The Shadow of the Hummingbird Teacher Information Packet

a world premiere

ThE SHADOW OF THE ANN JOHANSSON/CORBIS

HUMMINGBIRD written BY & starring

ATHOL FUGARD

Directed by

Gordon Edelstein

MARCH 26 - APRIL 27

TEACHER INFORMATION PACKET

go r d o n e d e l st e i n artistic director

H

J OSHUA BORENS TEI N managing director

PRES ENTS

a world premiere

ThE SHADOW OF THE

HUMMINGBIRD

wri t t en by & st arring a th o l f u g a r d Introductory Scene by Paula Fourie, with extracts from Athol Fugard’s unpublished notebooks

Direct ed by g o r d o n ed el s tei n

MARCH 26 - APRIL 27, 2014 ON STAGE II

T e a c h e r I n f o r m a ti o n P a c k e t C o m p i l e d an d W ri t t e n b y a n n ie d imarti no Director of Education m a l l o r y pel legrino Education Programs Manager kr istian n a s mit h Resident Teaching Artist ba r bar a so nens tein Resident Teaching Artist

Teacher Information Packet Layout by claire zoghb

long wharf theatre gratefully acknowledges t h e g e n e r o s it y o f o u r e d u c a ti o n s upp o r t e r s anna fitch ardenghi trust Frederick A. Deluca Foundation national corporate theatre fund the seymour l. lustman memorial fund The Seedlings Foundation wells fargo foundation The Werth Family Foundation FOUNDING SUPPORTER OF LONG WHARF THEATRE’S VIDEO STUDY GUIDE AND SUPPORTER OF THE EDUCATORS’ LABORATORY

go r d o n e d e l st e i n artistic director

H

J OSHUA BORENS TEI N managing director

a world premiere

ThE SHADOW OF THE

HUMMINGBIRD

wri t t en by & st arring a th o l f u g a r d Introductory Scene by Paula Fourie, with extracts from Athol Fugard’s unpublished notebooks

Direct ed by g o r d o n ed el s tei n

Set Design

Eugene Lee°

Costume Design

Susan Hilferty°

Michael Chybowski°

Lighting Design

Sound Design

John Gromada°

Jason Kaiser*

Production Stage Manager

PRODUCTION CO-SPONSORS

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States ° Member of United Scenic Artists, USA-829 of the IATSE This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League Of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

contents ABO U T T HE P LAY Characters 8 Synopsis 9 About the Playwright: Athol Fugard 11 First Rehearsal: The Shadow of the Hummingbird 14 T HE WORLD OF T HE P LAY Themes 16 Literary Allusions Plato and the Allegory of the Cave 17

William Blake 20

Leo Tolstoy 23 Supp l e m e n t a l M a t e r i a l s Poetry 25 Art 28 Shadow 29 Birds 30 Curriculum Connections 31 For the First-Time Theatregoer 32

Look for this symbol to find discussion and writing prompts, questions and classroom activities!

ABOUT THE PLAY

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C H A R A CTE R S

OUPA Pronounced “Oh-pa”, means grandfather or elderly man in Afrikaans. Extremely intellectual, Oupa enjoys spending time with his grandson. Crippled with arthritis and sensing life’s end, Oupa yearns to experience childlike wonder by catching the hummingbird’s shadow.

BOBA Pronounced “Bo-bah”, is Oupa’s ten-year-old grandson, nearing the end of childhood play. He enjoys visiting his grandfather after school, partly because he is concerned about Oupa’s health.

FUN FACT:

In The Shadow of the Hummingbird, there is only 1 grandson on stage, so why cast 2 actors to play the role? In December, Long Wharf Theatre put out a casting call for local non-equity boys age 8-12. After seeing many auditions, the director decided to cast twins to play the part of Boba. The brothers have been alternating rehearsal days and will alternate performances.

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S Y NO P S I S OF THE PLAY The Play begins with an introductory scene written by Paula Fourie (African Doctoral Academy PhD Candidate - Musicology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa-linkedin.com)

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to encourage his make-believe side, Oupa persuades Boba to pretend, ultimately role playing the death of the creature from “The Black Lagoon”.

e find an old man, Oupa, an elderly man around 82 years of age, searching through many overloaded bookcases in his

Tired from their pretend adventure, Oupa engages in conversation when a shadow of a hummingbird appears on the wall. This fascination with shadows has become a ritual of the pair, and when asked by Boba why the shadow is special and the real bird not as interesting, Oupa uses the Allegory of the Cave to explain.

study. He is rifling through old notebooks/journals looking for a very important entry he made a long time ago about shadows. As he reads aloud from various journals in his quest to find the specific entry, the audience is introduced to Oupa’s private musings that span the past six decades of his life. Through the readings of these entries we learn about Oupa’s

Thinking the story is “not a very good one,” Oupa becomes angry with Boba who eventually decides to leave but then is called back when Oupa apologizes.

Wanting Boba to understand why the story is so important, Oupa explains that life is not the time you spend gathering book knowledge but rather the questions that you have. It is the moments that you

thoughts concerning life and death and love as we see a snapshot of him at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 years of age. Finally finding the entry he needs, Oupa reveals his thoughts about the nature of shadows, how they have fascinated him, and how they have haunted his living and waking dreams.

