A THEATRE company which is touring an inventive show across the country is sharing the secrets behind their success.
Funnelwick Limb, which is based in Harwich after moving from Colchester, is a theatre company which creates cross-platform, family-friendly storytelling for audiences.
The theatre company has just concluded their East of England tour of Twelve Yuletide Yarns, playing to more than 1,500 youngster.
The show, which was originally developed at the Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre, brought high-quality culture directly to schools, libraries, and community venues.
The free show was performed in six primary schools as well as Harwich Arts Centre and the Sunspot centre in Jaywick, near Clacton.
The Standard spoke to the creative team behind the scenes.
They includes founders Murray Lachlan Young, a poet in residence for BBC Radio 6 Music, and Matthew Linley, as well as Nina Hajiyianni, chief executive of Theatre Porto in Ellesmore Port.
Murray said the idea of Twelve Yuletides is that it needs to be very light on its feet to be performed in spaces such as gyms and libraries, and be financially viable.
He said: “It’s been offered for communities where children would not necessarily be able to afford to go the theatre.”
Matthew said the small but high impact stage production designs were both pragmatic and artistic, and instead of starting with a theatre show which would be adapted for schools he would go the other way round.
The play has only one actor on stage, but Matthew said there were other "key voices" on stage, including musician Semay Wu and a puppet carrot led by Becky the stage manager.
Actor Rew Low has to nail all the play’s verse and prose, written by Murray
Nina said the script is about having direct engagement with children, which means the grown-up performers respect the children’s intelligence.
Nina said: “This is an exchange between what I’m doing and what you’re doing and ‘let’s play’ together."
Matthew said the script and stage set-up are designed so there is never an audience greater than 60.
He said: “It’s so Rew can hold the eye of every single child in that audience.
“There’s no child that isn’t going to have that moment which is sort of one on one with the performer and that’s incredible.
“I think all three of us feel passionately about providing that high quality experience for young people who might not necessarily get it.”
This level of intimacy is further heightened by there being no stage curtains or lights to hide behind during the play.
When asked about the importance of set design to Funnelwick Limb in general, Murray said with set designer Bek Palmer there has been wit and a big heart shown with the storytelling.
Murray said Bek is an exceptionally talented puppet-maker which enabled the play’s plot of the runaway carrot to unfold.
Regarding the difference in the theatre company’s three shows, Murray added: “There is always something about the quality of words and language, but there's a really strong visual aesthetic and a glorious physical storytelling.
“So Funnelwick’s world is a mix. It’s this glorious mash-up of extraordinary and beautiful language with with strong visual and really clear physical storytelling.”
Central to the production of Yuletide Yarns was the co-development with Tendring school pupils who then become stakeholders in the play.
Murray said he remembers shows – which were not as focused – coming into his school.
When asked about the impact visiting theatre groups have on pupils, Murray said it was beneficial to children who are the bottom of the class who are recognised as there are no wrong answers.
Nina said at school, theatre is a place where children and adults have equality, saying: “Whatever comes out, the child’s expression is validated.
“It might not go anywhere. That child might not grow up to be interested in the arts, particularly as a pathway there’s sometimes an overemphasis on creative careers, and I think we cannot think of the arts as that.
“It’s actually enough for a child to have self-expression and the creative impulse and for it to be accepted and then passed back.”
Matthew said there has been a wonderful range of young people in Tendring who have been great to work with.
In a world of AI, Matthew said encouraging creativity would help children as creativity is what makes us different.
This general idea is shown in a scene in the Twelve Yuletides which is about making your own story.
As well as children, parents are a target audience.
Murray says parents who often come in with one eye on their phone can become unexpectedly engaged.
Matthew said one of the best pieces of feedback was from their last play, The Chronicles of Atom and Luna, when four generations of women in the front row were all in tears.
Feedback from children and adults help them connect to both as well as fine-tuning the plays.
Nina sits in the middle audience to see their point of view in live shows and Matthew said children are very good at letting you know if something is not right.
Asked if performances purposefully avoid cheap laughs, Murray said all the play’s elements, including the staging and sudden changes of pace, enable avoid it being too on the nose.
Deceptive depth comes from the play’s carrot character which goes from an action-packed runway to a very serious story instantly.
Nina said her first observation was how wonderful a vehicle humour is for learning.
She added: “There's nothing wrong with joy and fun, children need that experience really strongly.
“And when you’re able to have that spectrum of hilarity, joy, fun, and then you can take them into something that's actually sad, poignant, difficult, all those subjects.
"The stuff in some of the stories are actually quite complex themes - it's about the balance. It's about being able to do the two things together.”
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