BEOWULF - Unicorn Theatre 7 - Beowulf...Page 2 BEOWULF – THE YEAR 7 PROJECT RESOURCES 3 INTRODUCTION 4 ABOUT THE SHOW 6 INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER 9 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR 11

BEOWULFRESOURCE PACK & SCHEME OF LEARNING

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BEOWULF – THE YEAR 7 PROJECT RESOURCES

3 INTRODUCTION4 ABOUT THE SHOW6 INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER9 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR 11 OVERVIEW OF THE SCHEME OF LEARNING 13 SESSION ONE: INTRODUCING KEY CHARACTERS AND THEMES16 SESSION TWO: BEOWULF THE HERO20 SESSION THREE: THE DANES - DEFEATED WARRIORS25 SESSION FOUR: THE KING MASK31 SESSION FIVE: FACING THE MONSTER34 SESSION SIX: WAS BEOWULF A GOOD KING?38 RESOURCES

CONTENTSPAGE

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INTRODUCTION – THE YEAR 7 PROJECTThe idea for a project designed specifically for students in their first year of secondary school came about after feedback from Drama teachers around the benefits of bringing a whole year group to see a production and the potential that this shared experience has for exploration back at school.

The Year 7 Project consists of a six-week scheme of learning which explores the themes and ideas in the play, Beowulf, while also linking to students’ experience of transitioning from primary to secondary school. As part of the project, there is a teacher CPD training session on Thursday 28 September, 4.30-7pm. This session will give teachers the opportunity to practically explore the scheme of learning, before leading it with students. Participating schools must be able to commit to sending at least one teacher to this session.

Starting Year 7 is an exciting and challenging time and the scheme aims to use the shared experience of a theatre visit to address some of the priorities schools have with students in their first year of secondary school; forming positive relationships with peers, adapting to the increased responsibility and the importance of building confidence, resilience, a sense of self and autonomy in the context of a larger school community.

The scheme of learning is designed to be useful to Drama teachers and accessible to non-Drama specialists who want to run The Year 7 project as part of their English or History curriculum. The activities in each session aim to engage students with the content of the production and create a meaningful context for learning, allowing them to explore their own thoughts and feelings in relation to the play and share these with their peers. Activities will promote collaborative working, asking students to work together to create their own drama and theatre responses to the stimuli, building in the key Drama skills and conventions used at Key Stage 3.

The six session plans are designed to be run as a complete scheme of learning. The sessions will build sequentially, but be flexible enough for teachers to adapt to their needs.

THE SCHEME OF LEARNING AIMS TO:

• Increase students’ confidence, self-expression and self-esteem.• Build positive relationships between peers through creative group work and collaboration.• Develop emotional empathy and the ability to think and interpret from multiple perspectives.• Develop core drama skills • Develop literacy and communication skills and provide meaningful opportunities for speaking,

listening and reflection.• Promote inclusive practice and allow students to explore difference in a safe and supportive

context.• Encourage imaginative engagement and provide space for students’ own creative responses.• Develop student’s capacity to engage with the play in an active, self reflective way and become

confident and articulate theatre goers.


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ABOUT THE SHOW Chris Thorpe’s new version of Beowulf begins with the hero of the poem addressing the audience directly. He tells us how the story will end, when he is defeated in battle by a dragon. He challenges the audience to make a judgment.

Was I a good king?Did I treat you all fairly?

Beowulf, the narrator of his own story, goes back to a time long ago, before he was king, when he set out on a journey to the Northlands to help a people he had heard were in grave trouble.

He and his band of warriors arrive in the land of the Danes, ruled over by King Hrothgar. First met with suspicion, they are finally welcomed into Heorot; a great hall which has been built, according to tradition, to house the treasures from the Danes’ victories and celebrate the heroism of Hrothgar’s warriors.

However, for twelve years Heorot has been under siege from a terrifying monster, Grendel. Each night Grendel steals into the great hall and takes someone while they sleep.

Grendel, a prowler in the dark,A monster of teeth and terror and stinking breath

When Beowulf and his warriors arrive to offer their services to the Danes, they find Hrothgar a shell of a king.

And I can tell you, honestly, I have never seenA leader as beaten, a King as soul-wrenched

Hrothgar is like a ship becalmedHrothgar is like a spilled wine-cupThe skin of his cheeks sucked back on his face-bonesThe fingernails gripping his throne-arms all bloody

Beowulf pledges to help them overcome the despair and fear they feel, and to fight for them to defeat the monster. One of the Danes, Unferth, casts doubt on whether Beowulf can do it. She has heard the tales of his heroism, but doesn’t believe he will save them. She questions why would he succeed, when their finest warriors have failed?

Beowulf listens to what Unferth has to say and asks for one night to prove himself.

When night comes, Grendel arrives at the great hall. Beowulf is terrified as he witnesses the full horror of the monster devouring two sleeping warriors. Drawing on all his strength, Beowulf attacks Grendel and they become locked in battle. The monster has him in a terrifying grip and Beowulf feels himself coming close to death when Unferth comes to his aide, and Grendel, turning attention onto her, loosens its hold on Beowulf.

Taking his chance, Beowulf rips the monster’s arm out of its socket and Grendel runs from Heorot in

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agony, towards the swamp that is its home, carrying Unferth with it.

Beowulf follows in pursuit. Arriving at the side of a lake, Beowulf finds Unferth dying. Unferth gives Beowulf the dagger she dreamt would kill Grendel. He takes it and dives into the lake to find the monster.

At the bottom of the lake, Beowulf finds Grendel. The monster is in a cave filled with the armour and remains of the Danes it has dragged there. Grendel is still alive, but badly wounded. Beowulf takes out the dagger and plunges it into the monster’s heart.

And I am full of what I have doneOf a great evil gone from the universeAnd I shout to the dripping cavern wallsI shout victory over our enemiesI shout for the living who will not now dieFor the worst that is now pastAnd for the better times to come

At this moment, a figure appears; it is Grendel’s mother. The monster’s mother speaks to Beowulf, offering a pact that would end the violence. In that moment Beowulf has a choice to make: to finish the cycle of violence with Grendel’s death and make peace, or to carry through and destroy the monster’s mother as well. Beowulf acts decisively, as a warrior hero, and kills the monster’s mother with one blow.

Beowulf returns to the great hall victorious and is honoured with gold by the Danes. When he returns home to Geatland he is eventually made king.

Fifty years pass in the Northlands and then a dragon comes. This is the dragon that will kill Beowulf. In his last moments, as he faces the dragon, Beowulf thinks about the choice that Grendel’s mother gave him and what kind of king he was.

As he did at the beginning of the play, Beowulf asks us, the audience, to judge whether he was a good king.

Tue 3 Oct, 1pmWed 4 Oct, 1pmFri 6 Oct, 1pm Tue 10 Oct, 1pmWed 11 Oct, 1pm / 7pmThu 12 Oct, 1pmFri 13 Oct, 10.30am Tue 17 Oct, 11am / 2pmWed 18 Oct, 7pm

Thu 19 Oct, 11am / 2pmFri 20 Oct, 11amTue 31 Oct, 2pm / 7pmWed 1 Nov, 11am / 2pmThu 2 Nov, 11am / 2pm Fri 3 Nov, 11am

Duration: Approx 1 hr 15 mins

BEOWULF PERFORMANCES

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MAKING THE PLAYINTERVIEW WITH WRITER CHRIS THORPE WHY DID YOU AGREE TO WRITE A NEW VERSION OF BEOWULF?

