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WOMBAT STEW
Based on the book written by Marcia K. Vaughan & illustrated by Pamela Lofts
Produced by Garry Ginivan Attractions under licence from Scholastic Australia
Pty Limited.
Stage Adaptation, Lyrics, and Direction
Gary Young
Original Score, Arrangements, and Musical Direction Paul Keelan
Choreography
Andrew Hallsworth
Costume Design
Mel Drummond
Set Design
Graham Mc Guffie
One day, on the banks of a billabong, a very clever dingo caught a wombat and
decided to make a gooey, brewy, yummy chewy, wombat stew! However when
Wombat’s friends decide to help, things go very wrong for Dingo.
“WOMBAT STEW SYNOPSIS”
The concept for the children’s musical, “Wombat Stew”, is the play within the
play, a story within a story. A troupe of Australian Bushland players (THE CLAP
LIKE THUNDER THEATRE TROUPE) are travelling the countryside. The show
that they decide to perform is “Wombat Stew”. In order to do so they have to
decide on the theatrical elements required to perform the show eg: who is to play
which role, learning words, creating a setting for the story and inventing
costumes to suit the characters of the story.
They consult the story book and in “A SHOW FOR YOU TODAY”, roles are
allotted as the elements of each character are discussed and decisions made as
to which actor is best suited to which role.
Costumes have to be found and in “DRESSING UP” the look for each character
is created. Props, scenery and lighting elements are solved and the company are
ready to begin.
A problem arises… the Dingo doesn’t appear to have a tale. The actors enlist the
assistance of the children to decide just what might make the right tail for the
Dingo. “HE HAS TO HAVE A TAIL”. The problem is solved and the show
begins.
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The Dingo has caught the Wombat. He decides to make “WOMBAT STEW”.
Platypus arrives and Dingo tells him that he is about to make a yummy stew out
of the Wombat. Platypus convinces Dingo that what he needs, to make his stew
delicious is “MUD!”. Mud goes into the stew.
Emu enters and on finding out the plan for the Wombat stew, she suggests that
the stew needs to be a little more chewy and what it needs to improve the taste
are feathers. She sings “YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A FEATHER OR TWO”,
during which she plucks some of her own feathers and pops them into the stew.
Dingo is delighted and dances around the bubbling billy. “WOMBAT STEW”.
A Blue Tongue Lizard slides in and suggests that what the stew really needs is
flies. During “THE AUSSIE SALUTE” he teaches everyone to catch flies. They
are added to the stew. Dingo is excited and again dances around the billycan.
Up pops Echidna who convinces Dingo that what a good stew really needs is
‘slugs and bugs and creepy crawlies’. In “THE BUG CONGA” Echidna digs up
all sorts of creepy crawlies and drops them into the stew.
Our happy Dingo stirs the pot and sings. They all join him in “THE BUSHLAND
BOOGIE”
Koala appears tells Dingo that ‘you can’t make a spicy stew without gumnuts’
and shakes the gumnuts down for the stew. “SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT!”
Dingo announces that there is only one thing missing from the stew and that is
the fat wombat. The others convince him that he must taste the stew first. Dingo
tastes the stew and believes that he has been poisoned and that they have all
tricked him. He runs away.
The bushland animals have rescued their friend the Wombat. “WHEN FRIENDS
ARE THERE”.
“WOMBAT STEW” is an Australian musical that incorporates song and dance,
audience participation with action songs and sing-a- longs and is full of fun.
It takes us through the Bushland Players presentation of the show. We see the
fun of putting on a show and the necessity to work together as a team to achieve
a goal.
The story then takes us into the book and we follow the journey of friends taking
care of each other as they all devise ways to delay the Dingo in his plan to cook
the Wombat. They triumph and their friend is rescued.
2
Through the story, we are aware that the actors are playing roles and that we are
in a musical and entertaining world…. The world of “WOMBAT STEW”.
TEACHER NOTES
The following activities can be used by teachers to enhance their students’
experience of seeing WOMBAT STEW. Teachers should adapt activities to suit
student levels. For example, some of the writing exercises can be done in
illustration form.
