Study Guide

Rella

Synopsis

After Rella is offered a recording contract with Prince Charming Records, her sisters embark on a magical journey that sees them reclaim their rightful place in the spotlight.

Meet the Creatives

Sasha Zahra

Co-Creator, Director

Sasha has worked in the performing arts industry for over 25 years as a producer, maker and director. Positions include Artistic Director of D’Faces of Youth Arts, Kurrruru Youth Performing Arts, Associate Artistic Director of the Come Out Festival, Creative Producer of Adelaide Fringe (2009 – 2014), co-program director for the Royal Croquet Club (2015 – 2018), co-director of Stirling Fringe (2017- 2019) and Producer for Briefs Factory and Hot Brown Honey (2014 – 2015).

Sasha has worked extensively with Vanuatu’s Wan Smolbag Theatre and was Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the mini–Pacific Games (2017). In 2021 she was appointed as Associate Director of Windmill Theatre Company.

Tracey Rigney

Co-Creator, Writer

Tracey is a playwright and screenwriter who draws inspiration from her  Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri culture.  She has worked with Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Black Hole Theatre and Windmill Theatre Company.

Tracey has worked broadly across the Australian screen industry as a writer and director. Her credits include: Endangered, Abalone, Man Real and Elders. She directed Steven Oliver’s web series A Chance Affair and has written for TV on The Warriors. Her works have screened nationally and internationally.

One of her career highlights is working with her co-collaborator Desiree Cross and Koorie students from Dimboola Primary School on Teacher’s Pet. This film won Best Primary School Production and was an ATOM award finalist. She is currently working back in the theatre space on some exciting projects.

Fez Faanana

Co-Creator, Choreographer, Performer

Fez is well known for creating accessible, ground-breaking, physically dynamic and contemporary performance that infuses his Pacific bloodline, political bite, gender juggling, visual spectacle and tongue-in-cheek.

Fez has worked broadly as an educator, choreographer, creative director, performer, and mischief maker as the Co-founder and Creative Director of Briefs Factory International, an all-male circus, burlesque performance company that has toured the globe.

He has also independently produced and programmed work for Brisbane Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival as well as the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Thomas Fonua

Co-Creator, Choreographer, Performer

Thomas Fonua an artist of Pacific decent with an established career as a dancer, choreographer and emerging leader. Thomas has worked for companies such as Black Grace (NZ), Australian Dance Theatre, Red Sky Performance (Canada), Briefs Factory and has been touring internationally from the age of 16.

Thomas’ alterego Kween Kong, is the Reigning Dragnation Australia Winner. With a strong focus to inspire, challenge and nurture our community with his loved based leadership style.

Thomas is the recipient of The NZ Prime Minster’s Award for Arts and Creativity (2015), Out For Australia’s Emerging Leader (2019) and has recently been nominated for the Dora Award For Outstanding Choreography in Canada.

Carla Lippis

Performer, Co-Composer

Carla Lippis has recently returned home to Adelaide after 4 years in London’s West End, where she worked as the principal singer at the historic Cafe de Paris, and as the host of notorious nightclub The Box.

Her international touring has included concerts with Calexico, Kiss, Mötley Crüe and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and she has performed with La Soiree, Club Cumming and Johnny Woo’s All-Star Brexit Cabaret among others.

Her Adelaide Cabaret Festival appearances include The 27 ClubSouthern Belles, and her own Cast A Dark Shadow.

Elaine Crombie

Performer

Elaine Crombie is a Helpmann Award-winning actor, singer, writer and musician working broadly across theatre, television and film.

She has performed with Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, State Theatre Company South Australia and Bangarra among many others. Elaine’s screen credits include Top End WeddingRosehaven, Top of the Lake and Black Comedy.

Meg Wilson

Designer

Meg Wilson is an Adelaide-based interdisciplinary artist and designer whose practice has spanned installation, performance and set, lighting, curation and costume design. Meg has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Theatre Republic, FELT Space, Ace Open, Vitalstatistix, Foul Play, Patch Theatre Company, The Rabble and Restless Dance Theatre among many others.

Meg’s durational performance work SQUASH has toured nationally and was awarded the 2019 Green Room Award for Contemporary and Experimental Performance (Innovation in Durational Performance.

Duncan Campbell

Co-Composer, Sound Designer

Duncan has been an active creative in Adelaide for the past 15 years working in the music and film industries.

From early days writing and performing in concept rock band Mr Wednesday to more recent endeavours working in foley and sound effects/design for film and television. In 2019 Duncan received an Australian Screen Sound Guild award for Best Sound Editing on the SciFi Netflix film I Am Mother. He is also currently writing and performing with Adelaide singer songwriter Carla Lippis.

Most recent film credits include The FurnaceMortal KombatMr CormanKate and Westworld.

Chris Petridis

Lighting and AV Designer

Chris is a lighting and video designer from Adelaide, working across theatre, dance, and other live events in Australia and internationally.

Chris has worked with renowned arts organisations including State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Is This Yours, Australian Dance Theatre, Brink Productions, Restless Dance Theatre, Slingsby Theatre Company, Force Majure, Windmill Theatre Company and Vitalstatistix.

Chris recently worked on the inaugural Illuminate Adelaide Festival’s Light Cycles in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens crafted by the world-leading studio, Moment Factory.

Other recent credits include Carla Lippis’ Mondo Psycho for WOMAD 2022, Theatre Republic’s How Not To Make It In America and Windmill Theatre Company’s Creation Creation.

Liam Somerville

AV Content Designer

Liam Somerville is a video artist and cinematographer living and working on Kaurna Land. He is the co-founder of CAPITAL WASTE PICTURES, a production company creating installations and films that focus on the interaction between distortions of reality and the moving image. Liam has worked broadly across film and television, completing residencies in Adelaide and Denver. He was the co-director of VIDEO NASTY: The Making of Ribspreader and has had works screened at Adelaide Film Festival, RCC, Womadelaide, Adelaide Festival Centre, Otterbox Digital Dome at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery and Gates Planetarium at Denver Museum of Science & Nature among many others.

Greg Stewart

AV Content Designer

As a motion graphics designer, Greg has been working in the industry for over a decade with clients from all over the world. Developing social media content for a broad range of leading brands from network TV to big sporting events he has a passion for helping brands and clients get their message out to the world.

Go behind the scenes

Hear from the director

Sasha Zahra introduces the team behind Rella and lets us know about all of the marvellous mischief she and her awesome collaborators are making in the show.

Watch Now

Meet the writer

Tracey Rigney talks about her inspiration for Rella, the process of smashing the glass slipper and how she has gone about reframing the moral compass of the classic fairytale.

Watch Now

Meet our sisters

Thomas Fonua and Fez Faanana take a break from the rehearsal room to tell us about taking on the biggest challenge of their career: being ugly. Which is impossible for two people as objectively beautiful as them, obviously.

Watch Now

A long time coming...

Sasha and Fez have been creative collaborators for over a decade. Rella is the first time they've ever made a theatre show together.

Key Themes & Ideas

Family
The strong ties of family are at the core of Rella, from the moment Rella is taken in by Marlene and raised as her own, to Afa and Sika fighting to free Rella from the confines of Prince Charming Record Company. The family bond between these characters ultimately proves greater than the sum of its parts and provides a place where each characters feels they can be their true self. Australian First Nations and Samoan cultural connections to family are also evident throughout the play, as it subtly explores abandonment, forced separation and transformation, the indestructible connection of spirit and enduring presence of the past.

Identity
Each character experiences a transformation of identity throughout the play. With a new identity imposed on her by Prince Charming Record Company, Rella must choose between living with an artificial or authentic version of herself. Having lost Rella, Afa and Sika must also find their own voices and identity as they transform into their own ‘Samoan Goddesses’. Marlene’s identity has been shaped by significant personal and cultural loss throughout her life. Consequently, she must face her grief to find a way forward for herself and her daughters.

