Review: "Oh Crumbs, Scary Biscuits!"

By Katie Barnett*

When I was a child, I was a sucker for audience participation. I was always desperate to be picked to go up onto the stage, or for the characters to come through the audience. I loved the idea of being a part of the world that was created and being talked to by the characters. ‘Oh Crumbs, Scary Biscuits!’ offers all of this and more for children between 3 and 7 years old - and if this kind of production had been around when I was 5, I would have been one very happy child indeed...

As I made my way through the SYT building along with over 10 knee high children and their parents, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I must admit, I was half expecting the children to be restless and noisy, but as the production began outside the Brian Cox Studio, I realised that this would not be the case. The children immediately fell silent as they saw the extravagant costume worn by the Chookie Birdie and were captivated by every one of her movements. The participation began with a few timid giggles from the little ones, which soon developed into confident laughter as Chookie squaked in their direction. The children were encouraged to sit on colourful boxes and beanbags, allowing them to sit amongst the characters, and the wee ones clearly loved the attention they were getting from Hansel and Gretel themselves .

The theatre space constantly changed, as we followed Hansel and Gretel through the forest to outside a house made of colourful sweets and flowers, before heading inside the pink patterned living room. Moving from space to space meant that the children were constantly being introduced to new things to look at and engage with, meaning that there was never a moment of boredom. At no point were the audience expected to remain seated - they were constantly encouraged to move around, dancing along with Chookie, and were even invited up to get a ‘bowl of soup’. The interaction was constant, and some of the quick witted and comic answers given by the children were highly entertaining for the parents - when asked what they should put in the soup, one child answered, ‘A crocodile!’ - and it soon occurred to me that this show is not only for the children. The parents loved seeing their little ones having a good time and showing enthusiasm, and it was clear that a lot of the parents bonded with their children over the shared love for the colourful cottage and enthusiastic performances, and were happy to see their children smile and laugh.

Above all, the performance was highly educational. The bold and colourful characters presented told a story in an interactive way, making the little ones listen and learn without even noticing. In my opinion, this interactive environment is 100 times more effective than making a child sit and read a book they aren’t interested in - it educates without being obviously educational. Allowing a story to come to life lets children use all of their senses and makes their imaginations come alive. Not only was there clear educational and thought provoking messages displayed - that we shouldn’t take what isn’t ours or we will get into trouble (when Hansel and Gretel take the sweeties from the house), that good can conquer bad (when the witch is the one who ends up in the oven), and that we shouldn’t resort to violence (when the witch isn’t hurt, but is made to sit on the naughty step instead), but the children were allowed to run free with their imaginations and participate in the story as characters themselves. They were made to feel important and included, and the fact that they were allowed to say and do what they wanted in a safe environment instead of being dictated to meant that their confidence grew from beginning to the end. The children began to assume roles as the performance went on - one child took on the role of the director, and was telling the actors what to do and where to hide, and one girl was concerned for the safety of Gretel, ‘Maybe you should just stay out here instead of going in the house, Gretel’. By the end of the performance, the children had all ventured away from their parents, and were up dancing and singing with the characters, with no inhibitions in the slightest.

By the end of the performance, I left with more than a piece of shiny treasure given to me by Hansel: I left with the belief that interactive children’s theatre is the way forward. With a price that doesn’t greatly differ to a cinema ticket, you definitely get a lot more for your money with this production. Sitting watching a screen and characters that only exist beyond it does not compare to the interactive and exciting experience that SYT’s christmas show can offer, and ‘Oh Crumbs, Scary Biscuits!’ serves for a perfect family outing.

*Katie is a member of SYT's Young Reviewers group. A group of young people who are passionate about performing arts for children and young people. If you want to take part or to find out more, you can email kyriakosv@scottishyouththeatre.org.

Review: “Oh Crumbs, Scary Biscuits!”

By Rachel Taylor*

“Oh Crumbs, Scary Biscuits!” is a perfectly balanced blend of the interaction, piz-zazz and imagination that has become a recognisable characteristic of Scottish Youth Theatre productions; and all the classic joy of pantomime!
An intricately balanced performance, the show starts with silence, fantastical costumes and getting the audience dancing. The silence doesn’t last for long though, as the show is chock-full of warmth and friendship from the cast and the audience is carried along into an all-singing, all-dancing (quite literally) fiasco with Hansel and Gretel and their hunt for home.
Some of the show’s content is controlled by the imaginations of the children in the audience – not a select one or two, but every child in the room. The actors bring the audience to pack up their rucksacks, suit up for travelling and be look-outs for the evil witches as they join them on a trek through the woods into, eventually, the enchanted house made of goodies. (A nod, here, to the set designer.)
Songs, chants, rhymes, games and lots of dances pepper the show with interaction and fun, and subtle hints as to the progression of the story draw the kids in (and entertain the bigger kids as they spot them too!).
All too soon, the show wraps to a cheery close with celebratory songs, a reprise of the dance which is (by then) a firm favourite, good triumphing over evil, and every audience member being given a small momento of the show to take away with them.
Heart-warming, seasonal, festive fun for big and little kids alike!

