I’ve just spent a glorious weekend at the Imaginate festival in Edinburgh looking for new shows, creatives and collaborators for me and for SRT. Making theatre for children is something that I’m so proud to do and this weekend has inspired me all over again.
That feeling of delight and amazement that you get in a perfect moment of theatre – seeing it multiplied a hundred times across the faces of tiny little people who often wouldn’t be able to articulate why it’s making them feel so strongly – there’s nothing like it.
What we do is so important.
There are stories everywhere. One of the shows this weekend was an hour long monologue about the woman who invented the butterfly stroke. The young audience sat in wonder, listening intently.
I spent a long time sitting on the floor of the bar watching the fringe entertainment – local storytellers and groups interacting with the kids.
‘I’m going to tell you a story about space!’
‘I’ve been to space!’
Children are amazing.
I learned a lot about collaboration from the people I spoke to. The companies who were presenting work at the festival were all wonderful people who really REALLY care about making theatre because it’s important and they love it.
This quote from a 2013 Guardian article Why Children’s Theatre Matters by Lyn Gardner sums it up beautifully:
Theatre, particularly theatre for children, fires the imagination, it gives our children the skills and the creativity necessary to face the world, to understand it and perhaps to change it too.
Thankyou Tony Reekie and the Imaginate team for a wonderful weekend.