book by Tanya Ronder

music by Jim Fortune

lyrics by Rufus Norris

Activity Pack
 Welcome
everyone
The National Theatre is putting on a musical – and
you’re invited! This activity pack has everything you
need to join in the fun, and create your own theatre
adventures at home.

Explore the story of Hex become a costume and

lighting designer, musical director, choreographer,
director and performer, and stage your own musical
with friends and family.

We would love to see what you make. Share your

creations and tag us online using #NTHex and discover
video tutorials and backing tracks over on our YouTube
channel youtube.com/nationaltheatre
 The
Story
Deep in a forest lives a lonely Fairy, longing for someone to bless.
She’s the only fairy left. All the others flew away because ogres
scared the humans away so there was nobody left for the fairies
to bless. This fairy stayed because she can’t fly.
Fairy’s chance to bless a human comes when Secretary Smith
turns up from the Palace, begging her to help make the king and
queen’s baby sleep.
Fairy desperately wants to prove her worth, so she goes to the
palace. The exhausted Queen Regina and King Rex want Fairy
to put a bless on their daughter to make her sleep. But Princess
Rose isn’t sleepy, and fairies only bless people with what they
want, not what other people want for them. They trap Fairy
and won’t let her leave, forcing her to make the princess sleep.
Finally, Fairy, scared and upset, does what the queen demands:
‘Before Rose is 16 she will be pricked by a thorn and sleep, not
ever waking ‘til her winning prince kisses her’. But this is a curse
rather than a bless, and all of Fairy’s power goes.
The next 16 years see Fairy and the servants from the palace,
the Equerries, try to protect an adventurous Rose from the
naughty thorns. However, on the evening of her 16th birthday,
Rose is pricked by a thorn, and falls into a deep sleep.
For the next hundred years Fairy searches for Rose’s winning
prince. Fairy has lost her magic and her self-belief, so her task
isn’t an easy one, especially with all the visiting princes falling
into a deep sleep when they are pricked by the thorns.
Just as Fairy starts to give up on waking Rose, a pitiful Queenie
cries for help. Queenie tells Fairy that she is really an ogress and
she is pregnant with a human child. All ogres eat humans, so she
begs for Fairy’s help to bless her, so she won’t eat her baby. But
how could a wingless fairy without magic be of any assistance?
Fairy doesn’t know how to help, but when she notices that
Queenie can’t be hurt by the aggressive thorns, she realises that
Queenie’s baby could grow up to be the prince who could undo
the curse she put on Rose. She places a series of pretend blesses
on Queenie, which trick her into not eating her baby. Fairy happily
stays with Queenie and her child, Prince Bert, as he grows.
Prince Bert grows up to be ‘brave, cute’ and a ‘troubleshooter’,
and Fairy’s wish comes true. Unable to be hurt by the thorns,
Bert successfully makes it to Rose’s palace and awakes her
with a kiss. Fairy is ecstatic, but despite ‘making it all good’, her
magic still does not come back.
Two years pass, and Rose and Bert turn up at Queenie’s castle
with their twin children. As Queenie meets her grandchildren
for the first time, she realises that Fairy has fooled her with
her pretend blesses. She instructs Fairy to cook the twins, her
grandchildren, so she can eat them. Fairy must do her best to
save the babies, so she tricks Queenie into eating some of the
animals in the castle instead and returns the babies unharmed to
Rose. However, Rose discovers that Fairy was the one that put
a curse on her as a baby and tells her that she never wants to
see Fairy again.
Fairy returns to her pod in the woods, devastated and humiliated,
just like Queenie - who is forced to reveal her true ogre identity
to Bert. Everyone has lied and tried to hide their true self. But
it is only when Fairy finally gives up trying to be a perfect fairy
and admits her faults, accepting who she is ‘on the inside’ and
inspiring others to do the same, that her magic returns.
****
 Make your
own Musical
Now you know our story, it’s your turn to create your own. Hear
more about how musicals are created in our short video with Séimí
Campbell, associate director on Hex: youtube.com/nationaltheatre
First, you need to choose a story. The story of Hex is a retelling
of the well-known fairy tale ‘Sleeping Beauty’. You could also
use ‘Sleeping Beauty’ or choose another well-known story as a
starting point for your musical.
Here are some things to think about to get you started:

Our musical tells the story of............................................................

.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
Our story is set in.............................................................................
The main characters in our story are................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
Our story begins with.......................................................................
.........................................................................................................
In the middle ....................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
And finally, at the end of the story....................................................
.........................................................................................................
The biggest challenge the character of................................ faces is
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
The character of........................... can help them with this problem.
One of the great things about musicals is that you can tell the story
through song, music and dance as well as words. Look at your
ideas above and think about which bits of the story could be told
through song, music and dance.
 Create a
Character
Once you’ve chosen your story it’s time to explore the characters
in your musical. Make a list of facts and questions about each
character. For example:

Fact: Bert is a prince. Question: Does he enjoy being a prince?

