington State K-12 Learning Standards
Theatre
Reading
Communication
Writing
1. The student understands and applies arts knowledge and skills.
1.1 Understand arts concepts and vocabulary.
1.2 Develops theatre skills and techniques.
1.4 Understands and applies audience conventions in a variety of settings and performances of theatre.
3. Theatre: The student communicates through the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts).
3.1 Uses theatre to express feelings and present ideas.
3.2 Uses theatre to communicate for a specific purpose.
4. The student makes connections with and across the arts to other disciplines, life, cultures, and work.
4.4 Understand that the arts shape and reflect culture and history.
4.5 Demonstrates the knowledge of arts careers and the knowledge of arts skills in the world of work.
1. The student understands and uses different skills and strategies to read.
1.1 Use word recognition skills and strategies to read and comprehend text.
1.2 Use vocabulary (word meaning) strategies to comprehend text.
1.3 Build vocabulary through wide reading.
1.4 Apply word recognition skills and strategies to read fluently.
2. The student understands the meaning of what is read.
2.1 Demonstrate evidence of reading comprehension.
2.2 Understand and apply knowledge of text components to comprehend text.
2.3 Expand comprehension by analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing information and ideas in
literary and informational text.
2.4 Think critically and analyze author’s use of language, style, purpose, and perspective in literary
and informational text.
3. The student reads different materials for a variety of purposes.
3.1 Read to learn new information.
3.2 Read to perform a task
3.3 Read for career applications
1. The student uses listening and observation skills and strategies to gain understanding.
1.1 Uses listening and observation skills and strategies to focus attention and interpret information.
1.2 Understands, analyzes, synthesizes, or evaluates information from a variety of sources.
1. The student understands and uses a writing process.
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5
Science
Music
1. Systems. Big Idea: Systems (SYS). Core Content: Part-Whole Relationships
In grades K-1, students gain fluency in using the concept of part-whole relationships. They agree on
names for the parts that make up several types of whole objects, including plants and animals. They
learn that objects can be easily taken apart and put back together again, while other objects cannot
be taken apart and reassembled without damaging them. Removing one or more parts will usually
change how the object functions. Fluency with the part-whole relationship is essential for all of the
sciences and is an important building block for more sophisticated understanding of how systems
operate in natural and designed environments.
4. Music: The student makes connections within and across the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) to
other disciplines, life, cultures, and work.
4.1 Demonstrates and analyzes the connections among the arts disciplines (dance, music, theatre, and
visual arts).
4.2 Demonstrates and analyzes the connections among the arts and between the arts and other content areas.
4.3 Understands how the arts impact and reflect personal choices throughout life.
4.5 Understands how arts knowledge and skills are used in the world of work, including careers in the arts
WHAT IS ARTS INTEGRATION?
A definition and checklist from The Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts program.
Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate
understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an
art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.
Some educators confuse any effort to include the arts in their classroom with arts integration.
While all types of arts-based instruction are encouraged, it is helpful for educators to know when
they are engaged in arts integration. To achieve this awareness, an Arts Integration Checklist
is provided. Educators answering “yes” to the items in the Checklist can be assured that their
approach to teaching is indeed integrated.
Approach to Teaching
• Are learning principles of Constructivism (actively built, experiential, evolving,
collaborative, problem-solving, and reflective) evident in my lesson?
Understanding
• Are the students engaged in constructing and demonstrating understanding as opposed to
just memorizing and reciting knowledge?
Art Form
• Are the students constructing and demonstrating their understandings through an art form?
Creative Process
• Are the students engaged in a process of creating something original as opposed to
copying or parroting?
• Will the students revise their products?
Connects
• Does the art form connect to another part of the curriculum or a concern/need?
• Is the connection mutually reinforcing?
Evolving Objectives
• Are there objectives in both the art form and another part of the curriculum or a
concern/need?
• Have the objectives evolved since the last time the students
engaged with this subject matter?
For more thoughts about this subject and a wealth of
useful information (including lesson plans) go to:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx
6
ROALD DAHL – TROUBLEMAKER
Roald Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South
Wales, United Kingdom, to Norwegian parents. He spent his
childhood summers visiting his grandparents in Oslo, Norway.
He was a mischievous child, full of energy, and from an early age
he proved himself skilled at finding trouble. His earliest memory
was of pedaling to school at a very fast speed on his tricycle, with
his two sisters struggling to keep up as he whizzed around curves
on two wheels.
Dahl’s father died when Roald was four years old. His mother followed her late
husband’s wish that Dahl be sent to English schools. Dahl first attended Llandaff
Cathedral School, where he embarked on a series of unfortunate adventures. After he
and several other students were severely beaten by the principal for placing a dead
mouse in a storekeeper’s candy jar, Dahl’s mother moved him to St. Peter’s Boarding
School and later to Repton, an excellent private school. Dahl would later describe his
school years as “days of horrors” filled with “rules, rules and still more rules that had
to be obeyed,” which inspired much of his fiction. Though not a As a schoolboy at St.
good student, his mother nevertheless offered him the option Peter’s school, 1925
of attending Oxford or Cambridge University when he finished school. His reply
was, “No, thank you. I want to go straight from school to work for a company that
will send me to wonderful faraway places like Africa or China.”
After graduating from Repton, Dahl took a position with the Shell Oil Company
in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), in Africa. In 1939 he joined a British Royal Air
Force training squadron in Nairobi, Kenya, and served as a fighter pilot during
World War II. Dahl suffered severe head injuries in a plane crash near Alexandria,
Long before he himself
Egypt. After he recovered, the Royal Air Force sent him to Washington, D.C.,
became famous, Roald
to be an assistant air attaché (a technical expert who advises government
Dahl associated with
accomplished and renowned representatives). There he met the English
people. Here he is walking author C. S. Forester who asked him to write
with Ernest Hemingway in an article about his wartime experiences for a
London during World War II. newspaper. Soon his stories were appearing
Although he looks short next
to the 6’ 6” Dahl, Hemingway in many magazines. Dahl told the New York
Times Book Review that “as I went on, the
was actually six feet tall.
stories became less and less realistic and
more fantastic. But becoming a writer was pure fluke. Without being
asked to, I doubt if I’d ever have thought of it.”
In 1943 he wrote his first children’s book, The Gremlins, which was
originally intended to be made into an animated film by Walt Disney.