FUN FACT:

The journal entries read aloud in the introductory scene are actual entries

from Athol Fugard’s personal notebooks and not made up entries.

With the journal entry found, the audience meets Boba, Oupa’s 10 year old grandson who has come to visit after school. Boba is not a little boy anymore, but he is not yet a young man. Wanting

engage in the wonder and beauty of this world and love that matter. Oupa encourages Boba to not lose touch with the sense of wonder and imagination which Oupa wants so desperately to recover.

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Sy n o p s i s

continued

Sensing he has very few days left to convey his hard earned wisdom to Boba, Oupa ends their visit with a promise that while he will never stop wanting to catch the shadow of the hummingbird, but he will wait until Boba returns the next day so that they may do it together.

Not long after Boba leaves, the hummingbird’s shadow reappears, though this night will be the last Oupa will see. The following afternoon, when Boba stops by, he is ready to play more make-believe, but instead embarks on the greater task of catching the hummingbird’s shadow for his Oupa.

In the Cla s s r o o m In The Shadow of the Hummingbird we learn about Oupa’s point of view – what he feels is important in life and how one must live it.

• Write a Bio Poem to express your point of view.

BIO P OEM 1. (your name) 2. Four words to describe YOU 3. Who lives 4. Who loves (3 things or people) 5. Who feels 6. Who needs 7. Who fears 8. Who gives 9. Who would like to see, to live 10. Who believes Create a short commercial or physicalize a tableau about you based on your bio poem.

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: ATHOL FUGARD

ATHOL FUGARD

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arold Athol Lanigan Fugard is a South African director, actor, novelist and writer of more than thirty plays, best known for his works that confront the racial segregation of apartheid.

Born in 1932, Fugard grew up in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, which would later become the setting of a number of his plays. His mother, a South African whose first language was Afrikaans, operated a general store and then a lodging house, while his father was a disabled former jazz pianist of European descent.

After studying auto mechanics, Fugard studied philosophy and social anthropology at the University of Cape Town, but dropped out a few months before final examinations to hitchhike through Africa. He then worked as a deck hand on a steamer ship in East Asia for two years, where he began writing.

In 1956, Fugard returned to Port Elizabeth and married actress Sheila Meiring, whom he had met at University. Under his wife’s influence, Fugard grew to love the theater and together they founded an experimental theater group called The Circle Players, for which Fugard wrote his first play, Klaas and the Devil.

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A b o u t t h e playwrigh t

In 1958, Fugard took a job in Johannesburg as a clerk at the Native Commissioner’s Court, which first made him aware of the injustices of apartheid. He was appalled by the prejudice he witnessed in the court, particularly towards black people. So moved, he organized a multiracial theatre for which he acted, directed, produced, and wrote plays including NoGood Friday and Nongogo, thus beginning his formal theatre career.

continued

The Blood Knot, in particular, brought him much recognition in the United States. And, in 1967, BBC Television filmed Blood Knot starring Fugard himself as Morris, the role he originated in the Johannesburg premiere.

In 1972, Fugard co-authored Sizwe Bansi is Dead with John Kani and Winston Ntshona. They also developed The Island, a play about staging Sophocles’ Antigone on Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held for twenty-seven years. The authorities considered the title too controversial, so the alternative title The Hodoshe Span (Hodoshe being slang for prison work gang) was used instead.

While working as a stage manager for South Africa’s National Theatre Organization, Fugard wrote The Blood Knot, which earned him international recognition. Later in the same year, Fugard starred in the single performance world premiere of The Blood Knot in Johannesburg.

In the 1960s, Fugard formed a theater company, of all black actors, known as the Serpent Players, because they originally performed in a venue that had been a snake pit at a zoo. The group moved from venue to venue with minimal sets and props, frequently performing Fugard’s plays in black townships, for poor migrant laborers and hostel residents. One of their productions, The Coat, dramatized the choices facing a woman whose husband is convicted of antiapartheid political activity and leaves her only a coat and instructions to use it.

In the early 1980s Fugard’s plays took a more personal track as he began to draw more from his own life. One such play which made its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 1982, Master Harold… and the Boys, draws heavily on his childhood in Port Elizabeth but still carries a political message.

His post-apartheid play The Captain’s Tiger: A Memoir for the Stage, documents his time working on a ship as a young adult in the 1950s and in 1994, he published a prose memoir, Cousins.

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ugard’s political plays and public support of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the international boycott of racially segregated South African theatres led to government restrictions on his ability to travel and surveillance of him and his theatre by the South African Secret Police; however, by then his plays were being published and produced outside South Africa.

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In his nearly 60 year career as playwright, actor and director, Fugard has received many awards, honors, and honorary degrees, including an Obie Award, Tony Award, and two NY Drama Critics’ Circle Awards. In 2005 he was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver “for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre” from the government of South Africa.

In 2010, The Fugard Theatre opened in Cape Town, South Africa, opening the season with one of Fugard’s plays The Train Driver, which he also directed.

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or quite a number of years, Fugard has had a relationship with Long Wharf Theater and with Connecticut theaters in general. It all started when a longtime Connecticut resident and theatrical patron presented the first play of his that was staged in the United States, The Blood Knot.

Fugard has said about Connecticut theatre going audiences, “…Wonderful audiences…Literate audiences who read and think and above all, listen.”

