Emperor Loxly’s court is in turmoil, because his designer quit the day before his birthday, and left His Highness without a new show-stopper outfit. That is, however not the only problem. The much bigger issue is Wonty, the unenthusiastic court jester, who stole the emperor’s prized watch, and is planning to take over the kingdom. The emperor’s loyal servant, Wilma, tries to maintain the status quo: keeping Loxly happy and Wonty quiet, but then Wonty is banned, Loxly almost loses his mind, and a stranger makes his appearance. Can the smooth talking, never-heard-of designer called Wontier, save the day?
In the workshop, learners evaluate all the characters in the play, and decide who displayed good leadership skills. They also apply it to their own environment and lives.
Rommella litters, because everyone is doing it. If she can do it the best, she can be the queen of waste, and be better than lovely Lalie and princess Pinky. Even better if she can get rid of Lalie, the oxygen-producing flower… To get away from the people who protects the environment, she starts a jogging routine, but doesn’t get far, because the polluted air makes it difficult to breathe properly. What to do now? If only she new how to recycle.
Icky Plasticky is building a huge island in the middle of the ocean. The more plastic he finds in the sea and on the beach, the bigger he gets. If he can an accomplice, the quicker his island will become bigger than the entire ocean. Maybe he can convince Zoe, the singing fish, to help him. She is a big fan of The Voice, and Icky Plastic is very good at imitating people… But what will happen to Zoe’s friend, Popper the penguin, and Miss Octopus, if the sea is full of plastic?
A poignant, bunraku-style puppet play for older children and adults based on the life of Sadako Sasaki. At two, Sadako survived the Hiroshima atom bomb but ten years later developed leukemia. A Japanese legend tells: ‘if you fold 1000 origami cranes, your wish will be granted’; Sadako began folding paper.
We leave our children a complicated legacy, growing up in a world where they face the consequences of adults’ actions: war; nuclear power; global warming; HIV. Sadako’s experience transcends culture and period and is able to speak to a contemporary South African or French youth audience. Young people who have shifted from picture books to art galleries; from nursery-rhymes to pop music. They are ready for theatre that can offer them cathartic and transformative experiences; challenge them with profoundly moving and thought provoking ideas. Sadako is real theatre for young people.
Jittery Citizens perform a “Whose Line is It Anyway?” styles show. We play short form improv games based on suggestions from the students and teachers. Totally unrehearsed, totally unscripted, totally hilarious!
Jittery Citizens perform Long form Improv in which they create one long story using a series of short scenes based on audience suggestion. This improv format known as “Armando” starts with a storytelling-style monologue, based on an audience suggestion. After the monologue, players play improvised scenes inspired by the monologue, and the monologue may even continue, later on in the performance.
Ubom! is back with THE WANGAI! directed by Andrew Buckland and Noxolo Donyeli. This Lorax-inspired story is a dazzling, clever and action-packed theatre adventure for the whole family! It is an electrically charged, zany, multi-coloured, and flavoursome story of friendship, difference, adventure and magic! Taking inspiration from Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai, who spoke for the trees, Ubom! creates a little hero, “The Wangai”, who goes on an ecological adventure with the earnest desire to protect his luscious Eastern Cape habitat from an eager young entrepreneur whose eyes are too focused on ‘Commercial Success’ without regard for the extraordinary natural balance of the environment.
Germinating and growing out of local Eastern Cape history, ecology, culture and contemporary world views the result is a vibrant, exciting theatre work which can be accessed and enjoyed by children and adults from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
And so the wondrous manipulation of language, rhythm, character and fantastical locale which so characterizes Dr Seuss’s work is honoured in a version of the story that offers the possibility of a world inhabited by people and creatures who care for each other and for the planet on which we depend.
Colours of the Rainbow with Princess and Frog is an interactive show specifically developed for 3 to 6 year olds that will have children singing, hopping and laughing as they learn to name the colours of the rainbow as well as a few lessons about friendship. For Ages 3 to 6.
Story:
The princess and the frog is a simple and fun story that we have used as a familiar base for the children.
We looked for the kernel of the story – a lonely frog wanting to spend time with a spoilt princess – and adapted it to be appropriate and relevant for 3-6 year olds living in South Africa in 2014. The frog doesn’t turn into a human prince in order to ‘get married and live happily ever after’. Instead, after showing the princess that he is a good friend, worth knowing despite how very different he is, she makes him a crown and he becomes her frog-prince-friend.
Key Learning:
Friendship – the challenges and fears of meeting someone new; being helpful; keeping promises; recognizing and apologizing when you have been mean; understanding and forgiving.
Diversity – noticing difference; appreciating different abilities; finding common ground.
The Rainbow – familiar objects in the colours of the rainbow; introducing violet and indigo; a song and actions to remember.
Interaction – following actions and moving through space; singing along; answering questions and suggesting solutions; facilitation of when to interact and when to be quiet; engagement of sight, hearing and touch. Involvement increases memory of the performance and its lessons as well as building confidence.
Imagination and theatre conventions – a box becomes a castle, a blue sheet is a river, a black and white set is a forest; a hoodie turns a human performer into a frog.
A story has many feet, but poet, musician and storyteller Gavin Bonner, a Londoner living in South Africa, gives it wings.
Take a memory of being told a tale – your mother reading you a bedtime story or an elder telling you ancient anecdotes around the fire, and refresh that with a new approach.
With the audience forming an arc three rows in front of him, Bonner appeared out of the pitch black Glennie Fest Centre Hall for his last Grahamstown festival show at 10 pm with a drumming ritual.
His first tale was inspired by a Congolese friend and former band member. The next one came from the room. Much as a slam poet or rapper is often tasked with creating verses out of of a word or situation, Bonner asked for random words from the audience and turned them into an improvised tale rich in rhyme.
The improvisation may go all over the place and take many forms, from being funny to poetic, but it always returns to its starting point and essence.
Here, Julius Malema can be a closet guitarist and Mugabe can be dethroned by the double sting of a bumble bee. The novelty is that you are not only a listener but a collaborator too.
When you hear your word settling in its character a warm spread of pride dances in your belly.
The other stories Bonner told are learnt. Some have moral lessons, some are big and others shorter than a minute.
Some are his experiences from his travels around the world. The drumming he uses as interludes has stories of its own. He plays interesting percussion such as the Moroccan drum (Bendir) and the Riq from Egypt which resembles a tambourine.
Now living in Cape Town, Bonner has been telling stories in this way for about nine months and he’s been a musician and poet for most of his life.
He combines, honours and subverts genres and has created a delightful style of his own that connects simply yet deeply.
He is planning a national tour and will be hitting Joburg stages soon with his new brand of art. For more information go to www.gavinbonner.com and check out his Facebook group, Storytelling South Africa, whch includes him and other storytellers.
The story of Fiona and Andromeda who travel from the confines of the inner city to outer space and back… Along the way they encounter an Elephant that changes them and allows them to see the world differently and perhaps a little more.
A Day in the Desert is a collaboration between Jenine Collocott (The Snow Goose, Sunday Morning, Dirt, High Diving) from South Africa and Barbara Draeger from Germany. They studied together at Helikos International School of Theatre Creation under master pedagog Giovanni Fusetti – who is particularly renowned for his clown work. It was here that the first seeds for A Day in the Desert were planted. Jenine and Barbara then teamed up with the internationally awarded writer Nick Warren (Sunday Morning, Dirt) who came on board as dramaturge.