The film was not made and Dahl turned to writing adult fiction.
With his first wife, Patricia Neal and their
children Theo, Tessa and Olivia
Through the 1940s and into the 1950s Dahl continued as a short
story writer for adults, establishing his reputation as a writer of deathly tales with unexpected twists.
His stories earned him three Edgar Allan Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.
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In 1953 Dahl married Hollywood actress Patricia Neal. The marriage lasted 30 years and produced five
children. As soon as the children were old enough, Dahl began making up stories for them each night
before they went to bed. His daughter Ophelia recalled:
“Every evening after my sister Lucy and I had gone to bed, my father would walk slowly up the
stairs, his bones creaking louder than the staircase, to tell us a story. I can see him now, leaning
against the wall of our bedroom with his hands in his pockets looking into the distance, reaching
into his imagination. It was here, in our bedroom, that he began telling many of the stories that
later became the books you know.”
His career as a children’s writer began seriously with the publication of James and the Giant Peach in
1961. One way that Dahl delighted his readers was to take often vicious revenge on cruel adults who
had harmed children, as in James and the Giant Peach and Matilda. Many critics have objected to the
rough treatment of adults. However, Dahl explained in the New York Times Book Review that the children
who wrote to him always “pick out the most gruesome events as the favorite parts of the books.… They
don’t relate it to life. They enjoy the fantasy.” He also said that his “nastiness” was payback. “Beastly
people must be punished.”
Looking back on his years as a writer in Boy: Tales of Childhood, Dahl
contended that “two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer
absolutely drained. For those
ROALD DAHL’S BOOKS FOR
two hours he has been miles
away, he has been somewhere
CHILDREN
else, in a different place with
His writing shed in the garden
The BFG
of
his home in Great Missenden,
totally different people, and the
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Buckinghamshire, England
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator effort of swimming back into
normal surroundings is very great. It
Danny, the Champion of the World
is almost a shock.… A person is a fool
The Enormous Crocodile
to become a writer. His only [reward]
Esio Trot
is absolute freedom. He has no master
Fantastic Mr. Fox
except his own soul, and that, I am
sure, is why he does it.”
George’s Marvelous Medicine
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Over his career, Dahl wrote 19
The Gremlins
children’s books, nine short story
James and the Giant Peach
Pencil in hand, at work
collections and several television and
The Magic Finger
inside the shed
movie scripts. He worked from a tiny
Matilda
shed in the garden of the home he shared with his second
The Minpins
wife, Liccy. He couldn’t type and always used a pencil to write
The Twits
his stories—stories that continue to thrill millions of children
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
throughout the world.
The Witches
Roald Dahl died in Oxford, England, on November 23, 1990.
Poetry
Dirty Beasts
Excerpted and adapted from:
Roald Dahl – The Official Web Site – http://www.roalddahl.com/
Revolting Rhymes
Encyclopedia of World Biography – http://www.
Rhyme Stew
notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Dahl-Roald.html
Non-fiction
Activity Village – http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/roald_
dahl_biography.htm
Boy: Tales of Childhood
8
A CHAT WITH BENJ PASEK & JUSTIN PAUL, SONGWRITERS
Please tell us a little bit about your working process.
We are a songwriting team, which means that we write the songs
that you hear when you come and see a musical. Basically, it’s
our job to look at the story of a show and figure out how to turn
moments of the story into songs.
We start by looking at the story and trying to figure out the best
moments to transform into music. Frequently, songs are a great
Benj and Justin
way to connect to a character’s inner life—to hear about what
they are feeling or thinking. In James and the Giant Peach, for example, we knew that before James set
off on his journey, we wanted to explore his need to find a home and family, so we wrote a ballad for
him expressing that. Instead of forcing James to have a conversation about his emotions, we were able
to go directly inside his head and become a part of his emotional journey. It’s very important for us to
work with our bookwriter (the person writing the story and everything the actors say when they aren’t
singing) to make sure that the moments we’re choosing to turn into songs are the strongest choices. We
work closely as an entire team.
After picking which moments to make into songs, it’s a matter of writing and rewriting the music and
the lyrics (the words) until they capture the feeling that we want. Usually, we start with a phrase that we
think captures the idea and then build the song around that. That central idea is what we call “the hook.”
The hook is like the Sun and all the other ideas in the song are like the planets orbiting around it. They
are all connected, but they also have their own part to play in the story.
Every writer works in his or her own way and that’s true for every writing team, too. We both write
lyrics and music, but Justin is more music and Benj is more lyrics. Sometimes we sit together at the
piano to work, sometimes we work separately then come back together to share what we’ve got. How
we work also depends on the specific song we are writing and its challenges. If it’s a more emotional
song we usually start with the music; if it’s a comedy number, the lyrics usually come first. Songwriting,
like any art, has no exact formula to follow. We may be able to write a song in a day, or it may take a
month. A lot depends on the inspiration we have and how it fuels our creativity.
What is a particularly interesting or unusual challenge on this project and how are you setting out
to solve it?
There are a lot of very specific challenges that came along with adapting James and the Giant Peach into
a musical. First, we know what a popular book it is and how much people love it. The style that Roald
Dahl uses is so fantastic and so unique to him as a writer that it really became exciting to try to maintain
what is so special about his voice.
Beyond the writing style, this show is particularly challenging because there are so many elements of
fantasy—when human-sized bugs are main characters and peaches magically grow overnight, it adds
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9
a whole new challenge to the writing. The great thing for us as writers is that we can create these crazy
moments and dream up fantastical pictures and then it becomes the work of our collaborators to figure
out how to make these images happen onstage. After we write the songs, we get together with our
amazing costume designer, set designer, choreographer and director to figure out how to make these
magical moments come alive in a unique theatrical way that doesn’t just tell the audience about them
but shows them—like making a peach grow and fly on stage.
What in your childhoods got you to where you are today?
Benj: When I was a kid, I think 12 years old, I went to see The Lion King when it first came out on
Broadway. I was crazy about the movie and used to watch it all of the time with my family, so I was really
excited to see how the creators could make it come alive onstage. Sitting in the audience was one of the
most magical experiences of my life. Seeing these cartoons come to life even more vividly than in the
movie absolutely stunned me. I couldn’t believe how the actors were able to use puppets and dance
to make you feel like you were a part of the animal kingdom. The whole production was so visually
stunning that I sat there in complete wonder and I knew that I wanted to be a part of this art somehow.
