Little Angel Theatre
Presents
The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me
Education and Participation Resource Pack
Written by Sarah Schofield and Samuel Curtis-Vegh
Little Angel Theatre
14 Dagmar Passage, Islington, London, N1 2DN
0207 226 1787
www.littleangeltheatre.com
John Wright
Theatre founder
Little Angel Theatre
Background Information
Humanities – The history of the theatre and show!
Little Angel Theatre
John Wright, the founder of Little Angel Theatre was
born in South Africa in 1906. He travelled to England
in 1935 and worked as an assistant stage manager for
the Ballet Rambert while studying at the Central
School of Art and Design. It was during this time he
saw a puppet performance by Podrecca’s Piccoli and
became hooked. John made his very first puppet in
1938.
He returned to South Africa at the outbreak of the
Second World War and continued to make and
perform with puppets in his home country. When the
war ended he returned to England, overland,
performing with his puppets along the way.
In 1961 John and his
troupe found a derelict
Temperance hall in
Islington and
transformed it into a
magical little theatre,
specially designed for
the presentation of
marionette shows.
The current building of The Little
Angel Theatre
It opened on Saturday 24th November 1961. This was
to be the first purpose built puppet theatre the country
had seen for many years and the only one with a
permanent long string marionette bridge constructed
backstage. The bridge was designed for puppeteers
to stand on while they manipulate long stringed
puppets who perform on the stage below leaving the
audience unable to see the puppeteers. The original
bridge is used to this day. The theatre has a
traditional ‘proscenium arch’ and seats 100 audience
members.
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Over the next 30 years, the Little Angel team
created and performed over 30 full-scale shows,
with John and his wife Lyndie designing, making,
performing and directing as they established Little
Angel as ‘The Home of British
Puppetry.’ Little Angel shows were taken to 23
International Festivals, representing Britain.
John Wright died in 1991 but the work of the theatre
Continued apace.
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
In 2005 Little Angel Theatre
put on a production of
Roald Dahl’s much loved
Fantastic Mr Fox. This was
a musical version of the
story with puppets
designed and made by
Peter O’Rourke. It was
much loved by the Dahl
Foundation and audiences
Boggis, Bunce and Bean get
alike and went on to
ready to take aim at the clever
perform in other theatres
Fantastic Mr. Fox -2005
around the UK and also
travelled to Canada!
After reading The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me,
Peter O’Rourke was very excited about turning it
into a puppet show. How else could you reproduce
the wonderful, magical things that happen in the
story live on stage any other way?
With the same musical
team on board as
Fantastic Mr Fox and the
support of the Dahl
Foundation the show
went into production in
2008, performing into
spring of 2009. Now six
Characters and company from
years later the story is
The Giraffe and The Pelly and
once again being brought
Me - 2008
back to life in a truly
captivating style.
Puppets under
construction
Little Angel Theatre
Synopsis - The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Just down the road from Billy’s home stands an
abandoned old sweet shop called the Grubber. One
day when Billy walked past the Grubber he noticed
that the ladder less window-cleaning company had
moved in. Much to Billy’s surprise he quickly met
the members of the company – the Giraffe, the
Pelican and the Monkey. Soon Billy finds himself
helping the trio out on a day that he surely will never
forget.
The story is filled with several songs and rhymes
that the characters sing:
1.
We are the window cleaners!
We will polish your glass
Till it’s shining like brass
And it sparkles like sun on the sea!
We are quick and polite,
We will come day and night,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me!
Meet the characters
Billy
- Friendly and inquisitive
boy.
- Loves sweets and
confectionary.
- Dreams of owning his
own sweet shop.
The Giraffe
- Very tall.
- Always used as the
ladder when cleaning
windows.
-Favourite food: Fruit.
The Pelican
- Works as the bucket for
the water when cleaning
window.
- Can shrink his top beak.
- Favourite food: fish,
especially salmon.
2.
We have tear in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We loved being with you, we three.
So do please now and then
Come and see us again,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.
The Monkey
- Can climb up almost
anything.
- Is the main window
cleaner for the
company
- Favourite food: Nuts
The old abandoned
Grubber sweet shop set.
Did you know?
Songs taken from The giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Written by Roald Dahl
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The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is written in first
person, compared to Dahl’s other more popular
novels. The story starts off with “I”.
Roald Dahl in his famous
writing hut at the bottom of
his garden where all his
best loved stories were
dreamt up
Little Angel Theatre
Literacy Links – Author Study
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff Wales, on 13th
September 1916, to Norwegian parents. His father and
elder sister, Astri, died when he was just three, and his
mum had to raise two stepchildren and her own four
children alone. He started writing from a very early age
- he kept a diary from the age of eight! However, unlike
his books, he never let anyone read his diary!
