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Pinocchio Visual StoryPinocchio is a show written by Dennis Kelly,

with songs and score from the Walt Disney film by Leigh Harline, Ned Washington & Paul J Smith, adapted by Martin Lowe

Relaxed Performance Saturday 17 March 2018 at 1.30pm

By special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions

Sponsored by

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Visual Story Contents

1: Introduction2: The Production3: The Theatre4: The Set5: The Characters6: The Story

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Introduction

Relaxed PerformanceWe are looking forward to welcoming you to the relaxed performance of Pinocchio. The atmosphere is ‘relaxed’, so you can move or talk if you need to. A chillout area will be available in the foyer if you need a break and you can come in and out of the auditorium (the room where the show takes place).

This visual story contains information about the play and lots of images to help you prepare for your visit. It also has information to help you find your way to the Lyttelton theatre at the National Theatre, where the show is being performed.

If you would like to see some videos of the show before you come, please click on the links below (if you are reading this on a computer). Or visit the National Theatre YouTube page.

See some clips from the show, and what people think of the show

See how the Jiminy Cricket puppet works

Hear some of the music and see the actors practising

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LengthThis show is 2 hours and 25 minutes long and is shown in two parts with an interval in the middle (an interval is a short break in the show).

The first half is 60 minutes. The interval is 20 minutes. The second half is 65 minutes.

Meet and greetAfter the Relaxed Performance, you will have the opportunity to meet the actors in the foyer for approximately 15 minutes.

Theatre guidelinesUsing a camera or a mobile phone is not allowed during the performance, however if you need to use a device, like a tablet, for your communication, please inform the ushers. You can use your phone or tablet in the chillout space.

You can come in and out of the auditorium. If you need to take a break during the show, you are welcome to go out into the foyer area. A chillout space will be available.

The Production

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The play is being performed at the Lyttelton theatre which is inside the National Theatre on the South Bank in London.

Here is a picture of the National Theatre.

The Theatre

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There are lots of entrances into the building and you may enter through some automatic glass doors, into the ground floor foyer. A foyer is an area where you wait before the show.

You will need your ticket to get into the auditorium (the room where the show is performed). You might already have yours when you arrive but if not, you can pick them up from the Box Office (the place where tickets are sold.)

Here is a picture of the National Theatre foyer where there is a bookshop and a café.

The Theatre

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There are three theatres inside the National Theatre.

You may need to wait in the Lyttelton theatre foyer before the show starts. Other audience members (people who watch the show) may be waiting there to watch the show so it might be busy.

Staff will be on hand to provide free visual stories, disposable in-ear defenders and fidget toys. You can also get stickers which help staff identify how much you would like to be communicated with. Please come and say hello, we would love to hear what you think.

If you would like to put a bag or a coat in the cloakroom (a room for storing bags and coats) then you need to go to the cloakroom by the bookshop. Any large bag will need to be left in the cloakroom. This includes rucksacks so if there are things you need to take into the auditorium please bring a small bag.

For this performance, doors will open about 30 minutes before the play begins.

When you go to the auditorium an usher will look at your ticket and tell you where your seat is. An usher is someone who works at the theatre and is available to help.

When you enter the auditorium you will be able to see the stage (the area where the actors perform the show) and the seats where the audience sits.

At the end of the show the audience will clap to say thank you to the performers.

The Theatre

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StageThe stage is the area where the actors perform the play.

SetThe ‘set’ is the name for all the scenery, furniture and objects used on stage in a play. For this play, the set uses lights, people and objects which change throughout to show different things, for example:

Geppetto’s Workshop

The Set

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Stromboli’s Theatre

Pleasure Island

The Set

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Inside the Whale

The Set

The Town Square

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The Characters

The CharactersSome of the actors play more than one character.Some of the characters are played by puppets and actors.

PinocchioThis is Pinocchio. He is a wooden boy, a puppet, who wants to be a real boy.

GeppettoHe is a puppet-maker who has always wanted a child. When Pinocchio comes into his life he is very happy, and very sad when he goes missing.

