Learning Resources

Music: Jamie Man • Libret­to: Stephen Plaice

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Count­ing Sheep. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera . You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
Count­ing Sheep writ­ten by Jamie Man and Stephen Plaice is a charm­ing and quirky Snap­py opera best suit­ed to younger chil­dren. The opera includes a group of sleep­less chil­dren too full on cheese and choco­late, a group of sheep who the chil­dren are count­ing to help them get off to sleep, and a group of ram­blers who aren’t very good at read­ing maps and get every­body con­fused. There is a walk-on role for a par­ent or teacher who fan­cies they would make a good shep­herd, and a woof­ing sheep­dog role for a par­tic­u­lar­ly ener­getic child. The com­ic inter­ven­tions by sheep and ram­blers final­ly give way to a celes­tial dance among the stars. The night-time set­ting and dream-like end­ing in Count­ing Sheep can be com­pli­ment­ed with as many stars and twin­kles and celes­tial props as you can muster.

Char­ac­ter groups
Sleep­ers
Sheep
Ram­blers
plus solo Shep­herd (teacher or par­ent)
with sheep dog (not a real one)

Music and Libret­to: Ker­ry Andrew

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Fox-Pop. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
Ker­ry Andrew wrote the words and music for Fox-Pop with lots of input from The Alder­ton Junior School in Loughton, Essex. The three char­ac­ter groups — Dogs, Cats and Fox­es — have got lots of atti­tude. The vocal writ­ing is a mash-up of singing, rap­ping and beat­box­ing and the musi­cal style is eclec­tic, with trash drum kit and a micro­phone. The Cats and the Dogs are hav­ing a rap bat­tle in the back­streets when the beat­box­ing Fox­es appear from behind the bins. No-one can under­stand what they’re say­ing though. When Chan­nel Paw News reports that some bacon’s been stolen and a baby’s been bit­ten, every­one accus­es the Fox­es. How­ev­er, when the Dogs and Cats real­ly lis­ten to the Fox­es, they realise that not only are they inno­cent but ​“a bit like us actu­al­ly.” The piece ends with all three groups jam­ming hap­pi­ly together.

Char­ac­ter groups
Dogs
Cats
Fox­es
plus one solo squir­rel with Chan­nel Paw News team
plus one solo beat­box­ing Fox

Music: Nathan Williamson • Libret­to: Zanib Mian

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Machine Dream. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The Machine Dream was com­posed by Nathan Williamson with words by Zanib Mian. There’s lots of juicy singing in this Snap­py, three dis­tinct char­ac­ter groups; Humans, Machines and Smog and oppor­tu­ni­ties for prop­er chore­og­ra­phy. The tired Humans build fan­tas­tic machines to ease their work-load but the machines cre­ate nasty smog which threat­ens the Humans’ very exis­tence. No num­ber of crazy, eccen­tric ideas can solve the prob­lem of how to get rid of the Smog. This piece can spark a live­ly dis­cus­sion around cli­mate change and envi­ron­men­tal issues dur­ing the rehearsal process. Instead of find­ing a con­clu­sion at the end of this opera, every­one is left ask­ing the per­ti­nent ques­tion; so what do we do?

Char­ac­ter groups
Humans
Machines
Smog

Music: Stephen Dea­z­ley • Libret­to: Matthew Harvey

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Peck. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera . You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
PECK! by com­pos­er Stephen Dea­z­ley and poet Matt Har­vey is full to the brim with tunes, action and fun. Three very colour­ful char­ac­ter groups; the greedy Bak­ers, the lazy Tourists and the exot­ic Song­birds pro­vide excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties for cos­tume and props mak­ing. The sto­ry takes place in the real sea­side town of Sen­nen in Corn­wall. Every sum­mer the tourists come to the Heav­en­ly Bak­ery in Sen­nen to guz­zle cake and lis­ten to the beau­ti­ful song of the famous Song­birds, who hap­pi­ly munch on the crumbs left by the Tourists. But the greedy Bak­ers want sum­mer in Sen­nen to last all year long so that they can make more mon­ey. The Tourists are very hap­py to help if it means more sticky buns for them. Their das­tard­ly plan to trap the Song­birds comes unstuck though when one brave lit­tle song­bird realis­es that the only way out of the dan­ger is to PECK! Final­ly, the Bak­ers and Tourists are taught that they can’t have their cake and eat it and come to a very sticky end…

Char­ac­ter groups
Bak­ers
Tourists
Song­birds

Music: Pip­pa Mur­phy • Libret­to: Karine Pol­wart

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Smiles Bet­ter. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera . You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
Noth­ing makes the peo­ple of Smi­ley­bridge smile more than play­ing in Pup­py Park every day with their beloved pet dogs. And noth­ing makes the dogs of Smi­ley­bridge hap­pi­er than mak­ing their beloved humans smile. But when The Smile Troop­ers arrive, with their daz­zling new inven­tion, The Smile Hoover, the peo­ple of Smi­ley­bridge are tempt­ed to swap their old smiles for huge, shiny, new ones. The dogs of Smi­ley­bridge are not so sure… 