*Rachel is a member of SYT's Young Reviewers group. A group of young people who are passionate about performing arts for children and young people. If you want to take part or to find out more, you can email kyriakosv@scottishyouththeatre.org.

Review: Marcia Murray MacDonald's Midnight Halloween Murder Mystery

By Rachel Taylor

I love shows with a difference.
Why use a conventional theatre space when you
can utilise an entire building, multiple great sets without scene changes and have the atmosphere already buzzing when your audience walk in?
The performance of the Junior Sleuths course – “Marcia Murray MacDonald's Midnight
Halloween Murder Mystery” – ticked all of these boxes and more. The young actors became a
gaggle of nightmarish creatures, but wouldn’t you know it:
There’s been a murder! Or, well, there would be.
But first there was a Halloween documentary for the cast to set about. The audience for the show became the audience for their documentary and was enthralled and entertained watching arguments over roles, props and interpretation. We were entertained by adorably dense witches, game-loving zombie twins, the cutest ghost in history, a mad scientist (with a true love for Cosmo the cat), a rather tall pumpkin, a demoted cat, Dracula with a secret, an unimpressed devil and, of course, Marcia, who played a star turn as the overbearing star and producer of the piece along with her cameraman.
However, the audience were not just there to observe. Each audience member was given a pack at the start of the show to facilitate their job: be keeping an eye out for a murderer in their midst. Clues, hints and red herrings abounded as the group moved through the building from room-to-room and the antics progressed, spattered with stories, songs and Halloween games – the last being great for further audience involvement.
Every location in the building was brilliantly prepared, with eerie lighting and fun props – from the cauldron in the witches’ hovel to the sugar doughnuts strung up in the zombies’ games room!
All too soon, the audience arrived in the last room – the main studio. The cast gathered on a truly beautiful set for a banquet with Dracula…but one of the guests wasn’t eating much…
The final scene was dramatic and brilliantly executed. Encompassing a beautiful tableau, it was a masterful scene that belied the youth of the actors.
Finally the cast congregated in front of their detective audience for a Q&A session, which brought forth some impressive improvising and, eventually, a confession.
It was, all round, an incredible show. The Scottish theatre scene should watch out – it doesn’t know what’s hit it with the SYT kids!!

Review: Family Storytime - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

By Rachel Taylor*

Nope. No way. I wouldn’t have believed it either – but there really is something right here in Glasgow which is brilliant for families (including children of any age), loads of fun but still educational, perfectly tailored to young minds yet still entertaining for the grown-ups, inclusive to a whole bunch of people and even helps to grow the kids’ imaginations.Welcome to Family Storytime at Scottish Youth Theatre!

Upon arriving for your storytime – in this instance, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – you will be greeted enthusiastically by your storytellers in rhyme. As they lead you into the theatre space you will find yourselves transported: if the tinkling Arabian-sounding music doesn’t take you to far-off places, the shining fabrics hung from the walls and props and the dozens of costume pieces certainly will.

There is a distinct lack of set and scenery, but this is because the imaginations of the audience are key. When creating Ali Baba’s woodland, the children were invited up to discover where their imaginations took them, exploring what they could see, hear and feel in their wood. The storytellers skilfully guide the process, offering suggestions of their own and asking lots of questions for the children to react to. This process happened several times throughout the story, right up to the celebratory feast at the end.

But back to the “theatre space”. Far from trying to keep the kids in seats while lofty actors proclaim down from a stage on high, Family Storytime takes place in a studio – in simple terms, just a room rather than a theatre with a raised stage – keeping the storytellers on a level with their audience: even the little ones on cushions at the front. Not only that, but the children (as a whole group, not just a select one or two) become part of the production – from picking out each character’s costume to walking through the woodland they have imagined together; from helping Ali Baba chop enough wood to feed his family to hunting around for the greedy Kaseem whilst keeping an eye out for the King of Thieves himself! All of these come with rhymes and songs – short and set to recognisable nursery rhyme tunes so that even the smaller participants  will still have them learned in moments.