When asked about the role of theater in politics, Fugard said, “it is a venue where people are challenged to think and to feel. Because it is live, there is an element of danger to it. It can create a sense of urgency.

And in regard to South African politics and the end of apartheid, Fugard “[doesn’t] think that South African theater was alone responsible for the huge change that took place in that country… But what I do know is that theater began to get people to realize that instead of bombs, there is another possible way out of an impasse: Dialogue.”

Fugard remains one of the world’s most prolific and most produced living playwrights.

FUN FACT:

3 plays by Athol Fugard have in recent years received their world premiere at Long Wharf Theatre: Coming Home, Have You Seen Us?, and The Shadow of the Hummingbird. Additionally, The Train Driver received its East Coast Premiere at Long Wharf Theatre. All 4 productions were directed by Long Wharf’s Artistic Director, Gordon Edelstein.

REFERENCES: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/athol_fugard_ biography/ http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2416/the-art-oftheater-no-8-athol-fugard http://www.cpbn.org/article/athol-fugard-and-language

http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2005/fugard.htm http://www.iainfisher.com/fugard/fugard-chronology.html http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/ theatre/2012/02/27/120227crth_theatre_als http://www.enotes.com/boesman/author-biography

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/interviews/ AtholFugard.htm

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F I R ST R E H E A R S A L :

THE SHADOW OF THE HUMMINGBIRD

ATHOL FUGARD AT FIRST REHEARSAL with ERIC TING, gordon edelstein and paula fourie.

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playwright and actor. It is inspired by his relationship with his own grandson, his only grandchild. He looked to his young co-stars Aidan and Dermot McMillan and promised them that doing the play would be a great experience. “I’m looking forward to a good time with you guys,” he said.

ne of the traditions of first rehearsal at Long Wharf Theatre is that everyone in the company, from the leading performer to the rawest intern, introduces themselves and says what their role is in the institution. No one expects the actors and visiting artists to remember everyone, but it a statement of communal purpose. We are all in this process together.

One of the main reasons Fugard feels like he has a home is because of his relationship with Edelstein.

“We met for the first time down in San Diego and we were walking, and I was telling him about Have You Seen Us? (a previous play of Fugard’s Long Wharf Theatre produced.) His response to that piece of writing left me in no doubt that this man understood why, for 60, 70 years cause I started when I was a kid, put pen to paper. When you find someone like that, because putting pen to paper is the only thing I know how to do … Gordon understood that and that is a big big find in any writer’s life,” he said.

Athol Fugard, a South African who can be counted as one of the most important playwrights working in the English language, really doesn’t need to introduce himself to the group. But tradition calls, and his simple statement set the tone for the entire process: “I’m Athol Fugard, and I’m home.”

Fugard continues his collaboration with Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein on his newest play, The Shadow of the Hummingbird. The play, a story about the relationship between a grandfather and his beloved grandson, makes Fugard’s return to the stage in over a decade.

The theme of the play is a simple one. “The last moment of the play has some of the most important words in the English language – love. Every form of it, from the intimate moment, to the moment we share admiration or joy at being alive, nature, people, anything, that’s what’s the play’s about, ultimately,” Fugard said.

“I have no reason to be alive. I have made many many mistakes in the past and it is something of a miracle that I am standing here, ready to do some work,” Fugard said.

The play is a deeply personal one for the 81-year-old

Source: http://www.longwharf.org/blog/?p=549

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WORLD OF THE PLAY

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themes Wonder and Imagination versus Reason and Intellectualism

Challenges and Triumphs of Old Age

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n the prelude to The Shadow of the Hummingbird, Oupa reveals that he has often meditated on the beauty and transient nature of life, through the intimate readings of journal entries that encompass snapshots of the past six decades of his life. Many of the journal entries reveal great moments of despair, loneliness, death, beauty, and great love (of nature, places, and people). At the beginning of the play, we meet a very old man, in his pajamas, looking for his spectacles and joking about the spectacle that life is now that he is old. He describes himself as “decrepit, those of us whose faculties have been eroded by time, nerve endings ground down to little stumps. We who move slowly now.”

“I’m sick of my rational existence in the ‘real world’. I want to live once again in one full of mystery and magic and shadows I can play with.” Oupa, The Shadow of the Hummingbird

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upa explains to Boba that he has devoted his life to reason and intellectualism; the evidence is in his fluent use of language and all the books that he refers to that fill his room. Oupa explores the idea that in his pursuit of intellectual development, he no longer experienced the wonder and magic of life. He is determined to set things right with Boba and himself before he dies.

Fugard juxtaposes wonder and imagination with reason and intellectualism throughout the play. As a schoolboy and in Oupa’s allusions to Boba as a toddler, Boba represents childlike wonder. Wonder and imagination are also expressed through poetry, the hummingbird’s shadow, and Oupa’s description of sunbirds in Africa. Oupa uses entries from his own journal writings, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, William Blakes’s Auguries of Innocence, and finally Tolstoy’s War and Peace to make his case. Oupa concludes that life is about living in the wonder and joy of the moment.

Oupa considers himself a shadow of the finelooking teacher he once was. Old age has challenged Oupa, making it difficult to bend with arthritis and unable to exert himself without ill effects. Oupa is also challenged by regret—possibly at his failed relationship with his son, but definitely by having devoted himself to intellectual pursuits at the expense of not really experiencing the wonders of life. The play is also about triumph: as the old man is able to face death and fulfill his heart’s desire one last time.