He went to Llandaff Cathedral School and had an
unhappy time there. He attended different schools but
was never happy at any of them - and his unhappiness
at school was a great influence in his writing. He looked
forward to trips to the sweet shop after school, just like
Billy in the story, and his favourite sweets were
Sherbert Suckers.
Rather than going to university, he went on expeditions
exploring Newfoundland. He then became a salesman
for Shell Oil in Dar Es Salaam. At 23, when war broke
out, he signed up with the RAF in Nairobi, and flew
fighter planes mainly in Iraq.
He was badly injured, and had to have his nose bashed
in and reshaped. After recovering, he was sent to
Washington in 1942, where he met a writer called C.S.
Forester who inspired him to write a newspaper article
about the war. This lead Roald Dahl to become a
writer, and his first published book was called The
Gremlins in 1943. Dahl was 26 at the time.
Roald as a soldier in the
RAF
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For the first fifteen years of his writing career, Roald
Dahl concentrated on writing for adults. He once
admitted to being quite a slow writer, and often took
six months to write a single story.
He began writing for children when he started making
up bedtime stories for his daughters Olivia and Tessa.
His first children's book was published in 1961 - this
was "James and the Giant Peach". This was followed
by the very famous "Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory" in 1964. Other famous masterpieces include:
"The BFG", "Danny The Champion of the World",
"The Twits", "The Witches", "Matilda" and of
course “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Giraffe and
The Pelly and Me.”
Roald Dahl wrote most of his stories in a small hut at
the bottom of his garden, and always used a yellow
pencil to write - he did not have a computer. He was
married twice, and had five children altogether. He
died on November 23rd 1990, aged 74.
Find out more information about Roald Dahl at
www.roalddahl.com
How Much Do You Know?
1. Which country in the UK was Roald Dahl born
in?
2. What did Roald start writing at the age of
eight?
3. Why do you think Roald looked forward to his
trips to the sweet shop so much each day?
4. Why did Roald first start writing?
5. Why did Roald start writing stories for
children?
6. What was the name of Roald Dahl’s first
Children’s book and when was it published?
7. What is your favourite Roald Dahl story? Why
do you like it so much? Who is your favourite
character?
The current cover of The
Giraffe and The Pelly and Me
book by Roald Dahl,
illustrations by Quentin Blake
Little Angel Theatre
Music, Drama and Literacy Activities
Music activities
In both the show and the book there are
several songs (see page 2 for examples).
Looking at the lyrics and songs in the book,
create a tune or some background music to go
with them. This can include using percussion
instruments if they are available or using
everyday objects you may find lying around.
When using percussion instruments you can
also perform the songs in spoken word or in a
rap style with a beat in the background. These
sounds can help bring the words to life. You
can also create some simple movements to
accompany some of the words so it becomes
more of a performance.
If you have access to tuned instruments:
Come up with a tune for some of the lyrics and
write it down. This could be done in small
groups with a keyboard each or, if resources
are limited, larger groups/whole class where
the children suggest tunes and one person/
the teacher composes and writes a tune
based on their ideas.
Alongside this you could also incorporate
using shadow puppets with the music to
create a scene to accompany the songs.
Make your own shadow puppets!
Shadow puppets are the perfect type of puppets for
beginners to use and to understand simple rules of
puppetry.
These can be as simple as drawing characters on card
then cutting them out and sticking them on to sticks. You
would then need some type of white or very light coloured
fabric held up, which could be held up by some students.
Then with a light shining towards the fabric from behind
you can then use the puppets you have made to create
their shadows on the fabric which can be seen from in
front of it.
Experiment with the puppets by making them bigger by
going closer to the light or smaller by going closer to the
fabric. You can also then use the music you have created
to perform a scene with the puppets whilst also singing
the songs. Think about how each character would move
around.
Or if you would like to explore more types of puppets
then combine your work with Design and Technology to
make more complicated puppets.
Make puppets of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
characters. In small groups act out different parts of
the story. You could also write the script for your
part of the story once you have tried it out.
If you are writing a newspaper report for Literacy
interview your puppets! Either in pairs, small groups
or as a class pretend to be reporters and ask the
characters what happened when The Duke of
Hampshire was nearly burgled!
If you have created your own animal character with a
special job, make a puppet of, or pretend to be that
character. Introduce yourself to the class or a
partner and tell them what you do and why you are
good at it.
In the show the
Monkey sings a
song about how
much he loves
what?
Answer: Windows!
Billy sells
sweets, but
what would
your shop sell?