The Unicorn sets me interesting challenges, both of the plays I have written for the Unicorn have been adaptations of, or inspired by, existing, quite old works. I really relish that. (Chris’ last play for the Unicorn was a contemporary response to Dr Faustus.)

Beowulf is one of those stories that people think they know, but we don’t really, we just know the big details. It’s far enough away in time that it really asks you to find what’s in it that is still, on a gut level, familiar about human behaviour.

It’s quite easy to see the story as something that exists in a separate bubble of time, a long time ago, and feel the world has completely changed since then. The pleasure - well the pleasure and the horror of it - is in realising that, even though the detail is different, we haven’t changed that much.

WHICH TRANSLATION HAVE YOU USED FOR YOUR VERSION OF THE POEM?

Anyone who claims to have read the original Beowulf is either an expert in Old English (which I’m not), or is using one of the translations or adaptations which stand in for the original. Seamus Heaney’s translation of the poem is an incredible piece of work. I don’t claim to have read the original all the way through; I have read some to get the feeling of the sound, the feeling of that original language.

I don’t think I’ve strayed too far from the original story. I’ve given it a new ending and I’ve linked things in the story that aren’t linked. I’ve also made sure it’s not a story in which all we’re seeing is white men with beards, because I think that is an absolutely necessary change to make for the people who are going to come and see it at the Unicorn, and because we live in a world that is in no way as homogeneous as the world of Beowulf.

I’ve also kept the way it speaks to the audience. The rhythm of my version as it starts is quite modern, but when we get into the meat of the story, what creeps in is a sense of a driving rhythm and alliteration. This is inspired by the verse of the original and its use of alliteration, so although we might get parts where it feels like I’ve jettisoned the rules, then in comes poetic language which is closer to the original.

WHY DO BEOWULF AND HIS WARRIORS TRAVEL INTO THE NORTHLANDS TO HELP THE DANES? THEY HAD NO NEED TO GO, THE THREAT WASN’T TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE, THE GEATS. They make a decision to go and fight with these other people that they feel kinship with. There’s a certain amount of fellowship between them, a shared history. It’s not their own community, but


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there are links between the two communities, they are in effect fighting to protect their own. And if someone is in clear and present danger, it’s not necessarily the worst idea to go and attempt to protect them.

And they go for the glory – that’s the way that status is gained in that society - there’s a benefit. There’s also a feeling of duty; this is what you do as a warrior.

THE WORLD DEPICTED IS THAT OF WARRIOR HEROES, WHERE PROBLEMS ARE RESOLVED THROUGH THE SWORD. HOW DOES THE PLAY APPROACH THE THEME OF VIOLENCE FOR ITS YOUNG AUDIENCE?

The idea that Beowulf is outside the boundaries of what that age group are exposed to is not right; in terms of narrative violence, fictional violence. We may have a more subtle understanding of psychology, or think we do, we may have more science on hand to test out theories about it, but the world still tells people that solving problems, both personal and global, with violence is an acceptable solution. It’s not a pacifist play, I’m not trying to say that violence, or action, is never a solution to a problem, because I don’t believe that. What I am saying is that violence is a solution that’s applied far too readily and far too frequently. Actually the biggest problem for me is that we assume because one particular situation calls for the ‘last resort’ use of violence it then follows that other situations that might look similar call for violence as a solution, and that just isn’t true.

We are constructed and encouraged to think that if something works in one situation it will work in another. We like to recognise patterns and we do that with the use of violence as much as we do with anything else.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT BEOWULF’S DECISION ABOUT WHETHER TO KILL GRENDEL’S MOTHER?

It’s very clear in that moment he’s offered a choice in a way that he isn’t in the original. In Grendel’s mother there’s another world view, and there’s an equality of intelligence, and depth of understanding - a willingness to talk. Which Beowulf makes the choice to ignore.

In the original, the mother of the monster is also a monster, that’s the narrative structure. Whereas in this version, the mother of a monster is not necessarily a monster, and does not, once you have dealt with the monster, need to be dispatched with the same violence.

I think that’s a different angle in my version; it’s an argument about violence that isn’t in the original. I wanted to introduce an examination of something that isn’t intentionally in the original poem.

SO YOU LEAVE THE AUDIENCE TO THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OR POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHOICE BEOWULF MADE?

At the end, Beowulf has saved everyone and everything is great and then fifty years later a dragon turns up and kills him. It gives you license as a writer to ask ‘what could the reason for that dragon be?’ The original never really suggests a link between the two; you are free to imagine a link between the choices he has made to use violence and the long term consequences that come back to bite him and his people. And it makes you think about what we might store up for the future if we use violence

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in the wrong way in the present. And if we do fight someone’s violence with violence, how far should we go with that?

It’s maybe not a good idea to destroy the thing that the violence came out of (which isn’t itself violent). I think you can draw very clear parallels with the way that we talk about the relationship between terrorist organisations and religions today - we blame a larger framework much more than we should, for the actions of a very, very small minority.

That massive gap of fifty years in the original story gifts you the opportunity to think about now.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LANGUAGE AND THE POETRY IN YOUR VERSION OF BEOWULF?

I didn’t want to hit the rhythm straight away, because it just says ‘ok, we’re watching a poem’ and you can let it just carry you. It’s important it starts talking to the audience in a way that demands attention, because it doesn’t have the rhythm to lean on, and then it starts to drive itself along by bringing that rhythm in.

But even when that rhythm is there, it alternates with passages where Beowulf is talking in a much more contemporary way, stepping out of that rhythmic drive and saying ‘what I was thinking at this moment was...’ in much freer, more contemporary language.

I think if you immediately go in at a rhythmic level what you’re saying is ‘ok, this is just a poem about something that happened a long time ago’. And what you need to be saying is, ‘we’re all in the room together and I’m going to tell you some stuff and then we’re going to think about it’.

BEOWULF ASKS THE AUDIENCE TO CONSIDER WHAT KIND OF KING OR LEADER HE IS. IS THAT THE OVER-ARCHING QUESTION THE PLAY IS POSING?

It asks the question on a larger scale but also an everyday scale, because it’s about leadership, not just about kings. Leadership can be as much about the decisions you make for yourself, about situations that you’re faced with. The play asks what makes a good decision - is it that once you’ve found a solution you just keep using that solution over and over again? Or does there have to be a certain amount of listening before you make an assessment of each situation on its own merits?

People the age of this audience have an emerging awareness of different kinds of leadership; how the societies they live in are structured and led. So hopefully this will help them wonder about how those decisions get made. There’s also a really useful question for all of us to ask about how we apply decision-making in our everyday actions, particularly when we come into conflict with ideas or behaviours that we might not necessarily understand or like.

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MAKING THE PLAYINTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JUSTIN AUDIBERTWHY DID YOU WANT TO DIRECT BEOWULF?