Dreams/reality
The road to dreams becoming reality is never easy and is often paved with crossroads and detours that provide invaluable life lessons. On the path to transforming their hopes into reality, Rella, Afa and Sika discover that dreams are worth fighting for and what they were searching for was in front of them the whole time.

Beauty
Beauty is at the centre of the classic Cinderella story and most traditional fairytales. Through the journey of Afa and Sika (and their smearing as ‘ugly’ by the team at the ‘Is This Talent’? TV talent contest), Rella asks audiences to look at popular or mainstream beauty standards and how they interact with non-western cultures and conceptions of gender.

Welcome to Camp Windmill

A digital campsite dedicated to the art of the pose

Camp Windmill

When we created Rella, we found ourselves with a work that used the language of camp to explore beauty, fame and gender in a thrilling and fun way. Camp Windmill takes this a step further, giving our wonderful young audience with the language to better understand the art of artifice by introducing them to some of Australia’s finest purveyors of camp.

Developed in collaboration with experience design firm Sandpit and hosted by drag artists Thomas Fonua and Fez Faanana, Camp Windmill features interviews with Paul Capsis, Chiara Gabrielli, Christine Johnston, Joel Bray, Stephen Nicolazzo, Glace Chase, Jonathon Oxlade and Windmill’s very own Rosemary Myers.

Explore Camp Windmill

Tracey Rigney talks all things Rella

Q1. What cultural influences have inspired you as a contemporary artist?

The cultural influences that inspire me as a contemporary artist are quite broad. I’d like to think I’m inspired by my Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri roots, but that’s only the beginning. I am heavily influenced by my upbringing in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as influenced by my family, friends and the environments I live in or visit. Be it country and/or city. What draws me to the city is watching people go about their lives. But I am bias when it comes to the natural environment – it truly is awe inspiring. I like to keep up to date with things going on in terms of popular culture and find social media a fascinating beast of a thing. Music is a massive part of my life and really helps me create. I actually write my scripts as I listen to music. And in addition to this I am a deeply spiritual person and find that this plays a huge role in my life personally and professionally.

Q2. How are these influences evident in ‘Rella’?

I think these influences are evident in Rella in a lot of ways. I get to funnel my First Nations perspective and voice through the character of Marlene. I get to tap into my idea of spirituality as I delve into the beauty of Samoan culture and spirituality. I also draw from life the notion of what family is in today’s society – quite a departure of what that notion was during my formative years. In Rella I think the thing that excites me also is the fact that it is a musical. Music is so inspiring for me and I am just so grateful that I can now say I’ve written for a musical. Especially since we as a team all agreed to incorporate music from the 1980s and 1990s. I feel Rella really is a love letter to the music and fashion of those decades. And I must admit – I always love me some drag queen action too! I really do feel privileged to help tell this unique story.

Q3. What impact do you want your work to have on your audience considering these cultural influences?

I hope the audiences find inspiration in my work just like I find inspiration from things that influence me in life. I hope they allow themselves to go on the journey with the characters. Venture into this Rella world and really enjoy their time there, learn something new there or see themselves reflected there.  Art and storytelling have a vital role to play in our lives and can impact change for the greater good, be it through transformation, healing and empathy. And if the audiences watch this show and wonder to themselves if this creative life is something they might like to do – then I hope they have the courage to just do it. Because from my perspective – a creative life is a viable career option and it’s such a fulfilling existence.



Year 7 - 8: Drama

In this section

Introduction

This unit includes learning experiences and assessment linked to The Arts: Drama, Australian Curriculum across Years 7 and 8. Teachers can choose to use individual learning experiences to complement existing drama units or complete the entire unit of work with their students.

The learning experiences can provide a structure to view and explore Rella with your students. They will provide opportunity for students to explore the play resources independently as well as generate class discussion and sharing of interpretations of the play.



Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 8, students identify and analyse how the elements of drama are used, combined and manipulated in different styles. They apply this knowledge in drama they make and perform. They evaluate how they and others from different cultures, times and places communicate meaning and intent through drama.

Students collaborate to devise, interpret and perform drama. They manipulate the elements of drama, narrative and structure to control and communicate meaning. They apply different performance styles and conventions to convey status, relationships and intentions. They use performance skills to shape and focus theatrical effect for an audience.



Content Descriptions Addressed

Combine the elements of drama in devised and scripted drama to explore and develop issues, ideas and themes (ACADRM040).

Develop roles and characters consistent with situation, dramatic forms and performance styles to convey status, relationships and intentions(ACADRM041).

Plan, structure and rehearse drama, exploring ways to communicate and refine dramatic meaning for theatrical effect (ACADRM042).

Develop and refine expressive skills in voice and movement to communicate ideas and dramatic action in different performance styles and conventions, including contemporary Australian drama styles developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists (ACADRM043).

Perform devised and scripted drama maintaining commitment to role (ACADRM044).

Analyse how the elements of drama have been combined in devised and scripted drama to convey different forms, performance styles and dramatic meaning (ACADRR045).

Identify and connect specific features and purposes of drama from contemporary and past times to explore viewpoints and enrich their drama making, starting with drama in Australia and including drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACADRR046).



Before the Show

Making

What would happen if the story of Cinderella was flipped on its head?

What you’ll need: Picture book of the traditional Cinderella story.

  • The creative team on Rella have flipped the traditional fairy tale, Cinderella, on its head to challenge stereotypes to give a new voice to the stepsisters and their mother than the original narrative. With this in mind, invite students to go back in time when they may have first heard the original Cinderella. Ask them to sit in a traditional story time context, that is, teacher sitting on a chair with students sitting crossed legged on the floor, ready to hear the traditional Cinderella story. Ideally, the story is in picture book form so students can engage with the text and illustrations.
  • Once read, ask students which characters’ stories are the central focus of the traditional version. To extend their thinking, ask each student to identify a character from the original version they would have liked to:
    • have featured more in the story.
    • have had a stronger voice so they could gain a better understanding of who the character was and why they behaved as they did.
    • have been portrayed differently so that it better reflected the student and their experience of the world.
  • Invite students to share their thoughts with a partner and the class more broadly, explaining the reasons for their response.
  • In groups of four, students engage in a ‘Hot Seat’ to explore their chosen character further. Taking a turn at a time, each student adopts the voice, posture, gesture, status and movement of their chosen character, and the remaining students in the group ask questions of the character. The student must maintain character throughout the questioning process using improvisation and their imagination to answer the questions. Students are encouraged to answer as they would like to see their character respond, having the option to challenge the portrayal of the character in the original fairy tale. As an extension to the experience, students asking the questions can remain in their chosen role to watch the dynamic and relationship between characters, providing students the opportunity to watch. For example, how the stepmother interacts with Prince Charming.
  • Once each student has had a turn on the ‘Hot Seat’, students discuss in their groups (out of role) what was unexpectedly revealed or challenged about the character compared with the character portrayal in the original story. Invite students to then share their observations with the class.

Content Description Links: ACADRM040; ACADRM041; ACADRM043; ACADRM044; ACADRR045



Responding

Can I be what I cannot see?

  • As a class, invite students to provide their understanding of the quote ‘It’s hard to be what you cannot see.’, from founder of America’s Children Defense Fund and activist for children’s rights, Marion Wright Edelman.
  • Explain to students that Rella’s creatives wanted to make a piece of work that challenged the portrayal of characters from the original version of Cinderella and provide some of the characters, such as the stepsisters and mother, with a new voice.
  • To realise this, co-creators and performers Fez Faanana and Thomas Fonua, draw on their creative practice as drag artists to portray the sisters in This portrayal reflects a camp performance style.
  • Using the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource, play students Fez and Thomas’ interview where they share their interpretation of camp and how this style has influenced them as artists.
  • Reflecting on Fez and Thomas’ interview and their portrayal of the stepsisters, engage students in a class discussion about:
    • The impact the transformation of the stepsisters might have on a contemporary audience.
    • How their portrayal of the stepsisters connects to Marion Wright Edelman’s quote, ‘It’s hard to be what you cannot see.’
  • Invite students to reflect on the following questions. Students can document their reflections verbally, written or creatively:
    • How does society’s contemporary storytelling such as live theatre, film/media, visual arts, music, dance, and social media, represent your story and culture?
    • How would you change/add to this representation to depict your experience more authentically?
    • Who do you think is silenced, misrepresented, or underrepresented in terms of the stories told and voices heard in contemporary society? Why?

