Journeys to Sheffield

• People travel to new countries and within countries for many different reasons. Can the class list some of these?

• What physical journeys did the characters in the play make?

• Ask the class about their own journeys; how many children travelled from another country, how many from another city, how many have moved within Sheffield and how many have not moved? Map the information on a world and city map and present it in various ways through data handling, for example a pictograph using suitcases.
  
  
• Extend the activity by asking the class to find out the same information from parents and grandparents. What do they expect to find?

The class might be interested in the ethnic make up of Sheffield and why certain groups have journeyed to the city. As an alternative to the “Every suitcase tells a story” activity, ask the class to research the main ethnic groups that make up Sheffield today. Divide the class into small groups, each with a country (or group of countries) to work on. Each group now researches their country. They design and make a suitcase, thinking about the identity, and colours of the country. Now they fill the suitcase with artefacts such as a map, an information leaflet, a flag, a mascot which they have made, photographs, geographical details and so on. This could be information gathering only or could have an imaginative writing aspect by the inclusion of letters to/from home describing the reason for the journey, plane tickets with dates, diaries, and so on.

This activity could also be for countries represented in the class.

“Every suitcase tells a story. You just have to listen.”
Either bring in a selection of suitcases or show the class the design drawing with the suitcases spread out (see design section) on the set or print off the pictures of a variety of suitcases (Appendix 2).

For this activity, the class could use one of the interviews on the CD (linking this to the characters in the play), they could research groups who have come to Sheffield historically or in the recent past or they can use an imaginary person.

Working as a class, choose one suitcase. Who does it belong to and what is their story? What is in the suitcase? Ask for a volunteer to go up to a suitcase (an actual suitcase or an imaginary one from an image) and speak the thoughts of the person as they pack it.

Now ask for a second volunteer to speak the thoughts as they arrive at their destination.

Imagine that five years on, the suitcase is found again – maybe it is being packed for another journey (a holiday? another move?) or maybe during a clear out? What thoughts are spoken this time?

Now the class work in groups with a different suitcase each and make a digital recording of the story of the suitcase (the thoughts of the owner at each stage, as above or the thoughts of the suitcase). These recordings are stored inside the suitcase. If the class were using pictures, they should make these into 3D suitcase models in which to store the recordings. Groups move round each suitcase to hear their stories.

To extend the activity, the group fill the suitcase with objects that they have created – letters, tickets, drawings, diary entries etc.

Life journeys – The Characters in the Play

“We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.” (Martin Luther King Jr)

In the play, the characters make physical journeys but the idea of a quest is also present for each one of them. Discuss this common theme in Literature and ask the class to think of other plays, books or films where it is found. Now talk with the class about what they think each character’s quest is before reading what playwright Richard Hurford has to say about them.

• Which character does not have a suitcase at the beginning of the play? (Leonardo) Why do the class think that is?

• The other characters in the play help him look for it and he eventually finds it. Why is this important?

• Talk to the class about the significance of the car, which the cast make out of the suitcases. They may be interested to know that this came directly out of the interviews, as the Leonardo character did sleep in a scrap car at one stage in his life. Do the class remember how each character reacted to the car, and why is this important?

• How did Leonardo feel about the other characters’ desire to get the car to work?

Now read the playwright’s thoughts.

Photo of the company using the suitcase car in rehearsals.

Colour Journeys

The Characters

The theme of art and the related theme of colour are both present through out the play. Ask the class if they noticed this and whether they can recall references to colour and what their significance might be.

Read what Director, Ruth Carney, has to say about how colour will be emphasised in the play.

Give out the quotes and stage directions (in italics) from the play (Appendix 3) to students and ask them to read them out in the order in which they appear in the play for each character. For each quote, ask the students what colour they think the words would be and put a colour dot on top of the piece of paper.

Write each character’s name on the board or on a large sheet of paper. Order the quotes from each of their lives to chart their colour journey. Do this by marking different stages of their lives across the board. For example, for Leonardo this might read early childhood at home, early adulthood and drugs, prison, homeless in car, pavement artist. Now find a colour to draw a coloured line underneath. The colour of the line should change as it goes across. In Rita’s case, the lines will represent dark and light. Remember that although the memory of Sheffield lit up is a childhood one, it is also the memory she holds at the close of the play.

Extend the activity as an Art based one by making a representation of the character’s journeys through colour, line and symbols. For example consider what shape the line is as well as the colour– would it be jagged and spiky or soft and curving? Would it be straight? Use geographical, traffic or other symbols along the way, such as contours for uphill journeys or STOP signs. Is the journey linear – horizontal or vertical? Where does it begin on the page, where does it travel to and where does it end?

Try making an abstract movement piece out of the artwork with students travelling the journey and others acting as symbols, obstacles, helpers etc.

Personal Colour Journeys

What colours do the class associate with different feelings / moods? Make a colour wheel and put in a feeling and associated event. From this, ask the class to make their own colour journey including such events as moving home, starting a new school, meeting a friend, a holiday etc. (NB this activity will obviously not be suitable for some children who have experienced challenging times in their lives.)