It’s a text that I’ve known about for quite a long time. It’s like the English Iliad I suppose, in that we have lots of famous, brilliant poets who have tried to make versions of it and recreate it and it’s ever shifting and talks to lots of different times.

Ultimately it’s a story which asks the question: Who is a hero and what does being a hero mean? This question is resonant through the ages, and I think for audiences here at The Unicorn it’s a huge question – we go through the early years of our lives, and we look up to people and we look up to heroes and then there comes that point when you realize that your mum and dad are not superman or super woman or your best mate isn’t wonder man. There’s a thing about that journey that I’m really excited about; that in the experience of watching this show our audience go on that journey of “oh my god, this person is amazing, they’re a mega star” and then they realize that all of us are flawed, all of us have weaknesses and make mistakes – so that really appeals to me.

WHAT ELEMENTS OF THE STORY ARE PARTICULARLY RELEVANT FOR A YOUNG AUDIENCE?

Who you worship and why - who your heroes are? But also what is in the darkness, what lies in the darkness? That’s why the story has so much resonance; Grendel signifies darkness, what we are afraid of. It asks us what are the things in your soul, the things on the edge of your periphery and just beyond that you are scared of? And we all have that.

How do heroes help us conquer our fears? And actually at the end of the day – do we need heroes, or should we do it ourselves? Do heroes inhibit that idea because we look to other people to solve problems? All of that interests me.

HOW DO YOU IMAGINE STAGING THE PIECE? We’re going to stage this with one woman performing the text, with either one of two musicians. We’re going to paint a landscape musically and within the story telling the music will push the narrative forward as well.

The text is very rich and at times complex; there will be interplay between the performer and the musician, Danny Saul, in the nature of the delivery. There are two really big moments of violence in the story, and I don’t know much about the design yet because I’m still in early conversations with Samal (Blak, the designer) but in those moments we’re not acting fighting, but the performer will have to something incredibly physical in those moments, be that perform that text climbing up something upside down – I don’t know, or stretched, but that performer will be doing the text in a moment of physical extreme. You as an audience will be like “Oohh” and you’ll feel for their life –


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that’s the sense that I want to get, that you’re like “they could die doing this” which is what Beowulf goes through. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO USE THEATRE ELEMENTS; DESIGN, SOUND, LIGHTS ETC, TO BRING THE STORY TO LIFE? The space is amazing, I imagine loads of the space at the back will be open, so you’ll get that sense of the mead hall, and the darkness in the cave, it’ll be huge and expansive. I want to create a sense of the darkness and the vastness, and one person against the darkness. Chris (Thorpe) has written a metaphor about how we deal with terror and how we deal with terrorism and the choice we make on that, and what’s that quote – “darkness is just the absence of light”. I want to play with that idea – I’m really interested in that.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT HOW YOU’VE CAST THE PLAY AND WHY?

Like all these things, it’s just your instincts isn’t it? I read it and I thought it can’t be a voice from London - that would feel wrong to me, it needs to be a voice from somewhere else from the North in some shape or form, it felt right to me.

I’m always interested in the assumptions people make; look at the film Dunkirk which is getting quite a lot of flack at the moment – quite rightly. It’s a brilliant film and I’m really excited about seeing the film, but actually it’s neglected to portray all of the people of colour working in the merchant navy, and working in British expeditionary forces. None of them are in the film, it’s all white men in the film, and actually that’s not true. In the same way that this story is held up as a paragon of ‘Englishness’ – actually we don’t know the roots of the story, it could be from anywhere, so I’m really interested in the sense of “otherness” that a person of colour brings to the idea of ‘what is Britishness?’ which is a question that is plaguing our society in an enormous way at the moment.

And we’ve had thousands of years of men telling stories. I know that I say this being a director telling stories and I’m a man, but I’m more interested in hearing women tell stories now really, I’m more interested in the way they imagine worlds. The fact that me, Chris, and Danny are all men, it feels important to have another energy in the room, that feels really right to me, but that’s instinct.

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OVERVIEW OF THE SCHEME OF LEARNINGThe scheme of learning is designed to be useful to Drama teachers and accessible to non-Drama specialists who want to run The Year 7 project as part of their English or History curriculum. The scheme will utilise key Drama skills and strategies including: group discussion, text work, still image, simple devising, marking the moment, physical theatre, underscoring, ensemble and chorus work, character moulding, teacher in-role and sharing and responding.

The lesson plans will introduce students to extracts of text from the play and provide the opportunity to explore their own personal and collective responses to the play’s characters and themes, and find links to their own life experiences. The scheme of learning links thematically to questions relevant to students in their first term of secondary school. It will provide opportunities for creative and collaborative work that examines bravery and fear, kinship and belonging, trust and distrust and the ways in which we choose how to present ourselves to the world - and the vulnerabilities that may lie behind the masks we put on.

We recommend that you run at least Session One before your visit. Sessions Two to Six will be written in a way that makes it possible to run them either before or after seeing the play.

These six lesson plans work closely with the text for The Unicorn’s production of Beowulf. Chris Thorpe’s text is rich, poetic and full of imagery as the story of terror, fear and courage unfolds. The story is told by Beowulf many years after the main action of the story, as he looks back on events and asks the audience ‘Was I a good King?’ Through actively exploring some moments in the story we hope that students will be able to examine that question together and share their thoughts, feelings, experiences and different perspectives on the actions of our hero.

Giving students access to the text will allow them to become familiar with some of the poetry and begin to conjure some of the images, characters and moments of the story in their imaginations before their visit.

We hope that they will make connections to their own experiences and begin to articulate what these concepts, dilemmas and moments of drama mean to them and their lives.


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SESSION 1: INTRODUCING KEY CHARACTERS AND THEMESThis session introduces the context for the play and explores key characters; the brave warrior Beowulf, who travels to a help a people in need; King Hrothgar, a King who cannot protect his people and Grendel, a prowler in the dark, who is terrorising the Danes. Students will use short extracts from the text in a short devising task which opens up key themes of honour, belonging, allegiance, the bonds of kith and kin, loyalty and trust and fear.

SESSION 2: BEOWULF THE HERO This session uses the text of Beowulf as the stimulus for students to create a moment of physical theatre which depicts Beowulf’s heroic acts in the past. They will go on to contrast a mythical hero of almost super human powers with contemporary people we might consider to be heroic.

SESSION THREE: THE DANES – DEFEATED WARRIORS This session asks students to explore the status of characters within the story and consider the concepts of strength and weakness, courage and fear. Students will create moving images which contrast the warrior Danes, once proud and fearless, but now diminished by years of attack by Grendel with Beowulf, the warrior hero brimming with confidence and certainty.

SESSION 4: THE KING MASKHrothgar the King, once the most powerful King in the Northlands, is no longer able to protect his people. When Beowulf arrives ‘He puts on his King Mask and bids us welcome.’ This session explores the nature of leadership and the idea of putting on a mask and asks; is it possible to choose what to present to the world and what to hide?

SESSION 5: FACING THE MONSTERBeowulf is described as the ‘bravest of the brave’; he volunteers to fight the monster Grendel, putting himself in mortal danger. Students will create short scenes showing the different ways in which people can be courageous.