Justin: I actually had a pretty similar experience as a kid, but instead of The Lion King, I saw Cats. In the
production that I saw, the cats came right out into the audience and snuggled up into our laps, so we
were completely involved in the experience. I was so absolutely mesmerized and knew right then and
there that I wanted to be a part of this world as well.
We were both lucky to grow up in communities like the one that you have here in Seattle that really
value the arts. We both had very musical families who supported our dreams from a very early age
and gave us incredible access to musical theater and all different types of art. We went to the same
college and were concentrating on acting. At one point we were both cast in small parts in a musical,
so to fill the time we talked about what we would put into songs, if we were songwriters, to give actors
what they needed to act the songs well. We started writing and ended up creating a show that was a
collection of songs inspired by things that were happening in our lives and our friends’ lives that were
important to us—and that’s how we began.
Getting to see shows like Cats and The Lion King as kids showed us what could be done on the stage and
when you see something that looks like magic, how could you not want to be a part of it?
Benj: That’s what’s so exciting for us about
sharing James and the Giant Peach with all of
you. If we’re lucky and have done our jobs well,
maybe our show will inspire some of you and
one day you’ll entertain Seattle with shows of
your own!
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are the Tony-nominated
songwriting team behind A Christmas Story,
Dogfight, NBC’s Smash, James and The Giant
Peach, Edges and more. They are currently
working on two new musicals for the stage and
are proud graduates of the University of Michigan,
where they met and began collaborating together.
Linda Hartzell (director), Benj, Justin and Tim McDonald (playwright)
standing in front of a peach tree that was a personal gift to Tim from Liccy
Dahl, Roald Dahl’s widow
10
ABOUT THE SET
From Carey Wong, Set Designer
Model of the set showing the peach when it first appears
James and the Giant Peach tells the tale of a young boy’s adventure
with a peach—and a ladybug, grasshopper, spider, centipede and
earthworm—that grow to enormous proportions. Because size is an
important theme in the story, Linda Hartzell (the director) and I felt
that the set design should reinforce this by playing with the shifting
sizes of characters and objects visually.
The peach grows larger and larger until it fills up most of the stage.
This will be done by showing the audience a series of increasingly
larger and larger peach cutouts with each cutout hiding the one before
it. After the largest peach cutout is shown, it becomes transparent
to reveal a three-dimensional peach platform that the creatures and
James inhabit.
James and his
friends inside
the peach
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11
The peach growing
The fully grown peach
In other cases, whole scenes are depicted in a sort of toy theater miniature world, such as
the sequence of the peach rolling down the hill from the aunts’ garden, startling animals and
zooming past buildings (such as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory) as it speeds towards the
White Cliffs of Dover and the sea beyond.
The peach platform with the “toy theater” where the action of the
peach rolling down the hill will take place
Close-up of the toy theater with Willy Wonka’s Chocolate
Factory and the cliffs and waves below
The stage is framed by a repeating decorative design that suggests waves, wings and clouds—a
set of images suggesting travel and journey.
The set’s artwork is inspired by Nancy Ekholm Burkert’s illustrations
for the book’s first edition and Michael Simeon’s illustrations for the
first British edition.
Sketch of the pattern design that
frames the stage
Illustration by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
12
Illustration by Michael Simeon
ABOUT THE COSTUMES
From Catherine Hunt, Costume Designer
Our production of James
and the Giant Peach is set
in England during the early
1950s; there is a lot of
research material available
that allows us to see what
people were wearing there
and then. But creating the
costumes for Aunt Spiker
and Aunt Sponge was quite
challenging. These are not
ordinary people. They are
odd, rude, not to be trusted
and yet a bit goofy—definitely
not glamorous. I thought it
was important that as soon
as we see them we feel like
there is something not quite
right about them. So we are dressing them in some crazy
combinations, using patterns and shapes that you wouldn’t
expect to see together.
A copy of a sketch of Spiker (on the left) and
Sponge (on the right) as they are dressed
at the beginning of the show. The sketch
has “swatches”—samples of fabric that the
designer wants to use—attached to the edge
of the page.
Spiker and Sponge
dressed for their
ocean cruise
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13
For Ladybug, Spider, Grasshopper, Centipede and Earthworm, I wanted to focus on them not
only as creatures, but as people. The shape of their clothing is based on the animals’ bodies but
uses an exaggerated look of the clothes worn in the 1950s to suggest and express character. For
example, Ladybug is sweet and proper, while Spider is wild and sassy, so their clothes show that.
The patterns and fabrics are inspired by the amazing features of the actual animals.
It was also very important to
pay close attention to color.
The natural coloring of many of
the creatures is too much like
the giant peach; they would
fade into the background. We
definitely want them all to
stand out. So, for example, for
Spider we are using a very blue
tarantula as the model for the
design; for Centipede we are
adding purples, blues and greens
on his cuffs, collar and vest to
give him more focus.
Finding ways to mix the
physical qualities of animals
with the real look of clothing
from the period to create
these fantastical characters
made this a very exciting and
interesting play to work on.
Ladybug sketch with some images and patterns that inspired the design
The pattern
on this house
centipede’s legs
influenced the
shape and color
of centipede’s
jacket
Spider’s costume was inspired by this
tarantula—Poecilotheria metallica, commonly
known as Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tree
Spider. Its body is a bright metallic blue. You can
see it in color and read about it here:
http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9662893/1/
14
Centipede
ABOUT THE PUPPETS
From Annett Mateo, Puppet Designer
For James and the Giant Peach the biggest puppet challenge has been one of scale. Scale means
the size of things in relation to each other, the way that adults are larger than kids and kids are
larger than insects. There are a lot of insects and small creatures in this show. Actually, there are
only five—Ladybug, Grasshopper, Earthworm, Centipede and Spider, but because the characters
change in size and we present them in different ways there are a lot of versions of them.
Right at the beginning
of the play Grasshopper
and Ladybug visit James’
orphanage. These two
puppets are small compared
to James but huge compared
to real insects. They are
about 18 inches tall. If they
were smaller it would be
hard for everyone in the
theater to see what they
were. If they were much
bigger they would be so big
in relation to James that it
would be scary, which isn’t
right for that scene.
