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Something New!Dateline: 19th October, 2003Last week was Takeoff 2003, the festival of children's theatre, with many shows for children of all ages, from 3 to 14+. I was intending to see as many shows as possible and write a feature about it but instead ended up managing one of the venues, which meant being chief electrician, house manager and gopher for the companies. This was probably a good thing, because the venue catered for the 3 to 6 age group and so I was able to really learn something about a type of theatre about which I have had absolutely no experience whatsoever. Had I been left to my own devices, I would probably have seen only shows for the age groups I know best, mainly 11+. So I learned something new. In fact, I had my eyes well and truly opened. To be honest, I don't really know what I expected from theatre for this age group but, at the back of my mind, I think I believed that it consisted of Listen With Mother type stories. (For the benefit of non-Brits, Listen With Mother was a BBC radio programme aimed at very young children which to me always seemed patronising, even when I did "listen with mother".) I was so wrong! The condescension I had expected simply was not there, not at all. Instead I saw plays which, in their own way, were as intellectually and emotionally rigorous as all good theatre should be, and actors whose skills and performances were the equal of anything you'll see on any adult professional stage anywhere. The productions were entertaining, of course, but they also taught their audiences something, not through the patronising didacticism of Listen With Mother but in the way any good theatre teaches its audience - or, rather, helps its audience to learn. In Theatr Iolo's Are We There Yet, for example, Anna (as Connie, the daughter), Oliver (Edward, her brother) and Kevin (the father) - and I wish I knew their surnames, but I only knew them by their first names - were so totally convincing that the play's underlying theme, family relationships (and, in particular, that between father and daughter), was crystal clear. This was theatre which both entertained and challenged its audience, illuminating their understanding but without coming within a mile of patronising them. My respect for its practitioners soared, for the quality of their performances was as good in its own sector as anything you would see onstage anywhere. Takeoff 2003 (for me, at any rate) was Monday and Tuesday: on Thursday I went to see (and review) The Twits, a touring children's theatre production from the Belgrade, Coventry. My Takeoff experience made me much more critical than I would probably have been otherwise but this has to be a good thing. Far too often we non-initiates tend to look down on children's theatre, suspecting that it and its practitioners are somehow inferior. No way! See a good children's theatre production and your eyes will be opened. Articles Indices:
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