Interactive Storytelling

Developing Inclusive Stories for Children and Adults

Keith Park

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351706230
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Interactive storytelling, where the story is spoken or chanted, began as a way to include individuals with severe and profound learning disabilities in larger group activities, whether children at school or adults in day services. The stories are performed in call-and-response - one person calls out a line and the rest of the group respond either by calling back the same line or by calling out a pre-arranged response - and require no previous experience in drama or storytelling. They can be performed anywhere, by anyone. Various stories are explored, ranging from folktales and pantomime to poetry, the works of Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and stories from the Old Testament. Each extract details the full call-and-response for performing the story. This approach to storytelling can be used by teachers and group facilitators in a variety of settings and with any group of children or adults, irrespective of their level of disability. This hands-on manual will enable teachers, therapists, parents and anyone working with children or adults in community settings to use performance and recital to bring stories, drama and poetry to life for people of all abilities. 'This book is a useful resource...is simply written...is especially appropriate for people working with children and adults with speech, language and communication difficulties.' - Child Language Teaching and Therapy.

Chapter 1
Folk-tales and Pantomime

Jack and the Beanstalk

Cinderella

Hansel and Gretel

Sleeping Beauty

The Three Little Pigs

Goldilocks

Little Red Riding Hood

Snow White – Drifted

Jack and the Beanstalk

This version began as a way to encourage a person called Ben to stay involved in the group activity, and so contains a lot of puns on the word Ben. It has been done by both children and teenagers. The introduction to the story is Episode 1, so it can be started very quickly. The words in italics are the response lines, and the final line of each episode is called out by everyone together. It can be done without any props, although we used a red cloth for the giant to ‘get’ Jack.

Episode 1: Introduction

This is the story of
Jack and the beanstalk
Jack and the Ben shop?
No! Jack and the beanstalk
Jack and the Ben sock?
No! Jack and the beanstalk
Jack and the Ben talk?
No! Jack and the beanstalk
Alright I heard you
Get on with it!

Activity

The introduction to the activity is part of the activity itself, which means that it can be started very quickly. It also introduces the central idea of mishearing what other people say.

Episode 2

Jack and his mother are very poor. Jack’s mother tells him to sell their last cow for five… five what?

You got five what?
I got five beans
You got five Bens?
I got five beans
You got five jeans?
I got five beans
You got five queens?
I got five beans!!
You know you do my ’ead in!
Oooohhhh!

Activity

This episode contains more puns on the name Ben, and gets louder and louder until Jack and his mum are so fed up with each other that they shout, at the top of their voices, ‘You know you do my ’ead in’ in a very over-exaggerated Cockney style, followed by everyone putting their hands on their hips and doing a pantomime-style ‘Oooohh!’ On many of the occasions when this story has been done, this episode appears to be the favourite.

Episode 3

She throws the beans away. The beans talk:

Mung bean?
Mung bean
Soya bean?
Soya bean
Runner bean?
Runner bean
Kidney bean?
Kidney bean
Baked bean?
Baked bean
Has been
Has been
Oh yuk!!

Activity

This episode contains another pantomime-style pun. Several participants of one storytelling group would stand up on the line ‘Oh yuk!’, and shake their trouser legs!

Episode 4

Next day one of the beans is a beanstalk. Jack goes up the beanstalk and meets Mrs Giant; they go to her kitchen and Jack has breakfast. Now the giant is coming; he can smell something strange in the kitchen!

Thump, thump, thump, thump
Thump, thump, thump, thump
Fee-fi-fo-fum
Fee-fi-fo-fum
I smell the blood of an Englishman
I smell the blood of an Englishman
Be he live, or be he dead
Be he live, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread
You’re toast!!
Aarrgghh!

Activity

Everyone stamps loudly in time to the rhythm of the words, and on the line ‘You’re toast’ the giant chooses someone to be the victim, and covers them with the red cloth as everyone screams in mock-horror. As they became familiar with the words of the activity, some teenagers make up their own words, such as ‘I smell the blood of an English geezer’; and ‘I’ll grind his brains to make my bread.’

Episode 5

Mrs Giant said:

Never mind dear, it’s the bones of the boy that you had for supper. Now settle down and eat your breakfast of:

Three boiled sheep
Three boiled feet?
No! Three boiled sheep
Three royal feet?
No! Three boiled sheep!
Three shredded wheat?
No! Three boiled sheep!
Alright keep your shirt on!
Oooohhhh!

Activity

The call and response is in reverse this time: everyone calls out the first line, and the group leader replies with the misheard response. The exchanges get louder and louder until the final pantomime-style ‘Oohh’ at the end.

Episode 6

The giant falls asleep. Jack takes the hen back down the beanstalk and gives it to his mother. He goes back up the beanstalk and hides in the giant’s kitchen. The giant comes in – he can smell something strange in the kitchen!

Thump, thump, thump, thump
Thump, thump, thump, thump
Fee-fi-fo-fum
Fee-fi-fo-fum
I hate boiled sheep
I hate boiled sheep
I want fresh meat
I want fresh meat
He looks tasty
He looks tasty
Let’s have a bite
Let’s have a bite
Crunch!
Aarrgghh!

Activity

This activity is similar to Episode 4, except here the giant’s voice is made to sound very depressed from eating all those sheep until the line ‘I want fresh meat’, which can be made to sound menacing. The first group to try this story used to enjoy testing visitors by covering them with the red cloth on the line ‘Crunch’.

Episode 7

After another breakfast of three sheep, the giant said to his wife, ‘and now bring me my magic harp’. When she did, the giant...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Interactive storytelling in practice and theory
• Introduction to second edition
• CHAPTER 1: FOLK-TALES AND PANTOMIME
• CHAPTER 2: STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
• CHAPTER 3: SHAKESPEARE
• CHAPTER 4: CHARLES DICKENS
• CHAPTER 5: POETRY AND SONG
• CHAPTER 6: GRIMM VERSIONS – STORIES BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM
• CHAPTER 7: NEW VERSIONS OF STORIES BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
• Conclusion: Grow your own stories
• Bibliography