These notes are arranged according to following themes.
FOOD .................................................................................................... 4
NATURE ................................................................................................ 6
GETTING ALONG ................................................................................. 8
THEATRE ............................................................................................ 11
WORD WORK ..................................................................................... 14
3
FOOD
The focus of the following activities is on food preparation and
nutrition.
GOOEY, BREWY, YUMMY, CHEWY
In WOMBAT STEW, Dingo plans and prepares to eat a delicious meal by
following recipe directions from Platypus, Emu, Old Blue Tongue the Lizard, the
Echidna, and Koala.
Prepare an easy to follow recipe for a meal or snack (or even a stew) in writing,
speech, or illustration. Some useful websites follow:
* Australian Tucker (including meat pies, lamingtons, Anzac cookies, pavlova):
http://www.ausinternet.com/recipes.htm
http://www.thesmorgasbord.com/Kids%20Multicultural%20Recipes/kids.html
* Other Food:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/index.html
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/cooking-with-kids/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/favourites/kids-cooking/
http://www.homeandfamilynetwork.com/food/kids.html
http://www.kidspot.com.au/best-recipes/
* Stews (including some vegetarian options):
http://www.grouprecipes.com/s/-stew/recipe/1/relevancy
As a special event, have students collaboratively prepare a snack or lunch to
have at school. Tie this activity in with mathematics by having students calculate,
and work to a set budget per head.
In preparation students can also make table decorations, napkins, napkinholders, name-cards, menus.
MASTERCHEF SANDWICHES
Conduct your own school ‘Masterchef’ based on the Network 10 television
program. Give individual students or teams of students access to a pantry
stocked with slices of bread and a selection of ingredients from which to create a
gourmet sandwich to a set time limit. These can be tasted and assessed by an
expert judge or judges, taking into account how sandwiches are plated and
served. The project could be video-taped and include eliminations, immunity,
interviews, feedback and coaching from expert judges and celebrity guests (such
as the school principal).
BUSH TUCKER
WOMBAT STEW takes place in the Australian bush and is all about the kind of
tucker that a dingo might like to eat. Together with students, discuss the type of
tucker that people who live in the bush might like to eat. Explain that traditional
bush tucker needs to be easy to make because it is usually made outdoors and
with only very few utensils.
Together with students, create and sample some simple bush tucker.
4
The following websites may be of use. The first is for damper, the second
includes other bush tucker:
http://www.recipezaar.com/australian-bush-bread-der-41616
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:8CWvvt50UBkJ:www.dreamtime.au
z.net/images/bushtucker/Recipe%2520Book.pdf+recipe+aboriginal+bush+t
ucker&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=safari
Create an illustrated bush tucker recipe book.
LET’S EAT
Together with students make lists of foods and ingredients according to food
types (eg, fats, dairy, vegetable, fruit, meats, grains). Discuss how much of each
type of food students think would be a good daily balance, and why.
The following ‘food pyramid’ images may be of use:
http://rileychildrenshospital.com/kids-and-teens/food-pyramid.jsp
http://www.piasauschool.com/images/guideteating_clip_image002.jpg
http://foodservice.bloomfield.org/nutrition/images/food-guide-pyramid.jpg
Working individually or in small groups, have students devise meals or snacks
that are not only a healthy combination of food types but also delicious to eat.
Students can be asked to create written, illustrated or television style instructions
on how to make their original meals or snacks.
Prepare and sample recipes.
Recipes could be compiled to create a school or class cookbook. Alternatively,
video record students teaching/demonstrating their recipes, and compile a school
or class instructional cooking DVD.
ANIMAL FOOD
Create and compile a wacky illustrated recipe book of food that might be enjoyed
by bush animals such as Dingo, Wombat, Platypus, Emu, Old Blue Tongue the
Lizard, the Echidna, Koala. Encourage students to name their original animal
treats, eg. ‘Gum Nut Rolls’, ‘Eucalyptus Patties’, ‘Wattle Pops’, etc. As a follow
on, students could be asked to prepare advertising materials to promote their
animal food products, eg packaging, posters, television or radio adverts.