Students share their reflections with the class. Encourage students when watching Rella to be on the lookout for:

  • how they may see themselves represented in the performance.
  • how traditional stereotypes are challenged.
  • which characters are given stronger voices?

Content Description Links: ACADRR046



After the Show

Making

How can we fracture a fairy tale?

What you’ll need: butcher’s paper, pens, A4 paper, blu-tack, access to costume, set pieces, lighting, sound and video if available.

  • Rella intentionally flips the traditional story of Cinderella to challenge stereotypes. In the process they have fractured and transformed the story to engage a contemporary audience. Explain to students that it is now their chance to work collaboratively with others to devise, rehearse and present a fractured version of a traditional fairy tale of their choice. Their artistic intent will be to challenge stereotypes and strengthen the voice of particular characters.
  • To inspire students in the transformation of their fairy tale and characters, invite students to explore the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource or play the following interviews within the platform that highlight how exaggerated costume, voice, movement and gesture can be used to portray character:
    • Paul Capsis
    • Christine Johnson
    • Chiara Gabrielli
  • Invite students to:
    • create groups of four to six.
    • sit in a circle equipped with butcher’s paper, pens and their imaginations!
    • create a clear creative vision for the final work including stereotypes they want to challenge and what characters they would like to give a stronger voice.
    • create an outline of the new version of the fairy tale. At this point students need to consider what theatrical styles and forms will be used in their piece depending on their creative team. For example, Rella adopted the style of magic realism. Song, music, movement and dance also played a significant role in the story and drew on the artists’ creative capabilities. An idea of set, costume, lighting and video design is also important at this stage to enhance mood, situation and role. Students in the group may volunteer to take on these roles. In the Rella creative development, Director, Sasha Zahra would write the title of each scene on an A4 piece of paper and stick it to the studio wall. This allowed the creative team to see and easily adjust the flow of the work. Students may like to adopt this approach during their creative development.
    • devise each scene considering situation, tension, status and relationship. Students may decide to allocate a scene to be written by individual group members and then share with the whole group, or they may decide to write it together, with each member contributing ideas. Alternatively, students may decide to devise the scenes by videoing and then documenting group improvisations.
    • rehearse the piece in its entirety. Costume, set, lighting, sound and video design also need to be confirmed at this stage.
    • present their work to the class and enjoy the audience’s response and feedback.
    • After the performances, invite students in their groups to reflect creatively, verbally or via a written piece on their experience of the collaborative process and how successful they were in meeting their original intent for the work.

Content Description Links: ACADRM040; ACADRM041; ACADRM042; ACADRM043; ACADRM044; ACADRR045



Responding

How did I respond to Rella as an audience member? 

  • Play for students the interview with Rella’s Writer/Co-Creator, Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia. The interview explores:
    • what cultural influences inspired Tracey’s work and where these influences are evident in Rella.
    • what impact Tracey wants her work to have on audiences considering these cultural influences.
  • Considering the interview and the original intent of the piece, create a written or verbal response to the following questions from your viewpoint as an audience member:
    • Choose a character from Rella that you believed was given a stronger voice or challenged existing stereotypes evident in the traditional story of Cinderella.
    • Explain how the actor conveying your chosen character challenged the stereotype and conveyed their story to the audience. For example, through their use of:
      • Voice
      • Movement
      • Language
      • Costume
    • How successful was the actor in conveying their character to you as an audience member? Why?
    • What impact did Rella have on you as an audience member and how this aligns with Tracey Rigney’s intent?
  • Invite students to share their responses with others in the class who chose the same character and discuss the similarities and differences in their responses. Then invite students to engage in a class discussion sharing their ideas more broadly.

Content Description Links: ACADRR045; ACADRR046.





Year 9 - 10: Drama

In this section

Introduction

This unit includes learning experiences and assessment linked to The Arts: Drama, Australian Curriculum across Years 9 and 10. Teachers can choose to use individual learning experiences to complement existing drama units or complete the entire unit of work with their students.

The learning experiences can provide a structure to view and explore Rella with your students. They will provide opportunity for students to explore the play resources independently as well as generate class discussion and sharing of interpretations of the play.



Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 10, students analyse the elements of drama, forms and performance styles and evaluate meaning and aesthetic effect in drama they devise, interpret, perform and view. They use their experiences of drama practices from different cultures, places and times to evaluate drama from different viewpoints.

Students develop and sustain different roles and characters for given circumstances and intentions. They perform devised and scripted drama in different forms, styles and performance spaces. They collaborate with others to plan, direct, produce, rehearse and refine performances. They select and use the elements of drama, narrative and structure in acting to engage audiences. They refine performance and expressive skills in voice and movement to convey dramatic action.



Content Descriptions Addressed

Improvise with the elements of drama and narrative structure to develop ideas, and explore subtext to shape devised and scripted drama (ACADRM047).

Manipulate combinations of the elements of drama to develop and convey the physical and psychological aspects of roles and characters consistent with intentions in dramatic forms and performance styles (ACADRM048).

Practise and refine the expressive capacity of voice and movement to communicate ideas and dramatic action in a range of forms, styles and performance spaces, including exploration of those developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dramatists (ACADRM049).

Structure drama to engage an audience through manipulation of dramatic action, forms and performance styles and by using design elements (ACADRM050).

Perform devised and scripted drama making deliberate artistic choices and shaping design elements to unify dramatic meaning for an audience (ACADRM051).

Evaluate how the elements of drama, forms and performance styles in devised and scripted drama convey meaning and aesthetic effect (ACADRR052).

Analyse a range of drama from contemporary and past times to explore differing viewpoints and enrich their drama making, starting with drama from Australia and including drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and consider drama in international contexts (ACADRR053).



Before the Show

Responding

How can the characters in Cinderella be transformed for a contemporary audience?

What you’ll need: props or pictures of a crown, glass slipper, pumpkin, magic wand, gown, a clock set to midnight, a mop and/or apron, traditional regal music

  • Before the students enter the classroom, create a symbol gallery using props or pictures that represent the traditional story of Items may include:
    • crown
    • glass slipper
    • pumpkin
    • magic wand
    • gown
    • a clock set to midnight
    • a mop and/or apron
  • With traditional regal music playing, invite students to enter the space and take time to walk through the gallery. Once viewing is complete ask the students to sit in a circle and invite them one at a time to contribute either a word or phrase in response to the gallery. Once all students have shared, if any students have made a link to Cinderella ask them to explain their response. If students have not made the association, prompt students to discover the link. Ask students to share what they remember of the traditional story of Cinderella. Provide students with a traditional version of the Cinderella fairy tale which they read as a class.
  • Divide the class into six groups and give each group an A3 page with a simple outline of a human figure in the centre of the page.
  • Assign each group a major character from the fairy tale: Cinderella, Cinderella’s father, the stepsisters, the stepmother, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother. Students are to write their character on the inside of the human figure. Drawing on the traditional version of the story, each group writes their character’s physical traits on the inside of the figure, and on the outside of the figure they are to write their characters’ personality traits. Students share their findings with the class.
  • Explain to students that Rella intentionally debunks the traditional Cinderella fairy tale by challenging ingrained stereotypes and allowing the voice of the stepsisters and mother to be heard. To realise this artistic intent, co-creators Fez Faanana and Thomas Fonua, draw on their artistic practice as drag artists to portray the sisters in This portrayal of the sisters reflects a camp performance style.
    • Using the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource, play students Fez and Thomas’ interview where they share their interpretation of camp and how this style has influenced them as artists.
  • Drawing on Fez and Thomas’ interview and the intent for Rella to debunk the original story of Cinderella, students are to reform their groups and are to provide a new A3 page with a human figure drawn in the centre of the page.
  • In the role of creators of a new performance of Cinderella that challenges the story’s traditional stereotypes and gives their character a voice or provides an alternative perspective, students are to:
    • write their character’s new physical traits on the inside of the figure and;
    • write their character’s new personality traits on the outside of the figure.
  • Students share their ideas with the class explaining their choices.
Content Description Links: ACADRM048; ACADRM050; ACADRR053


Making

How can Cinderella be restaged for a contemporary audience?

