Category Archives: Children’s Theatre

A hectic, wonderful summer of festivals and no rain!

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It’s been ages since I wrote a piece but it’s been so ridiculously, wonderfully busy that I have literally not had a chance. Those few magical moments of quiet were spent being…well…quiet! The rest of the time was pure energy and utter exhaustion and walking and sunshine and no wellies all August! Truly blessed! Had an amazing time in July travelling round Sri Lanka, visiting the stunning dancer Venuri Perera and her family. Incredible hosts and her father makes the most delicious mango chutney on earth. delicious truly!!!

Then back to Edinburgh, where sadly no performance this year but an amazing job working with Edinburgh Festivals taking delegates from 40 different countries round the city and showing off how lucky we are to live here and have these amazing events happening all year round. Edinburgh is a fantastic place!!!

Saw a ton of shows which was great. These ranged from the Made in Scotland series including the very clever and very sweet Paperbelle and The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean. I did really enjoy it but I think it could have got going slightly quicker. I also loved Angus, Weaver of Grass by Horse and Bamboo theatre company. Brillaint use of puppetry, film and just very well put together, espeically the Gaelic element and singing of Mairi. What else? The Zimbabwe Express was good fun and hugely energetic! I also saw The Girl with no Heart and The Night of the Bog Wind. Again very interesting use of puppetry and thought provoking, enjoyable pieces. Managed to catch some of the South African season with Mama Africa and The Millers Tale, Wahala Dey Oh which Isla was performing in. Chaucer’s tale in a Nigerian setting. Very interesting and Ufuoma was a lovely woman whose determination to bring the show here was incredible. Despite all the odds….she made it! Saw The Stranger from Brazil, A Comic Destiny and I’m sure there were more but it was quite exhausting!!!!

What did you see? Anything that you would recommend for next year or to catch touring? Let me know. Open to odd suggestions too.

Back to Singapore… Managed to get a storytelling slot at Barefoot, the reknowned cafe for performing arts and a hub of activity with a lovely cafe, shop, etc. There was a night celebrating womanhood and raising awareness of domestic violence and other issues affecting women. I was able to tell the story of the kings mirror, a beautiful story that celebrates the most beautiful thing about women and why we should be proud of it. I will have to record that and put it on facebook, or here!

 

Am also very excited about the up and coming Edinburgh Mela festival where Toto Tales will be performing a shortened version of our show Tyi Wara. It’s on at 13:30 on Saturday and 14:45 on Sunday for those who can make it or who missed it at the Storytelling Centre. Check out the brilliant Leither where we are on the cover:)

http://issuu.com/theleither/docs/web-88?mode=window&pageNumber=1

What else is happening. We are getting ready with Starbird. the wonderful Fadzai Mwakutuya and Florence Menzies busy squirreling away behind the scenes. This is for the Inspiration festival in Glasgow in October.

Isla is also working more with Chris Dolan, playwright, screenwriter and talented man all round which is very exciting!

We also going down South to the Settle festival in October, the first one we’ve done, so that’s very exciting! See a photo of the festival founder Sita Brand below!

Anyway, that’s just a tiny bit of what’s been happening but hope to be updating more regularly.  It’s late so the brain is struggling now. Goodnight and remember to let me know your best bits of the festival xxx

Can Kids get Serious?

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IT’S THE END OF THE HOLIDAYS!!! so for the last few days, I have told at a number of storytelling sessions/activities and taken my 4 year old daughter to a few too. After a few too many row your boats, I began to wonder why whenever young children are around (3-4 year olds), so many of us resort to the ‘twinkle, twinkle little star’ and ‘baa baa black sheep’ favourites? Is it because we are comfortable that they [the little ones] will be comfortable? The familiar is safe and so we don’t need to challenge ourselves too much?

Now, it’s not that I don’t like these rhymes or feel that we should never use them, I do myself on occasion… but my worry is that many people believe that young children are simply incapable of handling ‘bigger’ stories. If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing the incredible piece of theatre ‘WHITE’ by Catherine Wheels, then you will know that stories seep into the soul regardless of age. Any two year old will have recognised the extreme injustice so perfectly demonstrated.

