Entertainment for short attention spans
Get creative with Young at Artand help make cardboard cities
THE BELFAST Children’s Festival returns with a week-long programme beginning, March 9, of fun-filled events and low cost activities for children aged 0-14.
This year offers a range of local and international performances including The Terrific Adventures of Brave Johanna Woodsword, a colourful and inventive retelling of the Joan of Arc story designed to suit young attention spans; the ever-popular Baby Rave which has a Ska theme and a real, proper DJ on the decks as babies - with parental support and a lot of cushions - get into the groove amid the disco lighting; and Open House, a free space at the Assembly Rooms which will be open daily during the festival with art activities, free workshops, performances and tea and tales events.
My House will be a simple and unusual interactive theatre show designed to explore sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, suitable for children aged 18 months to three years while The Giant is Coming, an interactive installation and live performance, will explore what a giant is from a child’s perspective. There will also be a celebration of World Book Day and some child-friendly cinema at the Waterfront.
“I’m particularly looking forward to a dance piece we have showing called Traverse,” says festival director Ali FitzGibbon. “It’s a man in a kitchen using all the percussion he can find in there, so they play out the set and it’s fantastic and unusual and children will love it.
“The Terrific Adventures of Brave Johanna Woodsword, a German production, is excellent and tells the story of a girl who gets into trouble and learns to face up to responsibilities. She is obsessed with medieval armoury and starts to imagine the story of Joan of Arc - it’s wonderful and simply staged, with a bicycle and a broom and a rail of clothes.”
Ali also recommends the Baby Rave: “It’s amazing how the babies respond to the rhythm! The youngest baby to have attended was just five days old.”
With arts funding facing a difficult future, Ali is passionate about the importance of the festival in
keeping children entertained.
“If you want to have a forward-thinking society, a society in which people can find a way out of problems, we need to keep imaginations alive. And we’re at out most imaginative as children. That has to be nurtured.
“I think a lot of people sometimes have the idea that children’s art involves little thought and is of a basic standard. But it can actually be harder to please children because they don’t have any politeness about them - if they don’t like something they just say so.
“Without the Belfast Children’s Festival so many children would miss out on the opportunity of doing exciting, imaginative and creative things each year and that would be such a shame - you’re only a child once and we believe that time is precious and should be as fun-filled as possible.”
The Belfast Children’s Festival, March 9-16, is run by Young at Art, a children’s charity funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Fore more information on the festival programme, or to book tickets, visit www.belfastchildrensfestival.com or call 02890 243042.
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Weather for Belfast
Friday 25 May 2012
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