Little Angel Theatre Will Stream Toby Olié's Performance Of WHAT DOES AN ANTEATER EAT?

Little Angel Theatre has partnered with director, designer and puppeteer Toby Olié to stream his performance of Ross Collins' picture book, What Does an Anteater Eat?

The performance will be broadcast on the Little Angel Theatre YouTube channel on Sunday 17 May 2020 at 11am BST. It's free to access and is aimed at children aged 2-5 and their families. It will be available until Tuesday 1 September 2020.

What Does an Anteater Eat? is about an Anteater who is hungry, but he has completely forgotten what anteaters eat. Baffled and with his tummy rumbling, he consults the other animals. But Sloth is too busy, Toucan is clueless, and Crocodile has his own mouth full. Maybe the ants will know - and maybe the answer isn't quite as obvious as you may think! A delightfully silly tale that little ones will return to again and again.

Toby Olié is a director, designer and puppeteer. He is also co-artistic director of Gyre & Gimble, a theatre company specialising in puppetry. Work as director includes: The Wolves in the Walls (Little Angel Theatre), Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: A Reimagining (Shakespeare's Globe), The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre & Gimble, UK tour), The Elephantom (National Theatre/West End) and associate puppetry director of War Horse (West End).

Olié will be creating and performing What Does an Anteater Eat? entirely from his home during the lockdown. He will be sharing some of the insights into the creative process on social media.

Creator and performer Toby Olié said, "I have been a fan of Ross Collins's work since first discovering The Elephantom in my local bookshop in 2006. His illustrations contain such a mixture of imagination, warmth and wit that they immediately lend themselves to becoming moving, talking characters - and as someone who grew up making model theatres out of cardboard boxes for their toys, I'm looking forward to creating a whole theatre in which I can bring this story to life.

I'm extremely grateful to Ross and Nosy Crow the publisher for giving me permission to adapt the book during these extended hours indoors, and to Little Angel Theatre for helping me to share it with families in their homes."

Little Angel Theatre's Artistic Director, Samantha Lane, said, "I am thrilled to be working with Toby again. We were really sad to have to close Toby's production of The Wolves in the Walls mid-run, so it is especially exciting to be able to share this lockdown project with you. We're looking forward to bringing some of the magic of a trip to the theatre into people's living rooms, and hope that this show will inspire families to have a go at making their own productions at home."

To post a comment, you must register and login.