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Discussion questions (for AFTER THE SHOW): • Do you think that pursuing a life based on intellectual development and experiencing childlike wonder are mutually exclusive? Why or why not?

• What is Oupa’s greatest wish before he dies?

• What does Boba learn from his grandfather? How might this affect the rest of Boba’s life?

• Do you think Oupa died triumphantly? Why or why not?

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L I TE R A R Y A L L U S I ONS

“Mr. Plato would have seen in that little baby crawling around on the floor an illustration of ignorance. He didn’t yet know what was real and not real.”

– Oupa, The Shadow of the Hummingbird

Plato (423 B.C. - 347 B.C.) was a student of Socrates

(469 B.C. – 399 B.C.; a philosopher in ancient Greece, who taught that reason was the only proper guide to human beliefs and behavior). Plato used the teachings of Socrates to develop a comprehensive system of philosophy that included the metaphysical, natural, and social realms.

Socrates had taught that universal standards of right and wrong can be determined through reason. Building on this, Plato theorized the existence of a higher world of reality, independent of the world of things that we experience everyday. This higher world of true being contains ideas or Forms, which are unchanging, universal, and absolute standards of beauty, justice, goodness, and truth. People who want to live a good life should strive to live in accordance with these standards. He felt that Truth resides in this world of Forms and not in the world of that we know through our senses. For example, a person can’t draw a perfect square, but the idea of it exists in the world of Forms.

Plato maintained that ordinary people base what they know on everyday experience, so they have an imperfect understanding of the Truth. A philosopher is a person who reaches beyond his or her senses to the realm of Being and discovers Truth.

The distinction between the higher world of Truth and the lower world of imperfection, deception, and illusion is illustrated by Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave. In The Shadow of the Hummingbird, Oupa explains Plato’s “Cave Allegory” to his grandson at great length.

T he Alle gory of the Cav e In the allegory, there are prisoners (people without knowledge of Forms) in a cave all chained up so they can’t turn their bodies at all, and all they get to look at is this one wall – they’ve been like this since childhood so this is all that they know. There is a fire behind them and some people walk by on a pathway carrying things and casting shadows on the walls. These people make noise and the noises they make echo in the cave. The prisoners therefore believe that the shadows are making the noises and that the shadows are real.

There is one person in the group of prisoners who gets really good at understanding how the patterns

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li t e rary allu s i o n s

continued

in the show work, and everyone else chained up thinks it is incredible because they are not as good at detecting these things, so naturally this shadow expert becomes the leader of the prisoners.

One day, someone comes and unchains the leader and drags this person out of the cave. At first, this person is terribly confused and frightened—and what’s more, the person’s eyes haven’t adjusted to the light, so this person is even more disoriented and wants nothing more than to return to the safe, familiar world of shadows and echoes.

After some time, this person’s eyes begin to adjust, but, even when they do, this person cannot believe or comprehend what they see. Everything this person once thought was real is gone. A tree in this new world is nothing like the tree from the cave. The person does not know which tree is the real tree.

Eventually, this person’s eyes would get better and better until they would begin to see the truth. This person would see the sun and realize it is the source of all light and that one cannot see without the sun. At last, this person would come to understand and accept that the tree in the cave was really just a shadow, and that this new tree is actually the real thing. In fact, nothing in the cave was real… this person’s world has just been turned upside down…

Finally, this person would want to go back down to the cave and tell everyone there about everything they discovered outside of the cave. Except, that everyone in the cave will not believe this person – they think this person is crazy. This person would not be able to explain everything to the other cave dwellers because it would just be too hard for them to understand. This former leader could no longer see reality the way the people in the cave do (as shadows) because the leader has seen and known true reality. So, everyone else in the cave would laugh at their former leader, and agree that wherever it was that this person went, no one should go there because it makes people crazy.

The allegory shows that philosophers who ascend to the higher world of Forms possess true knowledge, while everyone else merely has opinions, deceptive beliefs and illusions. The philosophers have a duty to guide the ignorant, even if it is a difficult and thankless task. (Socrates himself was executed for his beliefs.)

Reference:

The Humanities in the Western Tradition, Marvin Perry, J. Wayne Baker and Pamela Pfeiffer Hollinger

A nice animation of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6LUptADIww

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I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Create a Shadow Play Explore what can be communicated by physical action (gesture) alone. Begin by setting up a large screen (such as a white sheet, classroom screen, white board) to represent the cave wall. Turn off the lights. Set up a light source (like a projector or large flashlight) to represent fire that will be placed behind audience. Your audience (prisoners) will face the screen and should be instructed to face forward only (as if chained in one place). Your actors will act out scenes or simple stories/images with hands, puppets, props, etc. (have a box of props handy) in front of the light source in order for images to be projected onto the screen.

Only images are seen in silhouette on the screen. Play the story or present the images without dialogue.

• Does the audience know what is happening?

• Is dialogue necessary to communicate story?

• How can the action of the play/image be made clearer?

• If the actors don’t talk, how do you know what is being communicated?

• If the audience (prisoners) never turns around to see that a story is being projected behind them-will they think that the shadows before them are the “real” thing?

