Corrugated Kids Star in a Festival Opening Weekend Show
We’re shining a spotlight on young people and giving them a chance to really be heard this Festival in the opening weekend event I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You.
The Good Room is a Queensland-based performance collective who use the anonymous experiences of ordinary people to create extraordinary theatre work that grow and share empathy. They have partnered up with local company Corrugated Iron Youth Arts to create this new work, which sees a panel of young people ask questions of adults and then bring the answers to life on stage.
This is an exciting project for the young people involved and for the company itself. As Executive Producer Zoe Scrogings noted: “Corrugated Iron hasn’t been part the Festival for over ten years, so it’s a big deal to be involved again. This project is particularly special as it offers an amazing opportunity for the young people to work with an award-winning company.”
The young cast are doing more than just working with The Good Room. The show is actually co-devised with the group of 18 nine to 13-year-olds, who have been feeding into its creation at a series of intensive workshops.
Local Young People Producer Kyle Walmsley, explains: “As a producer what impresses me most about this project is the performance process model that The Good Room have developed. Through long term developments of the show in QLD, they have created a vehicle that genuinely acknowledges and celebrates our local cast. Using some very clever and efficient tricks and a heck-tonne of preparation, The Good Room are facilitating an innovative collaboration, which will produce the kind of work with young people for adult audiences previously unseen in Darwin. The show is going to be amazing!”
Cat Hart from Corrugated Iron, who is assisting the team in bringing the show together, has been thoroughly impressed by the workshops so far.
“There has been such a feeling of excited expectation from the cast. They are really energised by the chance to be so involved in the creation of a show like this – and it’s leading them to take big risks.
“We spent two days in the holidays working on choreography for the show. It was challenging – not only with long days, but also this group of young people, most of whom don’t really know each other, had to come up with their own improvised dance move. On the spot!
“It’s the most wonderful thing to see – even the kids who are slightly more reserved are really stepping up and finding their own moves, their own voice. They’re all undertaking some really challenging stuff and tackling some big questions and I’ve been so impressed with how open and honest they all are. They’re approaching the show, and the issues raised in it, with a knowledge and wisdom beyond their years. Their emotional intelligence and the way they are supporting each other in this process is truly inspiring.”
We know the results of all this work will be a fabulous show – and one you don’t want to miss!