This activity can be used as a springboard to science related comparisons
between the kinds of things that animals can eat and those that people can eat.
WHAT AM I EATING?
One by one, have students pretend to be eating or drinking an allocated food or
drink, eg. ice-cold fizzy drink, hot chocolate, water, beer, thick-shake, pizza,
spaghetti, watermelon, potato chips, sweet-corn, peanut butter sandwich, etc.
See if other students can guess the food or drink being tasted.
Identify how an actor can make a mimed food (or drink) appear to be sour,
sweet, salty, hot, cold, juicy, thick, dry, spicy, poison, etc.
5
NATURE
The focus of the following activities is on animals and life in the bush
WHAT ANIMAL AM I?
Animal characters are depicted in WOMBAT STEW.
Have one student come to the front of the class. Allocate or ask the student to
decide on and think about a particular animal. Have others ask the student ‘yes’
or ‘no’ questions to see if they can guess what the animal is. See if the class can
do so in less than 10 questions.
Yes/No questions that students may be encouraged to ask: do you have fur, do
you have 4 legs, can you fly, can you swim, are you bigger than …, are you
smaller than …, etc.
BUSH INSTALLATION
WOMBAT STEW takes place at a billabong (a small lake or section of still water).
Together with students discuss what things might be found in and around a
billabong, eg. what kind of formations, plants, creatures, man-made things might
be there?
Using bolts of fabric, craft and recyclable materials, collaboratively create a
billabong installation in a classroom or other large space.
Have students conduct tours of the billabong and surrounds, or alternatively
create performances that take place there.
COLLAGE CREATURES
Explain to students that …
Hundreds of years ago people outside of Australia had never seen platypus
before, and that when they did see one they could hardly believe their eyes.
Platypus are very unusual creatures because they appear to be part duck,
part beaver, part otter. When a sketch of a platypus was sent to England
from Australia in the late 1700s, British scientists thought that someone in
Australia was playing a trick on them.
Have students conceive and create original creatures that combine features of
several different animals. This can be done as follows:
 Search for and cut out hard-print illustrations and photographs of different
animals.
 Assemble and paste legs, arms, heads, fins, tentacles, snouts, ears,
whiskers, claws, fur, etc. from collected illustrations to create amazing
original collage creatures.
Once collages are created, have students act as scientists and name, introduce,
and describe their original creatures to the rest of the class.
COUNTRY VS. CITY
Together with students make a list of ways in which life in the bush would be
different to life in the city. Identify aspects of life in the bush/city that students
prefer, encouraging students to articulate why.
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ORAL PRESENTATION
Have students choose areas of interest to research that relate to WOMBAT
STEW, eg. Australian wildlife, bush safety, camping, bush tucker, etc.
Have students find out about their chosen area and prepare oral presentations
on their findings to be given to the rest of the class. (Alternatively students may
create written/illustrated/data-show projects on their chosen area of interest).
SOUNDS
WOMBAT STEW takes place in the Australian bush.
Have the whole class explore sounds that they can make to represent the
Australian bush, eg. birds, insects, the wind, crackling leaves, wildlife, etc. Have
the class plan and then record a soundscape of the Australian bush that shifts
from dawn, to dry heat, to a bushfire, to a rain-storm, and finally to calm dusk. In
doing so, students can be given responsibility for specific sounds.
Play the recorded soundscape and have students physically improvise
movement to match.
Have students work in small groups to create soundscapes representing other
locations, eg. a big city, an amusement park, outer-space, the bottom of the
ocean, a chocolate factory, etc.
Perform these. See if other students can guess the locations represented.
BILLABONG NEWSLETTER
Have students compile a newsletter for animal and/or human residents who live
in and around a billabong.
Together with students decide what the name of the newsletter will be.
