Greenwich Children's Theatre Festival Returns for its 11th Year

Greenwich Theatre's constant campaign to win - and keep - children and young people as regular theatre-goers goes up a gear during the Easter holiday with a sparkling array of shows as their annual Children's Theatre Festival reaches its eleventh year.

The festival runs from Saturday, March 31, to Sunday, April 15, and James Haddrell, the theatre's artistic and executive director, puts it on a par with the Christmas pantomime season as one of the most important events of the year.

"It's essential to us that every school holiday parents, carers, and those older young people who are making their own decisions about entertainment all look to see what's on for them here in Greenwich." said James. "The festival was the first major programme I launched when I became executive director in 2007. Eleven years on and we're very proud of its status in South East London."

An undoubted highlight this year is You've Got Dragons by the Taking Flight theatre company, a gently humourous and reassuring story about how children can cope with having nightmares.

Artistic director Elise Davison had previously toured the show in Wales in 2017. "Now it's back in rehearsals getting ready for our UK tour funded by Arts Council England, Awards for All and The Foyle Foundation" she said.

"It's been lovely to have so long to work on a show that's become our most inclusive one to date and now boasts inclusive British sign language performed by two deaf actors, live music, live audio description and animated creative captions. From humble beginnings on power point, the captions are now played on two huge TV screens housed in the set.

"Stacey Jo Atkinson has worked really hard to make the design as accessible as possible with a large tactile model box which replicates the set and allows the audience to climb inside in the foyer at every venue."

Elise describes herself as having been a "terrible sleeper" as a child. "I used to hear the wolf motif from Peter and the Wolf and imagined myself up a tree as the wolf paced below," she said.

"What we hope is that this show will provoke discussion, show young people that they are not alone, that we all have dragons and explore different ways to come to terms with them."

Another festival highlight is Ditto Theatre Company's Ingo's War about a group of children being evacuees during the war and how it affects them.

The story is told through their dog, a puppet, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Les Enfants Terribles award last year.

"The initial life of the show actually started off in a very different form to the show that it is today," said Ditto's artistic director Sophie Hatton.

"Being a female-led company we were interested in exploring women's roles throughout history and in particular wanted to focus on this during WW2.

"We read lots of case stories, including a field nurse in France and an American undercover journalist, two characters featured in the show today.

We then stumbled across a children's story that looked at war from the angle of a teddy bear and fell in love with its simplicity and innocence."

Although they found the story beautiful, Ditto wondered how an inanimate object could tell a story on stage? "We then began to explore whether our story could be told through the eyes of a dog," said Sophie. "With this idea and that of women's roles during WW2, Ingo's War was born!"

Ingo is a timid little thing belonging to a little girl living in London. When war breaks out they are evacuated to the country, where Ingo gets lost and goes on a whirlwind adventure and discovers the courage he never knew he had.

"We think it's a charming, family show that utilises puppetry, storytelling and movement as well as an original score," said Sophie. "Audiences should expect to feel a rollercoaster of emotions, but most of all will learn that courage comes in many forms, shapes and sizes.

"The Les Enfants Terribles showcase night was held at Greenwich Theatre and that was when we fell in love with the venue. It is a fantastic theatre with great performance spaces and we love its ethos on championing up-and-coming theatre companies as well as maintaining strong relationships with those they have worked with previously.

"Their programmes are among some of the most exciting and diverse in London theatres and we're so excited to be a part of it this year."

*For more information on the 2018 Greenwich Children's Theatre Festival go to www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk. Times, prices and dates vary. For ticket prices call the box office on 020 8858 7755.

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