Science Alive! hosts holiday comedy for children in old court
Few parents will want to accompany their child to court – but many may have no choice these school holidays.
Science Alive! is hosting its first public event, The Early Early Late Show, a regular highlight of KidsFest, in their new digs – Christchurch’s former court complex on Durham St.
A sellout crowd packed what was once District Court 1 for the show’s opening night on Saturday, featuring The Court Theatre’s jesters.
Jester Jeff Clark said they had acted in all sorts of venues, often performing at corporate events and parties, but that he had not performed in a court before. ‘‘It’s a place that was built to interact with one section of people, and now it’s been modified to interact with a whole different section of people.’’
Clark had been practising the ‘‘floss’’ dance at home – to keep up with youth trends – much to the chagrin of his young son.
Don’t know the dance? Ask your kids.
‘‘It is definitely a PG show, but we forget how blood-thirsty kids can be at times. We ask for ideas and some of the stuff they come up with is really dark, which is great fun,’’ Clark said.
The show incorporated the court’s isolation booths and old seating, creating a ‘‘criminally’’ fun evening for young audiences.
Fellow jester Kathleen Burns said the show was squarely aimed at the ‘‘tween audience’’.
‘‘We have Scared Scriptless, which is for your naughty teens and irresponsible adults, then The Court Theatre kids shows which are for the young kids, and then this show, which is for everybody in between,’’ Burns said. ‘‘It’s nice to fill that gap between kids’ theatre and ‘grown-up’ theatre – really, there is no other show like it and it is a joy to do.’’
Burns said ‘‘subverting’’ the purpose of the building was ‘‘exactly what we do as comedians’’.
Science Alive! director Tony Mortensen said he was ‘‘thrilled’’ to be able to use the space for ‘‘a real positive’’. ‘‘We don’t know exactly what we’ll be using the space for yet, so to be able to hold an event like this in here, particularly during the school holidays, it’s awesome. To see kids laughing in here, having a good time, it’s just been great.’’