These lists can help you to gather information which can bring
your character to life.

Character One: Facts Questions

Character Two: Facts Questions

Choose one of these characters and explore how they move through their world.
Do they move quickly or slowly? (You can give each pace a different level or gear. Gear one is
super slow while gear six could be incredibly fast.)
Do they move smoothly or suddenly?
Follow the link below to discover more about character and physicality with Séimí Campbell,
associate director on Hex. youtube.com/nationaltheatre
 Develop your
Character
In Hex, many of the characters talk about what people see when
they look at them, compared to how they feel ‘on the inside’.
Bert is identified as a ‘hero’ and Rose as a ‘beauty’, but both
characters say that on the inside they are frightened.
Traditionally, fairytale characters are easily recognisable: a fairy
might have a wand and wings, a palace guard might have a
sword and shield and a villain might wear a long black cloak.
These things help us to quickly work out who they are, but
they don’t tell us anything about the person on the inside.

Drawing exercise

Choose a character from your musical.

Use the outline on the next page to draw or write about your character
 n the left, draw or write about what you character looks like on the outside; what
O
other people see.
What are they wearing?
What colour are their clothes?
Are they carrying anything that helps to show who they are and what they do?
 n the right, represent how the character feels on the inside. You could use
O
drawings, words and colours to show their feelings, fears, likes and dislikes.
How does the character feel?
What is their favourite thing?
Are they scared of anything?
What do they dream of doing?
 Write a Song
Act 2 of Hex opens with the princes sharing their hopes to ‘one
day’ be a winner. The tell the audience that one day, they’ll:

‘… Be the one who wins the race,

Be the one that has the grace,
Who tops the heights, takes the day,
Lights the lights, makes the hay,
I’ll be the one who blows them all away…one of these days’

Think of the characters in your fairytale musical. What do they

wish for one day?
I’ll be…
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
One of these days!
How does your character talk and sing? What is their natural
character tempo or speed? Do they think and move quickly,
or are they sad and tired, and so maybe respond slowly?
Follow the link below to meet James Fortune, composer of Hex
who will teach you the melody for ‘One of these Days’ and
show you how to create your own version of the song.
We’ve created a series of backing tracks to help you perform
your song in your musical. Listen to the music and decide which
speed and style best represents the emotions of your song.
youtube.com/nationaltheatre
 Choreograph
a Dance
A choreographer helps to tell the story through movement.
They create dance routines for certain songs to create different
worlds, show time passing and teach us more about the
characters. These moments of dance are often filled with lots
of emotion or celebration.
First let’s warm up with a shake out!
Shake each hand and foot and count from one to eight.
Right hand 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Left hand 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Right foot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Left foot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Now count to six, then four, then two, then one.
Can you repeat it all again at high speed?
Now, follow this link to meet Jade Hackett, choreographer for
the National Theatre’s production of Hex, who’s going to teach
you the dance routine for the song ‘Good Morning’.
youtube.com/nationaltheatre
What different dance moves did you learn with Jade?
What sort of feelings or emotions did the routine make you think
about? Write them here:..................................................................
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................

Choose a song you want to include in your musical. You could

use ‘Good Morning’, or ‘One of these Days’, from Hex, or a
different song.
What style of dance would suit your song? Upbeat, joyful, slow,
dramatic? Using some of the moves you learnt with Jade and
some of your own can you create a new routine for your musical.
 Design a
Costume
A costume designer will normally research a character – who
are they and what they do - and create an outfit they think the
character would wear. Designing for a specific character at a
moment in the play is called a ‘brief’. Here’s your brief:
‘A fairy called Fairy’
Fairy lives alone in the woods. She has no wings, so can’t fly
away. She dreams of being the finest fairy in the neighbourhood,
putting blesses on anyone who needs one. When her bless on
baby Rose goes wrong, she loses her magic, and becomes
upset and angry at herself.
Can you design your own costume for Fairy?
Think about their personality. Are they happy or sad, young or
old, brave or shy?
Asking these sorts of questions can help you decide on colours
and types of clothing a character might wear. What other clues
could you give the audience about the character through their
costume?
Now put this into practice for your musical. Choose two or three
characters from your story and design what they might wear.
 Sketch your costume
designs here

Here are some tips to get you started:

Where is your story set?