Consider what articles (written and/or illustrated) might appear in the newsletter,
eg. local bush news and gossip (stories about some of the characters in
WOMBAT STEW), bushfire safety tips, weather forecast, bush tucker recipes (for
animals, and for people), cartoons, advertisements, advice column, bush
crossword puzzles, etc.
Have students design the layout of the newspaper, eg. lay out several large
sheets of paper and decide and mark out where each article should appear.
Working individually or in small groups, have students prepare, illustrate, and
write up individual articles to then be pasted onto the newspaper layout.
The billabong newsletter can be displayed, photocopied, distributed.
Alternatively, create a newsletter for ‘The Clap Like Thunder Theatre Troupe’. It
may include pictures/publicity of past productions, made up biographies of
actors, advertisements for upcoming productions, etc.
7
GETTING ALONG
The focus of the following activities is on friendship, getting along and
working with others.
FRIENDSHIP
In WOMBAT STEW Platypus, Emu, Old Blue Tongue the Lizard, the Echidna,
Koala, and Wombat are friends who are all quite different to one another.
Have students think about their friends and consider the following:
 In what ways are your friends similar to you?
 In what ways are your friends different to you?
 What are some good things about being similar to a friend?
 What are some good things about being different to a friend?
In WOMBAT STEW Platypus, Emu, Old Blue Tongue the Lizard, the Echidna,
and Koala sing ‘You Don’t Put Your Friends In A Stew!’ Discuss with students
what those words might mean about friendship.
Students can be asked to make up their own song lyrics about friendship. These
could be composed to original or known tunes.
WORKING TOGETHER
In WOMBAT STEW the members of ‘The Clap Like Thunder Theatre Troupe’
work together to put on a performance. Reflecting on the show, have students
brainstorm and list some DO and DON’T tips that people should follow if they
want to work well together.
WORKING TOGETHER AS A TEAM
DO:
DON’T:
… listen to one another’s ideas
… all talk at the same time
Together with students consider what is meant by the following expressions:
‘Many hands make light work’ - ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’
Encourage students to share examples of situations that are true of each of the
expressions. Ask students to think about, discuss and explain what kind of things
they prefer to do individually, and what kind of things they prefer to do in a group.
HELPING OTHERS
In WOMBAT STEW we see that Platypus, Emu, Old Blue Tongue, the Lizard, the
Echidna, and Koala work together to help Wombat.
Have students share stories about having helped others, or having been helped
by others. Have students discuss the following:
 When do people need help from others?
 How does it feel to help others?
 How does it feel when others help you?
8
STORY MAKING
The focus of the following activities is on narrative and storytelling.
STORY INGREDIENTS
Using the stew that Dingo prepared in WOMBAT STEW as an example, explain
to students the notion of ingredients as that which when combined brings about a
product, be it a cake, stew … or, in this case a story.
Cut out and shuffle all of the words in the table below, and place them face down
on a table. One card is to be picked up and a nominated storyteller is to start to
tell a story about the word on the card. Every few seconds another card is to be
picked up, and the storyteller must add whatever is on the new card to the story
that is already in progress. Stories can be told by one storyteller or collaboratively
with a new storyteller adding to the story as each card is revealed.
STORY INGREDIENT CARDS:
pencil
elephant
blanket
custard
toothbrush
map
rabbit
mirror
robot
sister
starfish
ballet shoe
cloud
soap
blue paint
koala
rainbow
mirror
diamond
key
flies
helicopter
tea cup
ice cream
clown
caterpillar
octopus
cactus
seat belt
bottle
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STORY TELLING
Discuss with students the skills involved in the telling of a story. Illustrate some of
these by having students come to the front of the class and explore telling stories
(or other information) according to the following: making eye contact; looking
down at the ground; speaking with animation; with no animation; with gesture;
with no motion; pausing between phrases; speaking without pausing; speaking
with a loud voice; soft voice; speaking very fast; very slow; speaking with a flat
voice; in a sing song manner; shuffling around; standing on the spot; speaking
clearly and carefully; mumbling; standing with arms by the sides; fidgeting, etc.
