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Meet The Three Little Aliens – Giving A Twist In The Pig Tale To Make Children Laugh |
The classic children’s tale The Three Little Pigs has been given a contemporary twist in a new stage show which will tour Wales. Spectacle Theatre’s latest production, Friends For Dinner, tells the story of three little aliens who find themselves on Earth as they search for materials to take back to their planet. But their plans are thwarted when they meet a rather unfriendly and hungry rat who decides that the aliens would make a perfect dinner. The creation of scriptwriter and composer Mark Ryan, Friends For Dinner is an educational piece aimed at children between the ages of five and seven.“The Three Little Pigs is one of the classic fairy stories so that’s one of the reasons I chose it”, said Ryan, who was born in Ireland and moved to Wales in 1989. “In schools an important part of Key Stage 1 is the use of materials and when I thought about it The Three Little Pigs uses materials a lot so I decided to give it a modern setting.” With its first performance kicking off on Monday, the production will tour schools, community centres and venues throughout South Wales. And there will be two special performances at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. But while it’s aimed at children, Ryan says that adults will enjoy the show too. “There is a lot of music in the production with fantastic singers, wonderful sets and costumes,” he said. “There’s also a lot of humour so adults will have plenty to enjoy.” Originally trained as a composer, Ryan made his first foray into script-writing in the 1980’s. Friends For Dinner sees a fusion of these talents, with Ryan behind both its script and its music. “As soon as I started to write scripts for the theatre I wrote the scripts and music hand and hand,” he said. “I find that writing the music along with the script is the only way in which I can work.” Friends For Dinner isn’t his first taste of educational theatre. His productions Where’s Andy? and The Lazy Ant scored success for the company with children, teachers and even theatre critics in recent years. He has also written plays for an adult audience in the last three Edinburgh Festivals. Ryan affirms that children’s theatre is an essential part of a child’s development. “Theatre is an important experience for a child and is also very important to a child’s education,” he said. “My work doesn’t aim to get children involved in the theatre, just to experience and enjoy it.” Ryan’s work does, however, take its audience seriously. “You should never write down to or patronise children,” he said. “I have two children myself and I know that they won’t accept any rubbish from me so other children certainly wouldn’t.” And with Friends For Dinner being one in a long line of Ryan’s educational productions, he is acutely aware of how his audience can react to a less than enjoyable performance. “If kids don’t put their hands up to be excused for the toilet you know that you’ve succeeded. Luckily none of my productions to date have led to mass toilet breaks.” Friends For Dinner tours from Monday 16th January to May 26th. For information on performances and tickets, contact Spectacle Theatre on 01443 430700 |
| Spectacle Theatre web site: www.spectacletheatre.co.uk |
| Elaine Lord e-mail: elaine.lord@spectacletheatre.co.uk |
Wednesday, January 18, 2006 |
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