• Finally turn the lights back on and invite your audience to look behind them and see the “real” props and discuss the story presented vs. the story told by actors.

Discussion questions: Applying the Allegory of the Cave to Our World This allegory stresses the importance of real education. Plato demonstrates that the process of education can be arduous. Consider the fact that we live in a world in which education has never been more accessible to the masses.

• Education-wise, are we all equally educated? Is education attainable for all? Surely, today’s elite class receives a higher level of education-think Harvard, private school, old money/wealth.

Discuss.

• Does access to education make for better learning? Look at Guttenberg’s first printing press, radio, film, television, internet, and twitter. Then, discuss whether or not technology is improving our education of the masses.

• Are we as a society living in a cave? Is the information available to us via technology and media truly enlightened? When we watch the media on the news or reality TV, are we watching the shadows or the truth?

• Do you think Oupa saw the world as having higher and lower worlds of truth? If so, how would you distinguish them?

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li t e rary allu s i o n s

continued

William Blake(November 28, 1757 -August 12, 1827) was an English poet famous for his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

“He (Blake) would have seen you (the child trying to pick up the shadow) as someone who maybe knew something that Mr. Plato and you and me had forgotten as we got older and ‘wiser’. That man knew …that you could see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower, he believed that you could hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour…”

– Oupa, The Shadow of the Hummingbird

Similar to Blake’s focus on man’s fall from grace, Blake was constantly exploring the moment of lost innocence... themes of the separation, transition, and the difference between innocence and experience … Blake continues to explore and personify this transient moment and investigate its consequences. Recognizing that in a world of “reason” or “sensibility” we risk forgetting all of our primitive desires and suppressing all of our natural intuitions. Blake attempts to invoke recognition for the imaginative spirit that lies in all of us, but since our moment of experience, has been subjugated to the areas of our mind we are called upon to ignore.

Aug u ries of Innocence

By William Blake To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.

A horse misused upon the road Calls to heaven for human blood.

Each outcry of the hunted hare A fibre from the brain does tear.

A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.

A skylark wounded in the wing, A cherubim does cease to sing.

The game-cock clipt and arm’d for fight Does the rising sun affright.

A dove-house fill’d with doves and pigeons Shudders hell thro’ all its regions.

A dog starv’d at his master’s gate Predicts the ruin of the state.

Every wolf’s and lion’s howl Raises from hell a human soul.

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The wild deer, wand’ring here and there, Keeps the human soul from care.

The lamb misus’d breeds public strife, And yet forgives the butcher’s knife.

It is right it should be so; Man was made for joy and woe; And when this we rightly know, Thro’ the world we safely go.

The bat that flits at close of eve Has left the brain that won’t believe.

The owl that calls upon the night Speaks the unbeliever’s fright.

Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine.

Under every grief and pine Runs a joy with silken twine.

He who shall hurt the little wren Shall never be belov’d by men.

He who the ox to wrath has mov’d Shall never be by woman lov’d.

The babe is more than swaddling bands; Every farmer understands.

Every tear from every eye Becomes a babe in eternity;

The wanton boy that kills the fly Shall feel the spider’s enmity.

He who torments the chafer’s sprite Weaves a bower in endless night.

This is caught by females bright, And return’d to its own delight.

The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar, Are waves that beat on heaven’s shore.

The caterpillar on the leaf Repeats to thee thy mother’s grief.

Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the last judgement draweth nigh.

The babe that weeps the rod beneath Writes revenge in realms of death.

The beggar’s rags, fluttering in air, Does to rags the heavens tear.

He who shall train the horse to war Shall never pass the polar bar.

The beggar’s dog and widow’s cat, Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.

The soldier, arm’d with sword and gun, Palsied strikes the summer’s sun.

The poor man’s farthing is worth more Than all the gold on Afric’s shore.

The gnat that sings his summer’s song Poison gets from slander’s tongue.

The poison of the snake and newt Is the sweat of envy’s foot.

One mite wrung from the lab’rer’s hands Shall buy and sell the miser’s lands; Or, if protected from on high, Does that whole nation sell and buy.

The poison of the honey bee Is the artist’s jealousy.

He who mocks the infant’s faith Shall be mock’d in age and death.

He who shall teach the child to doubt The rotting grave shall ne’er get out.

The prince’s robes and beggar’s rags Are toadstools on the miser’s bags.

A truth that’s told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent.

He who respects the infant’s faith Triumphs over hell and death.

The child’s toys and the old man’s reasons Are the fruits of the two seasons.

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continued

The questioner, who sits so sly, Shall never know how to reply.

He who replies to words of doubt Doth put the light of knowledge out.

The whore and gambler, by the state Licensed, build that nation’s fate.

The harlot’s cry from street to street Shall weave old England’s winding-sheet.

The strongest poison ever known Came from Caesar’s laurel crown.

Nought can deform the human race Like to the armour’s iron brace.

The winner’s shout, the loser’s curse, Dance before dead England’s hearse.

Every night and every morn Some to misery are born, Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight.

When gold and gems adorn the plow, To peaceful arts shall envy bow.

A riddle, or the cricket’s cry, Is to doubt a fit reply.

Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.

The emmet’s inch and eagle’s mile Make lame philosophy to smile.

He who doubts from what he sees Will ne’er believe, do what you please.

