Showing kids the joys of art and theater
Bammboozle Theater from the UK will revisit Shanghai with "Down to Earth" in April, helping more children with special needs to probably get their first theater experience.
More children’s theater programs will land at the Shanghai Children’s Art Theater this year, devoted to increasing kids’ exposure to art and theater.
The theater’s newly released season of 34 programs includes local and overseas productions, all of which are carefully selected according to the age of target audiences.
The major categories of 2017 continue this year, including music, drama and dance, as well as other art forms such as physical theater, immersive theater and live puppet shows.
A creative water theater, “Primo” by Alfredo Zinola and Felipe Gonzalez, will be performed at Shanghai Children’s Art Theater for the first time on August 18-26.
Peeking through portholes of a large pool set on stage, children will discover underwater scenes and gravity-defying movements that are wonderfully evocative.
Feet, arms, hands and legs appear and become strange creatures magnified by the water, as the two performers gracefully move and try to find each other in a game. The constant movement of the water, combined with colorful light beams, creates a gigantic kaleidoscope.
Some of the theater’s most popular previous programs will return, such as the BBC documentary concert “Frozen Planet,” the large-scale puppet life show “Dinosaur Zoo” and the classic picture book musical “The Tiger Who Came to Tea.”
More Chinese productions will join this year, including the quarterly series “Baby Loves Chinese Opera” which features traditional operas and “Baby Loves Chinese Culture” showcasing the music and dances of Chinese ethnic groups, as well as the classic mythology “Yu the Great Harnesses the Flood” and the Chinese version of “A la Luna” directed by Cynthia Miranda from Spain.
“We hope that all the great overseas productions that we introduce here will eventually help local artists in making our own great works, and thus benefit more children,” says Liang Xiaoxia, general manager of the theater.
SHCAT is also opening its gate wider to children with special needs. Apart from “Down to Earth” and “Storm” which were well received in 2017, Bammboozle Theater will bring “Gentle Giant,” another immersive performance tailored for children with special needs, in April.
Only six children with special needs can participate in each show with their parents to ensure everyone can be properly cared for.
SHCAT is working on a localized production of “Down to Earth” so that it can benefit more special children at a lower cost. The local production will allow more frequent performances in neighborhood schools.
Nine Chinese performers were selected out of 70 candidates for particular training. They will one by one join British artists in “Down to Earth” in Shanghai from April.
“A la Luna”
Date: February 3-4, 10:30am, 2:30pm, 7:30pm
Tickets: 180 yuan for one, 340 yuan for two, 480 yuan for three
Venue: Shanghai Children’s Arts Theater
Address: 800 Miaojiang Rd
Visit www.shcat.com.cn for more performance details.
The Chinese version of "A La Luna" will be staged at Shanghai Children's Art Theater in February.
"Baby Loves Chinese Opera" series will keep on at Shanghai Children's Art Theater quarterly in 2018.