SESSION 6: BEOWULF – WAS BEOWULF A GOOD KING?This session provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their experience of watching the play through discussing elements of the production and how they support the telling of the story of Beowulf. Students are also asked to articulate their thoughts and feelings about the question Beowulf poses at the beginning and end of the play: ‘Was I a good King?’ and draw forward their ideas developed over the previous sessions.


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SESSION 1

INTRODUCING KEY CHARACTERS AND THEMESThis session introduces the context for the play and explores key characters; the brave w

arrior Beow

ulf, who travels to a help

a people in need; King H

rothgar, a King w

ho cannot protect his people and Grendel, a prow

ler in the dark, who is terrorising

the Danes.

Students will use short extracts from

the text in a short devising task which opens up key them

es of honour, belonging, allegiance, the bonds of kith and kin, loyalty and trust and fear.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE•

To introduce key characters, themes and tensions.

•To explore extracts of the script physically and vocally and becom

e familiar w

ith the language.

TRANSITION FOCUS •

To encourage students to achieve together, exchanging ideas and creating a shared piece of w

ork.•

To develop skills of collaboration and negotiation to build confidence.

STRATEGIES •

Group discussion, still im

age, text exploration, simple devising, sharing and

responding

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SESSION 1:

DISCUSSION Introduce the play Beow

ulf by Chris Thorpe, based on the oldest surviving poem

w

ritten in the English language.

Ask students w

hat they think of when they hear B

eowulf – does it have any

resonance for them? W

hat images, characters or plot lines spring to m

ind?

Explain the play is a modern adaptation of the old m

yth, written dow

n around 800

to 10

00

CE and set in ‘the N

orthlands’ what is now

Sweden and D

enmark. C

hris Thorpe’s version of the play stays close to the original, but poses questions that are relevant for us in 2017.

You are going to look at some key characters and them

es from the play today and

consider what m

ight happen in the story.

STATUESA

sk the class to walk around the space and, w

hen you say, make still im

ages of the key characters in B

eowulf.

•

A fearless w

arrior who travels to help a people in need

•

A K

ing who is described as “a parent w

ho cannot protect his children”•

A

monster, a prow

ler in the dark, who terrorizes the people

•

A w

arrior who challenges the hero and doubts his abilities

•

A defeated w

arrior ‘dripping with despair, paralysed w

ith fear, needy’

Beow

ulf is part of our cultural heritage and m

ost students will have heard the nam

e. Some

may have seen a film

, TV or anim

ated version, as w

ell as those who have read a translation or

adaptation.

A brief conversation w

ill allow them

to share w

hat students know or half rem

ember and for

you to hear what prior know

ledge they have. If

students know nothing of the story that is fine.

Possible extension: in small groups discuss

how these characters could fit together in a

possible narrative and in a series of three still im

ages show how

the characters might be

connected.

ACTIVITYADDITIONAL COMMENTS

RESOURCES

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SESSION 1: CONTINUED

DEVISED MOMENTS M

ove the class into five groups and give each group a theme/title from

the list below

. Ask groups to m

ake a physical image that represents their them

e, as you count dow

n from 10

to 0.

•H

onour•

Belonging

•The bonds of kith and kin

•Loyalty and trust

•Fear

Now

give each group the corresponding text fragment from

the play and ask them

to use it within their im

age in some w

ay. They can develop and adapt their im

ages and will need to decide how

to share and use their text within their group.

SHARING AND RESPONDINGSee each group’s w

ork, perform them

seamlessly as if one piece, and discuss w

hat kind of story you see em

erging, reflecting on the way characters and them

es connect and relate across the m

oments they have created.

This activity allows students to start intuitively

and with universal concepts before m

oving to

the specific content of the play.

The scenes can be played in any order; the activity asks students to consider w

hat the play m

ight be about, what kind of territory w

e are in, w

ithout any wrong or right answ

ers as they begin to infer m

eaning from a few

mom

ents w

hich combine characters, im

ages and words.

Resource 1: Text

fragments


RESOURCES

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SESSION 2

BEOWULF THE HERO

This session uses the text of Beow

ulf as the stimulus for students to create a m

oment of physical theatre w

hich depicts B

eowulf’s heroic acts in the past.

They will go on to contrast a m

ythical hero of almost super hum

an powers w

ith contemporary people w

e might consider to

be heroic.


To use physical theatre to explore Beow

ulf the hero.•

To explore what the concept of hero m

eans to us in 2017


To identify characteristics in others we m

ight aspire to.•

To share ideas about how w

e might idealize others.

STRATEGIES •

Fruit bowl, group discussion, physical theatre, interpreting text, still im

age, sharing and responding.

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SESSION 2:

INTRODUCTIONExplain that in this session w

e are going to look at the hero of the story and the play; B

eowulf, and consider w

hat makes som

eone a hero for others?

BEOWULF FRUIT BOW

LA

sk students to sit in a circle and stand in the middle. G

ive each person in turn one of the follow

ing names. A

sking them to repeat the nam

e after you.

•B

eowulf – the hero, a fearless w

arrior •

Grendel – the m

onster; a prowler in the dark

•K

ing Hrothgar – a proud K

ing•

Unferth – a w

arrior who doubts B

eowulf

Finally teach them the nam

e:

•H

eorot – the mead hall w

here King H

rothgar’s warriors m

eet to eat, drink and celebrate their victories in battle.

Now

call out one of the names and ask the students w

ith that name to cross the circle

and find another seat. As the person w

ho is ‘on’ you try to sit in one of the vacant seats. The person left w

ithout a seat is ‘on’. If you say Heorot then everyone m

ust change seats.

A w

arm up gam

e which w

ill help students becom

e familiar w

ith the names of som

e of the characters.

Page 7: Interview

with Justin A

udibert

the director

Resource: A circle of

chairs


RESOURCES

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BEOWULF: THE HERO

As a class read the B

eowulf text, ask students to volunteer to read four lines each.

The text relates the kind of stories that are told of Beow

ulf’s heroism w

hich take place before he com

es to the Northlands to help K

ing Hrothgar and his people.

In groups ask students to choose five lines they like and find a way to perform

the action described and incorporate spoken text into their piece. They w

ill need to m

ake decisions about how to distribute the text am

ongst them; they m

ay choose to have one story teller or share the lines am

ongst all of them. They m

ay perform

the action as the text is spoken, or separate out the words and action..

Watch the perform

ances back and ask students to identify why B

eowulf m

ight be considered a hero. W

hat words w

ould they use to describe Beow

ulf and write

these up on the whiteboard?

DISCUSSION A

sk students what they w

ould identify as heroic qualities. What w

ords would they

use to describe a hero?

Add these ideas to the w

ords already gathered that describe Beow

ulf, you can refer to these throughout this session.

Briefly discuss w

hy we have heroes and w

hat they mean to us.

The text describes two m

ain heroic incidents, although there are distinct m

oments w

ithin the action of each. You could give half of the class one incident to focus on and the other half the other one.

Resource 2: Beow

ulf

text

Resource 3: Definition

of Hero


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PAIRED PRESENTATIONS In pairs ask students to discuss w

hat they think makes som

eone a hero to them. A

sk them

to choose one person who they consider to be a hero. This could be som

eone they know

, or a public figure.

