Toshiki Okada/chelfitsch: We are the Undamaged Others

Last night Jury group #5 saw 'We are the Undamaged Others' at the Theatre National. It was a challenging piece (performed in Japanese, subtitled in French and Dutch) about happiness, unhappiness and maybe anomie? It moved slowly, and was fairly long, but most of the Jury made it to the end. My favourite moment was at the end when the white block on stage (the only set) was lit beautifully with coloured spotlights, representing the sunrise. Toshiki came out again to meet the kids after the show, and answer questions.







Heading inside!


the giggles

CCA: Children's Critical Analysis

Local paper Norwich Evening News has invited the CCA to review the shows that they've been seeing. After each show, one review is printed. Other reviews can be read online.

Here's a peek at what's been said so far. Can you see any front runners for the awards ceremony?

Norfolk & Norwich Festival Launch & Saxophone Massive

I really enjoyed this performance because it was unique and I really enjoyed the beat of the saxophones. The people in the performance were wonderful, a definite five stars from me. ~ Genevieve

Today at the NNF11 we had free ice cream, drinks and food. This has been amazing so far. We are at the speeches now and later we are going to a show. I think this is great and I think everyone is going to have fun. ~ Hamoud

Professor Bumm's Story Machine

This was fantastic – I absolutely loved it. I have never seen a comedy like it. I laughed a lot, as did the entire audience, young and old. I would recommend it to anyone. ~ Chloe E.

It would be hard for anyone not to enjoy the Professor Bumm show because it was so funny and imaginative. The audience really enjoyed all six short stories they made up on the spot, using all their silly props. The hour-long performance was fast and furious and made me feel really lucky to have the opportunity to be a VIP guest. ~ Kayleigh

Ragroof Tea Dances - In the Mood

We had a red-carpet into the Tea Dance, which was a hall set up in Chapelfield Gardens. There was a great atmosphere in the venue. The Bee Knees (who were comically dressed as bumblebees!) demonstrated how to do the Swing, Jive and Charleston, and encouraged everyone to get on the dance floor. Before we knew what we were doing, we were all dancing the Charleston, with jazz hands. Truly brilliant afternoon. ~ Courtney B.

Walking in with the 1940s music playing, we knew this was going to be an experience. There was a great atmosphere as professional dancers showed us all how to jive and waltz. After dancing for an hour, there was tea and cakes –very traditional but a welcome refreshment. The overall experience was amazing! ~ Amber

L'Effet de Serge

L'Effet de Serge was funny and scary in parts because they had a firework on a stick. It blew my mind! Spellbound. The best bit was when Serge did a little show and his friend gave comments to him after. It was a bit boring watching Serge sit watching TV. ~ James

The performance is a very unique approach to drama. Although there is not much acting, you can connect with the characters, it's like your a member of the cast. The performance is strange, it gives me different ideas about how I see drama. ~ Genevieve

Action spoke in this and took the place of words. Serge's life portrayed a sense of abnormality in many places and he was probably trying to make it better. It was very awkward sometimes when his guests came. ~ Ella

talking to Edith Kaldor's cast

Scratching on Things I Could Disavow

Today Jury group #2 saw Walid Raad's 'Scratching on Things I Could Disavow: A History of Art in the Arab World.' This piece made my little art historian heart sing, and I think the Jury enjoyed it as well. I really liked the first part because it dealt with the complicated relationship between art and economics, which I find really interesting. I thought the third part was also great; the artist shrunk down his work-sculpture, prints, etc., and hung it in a miniature art gallery. Walid hung with the kids after the show, answered their questions about his work, and offered them advice on how to go about choosing the award winners- woot!


In the mini-bus!


Darren takes the Jury on an exploration adventure in the theatre...

Sneaking around...

Caught!

Heading in to see the show!

Eva's interviews en Francais

english lesions

Neutral Hero and El Rumor Del Incendio

Yesterday Jury group #4 saw 'Neutral Hero' by Richard Maxwell/New York City Players. It was an 'opera country' musical, so the actors sang songs and some played instruments. The piano and banjo were particularly nice. Afterwards the Jury got to go backstage where they met Richard Maxwell and the cast, asked questions and got autographs.


The Jury members from Ecole Aurore pose with the mini-bus






Meeting the cast!



Autographs!


Nathan getting Richard Maxwell's autograph

Hanging out on the stage

Later, Jury group #5 saw Lagartijas tiradas al sol's 'El Rumor Del Incendio'. I really liked the set- there were tons of different hanging light fixtures, plastic figurines, an electric train set, astroturf, a live fish in a fishbowl. The story was intense and sad, but also passionate and action-packed. The cast took some time after the show to hang with the Jury and answered questions with Spanish-Dutch translation help from Vier Winden teacher, Karlien.

REd Rug to Rag Time

This event was not as critically charging as I had hoped though it was a good time overall.

Jury #3 gets high... pitched!

Today's event was called Ragroof Tea Dance. Didn't know what to expect so we thought we'd prepare ourselves a wee bit.

'The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise' and 'Stadium/Stadion #3'

Tonight Jury group #3 saw two shows in one night! 'The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise' by Toshiki Okada was a minimalist play performed in Japanese and subtitled in Dutch and French. I was able to follow most of the French subtitles, so I think I caught most of the story, which was about some 40-somethings going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. Sometimes it was hard to read the complicated text and watch the performers at the same time because my French isn't great. I liked the part where they're talking at the party, and the actor with the frizzy hair. He gave the audience big hearts at the end. The Jury got to meet Toshiki backstage, and asked him some questions about the show.



Posing with the 'cheval au saucisson' (sausage-horse) in the lobby of the Raffinerie theatre before 'Sonic Life'





Talking to Toshiki Okada



Toshiki's autograph!


BIG Hearts!

Then the Jury ate some dinner together, and went on to see an installation in the city centre called 'Stadium/Stadion #3' by Jozef Wouters and Menno Vandevelde. The installation changes every day, but tonight they had built a big box around a larger structure that you could go inside. It was dark, and in the middle there was a long ladder to climb down into an enclosed room that had thick mattresses on the ground. It was a lot of fun- we hung out there for a bit and the artists talked to the Jury, asked them questions, and answered questions. They were curious whether the Jury thought their installation was more like a show or a performance...the kids' response was mixed, but I think 'performance' prevailed, according to one Jury member, because "performance has a certain quality."



Meeting the artists before going in










Me and Jeanne-Renee inside the box. She's our awesome volunteer who's also Canadian! She's from Montreal :)


Business: Evaluation time