IF I WERE A GIANT. To 27 June.

Young People

IF I WERE A GIANT
by Pete Baynes

Cleveland Theatre Company Tour to 27 June 2003
Runs 50min No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 3 June at Frederick Nattrass Primary School Stockton-on-Tees

Well-structured dream-play for 3-5s.Young people have been and are exploited by theatres for career or commercial gain, or through unawareness of the qualities which make good theatre. So it's fortunate that Cleveland Theatre Company (CTC), when funding for its previous incarnation as a general touring company for the old Cleveland region dried up, re-invented itself under artistic director Paul Harman as a producing outfit for young people. One that has contributed sensitively to the variety and scope of work for different age audiences.

One aspect of this work is the touring of one-person shows building on individual performers' ideas. Good Morning, Mr Dickens, for example, is a fine introduction for older youngsters to Dickens and his novels that has toured over several years, while Pete Baynes' new piece is a gentle, colourful play for 3-5s (until the last year or so, the youngest audiences British theatre catered for: now it's down to 6 months).

As an adult watching along with the keenly attentive audience at this Stockton primary school, I found a lack of story. Good, because the narrative thread was aimed properly at the young imagination. It moves freely from a song an unusual version of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' followed by a class performance of the well-known song via bedtime talk to toy animals, to an adventure that might be a sleeper's dream, or a drowsing child's self-made imaginary voyage with toys that are taken for real. It might even be the kind of adenture sparked in a young mind by illustrated figures on bedroom wallpaper.

No wallpaper here the audience clusters round 3 sides but a colourful mountain landscape on a large cloth behind the action. Increasingly this yields surprises, with objects emerging from concealed pockets - the kind of narrative prompts that come to a very young imagination.

Well-judged in pace and tone - a quiet confidentiality, varied with more outspoken comments to some of the creatures spread around the huge blanket, giving energy and comic moments this is a stimulating journey taking people from chair or as here floor to an inner world of dreams, validated by its public expression.

Performer: Pete Baynes

Director: Paul Harman
Designer: Alison Ashton

2003-06-11 08:27:58