Metta Theatre Sets Additional Venues for THE KING OF TINY THINGS
By: Tyler Peterson Sep. 30, 2015
Metta Theatre today announces additional venues added to the tour for The King of Tiny Things, as part of the company's 10th anniversary year - Metta10, adapted for the stage by Poppy Burton Morgan from the book by Jeanne Willis and Gwen Millward. Burton Morgan's production opened at the Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre on 13 July and now continues on tour to Malvern; Stockton-on-Tees; Greenwich; Leeds; Doncaster; Bristol and Northampton. The press performance will take place at 3:00pm at the Greenwich Theatre. Additional venues added for 2016 include Salisbury Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Dundee Repertory Theatre and Stratford Circus Arts Centre.
One magical midsummer's night two sisters huddle together, fearful of what the darkness holds, when a mysterious winged creature appears and leads them on a moonlit adventure. Together they rescue juggling slugs, contortionist worms, and a trio of acrobatic baby bats. But while the girls are busy being brave they overlook their winged friend, the King of Tiny Things, who needs their help most of all. Can they save him in time...
The King of Tiny Things is a beautiful, emotionally rich story with an enticing, accessible visual and physical narrative to engage children and adults alike: with layers of storytelling and symbolism there's genuinely something for all ages.
Including 8 original songs, by award winning composer Jon Nicholls (Shared Experience; National Theatre) the show continues Metta's cross-artform exploration of circus, text, puppetry and music. Metta Theatre are committed to creating a strand of their work for young audiences with a strong aesthetic and a high level of technical skill - presenting young audiences with high quality performance to inspire and remember throughout their lives. The stimulating performance also presents darker and more sophisticated themes running though the production. Issues such as exploring and overcoming fears underline the story and introduce children to a wider representation across gender, sexuality and disability which are not often fully considered in family theatre. The theatre sector has become very progressive in its portrayal of diversity and so this important message of equality should also be represented in theatre for young audiences. At a time when many companies are scaling back their family work, Metta are making a bold and brave choice with this show - to present a piece of complex yet unarguably accessible art for young audiences.
Metta10
The King of Tiny Things is part of Metta10 - 10 plays staged in one year to celebrate 10 years of Metta Theatre. Others have included a new production of Cosi fan Tutte in partnership with Oxford Philomusica and Mouthful - 6 new plays exploring the global food crisis by writers including Neil LaBute, Inua Ellams and Clare Bayley which ran at Trafalgar Studios. Metta Theatre is also currently developing an urban adaptation of The Jungle Book featuring skateboarding, beatbox, street dance and contemporary circus which will tour in 2016 (having received £88,000 ACE Strategic Touring Funding) & a new adaptation Chekhov's Three Sisters.
Twitter: @mettatheatre
Metta Theatre makes beautiful, imaginative and compelling theatre, using all the story-telling tools at its disposal: words, music, video, movement, puppetry, opera, illustration, and circus. The company creates theatre that wears its theatricality on its sleeve: meta-theatrical works that tell stories that include the audience in the act of telling. Recent productions include Mouthful (Trafalgar Studios), Cosi fan tutte (New Theatre, Oxford), Alice (tour), Well (tour), Monkey & Crocodile (tour), Arab Nights (Soho Theatre and touring), Old Red's Cupboard (Bush Theatre), Sexing the Cherry (Southbank Centre), The Man with the Flower in His Mouth (cafe theatre tour), Waiting (Southbank Centre), Cocteau in the Underworld (Arcola Theatre), 12 Dancing Princesses (V&A), Otieno and Blood Wedding (Southwark Playhouse).
Jeanne Willis is an award-winning children's author, published worldwide. She has written over 150 books including picture books, novelty, teen novels and poetry. She was shortlisted for the Whitbread for her novel Naked Without a Hat, won the Smarties Silver for Tadpole's Promise, the Nasen Special Needs Award for Susan Laughs and many more besides. Recently, she won the Sheffield for Who's in The Loo and is short-listed for The Red House Children's Book Award for Bottoms Up. Her novel Dumb Creatures is in production. Jeanne has over 20 years experience as an advertising copywriter and has created T.V, cinema and radio commercials for major clients including Heinz, Mencap and British Gas (If you see Sid, tell him!) She has also written hundreds of T.V scripts including The Slow Norris, Dog and Duck, The Twins, Maisy (Best Script, British Animation Awards), Marvellous Milly, The Ark, Upstairs Downstairs Bears, Dr Xargle and The Wombles.
Age guidance: 3 years +
Listings details The King of Tiny Things
Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre, London
Sat 11 and Sun 12 July 12pm, Mon 13 July 4:15pm
Tickets: £10
Box Office: 0844 875073
Camp Bestival, Dorset
Sat 1 August
Box Office: 0844 888 4410
National Playday Festival, Hull
Wed 5 August 2pm and 4:30pm
The Lowry, Salford
Thurs 6 August 2pm and 4:30pm
Box Office: 0843 208 6000
Malvern Theatres, Worcestershire
Sat 10 October
Box Office: 01684 892277
ARC Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees
Sat 17 October
Box Office: 01642 525199
Greenwich Theatre, London
Mon 26 October
Box Office: 020 8858 7755
Leeds Carriageworks, Leeds
Tues 27 October
Box Office: 0113 224 3801
www.leeds.gov.uk/carriageworks
Cast Theatre, Doncaster
Wed 28 October
Box Office: 01302 303959
Bristol Circus Festival
Thurs 29 & Fri 30 October 1pm & 3.30pm
0117 9247615
Northampton Literary Festival
Sat 21 November 3pm
Booking details TBC
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