Performance

A large element of ‘A Child’s Eye View’ was the collaboration of WSI with CTC (Cleveland Theatre Company), a professional company who make performances exclusively for young children. Paul Harman the artistic director of CTC developed and played the role of Sasha in the performances. Paul has served on the Board of the UK’s national association of professional theatre for children for twenty years and his experience proved invaluable.

The character of Sasha is very strong, yet he is a quiet man. His English is, ‘not so good’ so he relies heavily upon non-verbal communication. He appears to live in this garden, care for it. When he first meets the group of children he begins by handing them a flower to care for.

This quiet style of performance, with very little language and slow, gentle physical characteristics was designed to encourage children to look and listen to what was around them. The performer wished to draw attention to the created world rather than tell a different story.

Performer and director found an extremely simple narrative to weave into the installation in order to allow for a journey. Three sparkly things (silver scourers) are found along route, no meaning is attached to them yet they are obviously very precious. This journey aid was sympathetic to the installation as it encouraged observation and discovery of materials within the environment.