An educational theatre company is bringing children to a specially-created environment to take part in a story. Mary Evans came along
Take three actors and a mischievous parrot puppet, create a fantasy world with a magical forest and a storm-tossed sea, add in elements of pantomime, The Wizard of Oz meets 'The Crystal Maze', and what have you got? 'The Emerald Cave' - the latest project from Birmingham's Language Alive.
This educational theatre runs interactive drama programmes for more than 60 primary schools in the city. They are designed to fire the children's imaginations, develop their critical thinking and help them understand more about themselves and the world in which they live.
Normally the theatre company tours the schools, but for this project more than 1,150 three- to five-year-olds children travel to the company's studio at the Play House, Birmingham. Free from the constraint of having to create scenery that could be carted around the city, the team encouraged artist Claire Whitcomb to let her imagination run wild as she designed the multi-sensory set.
The end result is a seascape and a forest that the children experience through their exploration of the different materials on the floors and walls as well as through the sounds, sights, and smells. Some of the time they are guided by the actors, but they are also allowed periods of free play during the drama to explore as they wish.
As artistic director Iain Smith describes how they devised the drama, it is clear they had enormous fun in the process. ''We were a group of adults learning how to play. Normally when we take a drama out to the schools it has been developed with the national curriculum in mind. With this we are providing a place with the space and the environment for dramatic play. It offers something different for each group.'
Juliet Fry, who plays the role of the storyteller and operates the parrot puppet, says the drama allows for a degree of improvisation so the actors can be sensitive to the children's reactions. 'I think for nursery children to come on a trip in a coach to a strange building is a bit freaky for them. It's a wow. This is wow with knobs on. So we make sure that all the surprises they encounter are nice surprises.'
The drama lasts an hour, but each school visit runs to around 90 minutes to allow the children time to settle and take their socks and shoes off. When they are comfortable, the storyteller begins reading to them from a magic book.
Story of a voyage
Juliet Fry says, 'The story tells them what is going to happen. It is about a group of children who are shipwrecked. I get about halfway through the story when I say the magic in the book is beginning to work. I ask them to shut their eyes and listen, and we hear the sounds of the waves and the seagulls.'
She leads the children into the seascape zone and on board a red boat, made of carpet. The children use huge lengths of chiffon and silk to make waves. Then they are shipwrecked. They explore the underwater world of whales made of shampoo bottles and fish mobiles made of blue plastic leaves, before spotting a desert island that smells of coconuts and spices. It is inhabited by a lonely, comical troll and mischievous parrot, both of whom think they own the island.
The troll, who was also shipwrecked, losing everything except a big sea chest, is looking for a new home. And with the help of an imp, the children set off into the magical forest to search for a home for the troll. They find a fairy ring with bouncy toadstools, a waterfall with the sounds of running water, a butterfly cave that has a creepy exit covered with latex gloves. But the troll rejects them all. He is looking for a home that is big and warm and where he will feel safe. Above all, it has to be sparkly. Then they discover the emerald cave - a wicker cave lit by tiny fibre optic lights - and realise it is ideal.
They guide the delighted troll to the cave and the sea chest is opened. The children find it is full of glittery, sparkly materials, streamers and tinsel with which they decorate the troll's new home. 'It is not very tasteful but it is very, very bright and they love it,' says Juliet. 'We settle down and enjoy the cave and then go back to the beginning for the last page of the story.' By then it is time to go home.