Grasshopper’s head
Sketch of Grasshopper’s side view
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15
Sketch of Ladybug’s side view
A little later when James discovers the magical Old Man by the peach tree, Grasshopper and
Ladybug are joined by the other creatures. This scene transforms into a big dance number, so for
them to be big enough to dance effectively there is another set of larger scale puppets. These are
three to four feet tall and are much more articulated—they have more joints, so they can have
more movement.
For the dance number
the puppeteers control
Grasshopper, Ladybug and
Spider by keeping one hand
on the puppet’s head, one
hand on a leg and attaching
the puppet’s feet to their own
Sketch of Spider
Ladybug ready
to dance
The creatures become even larger when James meets them inside
the giant peach. Just like the peach, they have magically grown far
beyond their natural size. At this point the puppets are replaced
by the actors who had been handling them.
For the dance, Spider’s legs are
connected together two by two on
each side so the puppeteer can have
some control over them
Centipede’s side view
Centipede’s dancing is controlled in a
different way. The puppeteer holds him
sideways and moves the puppet’s body as a
whole without attaching the feet to his own.
16
Earthworm is not much of a dancer. He
watches from the garden.
DISASTER AND RESILIENCE IN
THE WORK AND LIFE OF ROALD DAHL
“Roald Dahl is without question the most successful children’s writer in the world,” wrote Brian
Appleyard in the British newspaper The Independent in 1990. While J.K. Rowling may have since taken
that title (and it seems probable that Harry James Potter was at least partly inspired by James Henry
Trotter), Roald Dahl’s works continue to attract huge numbers of enthusiastic young readers. New
stage and screen versions of his work appear frequently. Dahl took writing for children very seriously,
acknowledging the challenge children’s literature presents. He said, “Children’s books are harder to
write. It’s tougher to keep a child interested because a child doesn’t have the concentration of an adult.
The child knows the television is in the next room. It’s tough
to hold a child, but it’s a lovely thing to try to do.”
One of the ways Roald Dahl holds the attention of young
readers is by incorporating dark themes and making them
amusing and frightening, serious and ridiculous, at the same
time. In the second paragraph of James and the Giant Peach, a
typically absurd Dahl-disaster overtakes James’ parents:
Then, one day, James’ mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible
thing happened. Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded
street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo.
Aunts Spiker and Sponge, James’ oppressors, are also seriously nasty and simultaneously comic. They treat
James not just with selfishness, but active cruelty. In SCT’s adaptation, they deliberately destroy James’ only
mementos of his parents:
SPIKER: Hey Spikes, what do you think of my new scarf?
(SPIKER holds the scarf that was JAMES’ mother’s high in the air.)
SPONGE: It’s not nearly as lovely as my new glasses!
(SPONGE holds JAMES’ father’s glasses high in the air. They
wear the glasses and scarf, pretending to be JAMES’ parents.)
SPIKER: (as Mrs. Trotter) Oh, no! Look dear! It’s a...rhino!
SPONGE: (as Mr. Trotter) And it’s gonna eat us!
SPIKER: We’re too stupid to escape from a rhino!
Roald Dahl’s troubled childhood clearly lurks behind the dark themes
in his books. He knew what it was like to lose parents, to be oppressed
and tormented. He also knew first-hand that such themes could grip the
imagination of children who had not had such extreme experiences. All
children harbor fears of abandonment and hopes for independence. All
children struggle with relative powerlessness as they simultaneously
gain new skills and abilities. Whether they themselves are oppressed
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17
Roald Dahl and friend
and tormented or not, they sense that such things are possible. Roald Dahl knew that transforming
such experiences and fears into entertainment and literature is one way to cope with them. Roald
Dahl dedicated James and the Giant Peach to his daughters Tessa and Olivia because the story grew
from bedtime stories he told to them. “Had I not had children,” he once remarked, “I would not have
written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.”
Robin Swicord, who co-wrote the script for the movie version of Matilda, says of Dahl that, “He is keyed
into the psychological life of a child better than any other writer. He brings their fears right to the surface,
whether it’s about the first day of school or saving your grandparents from death.” Roald Dahl once
declared that, “If you want to remember what it’s like to live in a child’s world, you’ve got to get down
on your hands and knees and live like that for a week. You’ll find you have to look up at all these… giants
around you who are always telling you what to do and what not to do.” It is no accident that James’ closest
friends (indeed his adoptive family) turn out to be bugs, who have a lot of experience in living close to the
ground, with dangers towering over them. But James, like all of Roald Dahl’s child-heroes, develops the
creative resilience to overcome the life-threatening challenges around him. He unites his friends around
a daring plan to use all of their combined talents and strengths to save
themselves and the peach from being devoured by sharks. He not only
shows bravery, but inspires bravery in his friends, even Earthworm, that
most cowardly of creatures.
In his own life, Dahl faced an unusual number of tragedies and
challenges. Olivia Dahl, his daughter, died when she was seven
years old. But he, like his heroes, showed remarkable resilience and
Spending time with his fans
creativity. As Peter Lennon observed in the British newspaper The
Guardian in 1996, “It cannot be said that the series of misfortunes and tragedies Dahl was to suffer
made him more bitter. Loss and physical adversity seemed to stimulate his enormous energies to
positive action. He fought misfortune as if it was a dragon to be slain.” One remarkable example of
this occurred after Roald’s four-month-old son Theo was brain-damaged
by a traffic accident. Dahl joined forces with two friends, an engineer and
a neurosurgeon. Together, they spent months devising a valve for draining
fluid from the brain to enable Theo to live independent of machines. The
Wade-Dahl-Till valve was used for many years until it was finally surpassed
by new technological developments. Theo made a spectacular recovery.
Because he knew that it could provide a way to process and deal with the
whole range of human experiences, including fear and sadness, Roald Dahl
was a great believer in the importance of reading. “I have a passion for teaching
kids to become readers,” he once said, “to become comfortable with a book,
not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and
wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” One of those
advantages is the ability to see that even the worst problems and most extreme
cruelty can be faced with bravery, creativity and resilience.
A sketch of the Wade-Dahl-Till
valve for removing excess fluid
from the brain. From the patent
application.
Sources:
The Alan Review – http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall98/royer.html
Penguin.com – http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000008184,00.html
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade-Dahl-Till_valve
18
ANTHROPOMORPHISM – IMAGINING THINGS AS HUMANS
We human beings love to imagine flying like a bird, swaying in the breeze like a tree, or having the
strength of a bulldozer. We also like to look at things and imagine ways they might be like us. For
instance, it can be fun to think that because the front of a
steam train engine can look like a face, steam trains can
have human personalities, like Thomas the Tank Engine.