In pairs ask them to find a w

ay to present this modern day hero to the rest of the

class; as with the B

eowulf activity they can use w

ords and actions that describe and show

this person’s heroic qualities.

SHARING AND RESPONDINGW

atch the presentations back, and pose the questions Justin Audibert the director

asks:

•W

ho is a hero and what does being a hero m

ean? •

In what w

ays can having heroes be helpful? •

In what w

ays can having heroes be unhelpful? •

Is there a point when w

e realize that the person you thought was am

azing is just hum

an and that all of us are flawed, all of us have w

eaknesses and make

mistakes?

Finally read the final lines from the B

ewoulf text; reveal that the accounts of B

eowulf’s

heroism are spoken by U

nferth, who challenges and doubts B

eowulf.

Does this change the w

ay they think about Beow

ulf?

This discussion can encompass diff

erent perspectives; that the idea of heroes can give us role m

odels to aspire to, but also question w

hether we should be w

ary of idealizing other people w

ho have good qualities, appear to be hugely successful, but are hum

an too.

Resource 4: Unferth

text


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SESSION 3

THE DANES: DEFEATED W

ARRIORSThis session asks students to explore the status of characters w

ithin the story and consider the concepts of strength and w

eakness, courage and fear.

Students will create m

oving images w

hich contrast the warrior D

anes, once proud and fearless, but now dim

inished by years of attack by G

rendel with B

eowulf, the w

arrior hero brimm

ing with confidence and certainty.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE•To explore the idea of status through physicality•To act out the events that led up to B

eowulf’s arrival

•To explore how B

eowulf view

s the defeated warriors

TRANSITION FOCUS •To share ideas about how

Beow

ulf reacts to the weakness of the D

anes•To explore the concept of em

pathy in this mom

ent.

STRATEGIES •G

roup discussion, status games, Story W

hoosh, moving im

ages, thought tracking

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SESSION 3:

DISCUSSION Explain that in this session w

e are going to explore the theme of status and of

strength and weakness.

Ask the group: W

hat is status? What does it m

ean to have a high or low status? Is a

person’s status fixed or can it change?

Explain that Beow

ulf is a warrior w

ho “volunteered to go on a journey” - does this m

ake him high or low

status?

STATUSExplain to students that you are going to explore the idea of status through our body language and physicality.

Ask the students to m

ove around the space in silence.

With 1 as the low

est status and 10 as the highest, ask the students w

alk around the room

call out different num

bers and ask them to respond physically. A

sk them to pay

attention to their stance, the way they are m

oving and how they interact w

ith others.

Gradually count dow

n from 10

to 1 – stop the activity and ask the students to explain how

they felt going from a high status to a low

status? Which status did they prefer?

When m

ight your status decline in life?

Give each student a num

ber from 1 to 10

on a piece of paper – explain that they should try and com

municate w

hat number status they are through their body

language and physicality.


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Divide the group in tw

o and ask half the group watch the other m

ove around the space. A

sk the audience who they consider to have the higher status and w

hy, what

do they observe about the way the diff

erent people interact.

Swap the groups over so that the audience can also have a turn.

STORY WHOOSH

Sit in a circle as a whole class and explain they are going to act out the story running

up to Beow

ulf’s arrival at Herorot.

Using the Story W

hoosh provided narrate the story, and invite students in turn around the circle, into the centre to enact the story as you read it.

When you com

e to a Whoosh this is the signal for those students to sit dow

n and for you to continue on w

ith the next people around the circle.

Ask the students to draw

on the status work they have done earlier and notice w

ho has high status and w

ho has low status and w

hy? Does this change throughout the

story?

A Story W

hoosh is a way of acting out a story

with the w

hole class and allows you see the m

ain narrative, action and characters in a story in broad brush strokes. It is im

portant to go around the circle w

ith each person taking part in turn, m

aking it an accessible and inclusive activity in w

hich everyone contributes to telling the story.

The teacher needs to take an active narrator/director role, helping shape the narrative and focus the action. It’s w

orth reading the Whoosh

out loud in advance in order to get a sense of the structure and dram

atic mom

ents.

Resource 5: The story w

hoosh


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THE DEFEATED WARRIORS: MOVING IMAGES

Explain that you are going to explore the mom

ent when B

eowulf and his w

arriors first m

eet the warrior D

anes.

In groups of between 6 and 8 ask students to create 3 still im

ages of Hrothgar and

Beow

ulf’s warriors m

eeting in response to the text. Then find a way to transition

between each im

age in a way that brings the m

oment to life in slow

motion.

Ask students to read the text closely to identify B

eowulf and his w

arrior’s attitude tow

ards the Danes.

PERFORMING AND THOUGHT TRACKING:W

atch the groups’ work and thought track som

e of the characters, either by asking perform

ers to share their characters thoughts, or ask the audience to respond to what

they see and provide the thoughts for a character.

For Beow

ulf and his warriors you could ask:

•W

hat do you thing of the warriors in front of you?

•W

hy do you think they are in the state that they are?•

Do you think they have done everything possible to defeat G

rendel?•

What w

ould you like to say to them?

•D

o you think you could end up like them?

For Hrothgar’s w

arriors:

•W

hat would you say to B

eowulf about w

hat you have been through over the last 12 years?

The text includes Beow

ulf’s description of the once proud and fearless w

arriors after years of G

rendel’s terror.

You could give students these additional lines of text to w

ork with:

‘These Danes w

ere taught traps of suspicion.The m

onster in the night had left their insides broken.’

Resource 6: Text


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•W

hat do you think of the way B

eowulf and his w

arriors are looking at you?•

Do you think it is possible B

eowulf and his w

arriors an save you?

Discuss w

hy they think Beow

ulf responded in the way he did. W

here do you think his feelings of disgust cam

e from? W

hy did he want to shake them

and shout in their


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SESSION 4

THE KING MASK H

rothgar the King, once the m

ost powerful K

ing in the Northlands, is no longer able to protect his people. W

hen Beow

ulf arrives ‘H

e puts on his King M

ask and bids us welcom

e.’

This session explores the nature of leadership and the idea of putting on a mask and asks; is it possible to choose w

hat to present to the w

orld and what to hide?


To work w

ith text and image to express w

hat lies behind Hrothgars’ K

ing Mask

•To explore w

hat qualities make som

eone a leader.


To share ideas about what people w

ant to present to the world and the

weaknesses and vulnerabilities they m

ight want to hide.

STRATEGIES •

Group discussion, C

olombian hypnosis, interpreting text, character sculpting.

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SESSION 4:

DISCUSSION: WHAT MAKES A LEADER?

Refer to the w

ork from the last session that contrasted B

eowulf’s w

arriors with

Hrothgar’s.

Both B

eowulf and H

rothgar are leaders; as a King H

rothgar is higher status than B

eowulf and his w

as once the most successful kingdom

in the Northlands. B

ut after years of terror H

rothgar is not the King he once w

as.

Discuss w

hat qualities people look for in a leader and what qualities people do not

want.

Write the classes ideas up to refer back to throughout this session.

