Theatre for children

THEATRE FOR CHILDREN:

U D Ugly Duckling
Out of Season or The Mermaid of the department store The Cat in the Boots – A Musical
The Pirates’ Treasure
Action: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Secret of the Pyramid
Why a Dove? (Ecological fairy tale)

U D UGLY DUCLING
(AB Anatroccolo brutto)
9 characters + puppets
(The play was written for a cast of nine or of five. The director can choose how to distribute the roles)
A puppet group arrive in a school to stage the story of the Ugly Duckling. But there is a mistery in the theatre of the school: there are rumors that the keeper of the theatre, Pimple, an ugly and oppressed young man, has a friend who is a monstrous creature. Someone saw him, others say it’s only a legend. The headmaster, though, keep this secret from the group of actors, because she doesn’t want her school to be disreputed. The actors prepare the show,unaware of everything, but soon get to know UD, that in fact is an ET who’s waiting for his friends to be taken back home. After many coups de theatre, the group, in order to save UD, searched by scientists and policemen, decide to let him interpret the role of the Ugly Duckling disguised as a puppet. In the end, Pimple will win the love of the starring actress of the group and UD will go back home.

OUT OF SEASON
or The Mermaid of the department store
(FUORI STAGIONE ovvero: La Sirenetta dei Grandi Magazzini) Musical 5 characters + puppets (In the single scene interpreted only by puppets, “The party of the plastic”, some roles can be played by actors with masks, especially the Mermaid, Cash-desk, Aunt Goose and Windsurf

In a great deparment store, Angelo is a shy and kind shop assistant oppressed by the manager, who is in fact a rascal and steals money. He treatens the innocent boy of accusing him of the thefts, if he doesn’t do everything he says. During Christmas he unjustly punishes him, moving him in the section OUT OF SEASON, an area little visited by costumers, full of summer clothes and goods which the manager want to sell at all costs. So Angelo has to work on Christmas eve. His only joy is the inflatable mattress in the shape of a mermaid which looks like Melody. She is a very shy girl who goes to see him every day pretending to buy something. But they are both so shy they cannot tell each other their love. On Christmas eve something extraordinary happens. The plastic objects become alive, the inflatable matress is in love with Angelo and as it happens in the fairy tale, she asks the witch to become human giving in change her voice (the witch in this case is the Cash and she only wants money). The Mermaid, now human, looks exactly like Melody, only her hoarse voice and her mermaid-like dress give her the look of a femme fatale. Angelo thinks she is Melody and feel uneasy at her new look. From now on there will be tricks and troubles and coups de theatre in the fashion of Billy Wilder. There is of course a happy end, with a hint of sadness, because the Mermaid, now pure air, will have to abandone her dream of love, but she will watch over the happiness of the two lovers and over… the integrity of the Departement Store!

THE CAT IN THE BOOTS – A MUSICAL
(Il gatto con gli stivali)
4 characters + puppets (the puppets can be actors with mask)

It’s the original fairy tale with modern dialogues and in the form of musical. The play begins with the wedding party of the cat’s master with the princess. The cat tells the audience how he managed to become “rich and famous”. But in the end, his master will show no gratitude whatsoever, will ask him back his boots and will make him eat from a bowl, even if he is a special cat.

THE PIRATE’S TREASURE
(Il tesoro dei pirati)
5 characters + puppets
Puppets can be replaced by actors

The Pirates’ Treasure is a dangerous viedogame. If you don’t use it correctly, it turns your house into the pirates’ tavern with the presence of the terrible Captain Kok. Luca will learn it at his expenses. In fact he will find himself inside the game together with his mother. He can save himself only with the help of the audience. The audience in fact will become players and they’ll decide Luca’s fate. The first interactive show.

ACTION: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
(Ciak si gira: Biancaneve e i sette nani)
4 characters + puppets (the Seven Dwarfs can be played by actors

The witch is a great star of the mute cinema: beautiful and cruel, she would do everything to eliminate every competitor, including her step daughter, who only wishes to become a good actress. Poor Snow White has to run away and she finds a refuge in the company of a group of clowns who perform shows for children. Together they stage a very successful show, her step mother finds it out and seeks revenge. But she won’t make it and Snow White will be happy with his Prince.

THE SECRET OF PYRAMID
(Il segreto della piramide)
8 characters
Schizzo and Iftà must be played by the same actor

The structure of the play makes it possible to have double roles: Marta can play also Liliam and Dottor Sguscia can play also Billy Goout. Prof. Bestochen is only an extra who can be played by whatever actor is free at that moment. In this case, the play can be acted by 5 actors.

The mistery of the mummy Iftà, the unrestrained wishes of the baroness Preziosi-Avida (Precious-Eager), a rich, ruthless art collector, and of her lover, the corrupted director of the Museum, Carlo Sguscia, the vicissitudes of Marta, a curious, brilliant and sensitive teenager, our heroine. She is the daughter of a renowed archeologist, Rodolfo Papiro, a funny and completely absent-minded man. They are looking for the inviolated tomb of the Pharaoh Tuthmoses and in the end Marta, with the help of a successfull videogame called “The segret of the Pyramid”, will find it, saving his father’s life. The history of the Pharaohs, the secret of the mummy, the greed for power, the strenght of love, art, money, this is THE SECRET OF THE PYRAMID, an entertaining mix, joining the history of the Past to the world of today.

WHY A DOVE?
(Perchè una rondine?)
An ecological fairy tale
1 character + puppets
(they can also be actors with masks)

Punchinello, famous Neapolitan Mask, dirties a garden and the Moon punishes him by making him very little. Through this punishment Punchinello will get to know the world of trash, inhabited by horrible characters, like Beatle or Rat, the queen of the drain-rats. Punchinello is helped by many friends of the animal world, all suffering from the massive pollution of the town. After many adventures, Punchinello understands that the moon gave him this punishment so that he can save the world from Smog, who plans to conquer the earth and reign on it with its dirt. Punchinello works hard and manages, with his friends, to win over the gang formed by Smog, Beatle and Rat, thus becoming a hero and a person more respectful of nature.