In this section I intend to provide a
summary detailing the history of Jenny de Reuck’s influence (and indeed
other's) on the Children’s
Theatre unit completed at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
Through various synopses and pictures, I hope to present a rich array of the
scope and variety of past productions. If you have any pictures, details or
anecdotes of any of these productions, please send them via my e-mail address so
the production profiles can be enhanced.
(Photograph by Martina Muller, copyright 2004)
Welcome to Children’s Theatre. The aim of this unit aim is to extend your performance and/or production skills within the specific context of theatre created for an audience of primary school children. While the unit is relatively new, the project of making theatre for children at Murdoch is not. We shall therefore be drawing on a body of work that goes back to 1991 when Samantha Seal by Pieter Scholtz was taken to schools in the Perth metropolitan area as part of an outreach programme envisaged to make Murdoch more visible to the community it was supposed to serve. The Astounding Antics of Antoinette Ant (an adaptation with a gender inversion of another Scholtz play) followed in 1992 and this, after successful performances in the Drama Workshop, toured to Geraldton. It then seemed important to create pieces that had a Western Australian slant and, as the previous pieces had engaged with environmental issues of general concern, making the next trilogy of plays address Western Australian matters seemed to make sense. And so The Galah’s Gambit (1993) which toured to Jurien Bay; Ningaloo Knights (1994) and The Dragon Variation (1996) all premiered in Nexus Theatre and played to over 3000 students and teachers from primary schools during their two-week seasons. The aim of the projects was to explore serious environmental themes (clear-felling of the forests of the South-West; the threat of mining to Ningaloo Reef; and the implications of uranium mining in the North of our state) through the medium of theatre with the goal of educating children (and hopefully those of us involved in producing the work as well) through entertainment. In 2000 Murdoch Children's Theatre presented The Greatest Show on Earth: A Circus Story, The Minstrel’s Tale followed in 2001 and Shakespeare at Sea (2002), Zak Zebra’s African Safari (2003) and Athena Emu at the Olympics (2004) with a cast of nearly 40 students had an extremely successful season in Nexus Theatre. Children’s Theatre regularly plays to full houses of delighted primary school children and we are consistently rewarded by extremely positive critical (and educational) responses from the teachers who accompanied them.
Jenny de Reuck
The Return of the Snow Queen (2007)
The Secret of the Snottygobbles: A Fairy Story (2006)
Captain
Quokka's Adventures on the High Seas (2005)
Athena Emu at the Olympics (2004)
Zak Zebra 's African Safari (2003)
The Greatest Show on Earth:
Did you take part in any of these productions? Do you have any memories to share?
If you would like to contribute any comments, pictures or ideas to this page, please send submissions (with your name attached) to Andrew @ thechaseison@optusnet.com.au
Go to Children's Theatre: My Journal History Notice Board Your Work
Contact Andrew @ thechaseison@optusnet.com.au
This page last updated: 17th March 2007