COLOMBIAN HYPNOSISM

ove the class into pairs and ask them to decide w

ho will be the leader and w

ho will

follow. The leader holds their hand in front of the face of their partner at a distance

of about nine inches and the same distance betw

een hand and face should be m

aintained throughout the activity (imagine there is a pencil balanced betw

een nose and hand that can only rem

ain by keeping the same distance).

Ask the leader to lead their partner around the room

and for the follower to follow

as precisely as possible.

Now

ask the pairs to swap around and experience the other role.

Discuss students’ responses to the activity: how

did it feel to lead? How

did it feel to follow

? Which role did they prefer and w

hy?

You could refer to contemporary leaders; for

example Teresa M

ay used the phrase ‘strong and stable’ repeatedly in her election cam

paign to indicate the kind of leader she w

anted people to see her as.

You could introduce the idea that there can only be leaders w

hen others agree to follow: Pow

er only exists if all parties agree to it.


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Extension: Introduce more follow

ers to a leader, so that there are multiple people

following once person’s hand. A

sk the rest of the class to watch this and com

ment on

what they observe.

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Ask the students to stand in a circle and for one student to stand in the m

iddle. Explain that the student in the m

iddle is the ‘leader ‘and everyone on the outside are the ‘follow

ers’. Each follower should choose a body part of the leader that they need

to maintain the sam

e distance to, for example: if a follow

er chooses the leader’s hand every tim

e the leader moves their hand the follow

er will follow

the movem

ent with

their body.

Ask the leader to start w

ith small m

ovements in the m

iddle of the circle and establish the ripple eff

ect this has on the followers. W

hen the group is confident with the

activity the leader can start to move around the space. Sw

ap the leader so a few

students have a turn. Ask students to reflect on how

it felt to be a leader and have everyone follow

ing them – did they enjoy it? D

id they feel pressured? How

did it feel to be part of a group follow

ing one leader?

THE KING MASK Together read the text w

here Beow

ulf describes his first sighting of Hrothgar.

Move the students into pairs and ask them

to decide who w

ill be the sculpture and w

ho the sculptor. Ask the sculptor to sculpt their partner into an im

age of King

Hrothgar using the text – rem

ind them that this is before H

rothgar sees Beow

ulf, an unguarded m

oment before he know

s he’s being watched.

This Boal activity is designed to explore pow

er and the dynam

ic between a leader and their

followers.

“Can you imagine w

hat it feels like, this paralysis?For a K

ing, knowing that gold is no defence.

That all the past victories are just pictures on dead shields. Pow

er only exists if all parties agree to it.G

rendel has come, and w

ill come, and w

ill come

again.”

Resource 7: Text


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Now

introduce the lines from the play; ‘H

e puts on his King-m

ask and bids us w

elcome’

Ask the pairs to discuss w

hat it means for H

rothgar to put on his King-m

ask. Now

using their sculpture of H

rothgar find a way to transition in slow

motion into an im

age of H

rothgar wearing his ‘K

ing Mask’.

As a pair decide w

hat Hrothgar’s inner voices m

ight be which urge and encourage

Hrothgar to put on the m

ask to face Beow

ulf. In their pairs ask them to w

rite down

five or six things that Hrothgar m

ight think and use them as their text.

Ask students to put the im

ages and words together; w

ith the sculptor speaking the lines over the m

oving image of H

rothgar.

SHARING AND RESPONDING Spotlight the pairs around the room

one after another and see everyone’s moving

image and text.

Discuss w

hat you have seen:

•H

ow diffi

cult is it for Hrothgar to put on his ‘K

ing Mask’?

•W

hat does Hrothgar attem

pt to hide from B

eowulf?

•Is putting on the ‘K

ing Mask’ artifice or is he doing w

hat he needs to do as King?

•Later on B

eowulf describes seeing doubt on H

rothgar’s face. Is it weak for a K

ing to show

doubt or fear to his subjects?

their feelings than others?

You could use one statue of Hrothgar and as

a whole class thought track the K

ing in this m

oment to share ideas before pairs m

ake choices about their ow

n piece of text.


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In pairs ask students to discuss whether putting on a m

ask can be useful in everyday life. C

an it help to give confidence or is it lying? Are som

e people better at masking

their feelings than others?


RESOURCES


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SESSION 5

FACING THE MONSTERB

eowulf is described as the ‘bravest of the brave’; he volunteers to fight the m

onster Grendel, putting him

self in mortal

danger. Students will create short scenes show

ing the different w

ays in which people can be courageous.


To create a short scene showing an act of bravery.

•To explore the concepts of bravery and courage in arrange of contexts.


To express and articulate the ways in w

hich people can be brave, in particular ism

all everyday mom

ents. •

To continue to develop skills of collaboration and negotiation when m

aking work.

STRATEGIES •

Wink m

urder, group discussion, still image, sim

ple devising.

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SESSION 5:

WINK MURDER

Play a game of w

ink murder; ask the students to close their eyes and say you w

ill choose the m

urderer by touching one person on the shoulder. Alternatively you could

give out scraps of paper, one with a cross on it denoting the m

urderer.

The murderer m

ust “kill” the other players by making eye contact and w

inking at them

. When som

eone has been winked at, they m

ust count to five and the ‘die’. If som

eone suspects they know the identity of the m

urderer, they can raise their hand and say “I accuse”, w

ithout naming their suspect. They m

ust then point to their suspect and if correct the gam

e ends. How

ever if they are wrong, then they also die.

Encourage students to play the game com

pletely silently (including the deaths) and to try to keep the tension high.

DISCUSSIONThe director Justin A

udibert describes how the play explores ‘W

hat lies in the darkness? That’s w

hy the story has so much resonance; G

rendel signifies darkness, w

hat we are afraid of.’

The monster G

rendel can act as a metaphor for w

hatever it is we’re afraid of.

Beow

ulf is the hero of the play because he is brave and faces up to the monster. H

e is described as the bravest w

arrior.

Beow

ulf draws the audience’s attention to the diff

erent acts of bravery comm

itted in the play, but he also adm

its.

“I thought there was only one w

ay to be brave.”

You could choose some atm

ospheric music to

play under this game, and turn the lights low

.


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What do you think of B

eowulf’s idea of being brave m

ight be?

Discuss w

hat you in 2017 think bravery is and list as many w

ays you can think of that people can be brave.

What exam

ples of bravery in contemporary life can you think of? C

an you think of exam

ples that might look like sm

all mom

ents, but that might be huge acts of courage

for the individual? Is it possible to choose to be brave?

MOMENTS OF BRAVERY: SHORT SCENESM

ove students into groups and ask them to choose one exam

ple of someone being

brave (from the list they’ve com

piled, or they can come up w

ith a new idea). A

s a group decide w

hat that person is afraid of in that mom

ent; and what it is that the

person does.

What are they afraid m

ight happen? What lies in the darkness? W

hat is Grendel in

this situation?

In their groups, ask students to create a still image show

ing the mom

ent of greatest bravery.

Now

ask them to create an im

age showing w

hat happened 1 minute before and

another showing five m

inutes later. Ask them

to decide whether there is a m

oment

when the person decides to be brave, or w

hether it is something they do instinctively.