These active parts are interspersed with short bursts of the story at only a few minutes long at a time – perfect for keeping the little ‘uns from tiring of the tale. 

Once the story is done, there is a short time where imagination is all that rules the roost as little and big kids alike are invited to explore the props, fabrics and costumes in the room and to see what they can become!

All too soon, though, a bell signals tidy-up time and it’s time to leave Arabia behind with “a round of applause, a seal of approval and a big hand”.

The magical time certainly gets my seal of approval and from the entranced children and fascinated families; from seeing every single audience member participate; from hearing the gushing praise as the audience left, I’d guess it got theirs too.

* Rachel is a member of SYT's Young Reviewers group. A group of young people who are passionate about performing arts for children and young people. If you want to take part or to find out more, you can email kyriakosv@scottishyouththeatre.org.

Bringing Stories Alive - Creetown Drama Summer School July 2012

 

By Megan Monteith

  

On Monday the 16th of July, the Scottish Youth Theatre came down to Creetown to do a workshop with us. There was a junior workshop and a senior workshop, in which I attended the senior one. Craig, Jen and Emma were the three people that came down to do the drama workshop with us.

The workshop was from the 16th of July to the 20th of July so we had a lot of time to learn things. On the first day of the workshop I was quite shy and not sure about doing it, but Craig, Jen and Emma were such lovely, kind and encouraging people which boosted my confidence a lot. Craig also told us that we were doing a performance for our friends and family at the end of the week, which we were all frightened to do but when our confidence kicked in we were raring to go.

Craig was the Artistic Director, and he did games which helped us focus, script reading and role play. At first we found it hard to focus and we giggled quite a lot but after we kept practicing, we were very focused by the end of it. We also read a story which helped us think about emotions.

Jen was the trainee Director, and she did movement pieces with us. We did a movement piece which was based on the story Craig showed us and we had to think of three emotions within the story and show them through movement. I found doing the movement pieces helped me with my confidence a lot before our performance on Friday. 

Emma was the Visual Artist, and she did crafts with us. The first thing we did with Emma was to help us show our artistic side, so she rolled out a big sheet of paper and we drew shapes and patterns etc. We also made our own flying machines, in which we used one for our performance. I enjoyed the arts and crafts because I like doing that sort of thing at home. 

On the second last day we worked hard on perfecting our performance for the next day. Our performance was about Creetown having its own Aviator Club and we did some role play at the beginning and then went into a movement piece at the end. I enjoyed to the movement piece in the performance because we had worked so hard on perfecting it. My job was to carry in one of our Aviator club's newest members with two other people. The whole movement piece was basically about making the new Aviator club member an official Aviator club member by preparing her for her first flight.

Overall I really enjoyed the drama workshop because it really boosted my confidence and I learnt a lot of new techniques as well. I really hope Craig, Jen and Emma will come to Creetown again and do another workshop, and I'm sure everyone else wants them to come again too!

Daily Blogger #2: Rory Beaton

Hi I’m Rory, I’m 17 and I’m from Aboyne.

This Summer Festival I’m on the Technical Theatre Course and I’m the Technical ASM (assistant stage manager) on the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

My favourite performer would have to be Katy Perry. 

In the movie of my life I think Jackie Chan would be the best actor to play me.

People should come to my show because it’s something completely different. The performance is a promenade AND outside which means that the audience follow the action on foot. From what I’ve seen in rehearsals so far this really helps the action and is uber exciting! It’s a challenging show to work on and there’s lots of different possible problems to watch out for – like the rain! Hope to see y’all there! J RB x

Daily Blogger 1: Sean O'Brien

The first daily blog of #SF12 is here!


Hi, my name's Sean, I'm 16. I'm in the SF 12 production of  'A Midsummer Nights Dream' playing the part of Demetrius. 

Today in rehearsals we did a full read-through of the play, and then after lunch we worked on our characters and their relationships with the other characters in the play, which I really enjoyed and found incredibly useful.

I don’t really know who my favourite actor is, there are just so many. But my favourite performer would definitely be Matt Bellamy of Muse, he’s just so talented.

If I could play any role in any film, it would definately be Batman. It would be so good!

 

I think people should come see my show as it will be really interesting to watch as it’s a promenade performance, and I think it will be really different to any previous Summer Festival show!

Summer Festival is just really great and with the new 6 week course I feel like I'm learning so much, and that it will definitely help me with a career in acting.