We are led to believe a lie When we see not thro’ the eye, Which was born in a night to perish in a night, When the soul slept in beams of light.

If the sun and moon should doubt, They’d immediately go out.

To be in a passion you good may do, But no good if a passion is in you.

God appears, and God is light, To those poor souls who dwell in night; But does a human form display To those who dwell in realms of day.

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Divide class into small groups. Give each group one or two stanzas of “Auguries of Innocence.” After reading the selection aloud, each group should decide what the poet is saying. Then assemble the class and interpret the poem, having each group report on their section.

Discussion questions for AFTER THE SHOW: One theme of Auguries of Innocence is the loss of innocence. This is also a theme in The Shadow of the Hummingbird. Compare and contrast how the two works interpret this theme.

References: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-complete-poems-of-william-blake/study-guide/major-themes/ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172906 http://www.poetrysoup.com/poetry_resources_for_teachers/documents/teaching%20students%20to%20write-read%20poetry.pdf

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Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828-November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer.

He wrote primarily short stories and novels of realistic fiction.

At the end of the play, Oupa reads the following quote from War and Peace: “As he fell asleep he had still been thinking of the subject that now always occupied his mind-about life and death, and chiefly about death. He felt himself nearer to it. ‘Love? What is love?’ he thought. Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love…”

Tolstoy was a Christian and a strong believer in literal interpretations of Jesus’ teachings. His interpretations, however, focused on an internal devotion to God, and a personal struggle for perfection, rather than a following of the Church or a quest for guidance elsewhere. Tolstoy strongly believed in nonviolence, and promoted nonviolent resistance to political oppression. Tolstoy also contributed to discussions of aesthetics.

Tolstoy believed that the purpose of art was to convey the emotions felt by the artist. Artistic expressions that fail to inspire similar feelings in their audience fails to truly be a work of art.

Sources: http://www.philosophy-index.com/tolstoy/

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S U P P L EMENT A L M A TE R I A L S

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P OET R Y The Hummingbird by Harry Kemp

Poetry figures prominently in The Shadow of the Hummingbird.

Fugard precedes the play with two poems:

The sunlight speaks. And its voice is a bird: It glitters half-guessed half seen half-heard

Above the flowerbed. Over the lawn…

He lives a day.

What is he? What is he not?

And all it lends to the eye is this—

Man is a dream of a shadow.

A sunbeam giving the air a kiss.

Pindar: Pythian 8, 95-6

Pindar (c. 518 BC to c.438 BC) was the great lyric poet of ancient Greece.

A flashing dip and it is gone.

Our greatest appreciation of a poem comes when we say to ourselves that this could not be said better.

Poetry is a refined and economical use of language.

How to Befriend a Poem LISTEN – Read the poem aloud, noting rhythm and special sounds.

SENSE – What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sense of touch does the poem conjure?

REACT – How does the poem make you feel? What does it remind you of?

QUESTION – What questions does the poem raise? What is it about? What do the words and phrases mean? Why did the poet choose that type of language?

CLARIFY – Summarize or paraphrase. Find the meaning of symbolic language.

INTERPRET – Read the poem with others and talk about the meaning. Connect the title to the meaning. What is the theme?

Reference: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poetry_resources_for_teachers/documents/teaching%20students%20to%20write-read%20 poetry.pdf

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P OET R Y

continued

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m •

PERFORM: Have students select poems to recite aloud to the class. Require multiple athome and in-class practices with feedback. Give ideas for appropriate gestures and movement.

Stage and videotape final performances using simple props, costumes and music.

•

ENGAGE YOUR SENSE: Read “Hummingbirds 101” and “The Hummingbird.”

Discuss how Kemp used details about the hummingbird in his poem. How did he use sensory information and figurative speech? Have students choose an animal or plant and research it to discover as much sensory information about it as possible. Have them use that information to write a short poem about their animal or plant.

Suggest that students use sensory details or even personification to make the animal or plant seem to come alive and possibly think of it as a symbol of something deeper.

•

LISTEN AND FREE WRITE: While students listen to 3-5 minutes of music that you have selected, have them free write all the sensory images that come to mind. They are not to censor their thought processes but to free associate details that come to mind. Ask for class volunteers to read their descriptions. Emphasize the variety of specific sensory details students share.

•

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Source: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15740

• •

CONNECT TO LITERATURE: Look at Jacques’ soliloquy “All the world’s a stage” from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

•

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,

• •

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Would Oupa agree with Shakespeare that ‘one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages…’?

Do you agree with Shakespeare that the final stage of man is that of a second childhood?

Does Oupa resemble Shakespeare’s idea of the final part we play?

Can you relate this idea to people you know in your life? Discuss.

What “age” of life are you in? Is there a best stage of life?

•

COMPARE TO OTHER POETRY: Read aloud the poem: On Turning Ten by Billy Collins.

The whole idea of it makes me feel like I’m coming down with something, something worse than any stomach ache or the headaches I get from reading in bad light-a kind of measles of the spirit, a mumps of the psyche, a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back, but that is because you have forgotten the perfect simplicity of being one and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.

But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.

At four I was an Arabian wizard.

I could make myself invisible by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.