This is called anthropomorphism (an-thrō-pō-MORF-ism).
The insects and other creatures who make friends
with James in James and the Giant Peach are
anthropomorphic. They are like real animals in many
ways—Spider can create silk thread and Grasshopper
Free as a bird
has ears lining the sides of his body—but they talk like
people and they have human feelings. Real earthworms probably don’t
Can you see a face in the front
of this real steam train?
live their lives in constant fear. But if we had the mind of a human and the
body of an earthworm—blind, soft-skinned and defenseless, surrounded by hungry creatures eager
to eat us—we would be terrified, just as Earthworm is in James and the Giant Peach. Sometimes
anthropomorphism can help us learn about ourselves and deal with powerful emotions. Earthworm’s
fear of seagulls might seem funny, but when he bravely faces up to the birds, we
might learn that we can face our own fears.
We can learn a lot about animals and other things in the world by imagining
the ways in which they could be like us. Anthropomorphism probably first
began when human hunters tried to think like the animals they were trying
to catch. They realized that animals, too, grow hungry and thirsty, feel pain,
defend their young, have favorite foods and need shelter. Farmers often try
to think like plants, weather forecasters like clouds, and engineers even try
to think like the machines they design and care for.
James and his animal
friends inside the peach.
Illustration by Nancy
Ekholm Burkert.
There was a time when scientists tried to discourage all anthropomorphic
thinking. But Jane Goodall, who observed chimpanzees in the wild for many
years, realized that it was ridiculous to think that an animal so similar to us wouldn’t share
some of the same thoughts and feelings. She saw chimpanzees
raising their children, forming friendships with each other,
hugging, kissing, patting each other on the back and even
tickling each other. She convinced the world of science that
chimpanzees care about their family and friends, and that
“it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are
capable of thought and emotions like joy and sorrow.” But
Jane Goodall grooming an adult chimpanzee those scientists had a point—anthropomorphism can be very
in the 1960s
misleading. Jane Goodall herself has often spoken out against
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19
people “adopting” chimpanzees to keep as pets, or even as “children.” Chimpanzees are not
people. They grow into large, active animals who are much stronger than people and extremely
difficult to care for. Chimps have attacked, mauled and killed people.
There are lots of other examples of anthropomorphic thinking leading to mistaken ideas. In James
and the Giant Peach, Ladybug behaves gently and politely, while Centipede is angry and crude.
We might think of real centipedes and ladybugs in the same way—centipedes are faster-moving
creatures than ladybugs, more frightening and sometimes
dangerous to people. But both ladybugs
and centipedes are insect predators, who
survive by eating other bugs—they do not
have human-like feelings or personalities.
For thousands of years, people have
thought owls are wise, probably because
they have large, human-looking eyes. But
those eyes evolved so that owls could see
The face of a great horned owl. Does it look
in the dark. It is unlikely that owls are
wise to you?
any wiser than other birds of prey. And
hippopotamuses can look to us like funny, gentle, chubby, awkward, smiling
A garden statue of a
hippo wearing a tutu
creatures—that’s the personality they often have in books, movies and TV
shows. In real life, hippos are the most dangerous large animals
in the world. Each year, nearly 3,000 people are killed by hippos,
many more than are killed by crocodiles, lions, tigers, bears and
sharks combined.
When we’re young, we imagine that all sorts of animals and
other things around us are “nice” or “mean”—a rose might
Hippos fighting
seem “nice” because it is pretty, but “mean” because we got
pricked by a thorn. As we grow up and learn more about what the world and other animals,
plants and objects are really like, we tend to think that way less and less, but even though
anthropomorphism can lead to mistakes, it can still be both fun and valuable to imagine soaring
like an eagle, or tunneling through the earth like a worm, or even lying still for centuries like a
rock, and to think of the ways those creatures and objects might be like us.
Sources – for kids:
African Wildlife Foundation – https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/hippopotamus
Books:
My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees, by Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawick. National Geographic
Society, 1967
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
Web Source – for adults:
Animals as People in Children’s Literature – https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Store/
SampleFiles/Journals/la/LA0813Animals.pdf
20
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF
GRASSHOPPER: I am a short-horned grasshopper.
Kingdom: Animalia! Phylum: Arthropoda! Subphylum: Hexapoda! Class: Insecta.
Order: Orthoptera! Suborder: Caelifera!
-from James and the Giant Peach
What is he talking about? Grasshopper has just listed part of his “taxonomy.” That’s a great word.
Taxonomy is the science of arranging animals and plants into natural, related groups based on what
they have in common. Grasshopper starts with the largest group he belongs
to, Kingdom: Animalia—the animal kingdom, just like us. But when he
narrows down to the next smaller group, Phylum: Arthropoda, we separate.
We are Phylum: Chordata—we have spinal cords. Grasshoppers have external
skeletons. The farther Grasshopper goes down his list, the smaller each group
gets. Subphylum: Hexapoda—creatures with six legs and a three-part body
(head, thorax and abdomen), Class: Insecta. Wait—insecta? That means
insect. So a grasshopper is an insect.
Large-marsh grasshopper
We often use the word insect when we talk about all sorts of creeping, crawling critters. But that isn’t
really right. Not all of them are insects. What about all the other friends James makes on his peach
adventure? Ladybug? Insect. Glowworm? Insect. Spider, Centipede and Earthworm? No, no and no.
Spiders are arachnids. They have a two-part body (they have an abdomen but their head and thorax
are fused together) and four pairs of legs.
Centipedes are chilopods. Their bodies are divided into many segments and they have one pair of legs
per body segment.
Earthworm taxonomy separates from grasshoppers and the rest of the group at the same place we
do, phylum. They are Phylum: Annelida. They have no skeleton. Their bodies have a head, a tail and a
middle made up of repeated segments. They have no legs.
There are so many interesting things to learn about all these amazing creatures. Here are a few facts
to get you started.
GRASSHOPPER – insect
On average, grasshoppers can jump 20 times their length in one hop.
They have antennae, or feelers, on their heads that they use to touch
and smell. They also have special eyes that allow them to see in all
directions at once—sideways, forwards and backwards.
Grasshoppers come in different colors for camouflage, mainly green,
gray and brown.