  • Students form pairs. Each student chooses a transformed character from the ‘How can the characters in Cinderella be transformed for a contemporary audience?’ learning experience.
  • Using their chosen characters, each pair devises, rehearses and presents one scene with the intent to transform and challenge the portrayal of their character in the traditional story of Cinderella. For example, students may create a scene where Cinderella confronts her stepmother about how poorly she is treated. Remind students to clearly:
    • convey the scene’s situation: Who are they? Where are they? What is happening?
    • portray their character’s attitude and motivation through use of voice and movement.
    • communicate their artistic intent to the audience via the contemporary transformation of their characters and scene.
  • As students rehearse, they are to consider their use of:
    • internal dialogue
    • subtext
    • space
  • to heighten:
    • tension
    • mood
    • the relationship between the characters

Content Description Links: ACADRM047; ACADRM048; ACADRM049; ACADRM050; ACADRM051.



After the Show

Making

How do my cultural influences inspire my work as an artist?

What you’ll need: pen and paper for each student

  • Have students read the interview with Rella’s Writer/Co-Creator, Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia. The interview explores:
    • the cultural influences that have inspired Tracey’s work and where these influences are evident in Rella.
    • the impact Tracey wants her work to have on audiences considering these cultural influences.
  • Considering the interview, invite students to find a space of their own and ensure each student has paper and pen. Explain to students that they are to:
    • brainstorm what cultural influences inspire them as an artist
    • choose a character from Rella to whom they felt most connected (it may be a visible character such as Afa or Marlene, or it may be a character that was spoken of but never seen on stage, such as the Rella’s father)
    • draw on their personal cultural influences and write a monologue or letter in role as their chosen character. The writing is intended to be spoken or delivered to another character in the play. Students can manipulate time, setting the writing in the past, present or future. Students are also to be discerning and deliberate in their manipulation of the Elements of Drama, language, tension and mood to convey character and relationship.
  • Once writing is completed, students are to share their work with a partner. After they have shared their work, they discuss with their partner how their writing was inspired by cultural influences and how the Elements of Drama were used to convey dramatic meaning.
  • Invite students to engage in a class discussion to share the writing they heard and how the cultural influences were integrated into the work.

Content Description Links: ACADRM048; ACADRM050; ACADRR052; ACADRR053



Responding

What is a performance style and where is it evident in Rella?

  • Invite students to explore the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource or play students all or a selection of the following artist interviews within the platform that examine the definition of ‘camp’ and how the performance style is evident in each artists’ work:
    • Paul Capsis
    • Chiara Gabrielli
    • Fez Faanana and Thomas Fonua
  • Ask students in small groups to brainstorm where the style is evident in Rella and to share their findings with the class.
  • Remind students that while Rella is inspired by traditional story of Cinderella, the original story has been transformed to challenge stereotypes and give a different voice to characters than the original narrative. Individually, students choose to create a written or verbal response that identifies, analyses and evaluate how Fez Faanana or Thomas Fonua use a camp performance style to challenge the traditional Cinderella story’s portrayal of the stepsisters and allow their voice to be heard. Students should consider voice, movement, costume and role in their response.
  • Invite students to share their responses in small groups and then as a class to compare, clarify and contrast their ideas.
Content Description Links: ACADRR052; ACADRR053




Year 11 -12: Drama

In this section

Introduction

This unit includes activities and assessment linked to the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) Stage 1 and 2 Drama across Years 11 and 12. Teachers can choose to use individual learning experiences to complement existing drama units or complete the entire unit of work with their students.

The learning experiences can provide a structure to view and explore Rella with your students. They will provide opportunity for students to explore the play resources independently as well as generate class discussion and sharing of interpretations of the play.



Before the Show

Responding

How relevant is the traditional Cinderella fairy tale in contemporary society?

What you’ll need: a prop or picture of a crown, glass slipper, pumpkin, magic wand, gown, clock set to midnight, and mop and/or apron; traditional regal music

  • Before the students enter the classroom, create a symbol gallery using props or pictures that represent the traditional story of Items may include:
    • crown
    • glass slipper
    • pumpkin
    • magic wand
    • gown
    • a clock set to midnight
    • a mop and/or apron
  • With traditional regal music playing, invite students to enter the space and take time to walk through the gallery. Once viewing is complete, ask the students to sit in a circle around the space and invite them one at a time to contribute either a word or phrase in response to the gallery. Once all students have shared, if any students have made a link to Cinderella ask them to explain their response. If students have not made the association, prompt students to discover the link.
  • Ask students to sit as an audience facing a performance space. Provide students with a traditional version of the Cinderella fairy tale. Nominate a few students to share the role of narrator. As students narrate the Cinderella story, students from the audience spontaneously take turns individually and in groups to step into the performance space and use movement and sound effects to improvise the narrated story. Students can take on the role of characters or objects from the story.
  • Once the story is complete, invite students to create groups of four to six. Ask each group to respond to the story, analysing and evaluating the value of the Cinderella in contemporary society, encouraging students to consider what aspects of the story would remain relevant to contemporary society if they were given the opportunity to transform the story.
  • Groups document their responses on butcher’s paper. Students can format their responses as they see fit. For example, they may collate the responses using a table. Students display their responses in the room and share with the class. Lead the students in a class discussion asking them to identify the similarities and difference in responses.


Making

How can we flip the traditional story of Cinderella on its head?

  • Rella intentionally flips the traditional story of Cinderella on its head to challenge stereotypes by focussing on the story of the stepsisters and mother characters. In the process, the creatives have transformed the story to engage a contemporary audience and provide an alternative perspective.
    • To realise this artistic intent, co-creators and performers, Fez Faanana and Thomas Fonua, draw on their creative practice as drag artists to portray the sisters in This portrayal of the sisters reflects a camp performance style.
    • Using the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource, play for students Fez and Thomas’ interview where they share their interpretation of camp and how this style has influenced them as artists.
  • Reflecting on Fez and Thomas’ interview and their portrayal of the stepsisters, explain to students that it is now their chance to work collaboratively with others to devise, rehearse and present a new version of Cinderella. Dependent on time, students may devise and perform a section of the story or the story in its entirety. Their intent for transforming the fairy tale will be one or a combination of the following:
    • challenge stereotypes
    • give a stronger voice to characters
    • provide an alternative perspective of the story
    • reflect their own artistic and personal lens to provide an alternative perspective of the story
  • Invite students to:
    • create a company of five to seven students.
    • sit in a circle equipped with butcher’s paper and pens.
    • collectively create a clear creative vision and artistic intent for the final work.
    • potentially adopt Rella co-creator and director, Sasha Zahra’s approach whereby as sections of Rella were devised they were given a title which was written on an A4 page and stuck on the studio wall. This allowed the creatives to visually keep track of the story’s development and through line.
    • use the dramatic process to conceive, explore, build, refine and present their transformation of Drawing on each company member’s creative strengths, students nominate which artistic role they will adopt during the process. These roles can include:
      • writer
      • director
      • performers
      • composers
      • choreographers
      • set and costume designer
      • LFX and video designer – students may consider how their design can add to the mood, tension and context of the scene to elicit a particularly feeling from the audience
      • stage manager
    • Students must be discerning in their use of the following Elements of Drama and performance skills in the creation of their work:
      • role/character
      • mood
      • tension
      • relationship
      • space
      • symbol
      • voice
      • movement
  • Students present their work to the class. At the end of each performance, the audience verbally responds to the company’s manipulation of the Elements of Drama and performance skills to challenge stereotypes, give characters a stronger voice and/or provide an alternative perspective of the story.


After the Show

Responding

How do cultural influences inspire artists’ work?