When groups have their three still im

ages, ask them to turn them

into a short scene, linking them

together and adding minim

al text.

“Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to act in the presence of fear.” - B

ruce Lee


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Ask them

to rehearse their short scene and make sure they ‘m

ark the mom

ent’ they had chosen as the m

oment of greatest bravery.

Extension: If you have time you could ask groups to create a second scene show

ing w

hat happened five years later.

PERFORMING See all of the groups w

ork and discuss the different types of fear and bravery they

have chosen to show.

Are you able to com

e up with a group definition for bravery w

hich encapsulates all of the group’s depictions? D

iscuss what w

as at stake in each example and w

hether the protagonists had to be prepared to lose or sacrifice som

ething in order to face the fear and be brave?


RESOURCES

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SESSION 6

WAS BEOW

ULF A GOOD KING? This session provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their experience of w

atching the play through discussing elem

ents of the production and how they support the telling of the story of B

eowulf.

Students are also asked to articulate their thoughts and feelings about the question Beow

ulf poses at the beginning and end of the play: ‘W

as I a good King?’ and draw

forward their ideas developed over the previous sessions.


To explore their responses to the theatre experience.•

To reflect on the decision Beow

ulf makes to kill G

rendel’s mother and w

hether his actions m

ake him a ‘G

ood King’.


To share responses about the production, acknowledging the w

ay people can have very diff

erent thoughts and opinions about a play.•

To explore their own personal responses to the question posed in the play about

Beow

ulf’s actions and hear other’s thought and feelings on the subject.

STRATEGIES •

Group discussion, sim

ple devising, hot-seating, spectrum of opinion.

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SESSION 6:

REFLECTING ON THE PLAYIn groups of 3 ask students to choose one m

oment that stayed w

ith them from

the production. A

sk them to pinpoint:

•W

hat was happening at the m

oment in term

s of the narrative and the action on stage?

•C

an they describe the staging in that mom

ent?•

How

did the music and sound contribute to the piece?

•H

ow did the lighting and set contribute?

•W

hat do you think the director wanted the audience to think and feel in that

mom

ent?

Ask students to share back som

e of their discussion.

BEOWULF’S DECISION

At the end of the play B

eowulf m

akes a decision whether to take G

rendel’s mothers

life or whether to spare her and m

ake peace.

Read the text w

here Beow

ulf’s decision is made as a w

hole class.

Move students back into their 3’s and give each group the extract to perform

. One

person will be the director, one B

eowulf and the other G

rendel’s mother.

Ask each group to highlight the dialogue in the text and allocate lines. The director

then directs the action of the piece and the actors perform; they m

ay choose to use the text as it is w

ritten, or they could approximate the dialogue if they w

ant to concentrate on the staging and physicality w

ithout the need to hold the scripts.

Hom

ework: Students can use their ideas

from this discussion to w

rite a review of the

production. Start with describing the choices

the playwright and director have m

ade in creating the production and then they can m

ove onto their opinion; where they discuss

how eff

ective they felt those choices were.

Resource 8: Beow

ulf and G

rendell’s Mother

text


RESOURCES

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Extension: When they are happy w

ith their scene try adding the rest of the text; with

the director interspersing the action and dialogue with narration.

PERFORMINGA

sk groups to share their work, and discuss how

seeing the mom

ent enacted with

actors playing Beow

ulf and Grendel’s m

other differs from

the Unicorn piece w

hich is a narrative poem

performed by one person.

HOT-SEATINGA

sk for someone to volunteer to be B

eowulf, and take the hot-seat. A

sk them to

imagine that it is a few

weeks after they have killed G

rendel’s mother; they have been

lauded and honoured by Hrothgar and his people, w

ho’s terror is now over. H

e has returned to his hom

e in Geatland, w

here he is received back by his King and people

as a hero.

Ask the rest of the class to think of questions they w

ould like to put to Beow

ulf about w

hat happened and the decisions he has made.

Give other students the opportunity to take the hot-seat as B

ewoulf and see w

hat other responses they com

e up with.


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WAS I A GOOD KING: OPINION SPECTRUM

Ask students to decide w

hether they thought Beow

ulf was a good king or not.

Assign one side of the room

as Strongly agree – that Beow

ulf was a good king - and

the other as strongly disagree – he was not a good K

ing. Ask students to stand w

here on the spectrum

their opinion lies. Ask som

e people to speak about why they have

stood where they are.

In this discussion draw forw

ard the work the class have created around heroes,

leaders and what courage is.

Finish by discussing what they think and feel the play is about; as a contem

porary version of the oldest surviving English story, how

is it relevant to an audience in 2017?


RESOURCES

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RESOURCE 1

“There are these moments that heroes are made in when there is a clear reason to fight”

“One more of the their friends has been taken in the dark”

“We were their sisters and couldn’t stand by, we were their brothers and couldn’t watch this happen”

“Trust is not easily given by the damaged”

“The fear-worm stirred, uncoiling in our bellies and each of us knew the others also felt it”

RESOURCE 2

“I’ve heard all the tales telling of his prowess -How once he swam between two islands in full armourFighting waves that came at him like wild wet dogsIn a challenge to see who was the most fearlessBetween him and another warrior, Breca.How they dived fully clad into sea so coldIt had begun to bind their hair with ice crystalsBefore their strokes got them clear of the harbourAnd I have heard that they fought as they swamEach swinging a sword as long as their bodiesForged from the heaviest metal and weightedSo any other human would have been dragged to drowningAnd for three days they swam, confounding each otherAnd pausing to sever the sleek heads of sea snakesUntil finally Beowulf emerged at the shorelineTriumphant, and dragged Breca senseless behind him.And I have heard that once, surrounded by savagesWave after wave of blood-painted BritonsOn a spit of land no larger than an axe-sweepHe rallied the remaining members of his bandThe four or five not torn to ribbonsCircled them so their backs faced inwardsWhile the carrion-crows fluttered already above themReady and waiting to peck out their corpse-eyesAnd yet somehow this Geat managed to save themRan his lightning courage through themUntil their very armour sparked and smoulderedAnd they lit the bruised storm-clouds from belowAs the waves of iron broke upon them, falteredAnd afterwards they stood in a circle of bodiesBlown back in ranks with each rank raised in numberFallen like trees from the strike of a meteor.”

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RESOURCE 3

Hero noun

A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

The chief male character in a book, play, or film, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

(in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin.

RESOURCE 4

“I have heard all these thingsAnd I have to say I believe some of themI do not deny that he is a heroI have to say – look at him – he is impressiveBut I still say Beowulf cannot save us”

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RESOURCE 5 - STORY WHOOSH

• There was once a great king whose name was Hrothgar. • Hrothgar led a group of fearless and loyal warriors who carried swords, spears and shields to

protect themselves in battle. • Hrothgar’s fearless warriors set out to defend their Kingdom. They returned victorious – bringing

with them golden treasures, swords and jewels which they presented to King Hrothgar. • The Warriors paid their allegiance to their King.• Hrothgar gave each Warrior a treasure as a token of his thanks and to acknowledge the bonds

between them: a ring, a clasp for their cloak, a torque (bracelet or necklace) a sword.• Hrothgar and his men were the most successful warriors in the Northlands

Whoosh • Hrothgar and his people were so successful that he decided to build a great Mead Hall at the

centre of their Kingdom. Not just any hall, the greatest hall yet built in the northlands. The carpenters chopped down the trees, planed the planks of wood, and hammered the great beams together and raised the roof. They created the greatest Mead Hall there had ever been.