Identify with students strengths and weaknesses of different qualities, and
whether some kind of dynamic combination might serve the storyteller best of all.
Bearing the preceding exercises and discussion in mind, have students prepare
and tell the story of WOMBAT STEW (or other stories) to one another (3 rd person
narrative) with the aim of keeping listeners’ attention and interest.
Extension activity: Have students tell stories again, but as if they were characters
from the story. Storytellers should remain ‘in character’ for interviews or Q & A
with the class.
INSTANT STORIES
Sit in a circle. Going around the circle, have students make up a story, sentence
by sentence, or word by word, each student adding on to the story according to
what the person before them has contributed.
Extension: Divide class into three groups. Have one group of students tell a
story. Have a second group mime the story as it is being told. The third group
can serve as an audience whilst also supplying relevant sound effects as
required.
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Together with students look at and discuss an assortment of illustrations from
different children’s books (such as illustrations for WOMBAT STEW by Pamela
Lofts). Which illustrations appeal most? Which do not? Have students articulate
why/why not.
Have students illustrate well-known or original stories. View these. Identify if and
how stories are communicated, and if it is possible to do so via illustration alone.
Create a class library of picture books.
MESSAGES
In most cases, stories communicate messages or lessons through episodes that
occur to story characters. Discuss WOMBAT STEW and identify messages or
lessons that the book/play communicates. What does the story communicate
about friendship, working together, the bush, food?
10
THEATRE
The focus of the following activities is on theatre craft, creation,
production, review and appreciation.
REVIEW
Have students discuss the following by way of reviewing WOMBAT STEW:
o Which part of WOMBAT STEW did you like best? Why?
o Why do you think Marcia Vaughan wrote WOMBAT STEW?
o What did WOMBAT STEW make you think about?
o Comment on the skills of the performers in WOMBAT STEW. How long do
you think it would have taken the performers to remember their lines and
dance steps?
o What did you like about the costumes, sets, puppets, music, dancing,
singing?
o Were there any parts of the show that you did not like? Why?
o Compare WOMBAT STEW with other live performances you may have
experienced.
o Give WOMBAT STEW a mark out of 10. Explain why you gave the
performance the mark that you did.
A BOOK BECOMES A PLAY
The play WOMBAT STEW was adapted from the book of the same name. Where
students have experienced both the play and the book, identify differences
between the two.
Have students discuss whether they preferred the book or the play, and explain
why. List and discuss other books that were turned into films, plays, ballets,
cartoons, eg, ‘Possum Magic’, ‘Peter Rabbit’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘The Princess and
the Frog’, etc. Have students discuss which versions they prefer and why.
MAKE A MASK
Allocate or have students decide on characters that they want to make a mask
for, eg. characters from WOMBAT STEW (Dingo, Wombat, Platypus, Emu, Old
Blue Tongue the Lizard, the Echidna, Koala). Simple masks can be made as
follows:
 Draw the shape of the character’s face on cardboard, and sketch in the
details.
 Cut the mask out, making holes for eyes and breathing holes at nose or
mouth.
 Use coloured pencils, crayons or paints to fill in the features.
 Stick on materials such as feathers, tin foil, wool, string, twigs, gum-nuts,
sequins to add more detail.
 Attach elastic or string to the sides of the finished mask to hold it in place.
Create performances incorporating masked characters that students have
created, or conduct a bush animal parade.
11
ANIMAL MOVES - ANIMAL SOUNDS
In WOMBAT STEW, performers represent a dingo, platypus, emu, blue tongue
lizard, echidna and koala. Encourage students to consider how they could
communicate that they are a wombat, platypus, emu, koala, cat, dog, tiger,
horse, ant. What sounds would they make? How would they move their bodies?
Identify performance qualities that indicate size, weight, strength. Have students
consider and explore how the same animals would move and sound if they were
happy, angry, frightened, hungry, tired, etc.