What you’ll need: butcher’s paper and pens

  • Co-creator and director, Sasha Zahra, brought together a culturally and artistically diverse range of creative artists to work collaboratively to create Rella.
  • Have students read the interview with Rella Writer/Co-Creator, Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia. The interview explores:
    • the cultural influences that inspired Tracey’s work and where these influences are evident in Rella.
    • the impact Tracey wants her work to have on audiences considering these cultural influences.
  • Based on Tracey’s interview statements, using a large piece of butcher’s paper hung on a wall in the space or placed on the floor, ask students to individually identify where in the play there were links to First Nation and Samoan cultures to convey dramatic meaning.
  • Once brainstorming is complete, ask students to read other students’ responses. Invite students to contribute to a class discussion about their responses, enabling students to elaborate on their ideas and clarify their thoughts.
  • Students are to make a verbal, written, videoed or creative response that analyses and evaluates the impact Rella’s cultural references had on their audience experience. As part of their response, students are to discuss how their own culture has, in the past, and potentially in the future, might covertly or overtly influence their process as dramatic artists.


Making

What inspires and influences me as an artist?

  • Ask students to individually or in small groups explore the ‘Camp Windmill’ resource or watch at least two artist interviews within the platform, making notes about the following and share their findings with the class:
    • How does each artist define the style, ‘camp’?
    • What influences have inspired them in their development as a contemporary artist?
    • Identify the artist’s influences inspired and influenced their artist as they have developed their creative identity?
    • How are these influences evident in the artist’s work?
    • How does the artist use the style to communicate with and impact their audience?
    • Where is the style evident in Rella and how has it been used to challenge traditional stereotypes and perspectives evident in the traditional story of Cinderella?
  • Invite students individually to reflect on what has inspired and influenced the creation of their dramatic work through the lens of their personal, social and/or cultural experiences.
  • Drawing on this reflection, students individually adopt the role of writer and choose a different fairy tale they would like to rewrite from an alternative perspective that reflects their personal, social and/or cultural experiences. Encourage students to adopt a clear intent for their work, clarifying the impact they want to have on their audience and what they want to communicate.
  • Students have the option to:
  • write an excerpt from what would be a complete play or write the play in its entirety.
  • experiment with time and place, music, lighting, and video to enhance dramatic meaning.
  • initially write a brief outline of the adapted story to ensure their purpose, through line and intended audience experience is clear.
  • Students are to consider the following Elements of Drama in the development of their work:
    • time
    • situation
    • language
    • character
    • symbol
    • tension
  • Once complete, students share their work with other students in the class.




Year 7 - 8: English

Introduction

This unit includes activities and assessment linked to English, Australian Curriculum for Year 7 & 8. Teachers can choose to use individual activities to complement existing English units or complete the entire unit of work with their students.

The learning activities can provide a structure to view and explore Rella with your students. They will provide opportunity for students to explore the play resources independently as well as generate class discussion and sharing of interpretations of the play.



Achievement Standard

Year 7 Achievement Standard

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 7, students understand how text structures can influence the complexity of a text and are dependent on audience, purpose and context. They demonstrate understanding of how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary affects meaning.

Students explain issues and ideas from a variety of sources, analysing supporting evidence and implied meaning. They select specific details from texts to develop their own response, recognising that texts reflect different viewpoints. They listen for and explain different perspectives in texts.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students understand how the selection of a variety of language features can influence an audience. They understand how to draw on personal knowledge, textual analysis and other sources to express or challenge a point of view. They create texts showing how language features and images from other texts can be combined for effect.

Students create structured and coherent texts for a range of purposes and audiences. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, using language features to engage the audience. When creating and editing texts they demonstrate understanding of grammar, use a variety of more specialised vocabulary and accurate spelling and punctuation.



Year 8 Achievement Standard

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 8, students understand how the selection of text structures is influenced by the selection of language mode and how this varies for different purposes and audiences. Students explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used to represent different ideas and issues in texts.

Students interpret texts, questioning the reliability of sources of ideas and information. They select evidence from the text to show how events, situations and people can be represented from different viewpoints. They listen for and identify different emphases in texts, using that understanding to elaborate on discussions.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students understand how the selection of language features can be used for particular purposes and effects. They explain the effectiveness of language choices they make to influence the audience. Through combining ideas, images and language features from other texts, students show how ideas can be expressed in new ways.

Students create texts for different purposes, selecting language to influence audience response. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, using language patterns for effect. When creating and editing texts to create specific effects, they take into account intended purposes and the needs and interests of audiences. They demonstrate understanding of grammar, select vocabulary for effect and use accurate spelling and punctuation.



Content Descriptions Adressed

Year 7 Content Descriptions

Language, Literature and Literacy

Understand the way language evolves to reflect a changing world, particularly in response to the use of new technology for presenting texts and communicating (ACELA1528)

Understand how accents, styles of speech and idioms express and create personal and social identities (ACELA1529)

Understand how language is used to evaluate texts and how evaluations about a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources (ACELA1782)

Understand that the coherence of more complex texts relies on devices that signal text structure and guide readers, for example overviews, initial and concluding paragraphs and topic sentences, indexes or site maps or breadcrumb trails for online texts (ACELA1763)

Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1619)

Reflect on ideas and opinions about characters, settings and events in literary texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others and justifying a point of view (ACELT1620)

Compare the ways that language and images are used to create character, and to influence emotions and opinions in different types of texts (ACELT1621)

Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different approaches (ACELT1622)

Discuss aspects of texts, for example their aesthetic and social value, using relevant and appropriate metalanguage (ACELT1803)

Create literary texts that adapt stylistic features encountered in other texts, for example, narrative viewpoint, structure of stanzas, contrast and juxtaposition (ACELT1625) 

Experiment with text structures and language features and their effects in creating literary texts, for example, using rhythm, sound effects, monologue, layout, navigation and colour (ACELT1805)

Use interaction skills when discussing and presenting ideas and information, selecting body language, voice qualities and other elements, (for example music and sound) to add interest and meaning (ACELY1804)

Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements to promote a point of view or enable a new way of seeing (ACELY1720)

Use prior knowledge and text processing strategies to interpret a range of types of texts (ACELY1722)

Use comprehension strategies to interpret, analyse and synthesise ideas and information, critiquing ideas and issues from a variety of textual sources (ACELY1723)

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas (ACELY1725)

Edit for meaning by removing repetition, refining ideas, reordering sentences and adding or substituting words for impact (ACELY1726)

Use a range of software, including word processing programs, to confidently create, edit and publish written and multimodal texts (ACELY1728)



Year 8 Content Descriptions

Language, Literature and Literacy

Understand how conventions of speech adopted by communities influence the identities of people in those communities (ACELA1541)

Understand how cohesion in texts is improved by strengthening the internal structure of paragraphs through the use of examples, quotations and substantiation of claims (ACELA1766)

Understand how coherence is created in complex texts through devices like lexical cohesion, ellipsis, grammatical theme and text connectives (ACELA1809)

Recognise that vocabulary choices contribute to the specificity, abstraction and style of texts (ACELA1547)

Explore the ways that ideas and viewpoints in literary texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts may reflect or challenge the values of individuals and groups (ACELT1626)

Share, reflect on, clarify and evaluate opinions and arguments about aspects of literary texts (ACELT1627)

Understand and explain how combinations of words and images in texts are used to represent particular groups in society, and how texts position readers in relation to those groups (ACELT1628)

Recognise and explain differing viewpoints about the world, cultures, individual people and concerns represented in texts (ACELT1807)

Recognise, explain and analyse the ways literary texts draw on readers’ knowledge of other texts and enable new understanding and appreciation of aesthetic qualities (ACELT1629)

Create literary texts that draw upon text structures and language features of other texts for particular purposes and effects (ACELT1632)

Experiment with particular language features drawn from different types of texts, including combinations of language and visual choices to create new texts (ACELT1768)

Interpret the stated and implied meanings in spoken texts, and use evidence to support or challenge different perspectives (ACELY1730)

