The Snow Child The Education Project
Several schools have shown an interest in approaching project work based on the original story by Eowyn Ivey, and the way it has been adapted from the old Russian folk tale to a different art form - opera. Students may want to create their own musical work based on folk tales or a further adaptation of The Snow Child itself, perhaps seeing it in a different historical and geographical context. Some students will be looking at folklore and exploring the creative writing aspects suggested by time-old stories and their ability to be adapted to modern life.
Folk tales can lend themselves to so many interpretations. Eowyn Ivey's book is poetic and beautifully written. She has taken the story of The Snow Child and placed it firmly in the twentieth century in a land not that far removed from Russia and certainly in a landscape that is sometimes brutal and unforgiving.
Do bring your students to the opera or join in some project work. Tickets for school parties of more than 10 are just £5 each. If you would like more information, please contact us on admin@thesnowchild.co.uk
How effective is opera as a means of artistic expression?
What is an opera? How do you write one? And consider:
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How well does the newly adapted story provide the basis for an opera?
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Does the opera catch the aspects of a new time in history and a new geographical setting?
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How well does it serve the essential qualities of the story?
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It is necessary to pick and choose which parts of a novel you can set and certain things have to be jettisoned. How well has this been done? What parts would you have kept in and why?
The Snow Child (and so many other stories)
The Snow Child has made its "escape", as a story, from an ancient folk tale, handed down over many years. Other traditional stories have been adapted and expressed in many different ways, through music, ballet, pantomime - The Nutcracker, Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, Peter and the Wolf, Cinderella, Mother Goose Ballet Music to name but a few. There are plenty more and it's possible to see how relevant the stories can be when you realise that they are often based on social conditions.
Could Goldilocks be a homeless person, breaking into a family home? Could Little Red Riding Hood be a somewhat foolish girl caring little for her own safety in the woods?
How can we best update an old tale?
What historical setting would work well for other folk/fairy tales? Can they be taken out of context and adapted to modern life? What artistic setting would serve them best? Can they be rewritten in modern fictional terms? Would they suit puppet theatre? Dance? Drama? Musical theatre?
How well has the story been served, moving The Snow Child from its old Russian roots and fixing it in the hard wild countryside of Alaska in the 1920s?
In what ways can we be involved?
It is hoped that schools will consider several different possible strands here. The story lends itself to several art forms - creative writing, musical composition, drama, dance and puppetry.
Based on an old Russian folk tale,” The Snow Child” has displayed the boundless possibilities for setting old stories in new and different surroundings, updating the activity to fit in with a different background, whilst losing none of the original feeling.
Can we try it?