Kaboodle Theatre - Writing

Kaboodle Theatre: Writing

Kaboodle Theatre - WritingThis tender and intimate production is devised by Olive Merrill and Emma Clarke and explores the world of a five year old child who is learning to write. My interest was piqued by the piece’s concept, inspired as it was by ‘company members’ background in education and experience of working with children who have incredible talents but lack the tools to communicate them through writing’. Coming from a teaching background myself, the idea of exploring tensions between childhood imagination and the  potential restraints imposed upon it by specific teaching techniques in literacy (such as the use of phonics) is a fascinating one. Kaboodle state that their aim is ‘to highlight the absurdity’ of such techniques, and through being given an active role as pupils it is hoped that the audience will experience the associate feelings of ‘the confusion and ridiculousness’.

The performance definitely put us firmly in the children’s shoes, with gentle interactions within a classroom scenario which included asking us to draw, write and repeat phonic sounds. As someone who has never needed much encouragement to release my inner child, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and as a teacher it also reinforced the importance of clarity of instructions and of attaching clear aims to activities. When the performers chose to purposely remove these elements, I did indeed share some of the confusion that a young child might feel.

The performance is set around a five year old boy’s day at school. Constructed in front of us with the use of sticks and various costume pieces, ‘Jack’ is bought to life in painstaking detail, then operated by the performers, who also take the roles of teacher and class mates as needed. I did struggle here a little with this ‘painstaking’ element of the work; at times the piece felt like it needed more content, as certain ideas  were explored in such detail that they seemed overlong. There were however some very effective sequences in the telling of Jack’s story, most notably the imaginative construction of a large paper monster that glides across the room, summing up the literal ‘flight’ of a child’s imagination beautifully. When the monster is constrained we feel the impact fully. Notably too, both performers have an energetic and affable style which seems to encourage the small audience to feel safe enough to interact, again an essential principle in a classroom, making Writing a memorable overall experience.

This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged on by .
Avatar

About Sarah Davies

Sarah is a Drama Lecturer (UAL Acting and Applied Drama), Freelance Writer, Facilitator and Improviser who has written for Total Theatre Magazine since 2011. Recent work includes play commissions from Theatre Centre, Menagerie Theatre and Now Press Play, and facilitation/directing for The Marlowe Theatre, All The World's a Stage and Improv Gym. Her recent improv performances include Mount Olymprov (Greece) with Big Bang Improv Boston, Amsterdam Improv Marathon,and Improfest (London).