Magnet Theatre’s fest enchants babies and young children
IT’S NEVER too early to introduce children to live theatre, and Magnet Theatre’s Early Years Theatre Festival will see even the tiniest babies being immersed in the art form until December 12.
The daily programme features two enchanting shows for children up to the age of seven, and one for parents and their babies up to the age of a year.
Performed by The Magnet Early Years Theatre Company, each production has been designed to captivate, fascinate, engage and communicate with young audiences, while offering a totally unique, indigenous storytelling experience.
First up is Scoop: Kitchen Play for Moms and Babes (ages two weeks to 12 months) at 10am; followed by Ekhaya , (ages 3 to 7) at 11.30am, and finally Knock! (ages 3 to 7) at 2.30pm.
The Magnet Early Years Theatre Company is an initiative designed to train young theatre-makers in the field of early childhood development theatre.
The project was made possible by a flagship grant from the National Arts Council of South Africa with contributions from the Goethe-Institut and the SA-UK Seasons 2014 & 2015 . The company members are Koleka Putuma, Jason Jacobs, Indalo Stofile, Nolufefe Ntshuntshe and Sivuyile Dunjwa.
“Following the success of our previous shows for young audiences, we are inspired to be venturing even further into that arena, with the creation of a show for babies as young as a few weeks,” says Magnet co-founder, Jennie Reznek.
“With the Early Years project, we aim to not only train theatre-makers for this genre of work, but also to grow the market for original, South African stories for young audiences.
“Research has shown that theatre as a means of intensive communication can stimulate babies’ neural pathways, which are being formed at this young age. It’s a moment of concentrated interaction, delicately and carefully crafted for the moms and their babes and suggests how rich the connection and conversation can be, even with the smallest of babies.”
Scoop: Kitchen Play for Moms and Babes , is performed in a contained and relaxing space especially designed to accommodate individual attention. With the use of sounds, lights and textures, babies will be taken on an enchanting journey crafted to delight, surprise and soothe.
It was created by the company, under the mentorship of Reznek and with input from Anna Newell from Replay Theatre Company in Ireland.
Ekhaya explores a child’s understanding of being “at home”, in various contexts, using catchy original songs, music and vibrant visual images, while drawing on the three major languages spoken in the Western Cape: English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.
Knock! is a fun discovery of the natural material of wood – its sounds, what it can do and what it can make. Stimulating for the imagination, the cast create strange and magical animals and images with wonderfully shaped pieces of forest wood, interacting with the children through song, rhythms and creating sounds.