PULSE is all about the kids this Sunday, with shows, games and the chance to quiz theatre professionals at this year’s Children and Young People’s Day. Entertainment writer Wayne Savage channels his inner child (not difficult) and sees what’s happening.
The day kicks off with the first of two come and play sessions at Ipswich’s High Street Exhibition Gallery.
The free 10.15am session, for ages seven-11, is the chance to make new friends, play some games, listen to stories and find out what it takes to make a new piece of theatre. Eleven-14 year olds can enjoy more of the same from 12.30pm.
Ideal for ages three-six, the New Wolsey Theatre’s upstairs foyer hosts two Storymaker sessions at 10.30am and noon too.
Nasty Pincher Pete is determined to steal Able Sea Bear’s boat in the Barrier Free Production of Phil Johnson’s The Little Blue Boat and The Secret of The Broads, at the New Wolsey Studio from 11.30am.
It’s an exciting journey - with sign supported English and visual guides - through a great wetland packed with amazing animals, beautiful birds and the mysterious Marsh Man.
PULSE wouldn’t be PULSE without Kid Carpet - aka Bristol-based theatre maker of nonsense music and rock ‘n’ roll theatre shows Ed Patrick.
New show The Noisy Neighbours uses music, puppetry and projection to look at what it’s like to move into a new house in the city and find your place there.
Will they ever get used to living in the new house? Are the neighbours really feeding cats to their dog? Where has Dad mislaid the children this time? Can he be un-arrested before Mum gets home and why is that car on fire? Aimed at ages six plus, all these questions and more will be answered at the New Wolsey theatre from 1pm.
Brian’s library is in a muddle in Monstro Theatre’s Bookstory. Romance is rubbing shoulders with the DIY manual and the dictionary is sharing a shelf with the Whodunnit. To get to the bottom of it, the books must work together but they can’t move - can they?
A tiny puppet musical with some very big ideas, it’s idea for ages seven plus; full of songs, puppetry and dynamic performance to tell the story of the story in the digital age. Find out if everything gets sorted out at the New Wolsey Studio from 3pm.
“We’ve a mix of performances for children through the morning that will transition into work for young people in the afternoon and early evening. We’re looking to stimulate young people’s thinking and aspirations so we’re building on those with a series of workshops and answer and question session about theatre making for those who might want to go further into the arts industry,” says Rob Salmon, associate director at the New Wolsey.
That transition starts with Making Theatre for 15-years-old and over at the High Street Exhibition Gallery from 2.30pm.
If you’re interested in contemporary theatre, it’s your chance to find out more and create something with the New Wolsey team. They want to know what inspires, motivates and challenges you and using your ideas will guide you through the building blocks of performance to make theatre for today. It’s free too.
Fifteen to 25 year olds interested in a career in theatre should stop by the New Wolsey Theatre’s bar from 4.30pm for the industry question and answer session. Pick the team’s brains, enjoy a biscuit (or several) and maybe stick around for Hounded’s A+E at 6pm.
We all want to escape sometimes. At the end of a long party three girls wait in A+E for answers in this story of friendship, love and loss insprired by the suburbs of London.
Rounding off the Children and Young People’s Day is Births, Deaths and Marriages; at the New Wolsey Studio from 8pm.
Haven’t we all all thought “I’d like to start again please, is that alright? It’s just that this isn’t what I thought it would be and I’d really like to have another go now that I know what I’m doing?”
Tom, Jack, Gemma and Sam each have a big decision to make. Adult life isn’t working out for them and if they don’t do something about it they might be stuck forever, trapped in the life they thought they wanted hoping it gets better but not really doing anything about it.
Made by People You May Know and produced by the New Wolsey Theatre in association with Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Everyman Playhouse and supported by Arts Council England and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation the story unfolds via solo performance, outsider narration and visual captioning and is aimed at ages 14 plus.
While not part of the day Paul Warwick, of festival curators Chine Plate, recommends Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio on June 6 - a one-man re-imagining of Twelfth Night.
“It’s a really terrific show for young people. He’s done a series of shows, some with the Royal Shakespeare Company, about minor characters in Shakespeare. I think this is the best. It’s an absolutely astonishing piece of work and if you have teenage children this is a show absolutely not to miss. It’s a brilliant way to engage young people with Shakespeare’s stories and has the best leopard skin G-string I’ve ever seen on stage,” he laughs.
PULSE Festival runs to June 6. Click here for more from the festival team and here for the full line-up of shows.
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