• When the building was finished they worked on the fine carving on King Hrothgar’s throne and the tables and benches where the warriors would feast.

Whoosh

• Everyone was getting ready for the opening of the great Mead Hall, Heorot. • Servants lit the great fire in the centre of the hall and the lamps that lined each wall. Others were

polishing the golden mead cups and placing them on the great banqueting tables. Cooks were turning the pig on its spit over the fire. Brewers brought in jugs full of mead and filled the golden cups. Musicians tuned their instruments and practised their songs.

• Warriors were hanging their heavy shields up on the walls. Others were putting on their finest gold: rings on their fingers; torques around their necks; bracelets on their wrists; clasps on their cloaks.

Whoosh

• When Heorot was warm from the fires, the gold was gleaming in the light from the candles and sconces, King Hrothgar and his chieftain warriors took their places.

• Hrothgar asked everyone in the hall to stand and to raise their mead cups in a toast. • All the warriors and their families, the cooks, the carpenters, the musicians, the brewers,

the servants all stood and raised their mead cups (gold for the warriors, earthen ware for the servants) and made the toast. ‘May Heorot always be a place of feasting and celebration. We are the strongest.’

Whoosh

• Outside the walls of Heorot, Hrothgar’s guards watched over the borderlands. All night the guards kept watch.

• They scanned the hills for signs of danger. And saw no one. • The guards looked to the river. Listening for the sound of oars. But the river was still and calm.• One guard looked to where the mist rose from the marshes beyond the borders of the settlement

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and thought they saw something. Looking and listening carefully. Maybe they were mistaken.

Whoosh

• In the morning the guards who had been watching the marshlands did not return from their night on watch.

• Hrothgar sent out scouts to look for them. • At the far edge of the borderlands the scouts found all that was left of the guards: bent swords,

broken shields, fragments of clothing and tracks leading back towards the marshes.

Whoosh

• That night Hrothgar doubled the guards at the doors of the Mead Hall. • And the great wooden doors of Heorot were closed and bolted, everything and everyone was still. • The logs on the fire burned low and the light from the candle flames flickered on the wooden

walls of Heorot. Everything was quiet • The warriors wrapped themselves in their furs and settled down to sleep, with their swords ready

at their sides. • Everyone heard the door open. But no one moved. No one could move. It was as if they were

asleep but awake at the same time. • Everyone heard the creak of footsteps on the wooden floor – but still no one moved and no one

uttered a sound in the great hall of Heorot.• Into the hall crept the prowler in the dark. “It padded on webbed feet, its face swung low, sniffing.

From one to the other it made an inspection. A leisurely circuit of everyone present. It paused to select as if browsing a banquet. And then it was gone, whispered back to the marshes.”

• When the warriors woke next morning, all that was left were the signs of where their warrior brother had slept, blood on the floor, and prints leading to the open door.

Whoosh

• The next night the warriors settled down for the night, swords ready by their sides. • Once again the door was bolted firm, and guards at the door doubled. • Once again, as if under a spell the warriors were frozen as they heard the door open, the padding

footsteps, the sniffing from man to man. But nobody could move. • “One more of their friends has been taken in the dark, while the others slept deep and enchanted.”• And in the morning they turned to see the empty place where one of their kin had been taken

from (ask one of the warriors to return to their seat).

Whoosh

• This continued for years; each night the warriors could not move and one of them was taken. • In the day time they tried everything; they tried to follow the tracks to the marshes, but could not

find it. • They tried setting traps. • But nothing worked, and nothing could save them.

Whoosh

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• The years passed, until one night King Hrothgar and his warriors were in the Mead Hall, eating and drinking, but there was no feasting or celebrating, when a stranger arrived. Beowulf, a great warrior from Geatland had heard about their troubles, and because his father and Hrothgar had been close, he had come to help them destroy the monster.

Whoosh

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RESOURCE 6

“I thought at least to see a spark of hope inside them.We had come here to help these peopleWe had travelled far to help these peopleBut it seemed to us, prepared, blade-readyIt seemed to me, at the top of my gameFull of the fortitude that leadership commandedThat their bravery had been made so brittleLike a spun shard of sugar had shattered within themWe wanted to shake them, to shout in their facesAsk them why they were so paralysed, so needyLooking at us with this dripping despair.I felt the shout of disgust in my throatI felt my lips begin to curl and curse their cowardiceBut we had come to fight, and fight we would.”

RESOURCE 7

“And I can tell you, honestly, I have never seen A leader as beaten, a King as soul-wrenched Hrothgar is like a ship becalmedHrothgar is like a spilled wine-cupThe skin of his cheeks sucked back on his face-bonesThe fingernails gripping his throne-arms all bloody”

RESOURCE 8

“You have killed my son”I had not thought of the beast slain before meAs having a mother, but it made no differenceWhatever had spawned it must also be evilThe hole of its heart passing on all its malice“You have killed my son” she saysAs she steps into the lightAnd her walk is humanAnd her eyes are not hollowAnd her voice is sad“You have killed my sonBrave warrior, and I understand you had to do itI will not condemn you for itI thought of it many timesWhen he came back with another dead DaneOr howled in his pain and terror.And if he had come to my home in the nightAnd carried off my fellow warriorsI would hate him too.”

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The blade-light glows weakly, the cave shrinks around usTil only my face and her face are encompassedI look for the empty eyes, blank and fanaticBut see a true creature of feeling and fore-thoughtI start in surprise, at the force of her feelingI almost forget that she brought forth foul GrendelShe speaks and her voice is not human or monsterBut weary and full of both grief and acceptance“I would hate him tooAnd I do, I wish he had not doneThe awful things he has, you have your reasonsAnd I know he hated youBut then, the Danes have killed plenty of monstersHe had his reasons also.So, Beowulf of the GeatsJustified monster-killerHero of the DanesI say this to you-Why don’t we let this death be the last death?Perhaps we can pull ourselves now from the spiralSo you can return to the light-world with somethingThat looks more like permanent peace than mere triumphI wish that my son had never existedBecause he became so twisted with hatredHe saw all his foes as fit only for killingWith this death, can we find a way out of the cycle?”And she waits, this wise creatureThis mother ashamed of her failureThis mother, admitting her weaknessShe waits.I ponder her words, the idea they put forwardThe difficult steps for both human and monsterImagine the world without warrior or conquestA place where an enemy might not be neededThe silence, it stretches, our eyes locked togetherTwo, balanced between the blood-past and blood-futureAnd then as my answer, I raise the bright daggerAnd plunge the blade into her skull.”

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BEOWULF

Documents

BEOWULF - Unicorn Theatre 7 - Beowulf...Page 2 BEOWULF – THE YEAR 7 PROJECT RESOURCES 3 INTRODUCTION 4 ABOUT THE SHOW 6 INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER 9 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR 11