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Review: PYGMALION at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre

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Pygmalion at QPAC

After a delayed season due to the Brisbane floods, The Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) proudly opened its doors to showcase ‘Pygmalion’ – the play that inspired the iconic musical film “My Fair Lady”. Audience members were taken on a journey to the home of ‘foul-mouthed guttersnipe’ Eliza Dolittle, set in the backstreets of London in the early 1900s.

Each scene in the play was introduced by a roving spotlight travelling along a map portraying the streets of London, and articulate actors who easily transported the audience from scene to scene.

The actress who assumed the character of Eliza Dolittle (Melanie Zanetti) had the audience in stitches with her overly expressive tantrums and neck-straining, perfectly executed “London back alley guttersnipe” accent – the early 1900s English counterpart of today’s “Bogan” accent.

As the show progressed, the audience was captivated and thoroughly entertained by her transformation into an English rose, flaunting her beauty in English couture. Who could forget that red satin gown, the perfectly coiffed hair and white satin gloves in her ‘Duchess’ debut? Eliza’s transformation was a treat for all female members of the audience as it humorously depicted female empowerment, purpose and identity flourishing in the throes of a patriarchal society.

Equally engaging were the actors who portrayed Professor Higgins (Robert Colby) and Colonel Pickering (Bryan Probets). The camaraderie shared between these two unlikely friends was reflective of light and shade, day and night – the “Odd Couple” of London’s High Society. The development of co-dependent and dysfunctional relationships between these three characters was nothing short of delightful and entertaining.

Overall the play was pleasing to the theatre-palate – charming, witty, colourful, enthralling and a total delight. We highly recommend seeing Pygmalion – after all, it was the play that inspired the making of “My Fair Lady”, and who didn’t enjoy that wonderful film?

WHAT?

Pygmalion

WHERE?

QPAC, Southbank, Brisbane

WHEN?

NOW, until 27th Nov 2011.

HOW MUCH?

$30-$75 from QPAC website

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Learning about Chad for Kids – Lesson Plan

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked Central African nation bordered by Lybia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. It is the fifth largest country in Africa and is one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the world.

Chad Basics

  • Chad is about 500,000 square miles, or 1.3 million square kilometers and has a population around 16 million. Its capital and largest city is N’Djamena.
  • Part of the Sahara Desert is in Chad, as well as an arid zone and a more fertile area. Lake Chad, for which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland area in Africa.
  • The official languages are Arabic and French, but more than 200 ethnic and linguistic groups call Chad home.
  • The land of Chad became part of French Equatorial Africa in 1920 and gained its independence in 1960, but the nation has faced civil war, coups and strife most of the time since. It has also been affected by the crisis in the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
  • Chad has a parliamentary system with a president and prime minister. After the president was killed by rebels in 2021, his son took over.

Chad National Symbols

The Republic of Chad’s flag features three vertical stripes of blue, yellow and red. The intent was for the colors to be a combination of the French flag and the Pan-African colors.

It was adopted in 1959 when the country was given autonomous status and has been retained ever since, though there has been concern that the flag is nearly identical to Romania’s, which sometimes causes confusion.

The national anthem is “La Tchadienne” or “Song of the Chadian.” The music was written by a Jesuit father, Paul Villard, while the lyrics were composed by another Jesuit father and his students.

 

The country has two national animals, which represent the northern and southern parts of the country: the goat and the lion. These animals are both found on the coat of arms of Chad.

The violet turaco is considered the national bird of Chad (according to some guy on X, anyway). Click through to see this pretty bird’s colorful head! The peregrine falcon is also associated with the country.

Chad Learning Activities

When learning about Chad would be a fine time to pull out your lion and goat activities. Emma Owl has some fun lion crafts, and 3 Boys and a Dog has some goat crafts and activities that may be a little bit more about farm goats, but we’ll take what we can get.

I’m not finding a lot of stuff specific to Chad, but you can find Africa activities that include Chad at Teachers Pay Teachers (and if you find a better way to search for them let me know!).

Learn about Lake Chad and see images from space to see how it has shrunk in recent decades. With older kids you can talk about why the lake is getting smaller and what people can do about it.

Listen to some traditional music from Chad and learn about common instruments like the kakaki, a long tin horn.

To try food from Chad, eat some millet! The Afrikan Store has a recipe for millet porridge that some consider the national dish of Chad, or you can try these fried millet balls from Gormandize.