Do they live in a cold or warm place?
Do they change their costume – or personality
– throughout the story?
You can have lots of fun designing characters and
costumes from scratch.
 Create
Create
your Stage
your stage
A set designer decides how the world of a play looks to
an audience. They work closely with lighting and sound
designers to create different environments and worlds.
A set designer decides how the world of a play looks to
anThe different They
audience. locations
workused in a play
closely withcan tell usand
lighting about the
sound
characterstotoo:
designers create different environments and worlds that
the audience
In our can of
production believe in. has a pod where she goes
Hex, Fairy
The
when different locations
she’s worried used in
or upset. a play
Fairy’s pod can tell us
is high up about
in the the
characters
trees, where too:
nobody can see her. It’s her safe space and the
Inclosest
our production of Hex
thing she has to a Fairy’s
home. She home is her
stores all pod [IS THIS
her favourite
RIGHT?]
things here.
Fairy’s pod is her safe space – where nobody can see her.
On the next page draw how you would design Fairy’s pod
She goes here when she’s worried or upset.
for a production of Hex. How big is it? What is it made of?
Fairies
What can can’t gosee
you oninside?
the inside, so this is the closest thing to
a home for her. She stores all of her favourite things there
Now
(still can
tbc – you build
sticks, your own flowers).
branches, special pod at home? What
It is high up in the trees, wheresafe?
would make you feel cosy and she What
can look textures and
out for
colours could
humans to bless. you use? What materials or objects can you
find in your house to create it? is it big
Can you create your own special pod at home? What or small, up high
or down
would makelow? What
you feeldocosy
you and
keepsafe?
in yourWhat
pod?textures and
colours
You could could
useyouyouruse? What
pod as a setmaterials
or backdrop canforyou find in your
your
house
musical to performance.
create it? is itWhat
big or small,
other up high
locations do oryoudown
need low.
What
to telldo youstory?
your have in your pod?
Sketch your stage
designs here
 Light
your Show
We can experiment with lighting our performance space with the
things we have at home. Lighting can help to create atmosphere
and drama, show your location (for example in a forest or
underwater), or add special effects.
In Hex the moving of the moon helps to show the passing of
time. In theatre lighting gobos are often used to create different
shapes with light. Follow the steps below to create your own
moon gobo to see how this works. You will need:
A torch or the light from a phone
Cardboard
Sellotape
 ut out a square of cardboard big enough to cover your
C
torch or phone and then cut out a moon shape in the middle
so that you have a frame. Your moon could be a full moon,
half-moon or crescent moon, you can use the shapes below
as a template. This frame is your gobo.

 lace your gobo in front of your torch or phone light and tape
P
into place.

 ow turn the lights off and turn your torch or phone light on
N
to see your moon.
 Add some colour

You can use this same technique with any simple shape.
Why not experiment with adding some colour?
 ollow step one above cutting out the shape you’d
F
like to create.
 ow cut out a section of cling film which is just larger
N
than your frame and Sellotape it into place, so it covers
your frame.
 olour in the cling film with a marker pen. Different
C
colours can suggest different moods, times or locations.
Red light might suggest anger, while green could create
the appearance of a forest and dark blue could represent
night-time.
 lace the coloured cling film in front of your torch or
P
phone light. This will change the colour of the light and
give you different effects.
 Bring it
Let’s dance!
all together
Now you have all the skills you need to create your own mini
-
musicalExplain what a choreographer does
at home.
- Music choices, styles of movement
- How to create a great routine
- Links toyour
Assemble digital content
team
First up, assign your production team (you could take on
more than one role each):
 irector: someone who is very organised and has lots of
D
ideas on how to bring this story to your stage.
 esigner: someone who loves to draw and create
D
worlds and characters
 usical Director: someone who plays a musical
M
instrument or has a good speaker.
 omposer/ Lyricist: someone who likes to sing, and
C
make up tunes
 horeographer / Movement Director: someone with
C
great rhythm, who loves to dance.

Casting
To decide who will play each character you could hold auditions
for your family and friends.
You could ask them to perform a page from the script, or
their favourite song, or even a little bit of choreography.
When everyone has been told what roles they are playing,
why not have a ‘meet and greet’ – this is where the cast and
production team sit down together and talk through their ideas
for the musical. Your designer could show their set and costume
designs at this point.
Rehearsals
Time to begin staging your show (you can use the activities in
this pack to help).
 he Director could use the character exercises to bring a
T
scene to life
The Musical Director and Composer will teach the songs
The Choreographer will teach the dance routines
The Designer will create the costumes and set
Once you’ve worked through the whole show:
 old a technical rehearsal to add your lighting and
H
sound effects
Hold a dress rehearsal for a final practice
 ou could create programmes which list everyone
Y
involved in making the show, or posters to advertise
your production

It’s show time!

Invite your closest friends and family to attend the opening night
of your brand new fairytale musical!
We’d love to see what you’ve created. Why not take a photo of
your cast and production team and share it with us on social
media using #NTHex
 The National Theatre’s Partner National Theatre Learning is supported by
for Learning is Bank of America.
The Mohn Westlake Foundation, Buffini Chao Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation,
Tim and Sarah Bunting, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Hearn Foundation, The Ingram Trust,
The Constance Travis Charitable Trust, and Archie Sherman Charitable Trust.

The reopening of the Olivier theatre Supported by the Garfield The development of new music theatre is
is generously supported by Areté Weston Foundation through supported by the Genesis Foundation through
Foundation / Betsy & Ed Cohen the Weston Culture Fund the Genesis Music Theatre Programme

Illustrations by Fabiana De Sario

@lylfmporcelain