Use interaction skills for identified purposes, using voice and language conventions to suit different situations, selecting vocabulary, modulating voice and using elements such as music, images and sound for specific effects (ACELY1808)

Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content, including multimodal elements, to reflect a diversity of viewpoints (ACELY1731)

Explore and explain the ways authors combine different modes and media in creating texts, and the impact of these choices on the viewer/listener (ACELY1735)

Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate (ACELY1736)

Experiment with text structures and language features to refine and clarify ideas to improve the effectiveness of students’ own texts (ACELY1810) 

Use a range of software, including word processing programs, to create, edit and publish texts imaginatively (ACELY1738)



Before the Show

Receptive

  • Set a two-minute timer. Individually or in pairs students are to write a list of as many fairy tales that they can think of. At the end of this time, students count how many fairy tales are in their list and compare to the rest of the class.
  • Students are to consider the list that they have made: What are some of the similarities between these stories?
  • Write a response referring to the specific features of fairy tales including characters, events, situations, conflicts, narrative, journey, magic, ending etc.
  • After responding, students discuss these similarities with their elbow buddy or table group.
  • Students are to research archetypal stock characters in fairy tales. Use a graphic organiser such as a mind-map which visually shows some of the typical traits of these characters.
  • The following stock characters should be considered:
    • Hero/Protagonist
    • Villain/Antagonist
    • Damsel in distress/Victim
    • Sidekick/Helper
    • Henchman
    • Magical helper
    • Dispatcher
  • Discuss as a class which stock characters are typically dominant or valued in fairy tales? Which stock characters are typically secondary or silenced? Students should add this information to their mind map.
  • Read a version of Cinderella. Create a character list of the key stock characters within the story and write a brief description of these character archetypes. Use a graphic organiser such as a T-chart to summarise this information. Alternatively use an online platform such as Padlet to record results in real time. Students should identify which characters are dominant, secondary and silenced within the story.

Year 7 Content Description Links: ACELT1619; ACELT1620; ACELT1622; ACELY1722
Year 8 Content Description Links: ACELA1541; ACELT1626; ACELT1629



Productive

  • Students are to research Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Students should create/draw a visual map of this journey in a way that makes the most sense to the individual – this might be in the form of an actual map, road, linear timeline or a clock. (Alternatively, students could use an online creating system to create this visual representation)
  • The following video may be helpful in charting this journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Zxt28ff-E
  • Students might also want to consider their favourite “hero film” and chart how the protagonist meets the points of the Hero’s Journey. For example:
    • Spiderman
    • Thor
    • Toy Story
    • Wonder Woman
    • Harry Potter
    • Star Wars
    • Frozen
  • Drawing from their knowledge from the ‘Before the Show – Receptive’ learning experience above, students should consider and annotate how the original story of Cinderella meets the points of the Hero’s Journey.
  • Students are to discuss how the story of Cinderella foregrounds a particularly dominant reading and suggest what ideas, values and attitudes are forwarded through the story.
  • Students are to choose a secondary or silenced character from the story and write a reflection that justifies the character’s thoughts and experiences. They should choose a particular moment from the story from which they write this reflection. It could take the genre of a diary entry. For example, students may choose to write a personal reflection from the perspective of the Evil Stepmother after the ball has taken place and justify what she did to Cinderella.
  • Invite the students to explore the “Camp Windmill” educational resource connected with Reflect on the interviewers by asking students:
  • What typically silenced voices from society do they notice?
  • What is the purpose of the artist’s work?
  • What do the artists highlight about Camp and its stylistic features?
  • How does Camp appear in the artist’s work?
  • What messages to the artists find important to convey to their audiences through Camp?
  • How is this idea different to predominantly foregrounded archetypes and ideas reflected in texts?
  • Does this challenge your own values, culture, and ideas about society? How?
  • Ask students to reflect on their own writing and consider what message they conveyed by voicing a secondary or silenced character from Cinderella.

Year 7 Content Description Links: ACELT1619; ACELT1620; ACELT1622; ACELT1625
Year 8 Content Description Links: ACELA1541; ACELT1626



After the Show

Productive

  • Students discuss with their elbow buddy or table groups some ways in which Rella has been fractured. Students should use their knowledge from the ‘Before the Show’ learning experiences to frame their discussion.
  • Using a graphic organiser such as a Venn-Diagram, students should chart the differences and similarities between Rella and the original story of Cinderella. Additionally, students should revisit the map they drew in the ‘Before the Show – Productive’ learning experiences and annotate how Rella has followed or challenged the typical structure of the Hero’s Journey.
  • Discuss the characters in Students should annotate their mind-map created in the ‘Before the Show – Receptive’ learning experience, adding the characters from Rella and which traditional archetype they match. Students might read the Character List (see the Characters section of this resource) to assist them. Invite students to consider how the characters’ identities were highlighted through the use of speech, accent, idioms, and language.
  • Invite students to explore Playwright, Tracey Rigney’s interview, about her influences whilst writing Rella.
  • Individually, students are to write a reflective paragraph in response to the question:
  • What do you think Tracey wanted to communicate to the audience in writing Rella?
  • Encourage students to explain their reasoning and justify their opinion through use of examples from the performance. Invite students to also make references to how the performance’s narrative challenged the typical Hero’s Journey, and/or how secondary characters from the original Cinderella narrative had a different voice in the Rella.
  • To extend students’ reflection, invite students to revisit the “Camp Windmill” educational resource and their reflection from the ‘Before the Show – Productive’ learning experience. Students should consider how the notion of Camp was reflected in the performance.
  • Students to write an analytical essay deconstructing how Rella is a fractured fairy tale.
  • Discuss with students the definition of the cognitive verb ‘analyse’.
  • Revise with students, analytical paragraph writing such as PEAL, TEEPEE etc which help signal text structure.
  • Review vocabulary and signpost words used in analytical writing.
  • Invite students to practice writing sentence starters, topic sentences, and linking sentences to guide readers of this text.
  • Encourage the use of editing strategies for students to review and refine their paragraphs including peer review.
  • Students may respond to the following questions to frame their analysis:
  • Analyse how Rella has manipulated the conventions of the traditional fairy tale to foreground a new message.
  • Explain how Rella has challenged stock characters to give a different voice to the traditional secondary characters of Cinderella.
  • Deconstruct how the Tracey conveyed a message to the audience through fracturing a traditional fairy tale.

Explain how Camp has been manipulated to engage modern audiences and assist in challenging traditional fairy tale archetypes.

Year 7 Links: ACELA1529; ACELA1782; ACELA1763; ACELT1619; ACELT1620; ACELT1621; ACELT1622; ACELT1803; ACELY1723; ACELY1726

Year 8 Links: ACELA1766; ACELA1809; ACELT1626; ACELT1627; ACELT1628; ACELT1807; ACELY1730; ACELY1810



Productive

  • Discuss how Rella has given a different voice to the secondary characters within the traditional story of Cinderella. Students should examine which characters from Rella have now been foregrounded.
  • Choosing the character of either:
    • Rella
    • Afa
    • Sika
    • Marlene
  • Students select a scene from Rella and write a reflection from this character’s perspective on the situation. Some suggestions include:
  • Before the ‘Is this Talent?’ audition
    • After Rella has accepted the deal with Prince Charming Records
    • While Marlene is grieving for Rella in her room
    • After the first Rella promo video is released
    • After the First Steps club performance
    • After Rella’s interview
    • After Rella’s collapse
  • Students focus on foregrounding the character’s thoughts, feelings and opinions about what has happened, and how they might respond moving forward.
  • Invite students to consider how they can reflect the identity of the character, and the idea of ‘Camp’, through their style of writing, use of vocabulary, dialogue, idioms and intertextual references.
  • Characters in the performance expressed their thoughts, feelings, and emotions through cathartic moments in song. Monologues are another way that these thoughts, feelings and emotions can be verbally expressed.
  • Students will now transform their reflection into a monologue by extending some of the ideas in their reflection.
  • Remind students to aim to further the perspective of their chosen character from
  • Encourage students to reflect on Playwright, Tracey Rigney’s intention in fracturing the Cinderella fairy tale as previously considered in the ‘After the Show – Receptive’ learning experiences and aim to extend upon this purpose in their own monologue.
  • Revise with students the structure of a monologue.
  • Review literary techniques including:
    • Intertextual references
    • Idiom
    • Colloquialism
    • Slang
    • Metaphors
    • Similes
    • Imagery
    • Personification
    • Hyperbole
    • Alliteration
    • Juxtaposition
    • Emotive vocabulary
  • Once students have written their monologue, practice presentation delivery including verbal and non-verbal skills. You might also revise literary devices that aid the sound of prose including:
    • Rhythm
    • Rhyme
    • Assonance
    • Onomatopoeia
    • Euphony
  • Invite students to film the delivery of their monologue as a VLOG and ask them to consider how they will convey their message and maintain the style of ‘Camp’ through their own use of:
    • Setting
    • Costume
    • Sound/music
    • Props
    • Symbol
    • Visual imagery