Char­ac­ter groups
Towns­peo­ple
Dogs
Smile Troop­ers

Music: Ray­mond Yiu • Libret­to: Rus­sell Plows

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for Teacups & Ten­ta­cles. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera . You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The fair has come to town, and after wait­ing all year the chil­dren are excit­ed to ride the tea cups, hook a duck and con­sume their favourite fair­ground treats, leav­ing a trail of lit­ter and plas­tic behind them. The chil­dren are dis­ap­point­ed when the fair­ground los­es pow­er, but this quick­ly turns to dread when an alien space­ship descends. Are the chil­dren doomed, or is the arrival of these strange beings the answer to all their problems? 

Char­ac­ter groups
Fair-Goers
The Fair
Aliens

Music: Philip Ven­ables • Libret­to: Ted Huff­man

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for The Big His­to­ry of Lit­tle Eng­land. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera . You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The Big His­to­ry of Lit­tle Eng­land by Phil Ven­ables and Ted Huff­man is a whis­tle-stop tour of the entire his­to­ry of Eng­land crammed into ten min­utes (well, 17 actu­al­ly). As a result, the per­for­mance style is not like oth­er Snap­py Operas. Instead of spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter groups, the cast are split into two even groups, each tak­ing on lots of dif­fer­ent roles; the invad­ing hordes of Romans, Vikings, Anglo-Sax­ons, dark mat­ter float­ing through space before the big bang, the Kings and Queens of Eng­land, the poor peo­ple caught by the Black Plague, Punk Rock­ers and many more. Even the audi­ence have a role to play, tak­ing on the recur­ring main role in Eng­lish his­to­ry – sheep! There is a voice-over nar­ra­tion which needs to be record­ed by a mem­ber of the cast in advance of per­for­mance and is then inte­grat­ed into the many sound effects. Some text is devised by the per­form­ers (their hopes and dreams for the future) and there is a lot of oth­er spo­ken text mak­ing this feel more like a piece of music the­atre than a con­ven­tion­al opera. Each scene is con­struct­ed in a way that feels more like play­ing a game than a scene. Over­all, the process of rehear­ing this Snap­py requires a par­tic­u­lar method and sen­si­tiv­i­ty as well as, of course, a good knowl­edge of the his­to­ry of England!

Char­ac­ter groups
Group 1 – var­i­ous roles includ­ing invaders and Kings and Queens of Eng­land
Group 2 – var­i­ous roles includ­ing set­tlers and poor peo­ple killed by the plague
Every­one plays many oth­er var­i­ous roles through­out his­to­ry and there are enough solo speak­ing roles for every­one to have a go if required plus one pre-record­ed solo nar­ra­tor part

Music: Ed Hugh­es • Libret­to: Peter Cant

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for The Feast That Went Off With A Bang. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The Feast That Went Off With A Bang writ­ten by Ed Hugh­es and Peter Cant is a fun­ny and sur­re­al fairy tale fea­tur­ing three very char­ac­ter­ful groups; Birds, Mice and Sausages, pro­vid­ing excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties for cos­tume mak­ing and move­ment work. Inspired by the Grimm Brother’s tale, the Birds, Mice and Sausages all live togeth­er in per­fect har­mo­ny, until now. Just like in all fam­i­lies, ten­sion is nev­er far away espe­cial­ly when it comes to the issue of house­hold chores. Unfor­tu­nate­ly for our strange cast of char­ac­ters all ends as you might expect in dis­as­ter, with a warn­ing for us all – nev­er eat a mouse that has eat­en a sausage that is filled to the brim with gunpowder.

Char­ac­ter groups
Mice
Sausages
Birds

Music: Emi­ly Hall • Libret­to: Toby Litt

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for The Itch Witch. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The Itch-Witch writ­ten by Emi­ly Hall and Toby Litt tells an age-old epic bat­tle between head-lice and the hairy heads of chil­dren. Nits rule! Three char­ac­ter­ful groups tell the sto­ry; the itchy Nits that car­ry out the orders of their mis­tress the Itch-Witch, the long-suf­fer­ing Chil­dren who just want to go to bed and the valiant Combs who go into bat­tle with the nits. There is lots of oppor­tu­ni­ty for phys­i­cal play from sneaky nits, hero­ic combs and sleepy whingey chil­dren. It’s a scritchy scratchy sto­ry that brings a shud­der to all par­ents, car­ers and teach­ers. Will the combs even­tu­al­ly tri­umph over the nits? What do you think?