One Year On  
What are the journeys we all make in life and do these ever end?

What were the journeys made by each of the characters in the play? Where were they before the play, at the beginning of the play and where were they at the end?

Imagine each of the characters one year on. What might the characters be doing now? Working in small groups, ask the class to make four still images, showing these stages. To represent the idea of the journey, how will the groups chose to move between these images?

Now think of a colour or selection of colours to match each of these stages. Thinking back to how the actors worked with colour transparencies in the play, use lighting gels or cellophane in front of a strong light source to light each scene.

Join with another group to talk about and show their work. The two groups now devise a soundtrack for the other group’s images. This could involve single words or phrases, repetition, volume, individual, paired or group speaking.

Character Scrapbooks

Ask the class to remember as much as possible about each character and to think about their past, what we found out about them during the course of the play, and what we think might happen to them in the future. Try Hotseating each character to draw out as much information about them as you can.

If each of the characters had with them a scrapbook of their lives, what might be in them? As a class, think about what could be included, for example:

• a birth certificate
• a letter
• a diary entry
• a bill
• a flier or ticket for an event, or a train or tram ticket
• a form for release from prison or a prison report
• a newspaper snippet (e.g. the end of the war)
• a stamped passport.

Ask the students to choose one character and to produce their scrapbook, including at least one entry for each of the 4 stages in the “One Year On” activity.

Costume drawring by Kevin Jenkins

Life Journeys – Personal Dreams and Goals

• In the play, Leonardo’s talent for Art was very much a part of his identity. What talents do class members have? How much do they see these as shaping their future and in what ways?

• What personal goals and dreams do individuals in the class have? Share these and categorise them into long term and short term goals. What needs to be done to achieve these?

• Particularly topical after the election of Barack Obama, look at Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech (available as an audio version on various websites). Ask the class to research and report back their findings on Martin Luther King and to imagine and write his speech on Obama’s inauguration.

• Ask the class to think of characters they admire in public life. Why do they admire them? How do they think they have achieved their goals?

• In the play, Leonardo and Quack in particular, had obviously faced many challenges in their lives. Did this stop them from ultimately going forwards with their lives?

• Do the class know of any famous people who have faced particular challenges and overcome them? (See P.20 of the Years 5 and 6 booklet in the “Going for Goals!” section of SEAL for examples).

• Look at these lines from the beginning and the end of the play:

• Why are they important lines?

• Did Leonardo have a goal at the beginning of the play? If not, why did his life change?

• Do the class think that the other characters would have progressed in the way that they did without each other?

• Who do the students think can and do help them to achieve their goals and dreams?

During the play, the characters offer each other something special in order to help each other find what they are looking for. Talk with the class about how this is achieved. The following activity draws on the theme of co-operation and working together for a purpose and links in the colour theme running through out the play.

Co-operative Activities
In the play, Leonard helps each of the characters and they in turn help him. The following versions of a co-operative game show how people can work together to achieve a goal.

Colour Game

The idea of the activity is that each child in the class has a number of different coloured pieces embroidery thread in order to make a friendship bracelet. For more details of how to make these see:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Friendship-Bracelet
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/do/friendshipbracelet.html

Variation 1 – Friendship bracelets
The class are told how many coloured threads they need to collect and what the colours are.

Divide the class into groups of 6. Each group should have enough thread for each child to make a bracelet, so, for example, if there are 6 different colours in the bracelet and 6 children in each group there will be 36 pieces of thread. These should be mixed up and handed out equally between the group so that each child has a random mix of colours.

Without talking, the group now begin to give a piece of thread away in turn so that each person in the group now has two piles (one that they give from and one which holds their thread). Children can only give – they cannot take.

The idea is that eventually each child has a pile of 6 different coloured threads with which to make their bracelets.

Variation 2 -Sentences
As a variation on this game, the class think of a sentence that relates to the play, or to working together or friendship. Alternatively, ask the class to create a number of sentences. These should be no more than 7 or 8 words in length. Now cut the sentences up into words.

As above, work in groups so that each person in the group has all the words to make the original sentence.

To make the task more challenging, one group makes a sentence for another but do not reveal what the sentence is. Once each group member has all the words they can try to make the sentence. If the game is played like this, it is easier if words are not repeated in the sentence (e.g. “the” or “a” twice).

Variation 3 – colour poems
In this variation, different coloured strips of paper are cut and distributed to groups of five or six. The first task is to compose a colour poem, with one line being on each strip of coloured paper. At its simplest, each line can relate directly to the colour of paper e.g. “red is the sun setting in the summer sky”. The poem needs to be reproduced five or six times.

Groups now exchange poems and play the game as above, with each group member needing each line of poetry (i.e. all the coloured strips). When all players have each line of the poem they must arrange them in the order they think reads best.

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