They can spit a brown “tobacco juice” as a defensive mechanism.
There are over 10,000 species of grasshoppers known. They can be found on all continents except
Antarctica.
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21
Some types of grasshoppers, called locusts, form large groups called “swarms” and move from place to
place together. A typical locust swarm contains over 5 billion locusts. When they first meet, they take short
flights together each day. After practicing, they embark on a journey that
can last several days. They stay together and fly to locations as a group.
They only come down when they are extremely hungry, or it is very cold.
Usually only male grasshoppers sing. They make their song by rubbing
their hind legs against their front wings.
A grasshopper can eat its own weight in food in a day. They will eat
A swarm of locusts in North Africa
almost any type of plant, but don’t like tomatoes or squash. Although
they are not normally meat eaters, in times of drought or famine they will eat other insects.
Grasshoppers clean themselves often. They even pull their antennae through their mouths to clean them.
LADYBUG – insect
Entomologists (scientists that study bugs) have discovered more than 4000
different kinds of ladybugs.
Ladybugs are found throughout the world. They are usually 0.03 to 0.4 inch
long (1 to 10 millimeters) and have short legs. The wing cover is usually yellow,
red or orange. Although some ladybugs are a solid color, many have black spots
or stripes; the color and number of spots vary from species to species. Their bright colors warn
predators that they taste bad.
A ladybug in flight beats its wings up to 85 times per second.
Top speed for most ladybugs is about 15 miles per hour. That is much
slower than many other flying insects.
Ladybugs breathe through openings on the sides of their bodies.
In 1999, NASA sent ladybugs and aphids up in the space shuttle to test
their movements in zero gravity.
A ladybug taking off
Ladybugs have sticky pads on their legs. This helps them to climb. They are able to crawl upside
down on a leaf without falling off.
Sometimes ladybugs will stay together in groups. This can help them stay warm in the winter. Some
entomologists have discovered ladybug groups with millions of members.
GLOWWORM – insect
This glowworm’s
tail end produces a
yellowish-green light
Glowworms are not worms. But that is the common name for some groups of
insect “larvae” and adult females that glow in the dark. Larvae are the young forms
of any animal that at birth or hatching are very different from what they will be as
adults—like a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. Glowworms sometimes look
like worms, but all are insects (some are flies, but most are actually members of the
beetle order, like ladybugs).
Glowworms produce light through a process called bioluminescence. The light they
produce does not give off much heat, or they probably wouldn’t survive. It is known
Continued on the next page...
22
as a “cold light.” The substances that are necessary to produce the light emitted by the glowworm
are oxygen from the air and two chemicals. These chemicals, produced in the insect’s body, are called
“luciferin” and “luciferase.”
There are over 2000 different kinds of glowworms.
SPIDER – arachnid
A spider spinning silk thread
Some spiders spin three to five webs daily and, by using the frame threads
from a previous web, can construct a new web in about 20 minutes. These
spiders tend to be small and build fragile webs. Other spiders, particularly
large orb weavers, produce only one web a day. If frame threads from a
previous web are used, that spider can construct a new web in about 45
minutes. Otherwise, web weaving can take several hours.
In the 1970s, scientists sent spiders to the Skylab space station. They
wanted to see how spiders would build their webs without any gravity.
Even though they had complete weightlessness (zero gravity), the spiders
were able to adapt and build fairly normal webs.
The spider silk found in spider webs is stronger than steel wire of the
same thickness. It is also stretchier than rubber or nylon.
Spiders have as many as eight eyes, but they do not have a nose or ears.
Their body is covered with tiny hairs that are able to sense vibrations,
touch and sounds. For example, the hairs can sense the tiny footsteps of
an insect coming closer.
An orb-weaver spider’s web
covered in morning dew
Generally harmless to humans, most spiders feed almost exclusively on
insects. Spiders are widespread in habitats that range from tundra to
tropical lowland forests. They play a large role in controlling populations
of insects, including those insects that cause human disease.
Spiders digest their food outside their bodies. After their prey is
captured, spiders expel digestive enzymes from their intestinal tract onto
the victim. The enzymes break down its body tissues and then the spider
sucks up the predigested, liquid tissues.
CENTIPEDE – chilopod
An extreme close-up view of some
of the eyes of a jumping spider and
the hairs on its body that help it
feel vibrations
There are over 3000 different kinds of centipedes.
Some centipedes are only an inch or two in length. However, some are much
longer. In fact, the Peruvian giant centipede can be up to a full foot long.
A house centipede. You can clearly
see how the legs get longer as they
go down the centipede’s body.
The number of legs a centipede has varies, depending on the species, but
they usually have between 30 and 350 legs.
The length of the centipede’s legs increase as you go down the
centipede’s body. This prevents the centipede from stepping on his or her
legs. It also helps them to move quickly in a special rhythm.
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23
Centipedes move at different speeds, but some can go as fast as 20 inches per
second. That is faster than many arthropods.
The majority of centipedes are brown, reddish-brown or yellow. However, in some
places in the world, you can find centipedes that are blue, bright orange and red.
While the most common place for centipedes to live are forests around the world,
they also reside in caves, deserts, gardens and grasslands. The house centipede
lives, as you might expect, in houses.
EARTHWORM – annelid
Most common earthworms are only a few inches
(7 to 8 cm) long, but they can be up to 14 inches
(35 cm) long. Other species of earthworm can
grow up to 9 feet (3 meters) long!
This is a scientific
drawing of a centipede
found in Sokotra, a
group of islands in the
Indian Ocean
Earthworms do not live in deserts or regions where there is
permafrost or permanent snow and ice.
Common earthworms are often called night crawlers because they
can be seen feeding above ground at night. They burrow during the
day and stay close to the surface, but they can dig down in the soil as deep as 6.5 feet (2 meters).
An earthworm party
Earthworms do not have eyes, but they sense light. They have photosensitive cells (light detecting
cells) scattered around the skin of their bodies, particularly near the head-end. When a worm comes
close enough to the surface for light to filter through grass and surface soil, the worm “sees” the
sunshine and retreats back down into the ground where it is safe and cool and damp.
An earthworm does not have a heart. But it does have an organ that acts like a
heart called an “aortic arch.” Earthworms have five of these arches. The aortic
arches help pump blood around the body of the earthworm.
Earthworms breathe by their skin taking in the air around them. Their skin must
stay wet in order for oxygen to pass through it.