I believe choosing the stories we expose our children to is immensely important. Long before school as we now know it existed, our education everything we thought, believed, aspired to, etc was brought about through stories. our focus on stories from across Africa, I wish that children will be as familiar with Anansi the spider as they are with the Gruffalo. I wish that their dreams would involve outwitting cunning Sungura (Hare) and celebrating the wisdom of tortoise. I wish they would grow knowing why Dedan Kimathi fought as he did, who was Queen Nzinga of Angola and that they wonder where the Golden Stool of the Ashanti really came from. The incredible stories of the orishas from the Yoruba. The dense layers of these stories are rich in content, so full of wonder and quite simply beautiful to listen to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A storytelling friend of mine of Indian origin, Malaysian upbringing and currently resident in Singapore told me how her father introduced the great epic Mahabharat to her from a very young age.

An immense story, a epic saga that scholars have difficulty interpreting. She remembers at the age of 3 or 4, her father sitting down at breakfast and feeding her the tiniest little tidbits from the story, that when pieced together many years later, revealed the full story. Sitting down with a three year old and recounting hours of story will not work but  by letting little seeds settle deep inside, he ensured that those seeds were nurtured and did grow. These BIG stories are necessary to give our children a greater sense of the world around us. Do they get it? Probably better than many grown ups!

I was horrified to hear a squeaky clean adaptation of The Little Red Hen story a few evenings ago. In the new version, the hardworking character feels sorry for those other poor lazy souls and decides to share her cake, or whatever it was with them. EXCUSE ME!!!!!!! What is going on? Yes, charity is a great thing but we are sending mixed signals, allowing them to think that certain behaviours are acceptable, when they most certainly are not.

Let us not be afraid to share bigger stories with tiny people. The way we tell it may be different but the essence will get through and difficult though it may be, we need to acknowledge that sometimes it’s a good thing for our children to experience stories that are not the Disneyfied, singing, clapping happy type.

Do you think they CAN deal with more? Let me know what you think.

Toto x

 

Juggling Motherhood And Performing On The Stage

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Under The Baobab Tree, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011

The show is in full swing, the audience are warmed up and giving it gusto, you’ve prepped them, they’re hovering in anticipation to what’s coming next when….’mummy’, that tiny familiar voice pops up from somewhere in the audience…’why are you wearing that ostrich?’

Ah yes…every parent performer has experienced their child heckling at some point or another unless they’ve been wise enough to keep the kids well away but with childrens theatre it is unthinkable not to bring the kids along.

Imani (who’s almost 4) has seen ‘Under the Baobab Tree’ 3 times now, is addicted to the songs and has almost learned the script by heart, is now fully capable of shouting out the punchline just before you give it, informing the audience of how the story ends and if you commit the crime of forgetting a word…beware….she will correct you! Right there and then.

So why do we allow these tiny terrors into our theatres, our performance spaces? What benefits are there? Well, for me, it’s when the festival is gone and we sit on a tree stump in the Botanic Gardens and I lie back and am entertained by a rather brilliant almost 4 year old raconteur.

Toto love

Mara x

PS: Any funny kids stories that you have been told? Let us know here:)

Exclusive: In-Depth Interview With A Child On Children’s Theatre

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Zebra Makes His Grand Entrance

Here’s a lovely interview I did with one of our charming audience members – Zazou Wycherley – this morning.

I promise, cross my heart, that I did not pay her in chips, chocolate, fizzy juice or sweeties to say what she said.

It was all genuinely from the heart, and funny too.

Zazou (8) recommends children’s theatre should not be scary, although gory is fine but “not that scary and like scary as in SCARED”

Listen HERE

Thanks, Zazou.

Toto love, Mara x

PS. Do add your comments here or on our shiny new Audioboo shop front.  Do you agree? Think they’re wrong?