Year 7 Links: ACELA1528; ACELT1625; ACELT1805; ACELY1804; ACELY1720; ACELY1725; ACELY1726; ACELY1728

Year 8 Links: ACELA1547; ACELT1632; ACELT1768; ACELY1808; ACELY1731; ACELY1735; ACELY1736; ACELY1810; ACELY1738





Year 9 - 10: English

Introduction

This unit includes activities and assessment linked to English, Australian Curriculum for Year 9 & 10. Teachers can choose to use individual activities to complement existing English units or complete the entire unit of work with their students.

The learning activities can provide a structure to view and explore Rella with your students. They will provide opportunity for students to explore the play resources independently as well as generate class discussion and sharing of interpretations of the play.



Content Descriptors



Achievement Standard

Year 9 Achievement Standard

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 9, students analyse the ways that text structures can be manipulated for effect. They analyse and explain how images, vocabulary choices and language features distinguish the work of individual authors.

They evaluate and integrate ideas and information from texts to form their own interpretations. They select evidence from texts to analyse and explain how language choices and conventions are used to influence an audience. They listen for ways texts position an audience.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students understand how to use a variety of language features to create different levels of meaning. They understand how interpretations can vary by comparing their responses to texts to the responses of others. In creating texts, students demonstrate how manipulating language features and images can create innovative texts.

Students create texts that respond to issues, interpreting and integrating ideas from other texts. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, comparing and evaluating responses to ideas and issues. They edit for effect, selecting vocabulary and grammar that contribute to the precision and persuasiveness of texts and using accurate spelling and punctuation.



Year 10 Achievement Standard

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 10, students evaluate how text structures can be used in innovative ways by different authors. They explain how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary contributes to the development of individual style.

They develop and justify their own interpretations of texts. They evaluate other interpretations, analysing the evidence used to support them. They listen for ways features within texts can be manipulated to achieve particular effects.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students show how the selection of language features can achieve precision and stylistic effect. They explain different viewpoints, attitudes and perspectives through the development of cohesive and logical arguments. They develop their own style by experimenting with language features, stylistic devices, text structures and images.

Students create a wide range of texts to articulate complex ideas. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, building on others’ ideas, solving problems, justifying opinions and developing and expanding arguments. They demonstrate understanding of grammar, vary vocabulary choices for impact, and accurately use spelling and punctuation when creating and editing texts.



Content Descriptions Addressed

Year 9 Content Descriptions

Language, Literature and Literacy

Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness (ACELA1561)

Interpret and compare how representations of people and culture in literary texts are drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1633)

Apply an expanding vocabulary to read increasingly complex texts with fluency and comprehension (ACELY1743)

Understand that roles and relationships are developed and challenged through language and interpersonal skills (ACELA1551)

Investigate how evaluation can be expressed directly and indirectly using devices, for example allusion, evocative vocabulary and metaphor (ACELA1552)

Understand that authors innovate with text structures and language for specific purposes and effects (ACELA1553)

Analyse and explain the use of symbols, icons and myth in still and moving images and how these augment meaning (ACELA1560)

Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness (ACELA1561)

Interpret and compare how representations of people and culture in literary texts are drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1633)

Present an argument about a literary text based on initial impressions and subsequent analysis of the whole text (ACELT1771)

Explore and reflect on personal understanding of the world and significant human experience gained from interpreting various representations of life matters in texts (ACELT1635 )

Investigate and experiment with the use and effect of extended metaphor, metonymy, allegory, icons, myths and symbolism in texts, for example poetry, short films, graphic novels, and plays on similar themes (ACELT1637)

Analyse text structures and language features of literary texts, and make relevant comparisons with other texts (ACELT1772)

Create literary texts, including hybrid texts, that innovate on aspects of other texts, for example by using parody, allusion and appropriation (ACELT1773)

Experiment with the ways that language features, image and sound can be adapted in literary texts, for example the effects of stereotypical characters and settings, the playfulness of humour and pun and the use of hyperlink (ACELT1638)

Analyse how the construction and interpretation of texts, including media texts, can be influenced by cultural perspectives and other texts (ACELY1739)

Interpret, analyse and evaluate how different perspectives of issue, event, situation, individuals or groups are constructed to serve specific purposes in texts (ACELY1742)

Use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse texts, comparing and evaluating representations of an event, issue, situation or character in different texts (ACELY1744)

Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts (ACELY1745)

Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features (ACELY1746)

Review and edit students’ own and others’ texts to improve clarity and control over content, organisation, paragraphing, sentence structure, vocabulary and audio/visual features (ACELY1747)

Use a range of software, including word processing programs, flexibly and imaginatively to publish texts (ACELY1748)



Year 10 Content Descriptions

Language, Literature and Literacy

Understand how language use can have inclusive and exclusive social effects, and can empower or disempower people (ACELA1564)

Compare the purposes, text structures and language features of traditional and contemporary texts in different media (ACELA1566)

Refine vocabulary choices to discriminate between shades of meaning, with deliberate attention to the effect on audiences (ACELA1571)

Compare and evaluate a range of representations of individuals and groups in different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1639)

Analyse and explain how text structures, language features and visual features of texts and the context in which texts are experienced may influence audience response (ACELT1641)

Create imaginative texts that make relevant thematic and intertextual connections with other texts (ACELT1644)

Create literary texts that reflect an emerging sense of personal style and evaluate the effectiveness of these texts (ACELT1814)

Create literary texts with a sustained ‘voice’, selecting and adapting appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience (ACELT1815)

Analyse and evaluate how people, cultures, places, events, objects and concepts are represented in texts, including media texts, through language, structural and/or visual choices (ACELY1749)

Identify and explore the purposes and effects of different text structures and language features of spoken texts, and use this knowledge to create purposeful texts that inform, persuade and engage (ACELY1750)

Use comprehension strategies to compare and contrast information within and between texts, identifying and analysing embedded perspectives, and evaluating supporting evidence (ACELY1754)

Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues (ACELY1756)

Review, edit and refine students’ own and others’ texts for control of content, organisation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and/or visual features to achieve particular purposes and effects (ACELY1757)

Use a range of software, including word processing programs, confidently, flexibly and imaginatively to create, edit and publish texts, considering the identified purpose and the characteristics of the user (ACELY1776)

Use organisation patterns, voice and language conventions to present a point of view on a subject, speaking clearly, coherently and with effect, using logic, imagery and rhetorical devices to engage audiences (ACELY1813)



Before the Show

Receptive

  • Set a two-minute timer. In pairs, students to discuss as many common features of fairy tales that they know. These responses should be shared to develop a class list. This can be compiled in the form of a mind-map or on an online platform such as Padlet. Students should consider features including characters, events, situations, conflicts, narrative, journey, magic, ending etc.
  • Explain to students that fairy tales and fables have always been told to convey messages and meanings to society and children. Discuss some common messages that are highlighted in students’ favourite fairy tales.
  • Students to write an individual response to the questions:
  • Why are fairy tales so common?
  • What benefits do they have to society?
  • What do they teach children about:
    • Culture
    • Family
    • Identity
    • Gender roles
  • Read a version of the traditional version of Cinderella. Students create a character list of the key stock characters within the story and write a brief description of these character. Use a graphic organiser such as a T-chart to summarise this information.
  • Students individually respond to the following questions about the tale of Cinderella:
    • What are the features of the story that make it a fairy tale?
    • What is the message or moral of the tale?
    • What cultural assumptions and beliefs does it foreground?
    • What message does the text make about identity?
    • What message does the text make about gender?
  • Find another version of Cinderella from another culture, suggestively:
    • Yeh-Shen
    • Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter
    • Rough-Faced Girl
  • Students consider the cultural differences that are highlighted in this version of Cinderella. Using a graphic organiser such as a Venn-Diagram, students should chart the differences and similarities between this version and the original story the fairy tale. Ensure students specifically address the cultural differences that have been made.
  • Students then write a reflection about this version in response to the following question:
  • How has culture been integrated into the text?
  • How does this effect you as a reader?