The Blue FairyThis is the Blue Fairy. At the start of the play, the Blue Fairy takes the wood from the tree the Fox is trying to cut down. She gives it to Geppetto and it is what he uses to make Pinocchio. She appears throughout the story to help Pinocchio out. Sometimes when she appears she is a large puppet, sometimes she is an actor, and sometimes she is a blue flame – these pictures show her as an actor, and as a large puppet.

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The Characters

Jiminy CricketJiminy is a cricket, which is a type of insect. At the start of the play, Jiminy is a small insect in Geppetto’s workshop. The Blue Fairy turns Jiminy into a much bigger cricket and makes her Pinocchio’s conscience – this means she tries to help him to make good decisions.

StrombolliStromboli runs a theatre. The Fox sells Pinocchio to Stromboli. Stromboli wants Pinocchio to perform in his theatre. They tell Pinocchio that he will be a star actor because he is a puppet who doesn’t have any strings. Stromboli doesn’t treat his puppets very well, and he locks Pinocchio in a cage so he doesn’t run away.

The CoachmanThe Coachman takes boys and girls to Pleasure Island, where they can do all the naughty things in life: ‘smoking, drinking, playing truant, smashing things, cursing, fighting’.

The FoxThis is the Fox. At the start of the play, the Fox tries to cut down a tree, but the Blue Fairy takes the wood from the tree to Geppetto and it is the wood that Geppetto makes Pinocchio from. Throughout the play the Fox tries to get rid of Pinocchio, by sending him away to Stromboli’s theatre, or to Pleasure Island.

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In a forest, The Fox tries to cut down a tree but is chased off by the Blue Fairy. In his workshop (and home), Geppetto tells a new puppet he has created, that the workshop will be his home too. The Blue Fairy arrives, in disguise. Thinking the Blue Fairy is a customer, Geppetto talks about the marionettes (puppets) he has that she can buy, but the Blue Fairy wants Geppetto to make her a new puppet – a boy. She gives him wood from the tree the Fox tried to cut down, explaining that the wood is ‘very special’.

Geppetto carves a boy out of the wood. He hears a voice, telling him to be ‘Careful!’ Geppetto thinks he is hearing things but the puppet starts to walk. Geppetto is very happy to have a child of his own, finally – even if it is a puppet. After they have some food the puppet asks what his own name is. Geppetto’s wife’s favourite name was Pinocchio, and the puppet likes it too.

The next day, Pinocchio goes to play with the children he can hear outside. The Fox interrupts the game, saying that Pinocchio doesn’t look like the other children – he’s made of wood. Noticing that Pinocchio is eating an apple, the Fox tells him to peel it and throws him his knife. The knife lands in Pinocchios chest but he is not hurt. The Fox says the children are scared of Pinocchio because he is different.

That night, Pinocchio has a nightmare. When he wakes up, he wishes on a star that he was a real boy. The star turns into the Blue Fairy – she cannot change Pinocchio into a real boy, but she can tell him how to become one. The Blue Fairy reveals that there is one thing that all humans have in common – Pinocchio just needs to find and understand it.

The Blue Fairy offers Pinocchio some help – a conscience in the form of Jiminy Cricket. Pinocchio finds Jiminy very annoying and the Blue Fairy says, ‘of course. She’s your conscience. That’s her job’. Jiminy and Pinocchio argue, and the Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that he should ‘Listen to his conscience’. Pinocchio doesn’t understand what the point of a conscience is and Jiminy explains that all actions have consequences – ‘You can’t just wander around doing what you want, life’s not like that’.

The Story

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The next morning, Pinocchio and Jiminy leave to go to school. When Jiminy goes back to get Pinocchio a coat Pinocchio runs off. He sees the Fox, who tells Pinocchio what makes people human. The Fox says that everyone wants to be famous and he knows someone who can make Pinocchio famous – ‘the Great Stromboli’.

The Fox introduces Pinocchio to Stromboli. Stromboli teaches Pinocchio the song ‘I’ve got No Strings’ and then introduces him to the audience as the only marionette who can sing and dance without strings. After he performs the song, Pinocchio is upset, because he thought being an actor would make him real, and he is still not real. He tries to leave but Stromboli locks him in a cage and threatens him. Whilst Pinocchio is locked up, Geppetto looks for him.