Char­ac­ter groups
Chil­dren
Nits
Combs

Music and Libret­to: Errol­lyn Wallen

Syn­op­sis
This Snap­py Opera is based on a true sto­ry about a light­house at the edge of the world. Joan is the Prin­ci­pal Light­house Keep­er and is devot­ed to her work of look­ing after the light­house. She keeps hens and has a dog, Dora and also a cat, Miss Quinn. The Light­house has a court­yard where the ani­mals play and where Joan hangs up her wash­ing. Every­one knows that the light in a light­house needs con­stant clean­ing and care to make sure that ships and boats can see it and are kept safe.

One night how­ev­er, there was an incred­i­ble storm and it seemed as if the sea was boil­ing. The sky was pitch black and the wind tore through the night, rat­tling and shriek­ing. Every­one was shiv­er­ing with cold and fright. Then a freak wave washed right over the light­house.

What hap­pened when the light went out? What hap­pened to Dora, Miss Quinn and the hens? Where was the wash­ing? And what became of Joan, the brave light­house keeper?

Char­ac­ter groups
Joan, Miss Quinn, Dora & the Hens
Grass & Wash­ing on the Line
Wind & Waves
With oppor­tu­ni­ties for solos

Music: Luke Carv­er Goss • Libret­to: Ian McMil­lan

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for The Mag­i­cal Music Tree. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The Mag­i­cal Music Tree was writ­ten by poet Ian MacMil­lan and com­pos­er Luke Carv­er Goss incor­po­rat­ing lots of sto­ry and music ideas devel­oped in work­shops with chil­dren from Haver­hill in Suf­folk. This Snap­py Opera has two sets of char­ac­ter groups, a band of hunters and a col­lec­tion of three kinds of myth­i­cal crea­tures; dodos, uni­corns and fly­ing fish who all find a home and sanc­tu­ary in the heart of the woods in the shape of the Mag­i­cal Music Tree. In an attempt to cap­ture these prized crea­tures, the hunters decide to blow up the tree (not good). Obvi­ous­ly, they’re not music lovers, not yet any­way. Amidst quite a lot of flap­ping and squawk­ing the wise uni­corns even­tu­al­ly come up with a cun­ning plan that has every­one singing in har­mo­ny. The cos­tume and char­ac­ter pos­si­bil­i­ties in The Mag­i­cal Music Tree are very rich and full of fan­ta­sy and charm. There is a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ty for play­ful move­ment-based work and prop mak­ing too. The rous­ing final cho­rus – We are the music! is full of joy and always gets a cheer at the end of the show.

Char­ac­ter groups
Mag­i­cal crea­tures — Dodo, Fly­ing Fish, Uni­corn
Hunters

Music and Libret­to: Gwyneth Her­bert

Wel­come to the Snap­py Operas learn­ing resources for The World’s Beat­ing Heart. Here you can down­load mate­ri­als to help sup­port the learn­ing of this ten-minute Snap­py Opera. You’ll find a score, libret­to, audio tracks and design pack (to inspire cos­tumes & props) that can be shared with teach­ers, lead­ers and young people.

Syn­op­sis
The World’s Beat­ing Heart was cre­at­ed by Gwyneth Her­bert with bril­liant ideas from Sev­en Mills Pri­ma­ry School in Tow­er Ham­lets. The three sur­re­al char­ac­ter groups pro­vide for lots of fun phys­i­cal­i­ty. The Bãn­dor Mea­gles are half-mon­key, half-eagle and are hap­py all the time. The Zado­ran­tha are half-pan­ther, half-drag­on­fly and are always mis­er­able. The Sãp­pa­clon­key are the mys­te­ri­ous crea­tures who are on their way to vis­it – part don­key, part rat­tle-snake, part clown­fish. The names of the char­ac­ters are hybrid words made up from the Eng­lish and Ben­gali words for the ani­mals. The Bãn­dor Mea­gles and Zado­ran­tha live togeth­er at the bot­tom of the ocean, at the world’s beat­ing heart. (Liv­ing togeth­er but not exact­ly see­ing eye to eye.) The sound of the arriv­ing Sãp­pa­clon­key sends both the Bãn­dor Mea­gles and the Zado­ran­tha into a man­ic pan­ic – the Bãn­dor Mea­gles are in total denial and the Zado­ran­tha pre­dict total dis­as­ter. In fact, when the Sãp­pa­clon­key arrive their bizarre, mag­i­cal dance teach­es the oth­ers how impor­tant it is in life to be able both to laugh AND cry. The show ends with a vibrant con­ga car­ni­val so you can go real­ly wild with the cos­tume-mak­ing for this one.

Char­ac­ter groups
Bãn­dor Mea­gles
Zado­ran­tha
Sãp­pa­clon­key