At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

On Turning Ten is a poem that illustrates the beautiful complexity about the reluctance to grow up. At ten years of age, the boy in this poem is already looking back somewhat mournfully on his life. He rembers his ‘imaginary friends’ and the magical worlds in which he was a wizard, a soldier, a prince…

• Does a ten year old need to give these things up to grow up?

• Does the world require that we give up our “childlike wonder” to live in the grown up, “real” world?

• Do you think it is silly for a ten year old to be looking back on his life?

• Do you recall your magical fantasies of childhood?

• Do you remember those “momentous moments” (as Oupa would say)

But now I am mostly at the window watching the late afternoon light.

Back then it never fell so solemnly against the side of my tree house, and my bicycle never leaned against the garage as it does today, all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.

It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light.

If you cut me I could shine.

But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life, I skin my knees. I bleed.

– the first time you believed you could fly?

– the first time you played with your shadow because you thought it was real?

• Did you imagine worlds for your Star Wars action figures, or did you believe you were Wonder Woman?

• Can you be any age and still be sad about leaving your childhood behind?

The poet/author of the poem is a grown adult. In an interview, Billy Collins said that this poem (on one level) is poking fun at all the serious poets (like Shelley) who contemplate their death and mortality at a young age. What would Oupa say to the boy in this poem?

Billy Collins http://www.poemhunter.com/

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ART “If you have any doubts about the so called wisdom of this age...question it boy! That’s all that a wise old Greek called Socrates tried to teach his young friends...but the result? The charge of corrupting the youth. The verdict...

Guilty! The penalty...a cup of Hemlock.” Oupa, The Shadow of the Hummingbird

The Death of Socrates

by Jacques-Louis David

This painting depicts the the last moments of Socrates life. Socrates was condemned to death or exile by the Athenian government for his teaching methods (he taught his students to question the status quo). Socrates rejected exile and chose to accept death from the cup of hemlock.

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Analyze the painting, using these observations and questions as a guide: • Socrates is at the center of the painting and bathed in light. He is gesturing upwards (the ascent to a higher realm).

• The people surrounding Socrates are in great distress. Are we to believe from this painting that Socrates has been unjustly persecuted? Plato with the pen, ink and scroll is turned away in grief from the execution. Even the person offering Socrates the cup of poison is turned away in grief.

• Is Socrates at peace with his choice of death? We see that his legs have been released from chains.

• Socrates is painted in a strong, healthy, even youthful light-has the artist, David, painted an actual seventy year old man or an idealized version?

• Socrates is speaking while reaching for the cup of hemlock (poison). What might Socrates be saying to his friends?

• Gesturing upwards, might Socrates be speaking of the immortality of the soul? His gesture seems to be that of a teacher; Socrates is teaching in his final moments of death.

Using the idea that Socrates believed that living a life of virtue is more important than life itself, write a monologue from the first person point of view of Socrates.

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s ha d o w The Nature of Shadow

• •

In The Shadow of the Hummingbird, Oupa describes the nature of the word “shadow” thus: “The word can of course also be used figuratively to suggest an atmosphere of ominous oppressiveness… or also sadness and gloom. As for example ‘A shadow of gloom and mourning fell over the nations with the news of his death.’

The usage I prefer to dwell on today though is when it refers to an inferior remnant or version of something such as…

‘This once fine looking man has become a shadow of his former self.’”

a very small amount of something partial darkness or obscurity within a part of space from which rays from a source of light are cut off by an interposed opaque body, reflected image, shelter from danger or observation, an imperfect and faint representation, an imitation of something (a copy), the dark figure cast upon a surface by a body intercepting the rays from a source of light, phantom, a shaded or dark portion of a picture, an inseparable companion or follower, one that shadows (a spy or detective), a small degree or portion (trace), a source of gloom or unhappiness, an area near an object (vicinity), a pervasive and dominant influence, a state of ignominy or obscurity.

Verb • to cover (something) with a shadow • to follow and watch (someone) especially in a secret way (like a spy or detective) • to follow and watch (someone who is doing a job) in order to learn how to do the job yourself.

What does the word shadow signify to you? Explore the different connotations of the word shadow. For example, the word shadow can be used in various ways: Noun • a dark shape that appears on a surface when someone or something moves between the surface and a source of light • an area of darkness created when a source of light is blocked

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shadow

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. – Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln’s view on character mirrors that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. How else might we look at this statement? Have your students create a list of reality vs. perceived reality and fill in the blanks. _______________ is like a tree and ______________ its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

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B I R DS Symbolism:

•

The act of flying symbolizes freedom

•

All birds in East Indian mythology symbolize a departed soul.

•

In Christian art birds are saved souls.

•

Birds are thought to be a supernatural link between the heavens and the earth below.

•

The hummingbird is thought to symbolize an optimistic approach to life; spiritual devotion, eternal life, a sign of permanence, beauty, joy, a messenger.

Hummingbirds 101 Size: Among the smallest of birds, weighing 2- 20 grams (.06-.60 ounces). Yet they are hardy and resilient: some species annually migrate as much as 3,000 miles each way.

Body: Long, slender beak and extensible tongues. Extremely large sternum or chest. Feet tiny and suited for perching, not walking. Adult males often display iridescent plumage, but usually not females. Many species have bright plumage with exotic coloration, which may come from prism-like cells in the feathers that diffract light.