Most people think that earthworms come out of the ground after a rain because
their burrows are flooded with water. But earthworms can live completely
submerged in water for several days, as long as there is enough oxygen in the
water. They may come to the surface during rains so they can move overland.
The temporarily wet conditions give worms a chance to move to new places—
they can move more easily across the soil surface than they can through the soil.
Information excerpted and compiled from:
National Geographic – http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/facts/
Encyclopedia Britannica Kids – http://kids.britannica.com/
BioKIDS – http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/
Amateur Entomologists’ Society – http://www.amentsoc.org/
24
Close-up of an
earthworm’s body
HOUSES AND HOMES AROUND THE WORLD
James and his animal friends escape from Aunts Spiker and Sponge inside a giant peach. They
get a surprise when the peach rolls into the ocean:
GRASSHOPPER: Unbelievable!
LADYBUG: Impossible!
SPIDER: We’re floating!
In Seattle, floating homes are believable and possible. About 500 homes float on the waters of
Portage Bay and Lake Union. Some look very fancy.
All over the world, people live on water. The Uru
people of Lake Titicaca in South America make floating
islands out of the totora plant. They began doing this
to float away from their enemies (like James and his
friends do). The Uru also eat totora and make boats,
houses and medicines from it. Most Uru people have
moved to dry land, but they still keep their floating
totora islands.
The Uru have to replace the totora reeds often,
or their islands rot away. When James’ giant
peach begins to get eaten away by sharks,
James has a different idea:
JAMES: We can use string to lift the peach
out of the water.
CENTIPEDE: Whatcha gonna do? Tie
string to a cloud?
JAMES: Seagulls! The sky is full of them.
A home in the sky? It sounds crazy, but, a man named Jonathan
Trappe has lifted houses
into the sky, although
he uses balloons, not
seagulls.
Here he is, floating high
above the city of Leon,
Mexico.
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25
Jonathon Trappe hopes to float in the air all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, using a lifeboat
tied to a bunch of balloons. James and his friends do make it across the Atlantic Ocean in their
peach. After arriving in New York City, they build a new house:
JAMES: We turned the pit of the
peach into the most wonderful
home...
In the real world, people don’t make
homes out of giant peach pits, but they do
use all sorts of other stuff.
This “yurt” is made mostly out of animal
hair. Yurts are easy to move; animal
herders in central Asia often live in yurts.
Igloos are made out of blocks of snow.
They provide short-term shelter for people
in the Arctic.
Animal skins wrap around long poles to
make a traditional “tipi.” These are tipis
of the North American Blackfoot tribe.
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26
Yurts, igloos and tipis are good shelters for nomads (people
who move around a lot). Other sorts of homes stay put.
People often carve homes out of rock, the way James and his
friends carve a home out the peach pit. One example is this
cave house in Turkey.
This 700 year-old twostory house in Iran is
also carved out of rock.
People all over the world also use trash and recycled
material to build homes (like James does with his peach
pit). Here is a house in Haiti, being built out of tires.
But the most important thing about a home is not what it is made of, but the love and shelter it
provides. As James and his friends sing, a home has:
AN OPEN DOOR
A WARM BED
A NEST TO REST YOUR HEAD.
WELCOME HOME.
IMAGE SOURCES:
Seattle floating home – http://www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2011/06/23/9-outrageous-floating-homes-for-sale/
Uru people’s floating island – http://www.thomascooktours.com/blog/the-uros-floating-islands/
Balloons lifting house – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/9687977/Jonathan-Trappeflies-a-house-on-helium-balloons-like-the-PixarDisney-film-Up.html?frame=2403006
Yurt – http://campinstyle.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/yurt-in-moonlight-kyrgystan/
Igloo – http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/photo610901.htm
Tipi – http://www.firstpeople.us/tipi/pt/blackfoot-tipis.jpg
Cave home in Turkey – http://pinterest.com/pin/216524694557888897/
Stone house in Iran – http://thefortuno.com/7-centuries-old-stone-houses-in-iran/
Tire house in Haiti – http://www.makingthishome.com/2010/07/22/tire-houses-in-haiti/
A good source for other images of homes around the world – http://pinterest.com/pekeapoomom/dwellings/
27
WORDS & PHRASES THAT MIGHT BE NEW TO YOU
James, run inside and grab the picnic basket from the Frigidaire. – refrigerator. Frigidaire is the name
of the company that developed the first electric self-contained refrigerator in 1918. The name was so
well known that many people called any refrigerator, no matter what brand, a “Frigidaire.”
Knowing your name is inconsequential to what is about to happen. – not important
That’s what the magistrate said. – local official with some of the powers of a judge
The very first primordial ooze of an inkling that has the potential to lead to so many other fantas-ma-rific things!
primordial – original
inkling – slight idea
Oooh! A connoisseur! – expert
We should put ‘im down the well, let him reflect on his misgivings. – feelings of worry
James, for your wanton disregard for the truth, you will sleep outside. – thoughtless
I’m feeling rather peckish as well, Ladybug. – hungry
Oh, Poppycock! – nonsense
The peach does seem rather seaworthy. – safe to travel in while on the sea
Take my extra bloomers! – old-fashioned long, loose pants worn under a skirt
We’ll ration servings. – limit
A rather inferior noise, if I may say so. – low quality
Like a knuckle-draggin’ homo sapiens. – human. A Latin phrase which means “intelligent man,” it
is the scientific name for the human species.
Did you know those two killed my fiancé? – husband-to-be. A French word.
My family was in the sock and shoe racket. – business
Use your impeccable hearing. – perfect
Not friends, no! Accomplices! – partners in crime
28
JUMP START
Ideas for things to do, wonder about, talk about or write about before or after you see
James and the Giant Peach.
If you were the size of an insect, what would you like to explore?
Draw a house for Spider, Grasshopper, Centipede, Earthworm or Ladybug.
Of all the animals in the world, which three would you want on your team if you were sailing
across the ocean? Why?
What does family mean to you?
What would be really funny if it suddenly grew very big? What would be scary?
Make some peach cobbler, a peach smoothie or some peach salsa.
What would have happened if instead of spilling the potion, James had finished making it and
drunk it down?
How is flying on the peach different from flying on an airplane? How is it the same?
How would the TV news report the giant peach landing on the Empire State building? What
would the newspaper headlines say?
Why were Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge so mean to James?
