The playground is a constant presence in our lives: from discovering it as a toddler through to mastering the monkey bars, from a first childhood kiss to drunken student days rediscovering the swings, to reliving our own youth as a parent or grandparent. The equipment and our bodies may change, but our imagination never lets us down.
Light The Fuse presents a new piece physical theatre and circus piece inspired by the playgrounds of our past and present exploring the seven ages of man told through this iconic feature of our lives. Playground Victories condenses a day in the life of a playground into 35 minutes, whirling through a series of high-octane scenes of first love, adventure, competition and combat. It features recognisable characters across generations including overprotective dads, drunken students, loved up teenagers, tiny pirates, ninja litter pickers and a pesky squirrel. Together with the audience, we explore who owns the playground when. From the early morning exercisers to tired single mums looking for love. Audiences will watch school fights and first snogs and ultimately join epic pirate adventures. All of the action takes place on a bespoke set featuring all of our favourite pieces of playground equipment but built to an impressive and eye catching 4.5m to allow acrobatics and aerial work creating a mid scale show for audiences of 300 – 1000 and of all ages.
This follows our inaugural show Full Stop, which toured extensively in 2014 and 2015 originally commissioned by GDIF, Lyric Hammersmith, Watford Palace and Latitude. An example of which can be seen here – http://www.scribbledthoughttheatre.co.uk/full-stop/4589078403
The Playground Victories will be a medium scale piece of work involving:
– 4 performers
– A mix of circus, physical theatre, dance and comedy
– Audience interaction
– A purpose built piece of equipment based on a climbing frame 4.5m high with a slide, monkey bars and potential for aerial work.
The show is directed by Gemma Fairlie (RSC, New Vic, Royal Court), designed by Myriddin Wannell (Wildworks) and is supported by artsdepot and SeaChange Arts.
Playground Victories is touring in summer 2017 and is available for further touring in 2018.