The result is that muted-colored bird can become fiery red or vivid green just by shifting position. They are birds of flashing, colorful beauty!

Flight: Wings are relatively long and pointed, usually with short arms and forearms but long hands. They fly with a unique method of rotating the entire wing, with little or no flexing of the wrist or hand joints. They hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings º12–80 times per second (depending on the species), which makes a humming sound, the basis of their name. Their unmatched flight abilities include hovering and flying backwards.

Food: Nectar, insects, tiny spiders. As a result of their unique but inefficient means of flight, they must consume enormous amounts of food each day, with nectar (the sweet liquid from flowers) often amounting to 100-200% of their body weight. Insects provide protein.

Location: Found only in the Americas, from Alaska in north to Tierra del Fuego in south. Most species are found in the tropics. There are more than 300 species, with 16 in U.S. and more than 34 species are at risk of extinction. As Oupa points out, although there are no true hummingbirds in Africa, Africa does have sunbirds, which are larger than hummingbirds and share the ability to hover while sipping nectar from a flower (and pollinating it at the same time).

Personality: They are unafraid to approach us and enter into relationship with us.

Law: It is illegal to possess a nest or any part of it without a permit. Do not care for an injured or baby hummingbird without the assistance of a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. http://www.hummingbirdsociety.org/index.php

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c urri c ulu m connections We believe that theatre can support and work in tandem with everyday classroom activities and scholastic goals. Below are some suggested activities that can be done for each production, with a focus on vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.

VOCAB U LARY

FL U ENCY

• Highlight words in the script that are unfamiliar.

• Read the script aloud in a large circle.

• Pair up and read scenes aloud together.

• Write definitions in the margins of the script.

• Pick a character and focus on reading his/her lines with accuracy and expression.

• Find synonyms for new vocabulary words.

• Find antonyms for new vocabulary words.

• Study the new vocabulary words for spelling tests.

• Switch roles so that the students have a chance to experiment with different vocal expressions for different characters (tone, tempo, and volume).

COM P REHENS I ON

WR I T I NG

• Create a story map for the play.

• Write journal entries or monologues using vocabulary words.

• Create a biography for one of the characters.

• Write a journal entry or monologue from the perspective of one of the characters.

• Map out the relationships in the play.

• Write a scene depicting part of the story that we hear about in the play, but is not in the stage action.

• Summarize the play.

• Summarize each individual scene.

• Write a review of the production.

• Summarize the play from the perspective of one of the characters.

• Write a letter to one of the cast members, designers, director, playwright, or staff members sharing your impression and questions regarding the show.

• Answer the essay and text-related questions.

• Discuss the play’s themes.

• Write a letter from one character to another.

• Discuss the current events that correlate with the themes of the play.

• Write a new ending to the play.

• Cut out articles from magazines and newspapers that discuss some of the issues and topics brought up in the play.

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F O R T H E F I R ST - T I ME T H E A T R E G OE R In theatre etiquette, the major consideration to keep in mind is that your actions can be distracting not only to the rest of the audience, but to the actors on stage as well. Behavior that is acceptable in other public settings, like movie theatres, ballgames, or concerts, is out of place when attending the theatre.

The following tips should help you get acquainted with some DOs and DON’Ts for first-time theatregoers.

DO arrive early. Make considerations for traffic, parking, waiting in line, having your ticket taken, and finding your seat. If you need to pick up your tickets from the box office, it is a good idea to arrive at least twenty minutes early. Generally, you can take your seat when “the house is open,” about half an hour before the show begins.

Late seating is always distracting and usually not allowed until intermission or a transition between scenes, if it is allowed at all. Follow the old actors’ mantra: To be EARLY is to be ON TIME. To be ON TIME is to be LATE. To be LATE is UNFORGIVABLE. DO dress appropriately. Going to the theatre is a special event for many people, and your clothing should reflect your respect. The dress code is casual, but not sloppy: hats, bandannas, and revealing clothes are a bad idea. Nice jeans are okay, but those with holes are not.

DO turn off your cell phone. Phones and any other noise-making devices should be switched off before you even enter the theatre: you won’t be allowed to use them anyway. Texting during a performance is also rude. The intermission is a good time to use your phone, but remember to turn it off again before the next act begins.

DON’T leave your garbage in the theatre. Food and drinks are usually not permitted in the theatre at all, with the exception of bottled water. If it is allowed, be sure to throw out your trash in a garbage can or recycling bin in the lobby; don’t leave it for the house manager or ushers at the end of a show.

DO watch your step. Aisles can be narrow, so please be considerate when finding your seat. Avoid getting up during the performance whenever possible, since it can be very distracting. You can use the restroom before the show and during intermission. Also, be careful not to cross in front of the stage, as it will break the illusion of the show. Don’t step on or over seats, and never walk on the stage itself.

DON’T talk during the performance. Chatting is extremely rude to the actors and the audience around you.

Everyone is trying to pay attention to the play and those nearby will be able to hear, so please be quiet and considerate.

DO get into it! Actors feed off of the audience, just as the audience feeds off of the actors. Don’t be afraid to laugh, clap, or cry if you are so moved. However, there is a line that can be crossed. Please be respectful, and don’t distract from the work of the professionals on stage. After all, people paid good money to watch the show, not you. Just enjoy the experience and let yourself have an honest response.

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