Welcome to the world of Meal One. On this page you will find lots of activities, videos and pictures, all about Helbert and his world. You will also find a pre-show support pack for those who would like to feel prepared for what will be in the show and what to expect at the theatre.
We believe that continued exploration of the ideas and themes in a performance can deepen our responses and connections. To continue Helbert’s fantastical story we’ve created a few different activity packs for you to look at and try out. After each show we will hand out an activity sheet, but there are also loads of online activities here too. You can look at them online, or print off parts of each activity to try.
Here is a film of Chris Hannon reading the original book ‘Meal One’ by Ivor Cutler:
Here are the actors Zara (mum) and Isaac (Helbert) showing you around our theatre set:
What do we mean by a Relaxed Performance?
We mean that everyone is welcome. Our informal atmosphere can be particularly suitable for anyone who may feel more comfortable in a relaxed performance environment, allowing for noise and movement, or exit/reentry when needed. This may include children, young people and adults with neurodivergence such as autism, learning difficulties and other sensory or communication needs.
Meal One contains amplified music and colourful projections. It also includes mild jeopardy (references to scratches and blood). The pre-show support pack contains lots more information. We will be touring a limited number of ear defenders for those who need them and feel free to bring your own too if you need them.
Pre-show support pack and Pre-show audio description
This pack will be useful for people who are unsure about what to expect from a theatre show. Or for people who need some support to feel prepared for what will be in the show. Or for those who need support to understand and make sense of the story (*contains spoilers!).
Meal One Pre-Show Support Pack
We’ve also prepared a short audio description for you to listen to ahead of the show.
Every Meal One performance is captioned.
Sensory packs
These packs are suitable for anyone, but people who have sensory or physical impairments may particularly enjoy them. These activities need to be set up by an adult facilitator and supported throughout. They can be done before or after you’ve been to see the show.
Sensory Pack 1 – Fruit and tasting
Sensory Pack 3 Breakfast – Meal One
Home packs
These activities are suitable for use at home or at school. Each activity works by itself, so you can do them in any order. An adult will need to help with some of these activities. Most of these activities you can do before or after you’ve seen the show, but they’ll make a bit more sense afterwards. You can print out any of the slides, but remember to select certain pages, or you will be printing a lot!
Activity One – The magical tree
Activity Two – Your Favourite Meal One
Activity Three – Growing a tree
Activity Four – Eating breakfast
Activity Five – Turning back time
Teacher packs
These packs are suitable for using in the classroom or as part of home education. There are teacher notes that accompany each pack with suggestions of how to run the activities. If you would prefer these slides in powerpoint so you can edit them to suit your classroom please contact us via email.
Teacher Pack 1 – Setting and Props plus Teacher Notes 1 – Setting and props
Teacher Pack 2 – Performance plus Teacher Notes 2 – Performance
Teacher pack 3 – Storytelling plus Teacher Notes 3 – Storytelling
We’d love to hear what you think about our resources. Please let us know!