How can these stories teach people about different cultures?

Year 9 Content Description Links: ACELT1772; ACELY1739; ACELY1742; ACELY1744
Year 10 Content Description Links: ACELA1564; ACELT1639; ACELY1749; ACELY1754



Productive

  • Invite students to explore Playwright, Tracey Rigney’s interview, attached to this resource. Share with students that Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia. The interview explores:
    • what cultural influences have inspired Tracey’s work and where these influences are evident in Rella.
    • what impact Tracey wants her work to have on audiences considering these cultural influences.
  • Invite the students to explore the “Camp Windmill” educational resource connected with Consider a few of the interviews in the resource and how the artists consider the concept of ‘Camp’ appears in theatre, performance and media. Discuss with students the culture that is connected with ‘Camp’ and what are the stylistic features that highlight specific aspects of this culture.
  • Considering this and the information gathered from the ‘Before the Show – Receptive’ learning experience, students are to write a story that recounts an event from their own life.
  • After writing this recount, students should consider how their own cultural influences are foregrounded in their writing. This can be completed through peer review. Students revisit their work and aim to integrate parts of their own culture, suggestively through:
    • Language choice
    • Vocabulary
    • Slang
    • Idiom
    • Intertextual references
    • Metonymy
    • Colloquialism
    • Cultural or historical concepts

Year 9 Content Description Links: ACELA1552; ACELT1635;
Year 10 Content Description Links: ACELA1564; ACELA1571; ACELY1757



After the Show

Receptive

  • Students discuss their initial reactions to Rella using an online platform such as Padlet to show their responses in real time.
  • Encourage students to respond to what influences they thought were foregrounded in the performance and how this was shown. Furthermore, students should consider how ‘Camp’ was reflected.
  • Students revisit the Venn-Diagram created in the ‘Before the Show – Receptive’ learning experience. By adding another circle to their graphic organiser, students should chart the similarities and differences they identified in Rella, the traditional story of Cinderella and their explored cultural version of the tale.
  • Students to write an individual response deconstructing how they think that Rella has challenged the traditional fairy tale genre and stereotypes. They may want to consider the structural components of a fairy tale, cultural assumptions, and characters foregrounded in Encourage students to justify their response by using references and examples from the performance.
  • Invite students to revisit the “Camp Windmill” education resource. Students should aim to define Camp and its stylistic features and conventions. This might be presented as a mindmap or a reflective paragraph. Students should now critically revisit the interviews by reflecting on what they saw in Rella and how Camp was shown during the production. Students should add examples of Camp from the production to their mindmap.
  • Students share their ideas through a class discussion.
  • Either use an online platform such as Padlet or Witeboard, or write the four main characters on butchers paper and place around the room:
    • Rella
    • Afa
    • Sika
    • Marlene
  • Students are to discuss and brainstorm the following:
    • What is the traditional archetype of this character?
    • How has this archetype been challenged or fractured in
    • How were a camp practices were used to portray this character?
    • What typically silenced character traits, values or beliefs does this character highlight?
    • How does the character’s cultural influences and Camp style intertwine, and what does this convey to the audience?
    • How does this character challenge, change, educate or support your own ideas, beliefs and attitudes?
  • Ask students to focus on one character, and write an analytical response deconstructing how the traditional archetype was challenged in Rella and how the notion of ‘Camp’ was utilised to convey this. Students are encouraged to justify their response using examples from the performance including:
    • Intertextual references made by the character
    • Gestures, actions or movements performed by the character
    • Colours, fabrics, or items in the character’s costuming
    • Images or ideas reflected in the audio visual
    • Colours, shapes, designs reflected in the set design
  • Using the genre of an editorial or opinion piece, students are to reflect on the notion of Camp in mainstream media. Students should consider how the style of Camp has become popularised in a range of media and make references to these texts. Students should also explicitly link to Rella as their key text.
  1. Reflect on the definition and stylistic features of ‘Camp’ as highlighted in the educational resource.
  2. Consider other texts in mainstream media that reflect ‘Camp’ and how it is highlighted.
  3. Reflect on why ‘Camp’ has been popularised through these texts.
  4. Encourage students should individually consider their own perspective and opinion in relation to this notion to develop a position in response to ‘Camp’.
  5. Revise with students the structure of an editorial opinion piece.
  6. Review literary techniques including:
  • Imagery/ Figurative language
  • Alliteration
  • Slang
  • Colloquialism
  • Idiom
  • Intertextual references
  • Metonymy
  • Simile
  1. Remind students to use examples from the production of Rella to justify and explain their position and perspective.
  2. Practice writing with a deliberate writing tone to intentionally convey perspective and shades of meaning through vocabulary and language.
  3. Revise editing techniques and rules of writing for students to critically develop a clean copy of the text.

Year 9 Content Description Links: ACELA1551; ACELA1553; ACELA1560; ACELT1635; ACELT1637; ACELT1773; ACELY1742; ACELY1745; ACELY1746; ACELY1747

Year 10 Content Description Links: ACELA1564; ACELA1566; ACELA1571; ACELA1572; ACELT1641; ACELT1815; ACELY1756; ACELY1757



Productive

  • Students are to bring together their learning and understanding from the preceding learning experiences to write their own fractured fairy tale for a modern audience. Taking inspiration from Tracey Rigney and her influences in creating Rella students should aim to:
    • Debunk the traditional stereotypes featured in fairy tales.
    • Highlight a cultural perspective through the story.
    • Convey a contemporary message.
    • Use stylistic conventions of ‘Camp’.
  1. Students begin by brainstorming ideas and messages that they want to convey to a contemporary audience through an appropriate graphic organiser.
  2. Invite students to read a range of fairy tales and choose one that effectively suits the communication of their story and message.
  3. Revise narrative and storytelling structure and use an appropriate planner for students to notate their ideas.
  4. Encourage students to use a range of creative writing conventions including:
  • Figurative language
  • Symbol
  • Metonymy
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Oxymoron
  • Triplets
  • Parallelism
  • Parody
  • Appropriation
  • Pun
  1. Encourage students to carefully consider their own perspective and writing tone to intentionally convey narrative and meaning through vocabulary.

Revise editing techniques and rules of writing for students to critically develop a clean copy of the text.

Year 9 Content Description Links: ACELA1553; ACELT1633; ACELT1637; ACELT1773; ACELT1638; ACELY1746; ACELY1747; ACELY1748

Year 10 Content Description Links: ACELA1571; ACELT1814; ACELT1815; ACELT1644; ACELY1756; ACELY1757; ACELY1776



Ackonwledgments

Produced by Windmill Theatre Company. Developed and compiled by Melissa Newton-Turner and Zac Von Hoff with contributions by Tracey Rigney.

The activities and resources contained in this document are designed for educators as the starting point for developing more comprehensive lessons for this work.

© Copyright protects this Education Resource. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction by whatever means is prohibited. However, limited photocopying for classroom use only is permitted by educational institutions.

This resource is proudly supported by the South Australian Department for Education and the Lang Foundation.

  •  Lang Foundation

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