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The Giraffe puppet is mainly
made from carved wood
Little Angel Theatre
Drama Games
1. Exploring the Old Abandoned
Grubber.
3. Catch the robber.
This activity is perfect for large groups
and whole classes and gets everybody
moving. Staring with the image of the old
Grubber; get several participants to
create the house by using their arms
reaching up and also create doors by
reaching out. Now with the rest of the
participants lead them on a journey
through this abandoned house, acting
out walking on creaky floors, interacting
with the doors by moving the participants
arms if they are a door etc.
This game is similar to ‘grandmother’s footsteps’.
One person has to be the robber who stands at
one end of the space facing away. Everyone else
must act as policemen and women and slowly
creep towards the robber with the aim of ‘catching
him’. The robber has to keep turning round always
on the lookout for the policemen and women.
When the robber turns around to face them,
everyone must freeze; but if the robber see’s you
move then you must go back to the starting line.
The aim is for one of the policemen or women to
tap the robber on the back shouting ‘You’ve been
caught’.
4. Listen to the Duke
This is a simple whole group exercise best done
with a medium to large space. One person must
pretend to be the Duke or Duchess of Hampshire,
this can either be a participant or teacher. They
must call out words and everyone else has to
respond with either a specific word or action.
Set design for The
Giraffe and the
Pelly and Me
2. The animal Game (also known as
fruit salad)
Duke says:
The Giraffe is tall
Get all participants to sit in a circle,
preferably on chairs but on the floor will
also work. Go around the circle labelling
participants ‘Giraffe’ ‘Pelican’ or
‘Monkey’. Now when you shout one of
the animals whoever is labeled that
character must swap seats. Once
everyone understands how to play you
can make it harder by removing a chair
so that each time one person gets out.
This one person can then shout the next
animal and try to get a chair/space again.
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The Monkey is small
Fly like the Pelican
Clean the windows
Off to the Grubber
Off to Hampshire house
Response:
Everyone reaches up as
high as possible
Everyone crouches down
like a monkey
Everyone moves around
‘flying’ like a bird
Everyone pretends to
scrub the windows
Run to one end of the
room (specify which end)
Run to the other end of
the room
You can add in more call and responses but make
sure that all participants fully understand the game
first.
Billy and the Monkey puppets
being operated by cast members
Little Angel Theatre
Literacy Exercises
1. Read through Roald Dahl’s Descriptions
of the Giraffe, the Pelican and the Monkey:
Think of some other jobs that animals would be
good at. For instance, an Elephant would be a
good car washer because it could use its
trunks to spray the water. Or even a
Chameleon would be a good spy as it can hide
and camouflage so that it wouldn’t be seen.
Draw a picture of your chosen animal and
create a description of what your amazing
animal would do for a job.
2. Read through the robber part of the story
when he robs the Hampshire House:
Write a newspaper report describing the crime
and capture of the robber. Think about what
happened and how you would talk about it in
the newspaper. You can include quotes and
interviews from the other characters within the
story that may have seen what happened. An
extra task would be to design and create the
front page of the newspaper, creating your own
newspaper name and also the perfect catchy
headline for the report.
The puppet of the
Robber character from
the story – What has
he stolen in the bag?
Did you know - The Giraffe and the Pelly
and Me was first published in 1985, which
makes it 30 years old!
Little Angel Theatre
The Duke of Hampshire
puppet from the show.
3. Read Roald Dahls description of Billy’s
sweet shop and the amazing sweets he has in
stock:
If you were to open your own sweet shop, what
would it be called? Think about what it would also
look like on the outside and also inside. Let your
imagination run wild and draw your designs using
coloured pens and pencils to bring your ideas to
life. Once this is done you could think about what
types of sweets you would sell in your shop and
where in the world have they come from? Now you
can also create a poster to advertise your new
sweet shop, advertising everything that you sell so
that’s lots of people will want to come and buy from
the shop.
4. Think about all of the characters that you
have read about in the story:
If you could meet and interview one of the
characters; who would it be? Create a list of
questions that you would love to ask your chosen
character in the story. Once you have a list of
questions swap papers with someone else. Now
you need to answer the other person’s questions
as the character they have chosen. It may help if
you actually pretend to be that character.
You could also do the interview as a drama game
where you verbally answer the questions rather
than just writing the answers down. You can also
do this whole exercise whilst interviewing the
actual puppets of the characters that you may have
made.
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The Pelly puppet under
construction. Most of his
head is carved foam. You
can see the rod to control
the head sticking out of the
top
Little Angel Theatre
Design and Technology Links
Puppet Knowledge
The puppets in The Giraffe and The Pelly and
Me are rod puppets with heads and hands
carved from lightweight lime wood. All of the
puppets are slightly different and use a variety of
materials. Most are controlled using a main rod
attached to the head (running down the back)
and then smaller rods attached to hands and
feet to add further movement.
