Wilde's story goes that when the Happy Prince dies, a golden, bejewelled statue of him is erected. Miraculously, he now sees poverty and misery in the city, having been unaware of it during his lifetime. He persuades a swallow to delay migrating and take the jewels and gold leaves to the poor. The swallow stays, winter comes, and it dies. The prince's lead heart cracks. The mayor has the dull statue removed. The dead swallow and broken heart are precious, so an angel takes them to heaven.
Learning objectives:
- To improvise and respond appropriately in role
- To devise and perform effectively
- To communicate societal issues aesthetically and in role, (both individually and collaboratively).
Resources:
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A free version of this story is available to download here: http://wilde-online.info/the-happy-prince.html
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The version of The Happy Prince used in this lesson is a picture book by Maisie Paradise Shearring, published by Thames and Hudson, London (ISBN 978-0-500-65155-1). Reprinted 2023. Other versions are available.
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Before the lesson, find photographs of poverty, conflict, homelessness, poor health, and so on, for context references.
Warm-up:
Students walk around the room. Whenever you call out an adjective, such as ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘rich’, ‘poor’, ‘frightened’, ‘exhausted’, they make themselves into a still statue that depicts the word, until you say, ‘Walk on’. The adjectives relate to the story.
- Sculpting: Put students in pairs. One is sculpting the Happy Prince, the other is compliant clay. The sculptor may only give verbal instructions to the clay, (no touching or demonstrating). Swap roles after five minutes.
- Tableau: Students enter in turn, gaze at the statue, make a comment, then freeze. When everyone is in position, you read from, ‘High above the city…’ to, ‘… see the Happy Prince’.
- Improvisation: The tableau comes alive and the crowd chatters together, (you join in), for example, ‘Look at his sparkling eyes. They're sapphires’.
- Freeze-frame/Eavesdropping: Freeze the scene, then walk past everyone. When you are close to anyone, their conversation resumes. When you move away, they freeze again. To end, they can each gradually withdraw from the scene.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘One night a swallow arrived…’ to, ‘… the little boy fell into a peaceful slumber’.
- Still image: Ask students – in groups of three – to devise a still image (for performance), that includes the swallow, sick boy and seamstress.
- Performance carousel: The groups each form, hold, then melt their image in turn, ‘as if’ on one stage.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘The next day…’ to ‘Now I can finish my play!’
- Small group playmaking: Now ask students to form groups of four, so the playwright can finish his play! Ask them to devise and perform part of a scene. This activity could lead them towards future scriptwriting.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘The next evening…’ to, ‘She ran home laughing’.
- Real and ideal: In pairs, give one student the role of girl and one father. Ask them to devise two contrasting images and transition between them in slow motion. The first will show the girl arriving home empty handed. The second will show her arriving with the sapphire. You might allow characters to speak.
- Performance carousel: The pairs in turn, seamlessly perform their contrasting images.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘I cannot leave you, now that you are blind…’ to, ‘all the wonders of the world’.
- Storytelling: Everyone finds a space and talks as the swallow, telling the prince a story.
- Eavesdropping: Freeze the storytelling. Pass by each swallow. When you near any swallow, they resume storytelling. When you move away, they stop again.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘Dear little Swallow…’ to, ‘poor people and hungry children’.
- Collective role/Teacher in role: Project one or more photographs of poverty, conflict, etc. Ask students to study the images. Then, (as the blind prince), ask them (the swallow), to vividly describe them to you. Nobody may speak twice in a row.
- Teacher as storyteller: Read from, ‘The swallow told the happy prince what he had seen…’ to ‘His lead heart had broken in two’.
- Improvisation: The students are now city councillors, and you are mayor. You are all gathered around the statue, deciding whether to get rid of it. You could end by saying, ‘He is not beautiful, and he is not useful’.
- Thought-tracking: Invite them to voice their inner thoughts aloud, (in role).
- Teacher as storyteller: Finish reading the story.