CHILDREN at a Harwich Primary School were entertained and educated ahead of the first of numerous free theatre performances in Tendring.
Funnelwick Limb is a Harwich-based theatre company which exists to develop cross-platform storytelling for mainly family-friendly audiences.
Founders Murray Lachlan Young, a ‘poet in residence’ for BBC Radio 6 Music and Matthew Linley delivered a workshop for a Year 4 class at Mayflower Primary School.
This is because next door at the Harwich and Arts Centre rehearsals are underway for the theatre company's Twelve Yuletide Yarns show.
Murray, speaking to the pupils, said: “We’re going to come up with all the things you need to make a story.
“And we’re going with what you call novelty. Novelty is when you push two ideas together that shouldn’t go together like Beauty and the Beast or something like that.”
Matthew also suggested 'Dog Man', before the pair brainstormed ideas with the children for different categories.
Unusual animals included rhinos, elephants, tigers, and monkeys with feelings such as sadness, happiness, and uncomfortable also added.
Murray then started saying to children how to start stories with characters, letting the class pick options while emphasising how the most different combinations are the best.
The story was about a pink rhino who has afraid of tomatoes and his tiger friend who go on a journey and encounter a problem: an enemy throwing chocolate spiders and tomatoes at them.
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Murray said: “This is our story that we've just made up that nobody ever in the history of the world has ever thought of before.
“It's come out of thin air. It's come out of nowhere. It's come out of your ideas.”
Murray also read out two of his poems to the class and questioning the children about which of their and his ideas they found most interesting and why.
Matthew added: “For us as audience members and as writers and as readers, novelty is a really great way of grabbing our attention.”
Twelve Yuletide Yarns will premiere at the Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre on Saturday, November 15 before heading to Sunspot Jaywick on Sunday, November 16.
The project is supported by Arts Council England, Tendring Council, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
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