Designing and Making Puppets
When you design and make a puppet make sure you
think about these things:

Decide on the character first (before you start
drawing or making). Is it a person, an animal or a
made up creature? Is it a character for a show
you will be performing? What is that character
like? Match the character with a suitable puppet
style (marionette, glove, rod, finger, shadow etc.)
The puppets have joints in their arms and legs
like people do (elbows and knees!) so that they
can walk and use their arms in a realistic way.

Decide what your puppet will need to do if it is
performing in a show (walk, swim, fly, nod, and
wave?) Which parts need to move or not?
The puppets are clothed and decorated using a
variety of materials from fabric (for the clothes)
to paint and collage work (with heavy duty tissue
paper) to create effects such as the giraffe’s fur.
Materials
Remember that puppets have to be held up and
moved by a puppeteer so choose light materials. If
you make your puppet too heavy you won’t be able to
use it! Why not make an eco-friendly junk puppet
from boxes/containers/old magazines and wrapping
paper/tubs/tubes/wool/string/clothes/bottles etc that
would otherwise be thrown away?
.
 Draw a design for the puppet and remember to
include:
1. What materials you will need.
2. Which parts of the puppet will move – How?
3. Will any parts be jointed? (elbows or knees)
4. Don’t forget to draw the rods/strings/controls etc
that move the puppet so that you know where they
will go.
5. How will you fix the parts of the puppet together?
6. How you will show your puppet’s character?
(facial expression, clothes, decoration)
You may not realise that there are more than
one of some of the puppets, for example there
are separate Giraffe and Monkey Puppets, but
also another puppet with the Monkey
permanently attached to the Giraffe’s head!
This is because it would be too difficult for a
puppeteer to keep a Monkey puppet sitting still
on top of a tall Giraffe puppet using two
separate puppets!

The robber puppet under construction.
His head is carved wood but his body
is soft foam as it is lightweight and
moves like a real body.
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As you make your puppet test it out as you go.
Is it strong enough to use? Are the details clear
(will an audience be able to see the face from a
distance?) Does it move in the places it is
supposed to?
Puppet making at Little
Angel Theatre’s Saturday
puppet club
Little Angel Theatre
Make a Rod Puppet From Paper Cups!
To make the head cut and fold a paper cup as shown.
Before folding make a hole in the bottom of the cup
for the rod. Insert a rod at an angle as shown.
To make the body fix two paper cups together
with masking tape. Make a hole in the back of
the top one for the head rod to go through. Make
holes either side for the arm string to go through.
Thread arm string through the cup before
covering it for ease. Stick a cardboard disk with
a hole in it over the top cup and insert the head
rod through this hole and out the back.
Top Tips!
 Use one piece of string to thread through the body to make the
arms and use two tubes of card for each arm to make joints.
Thread the string through the cup then thread on tubes or roll
cardboard around the string sticking it with tape to secure. Tie off
the ends or add big cardboard hands to stop the tubes slipping off
the end of the string.
 Add rods (kebab sticks work well) to the arms by sticking them
through the lower arm tube (see diagram)
 Use papier-mâché to cover the paper cups– Either scrap white
paper that can be painted or brightly coloured magazine pages,
tissue paper or wrapping paper for a colourful effect.
 Use decorative bits and bobs to add character to your puppet. Is it
a robber? A lord? A monkey? How can you dress or accessorise
your puppet to make the character clear?
Puppet design concept and illustrations courtesy of Tratincica Slavicek at Little Angel
Theatre
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Little Angel Theatre
Little Angel Theatre
Useful Resources
www.littleangeltheatre.com
More information about the history of the theatre and future puppet shows,
including our school menu and how to book puppet classes and workshops.
www.roalddahl.com
More information about Roald Dahl, his work and his life. Interactive games and
quizzes.
www.quentinblake.com
Official website of the illustrator
www.roalddahlfans.com
Fan made website with useful links to classroom ideas and other useful
resources.
www.buckscountymuseum.org/roalddahl
Roald Dahl children’s gallery, county museum, Aylesbury, Bucks (01296 331441)
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is published by Puffin books
“Billy's biggest wish is to turn a weird old wooden house into a wonderful sweet
shop. But then he finds a giraffe, a Pelly and a monkey living inside – they're the
Ladderless Window Cleaners! Who need ladders when you've got a giraffe?
They become best friends and when they meet the richest man in all England,
there's a chance Billy's scrumptious-galumptious dream just might come true . . .”
ISBN 9780141501772
www.penguin.co.uk
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