Interval – this is a twenty minute break from the show

Jiminy finds Pinocchio and asks if Pinocchio thought about Geppetto for a moment before he ran off, and Pinocchio lies; ‘he said it was fine’. Once he lies, Pinocchio’s nose starts to grow. Jiminy warns Pinocchio to tell the truth, and when he does, his nose returns to normal. Jiminy can’t break the cage on her own, but then the Blue Fairy helps and Pinocchio and Jiminy escape.

Pinocchio realises Stromboli has taken him far away from home, and he worries that he and Jiminy may be lost. Jiminy says Pinocchio just needs to follow her and ‘stay out of trouble’. Jiminy sings, ‘Give a Little Whistle’ (‘When you get in trouble, And you don’t know right from wrong, Give a little whistle’). Pinocchio can’t quite manage a successful whistle. He concentrates so hard on trying to whistle that he loses sight of Jiminy and bumps into the Fox.

Pinocchio tells the Fox how Stromboli locked him in a cage and how he didn’t become a real boy. The Fox says being famous would make Pinocchio real – but not a real boy. To become a real boy Pinocchio needs to find the one thing that unites us all and the Fox reveals everyone craves pleasure – all the naughty things in life: ‘Smoking, drinking, playing truant, smashing things, cursing, fighting’. The Fox says Pinocchio can find all this at Pleasure Island.

The Story

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They meet the Coachman and the Fox makes him take Pinocchio away, so that he is never seen again. Pinocchio joins the other children already on the coach to Pleasure Island. One of the children, Lampy, tells Pinocchio that no-one ever comes back from Pleasure Island – it’s sobrilliant no-one ever wants to leave.

Pinocchio and the children arrive at Pleasure Island. None of the children can read very well. They rely on Waxy to read the signs at Pleasure Island, but he keeps getting the words wrong – the words are warnings about Pleasure Island and the Coachman but the children can’t read them. They do things they are not allowed to do at home, like smoking and running with scissors. But then they start growing ears and donkey tails. They realise that being naughty has consequences and now they have to work as donkeys.

Pinocchio tells Lampy that he had hoped Pleasure Island would make him real, but all it’s done is make him think about his dad, Geppetto. Pinocchio decides he wants to go home. The Coachman discovers Pinocchio and Lampy and tells Pinocchio that he can’t leave without paying – ‘everything in this world has to be paid for’. Pinocchio finally masters being able to whistle and Jiminy arrives to help him escape. They sing ‘Give a Little Whistle’. Pinocchio worries that Geppetto will no longer want him as a son because he ran away.

They arrive back at Geppetto’s workshop but Geppetto isn’t there. The Blue Fairy appears and says that Geppetto left to search for Pinocchio in a boat, but was swallowed by a huge whale, called Monstro.

Pinocchio sets out to find Geppetto, even if it means being swallowed by Monstro. On a cliff by the sea, Pinocchio and Jiminy see the Fox. Pinocchio is angry with the Fox and the lies he told him. The Fox says that the one thing that really unites all people is money. He offers Pinocchio money in exchange for cutting off Pinocchio’s little, wooden head.

Pinocchio and Jiminy escape by jumping into the sea – they are swallowed by Monstro and find Geppetto inside.

The Story

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While he is pleased to see his son once more, Geppetto warns Pinocchio that the whale may be about to digest them. Geppetto has tried to light a fire to smoke his way out but the wood from his boat was too wet to light. Pinocchio has a plan to escape – he tells lies so that his nose grows, and he can tickle the back of Monstro’s throat, causing the whale to cough them out.

Back on land, it seems as though Pinocchio may have died. But then The Blue Fairy arrives, stops time and tells Pinocchio he has managed to find the one thing that unites everyone. She brings him back to life, and they finish the show by singing ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’.

We hope you enjoy the performance.

From the NT Access TeamProduction photography is taken by Manuel HarlanPinocchio artwork designed by National Theatre Graphic Design Studio.With thanks to: The Band Trust for their support towards relaxed performances.

Thank you to Kirsty Hoyle, Include Arts

The Story

To find out more about upcoming relaxed performances and workshops visit: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/access/relaxed-performances

Date: 09.03.18