Play a mime game of ‘Who am I?’ One student uses sound and action to
represent a chosen animal eg. rabbit, mouse, rooster, cat, fox, bear, kangaroo,
crocodile, snake, lizard, duck, monkey, elephant, seagull, puppy, etc. Students
are to guess the animal being represented.
Ask students to identify variations between the actions and sounds of each
animal. This could be used as a lead in to identifying what kind of limbs, claws,
noses, body shapes might make an animal good at swimming, climbing, flying,
running, burrowing, etc.
Extension activities: make masks and/or costumes for chosen animals; create a
parade, or stories, or plays that involve animal characters.
OBJECTS
In WOMBAT STEW the actor who plays the Echidna tells the audience that in his
last play he performed the role of a door. Together with students explore how
they might use their bodies to represent a door.
Have students come to the front of the class and use their bodies to represent
allocated or chosen objects, eg. fork, knife, chair, clothesline, hammer, drill,
sponge, etc. See if other students are able to guess the object being
represented.
Working in groups of 3 - 6, allocate or have students choose objects or machines
that they are to depict as a group with their bodies, eg. washing machine,
photocopier, computer, merry-go-round, popcorn maker, toaster, etc. Can other
students identify what each groups’ objects/machines are?
COSTUMES
In WOMBAT STEW the members of ‘The Clap Like Thunder Theatre Troupe’
must decide on what each character in the performance will wear.
Using WOMBAT STEW as inspiration, have students design and construct
costumes for chosen characters from other stories, eg. Harry Potter, Gandalf,
Simba, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, King Kong, Mary Poppins, etc. It may be fun to
limit materials to newspaper and masking tape, or found materials only.
Create performances incorporating costumes that students have constructed.
DANCE
WOMBAT STEW included musical numbers and dances such as ‘The Bug
Conga’ (about creepies and crawlies), ‘The Aussie Salute’ (which teaches
12
everyone how to catch flies), ‘The Bushland Boogie’, and ‘Shake It’ (a way to
collect gum-nuts)
Allocate or have students make up names of musical numbers and dances, eg.
‘The Crocodile Rock’, ‘The Stegosaurus Waltz’, ‘The Billabong Bounce’, ‘The
Gumboot Quick-Step’, ‘The Gumboot Slow-Step’ ‘The Slip-Slop-Slap’, etc.
Working in small groups (or as a full class), have students make up dance steps
to suit their dance names.
Have students teach and/or perform their original dances to one another.
STAGE A CHILDREN’S BOOK
Where students have seen WOMBAT STEW, have them discuss what was
involved in transforming the book by Marcia Vaughan into theatrical form.
There were many things that the members of the ‘The Clap Like Thunder Theatre
Troupe’ needed to decide on and needed to do in order to stage their
performance of ‘Wombat Stew’, eg. they needed to decide on who would play
which role in their performance, what lines they would say (and how), what they
would wear, what steps they would dance, etc.
Working as a full class (or in smaller groups) transform a selected children’s book
from hard copy form to theatrical form.
The production may include costumes, props, sets, posters, dances, songs,
music, sound effects.
13
WORD WORK
The focus of the following activities is on rhyme and word recognition.
RHYME
Point out the rhyming in words like stew, brew, chew, goo, as chanted in
WOMBAT STEW:
Wombat stew,
Wombat stew,
Gooey, brewy,
Yummy, chewy,
Wombat stew!
Identify words that rhyme, eg:
eat + treat + meet + feet
slow + go + no + throw
snake + take + bake + lake
share + care + hair + tear
Working individually or in small groups, ask students to try to make up a song or
a story in rhyme. This can be done to known tunes or rhythms.
Perform and stage these songs/rhymes for one another
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WORDSEARCH
Look for the list of words on the grid and circle them.
O
W
L
I
E
H
WOMBAT
DINGO
STEW
EAT
HUNGRY
C
O
O
K
D
U
E
M
U
C
I
N
Y
B
A
H
N
G
CHEW
COOK
EMU
LIE
BAT
E
A
T
E
G
R
EYES
OWL
ATE (X2)
15
S
T
E
W
O
Y