Have a grasshopper race. Only hopping is allowed. How about a worm race?
Line up a group of friends and try to move your legs all together to walk like a centipede.
Make a papier-mâché peach.
What would be your biggest fear if you were travelling on a giant peach across the ocean?
Do you have any friends that you didn’t get along with when you first met them? Why did that
change?
If you could make a magic potion, what would you want
it to do? What would be in the potion?
What famous landmarks might the peach have landed on
if it had flown to different cities or different countries?
In the play, many of the characters sing about who they
are or what they want? Can you make up a song or poem
that expresses your identity or desires? How about a
dance that does the same thing?
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DRAMA IN ACTION
This is a customized James and the Giant Peach Dramashop* exercise for you to try.
EXERCISE: Tableau Trio
GRADES: First and up
TIME: 10 minutes
SET-UP: This exercise works best in an open space, but can also work in
other configurations—with students coming to the front of a classroom,
for example.
SUPPLIES: None
INSTRUCTIONS:
In James and the Giant Peach, James and his creature friends undergo a magical transformation
and go on an action-filled journey. In the exercise below, students will explore two of the themes of
the show—transformation and environment.
If you have the open space for it, gather your students into a standing circle. One student steps
into the middle of the circle and makes a frozen shape of a tree with their body and says “I am
a tree.” Another student joins the tableau making their own frozen picture that adds to that
environment (e.g. “I’m a bird’s nest”). The third student adds another frozen picture (e.g. “I am a
bird”). The first two students leave the tableaux and the next round starts with the third student
restating, “I am a bird.”
What sort of patterns and connections did your students notice? What environments did you
create? How did the starting images transform as other students joined the tableau?
*A Dramashop is an interactive drama-workshop that Seattle Children’s Theatre offers to schools and community groups
through our Education Outreach Program. Dramashops explore the themes, characters, historical context and production
elements of SCT Mainstage productions. Professional SCT teaching artists work with students for an hour, fleshing out
themes and ideas through dynamic theater exercises. Dramashops can occur either before or after seeing the play and can
be held at SCT or at your location. Students get on their feet in these participatory workshops, stretching their imaginations
while learning about the play.
For information about bringing a Dramashop to your classroom or community group, email educationoutreach@sct.org.
30
Can you name these critters that join James on his adventure?
Read the clues and complete the drawings to help reveal the answers,
then fill in the blanks.
I make silk thread that I can use to build my
home, climb or protect my eggs.
I have no nose or ears. My body is covered with
tiny hairs that sense vibrations, touch and
sounds.
I can live on every continent in the world except Antarctica.
I am a _________________________ !
My bright color warns predators to stay away .
I can live in many habitats, including
grasslands, forests, cities and along rivers.
I breathe through openings on the side of my body.
I am a _________________________ !
I can eat my own weight in food in a day.
I have eyes that let me see in all directions at
once.
I can jump 20 times my length in one leap.
And I can fly.
I am a _________________________ !
James and His Giant Adventure
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Across
4. A critter with eight long legs
5. A large body of water on which James has
his adventure
8. The name of one of James' aunts, also the
name of an item used in a kitchen for
cleaning
9. A critter with many legs
11. The name of one of James' aunts that is
just one letter different from the answer
to 4 across
Down
1. A green critter that really likes to jump
2. A red colored critter with black spots
3. A word used to describe a child with no
parents
4. The type of bird that attacked James and
his band of critters out on the water
6. A critter that lives in dirt
7. Another word for currency; what James'
aunts were hoping to get lots of
10. The fruit in which James has his adventure
James and His Giant Adventure
CROSSWORD HINTS
All the words used in the crossword are in the box below.
Check it if you need hints.
seagull
peach
Sponge
grasshopper
centipede
spider
orphan
ocean
money
ladybug
earthworm
Spiker
James and His Giant Adventure
CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY
G
R
C
A
L
S
A
S
S
H
E
Y
P
A
B
H
U
A
G
N
O C
E
P
A
P
R
E N T
R
S
P
I
A
K E
N
M
S
I
P
H
E
W
A
O
C
R
H
E
P
D
O
N
G
N
U
E
L
Y
L
P
O
I
E
D
M
ACROSS
DOWN
4. spider
1. grasshopper
5. ocean
2. ladybug
8. Sponge
3. orphan
9. centipede
4. seagull
11. Spiker
6. earthworm
7. money
10. peach
E
R
BOOKLIST
For Children & Young Adults:
For Adults Working With Children
& Young Adults:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again
Frank Cottrell Boyce
Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and
Naturally Curious Children
Ginger Carlson, M.A. Ed.
Cyberia
Chris Lynch
The Hundred Languages of Children: The
Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation
Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini and George
Forman, editors
The Enchanted Castle
E. Nesbit
The Missing Golden Ticket and Other
Splendiferous Secrets
Roald Dahl
Raising a Self-Reliant Child: A Back-to-Basics
Parenting Plan from Birth to Age 6
Dr. Alanna Levine
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
Website
Encouraging Preschooler’s Creative and
Artistic Development – The Australian
Parenting Website:
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/
encouraging_creativity_preschoolers.html
Plain Kate
Erin Bow
The Star of Kazan
Eva Ibbotson
The Tilting House
Tom Llewellyn
Watership Down
Richard Adams
Travels of Thelonious
Susan Schade
At a time when animals only know myths about
the talking humans who once dominated and
nearly destroyed the world, a young chipmunk
escapes danger in the City of Ruins and, with
new friends, finds the Fog Mound, where all
creatures live in peace and harmony.
Booklist prepared by Cecelia McGowan,
King County Library System
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SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Engaging young people with the arts is what we are all about at SCT. We hope that the Active
Audience Guide has helped enhance and extend the theater experience for your family or your
students beyond seeing the show.
Send us your comments
We’d love to hear your feedback about the guide. You can email us at info@sct.org.
Educators
We need your help. Please take a moment to go online and answer this brief survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SFQ2DCK
Thank you for your support.
Seattle Children’s Theatre, which celebrates its 39th season in 2013-2014, performs
September through June in the Charlotte Martin and Eve Alvord Theatres at Seattle Center. SCT
has gained acclaim as a leading producer of professional theatre, educational programs and new
scripts for young people. By the end of its 2012-2013 season, SCT had presented over 230 plays,
including 110 world premieres, entertaining over 4 million children.
36