Jennifer De Reuck

There is something strange happening on Leighton Beach in Western Australia. A little toy zebra has washed up on the shore and Chitty-Chitty, the Willy-wagtail, has heard his child crying for him. With her friends - the forgotten toys in the Museum, Hanneen, Mous and Pauline, and an unexpected arrival, Raggedy Annie - Chitty-Chitty embarks on a journey to save him and return him to his child before the magic fades and the toys must return to their long, deep sleep. The Great Snottygobble, whose powers have summoned them all, has given them a difficult task to perform and they’re not sure they are up to it. For, alarmingly, Mugga, the Tasmanian Tiger, is on the loose, also summoned it seems by the Great Snottygobble. With the magic fading fast, they have to rescue the little zebra … but can they do it in time?

Matilda and her puppets are trying to save the animals in Papa Gorgonzola’s circus from their life of misery. The plot takes the audience on an imaginative journey from Italy via Africa (to capture the fabled “Gorilla in the Mist”) to Kuala Lumpur! Matilda will need the resourcefulness of the Malaysian animals and birds she meets as well as the help of the people of Kuala Lumpur if she is going to be able to give the circus animals their dignity, and if they’re all going to take part in the Brickfields’ Carnival of Freedom. The show is aimed at children, especially those in primary school, as well as the young at heart! Murdoch University is offering a multimedia experience in TFA’s Shantanand Auditorium, with a magnificent set, spectacular puppets, lavish costumes, original music by Malaysian composer Nick Choo, and a script that blends physical theatre with an appealing storyline.

The Murdoch University Children’s Performing Group, in collaboration with The Temple of Fine Arts, presents The Phoenix and the Fighting Pandas of Yunnan Province. The production is performed by students enrolled in the Children’s Theatre unit, which has been part the drama offerings of Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, since 2000. This year, the cast, crew and creative team are bringing their production beyond Australia, with workshops and performances in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. The Phoenix and the Fighting Pandas of Yunnan Province is a play for children (and grown-ups who are young-at-heart!) written and directed by Associate Professor Jenny de Reuck, with original music by Malaysian composer Nick Choo (www.nick-choo.com), and movement by Malaysian choreographer and performer Muralitharan Pillai.

The scripting of this play took place against a background in Australia of political invective and social conflict as the war in Iraq gathered pace. With a target audience of middle primary school children I wanted the play to engage them in thinking about the serious issues that confront us all as positions harden and tolerance is tested without allowing the 'themes' to emerge with the didacticism that sometimes blemishes Theatre in Education (T.I.E.) productions (my own, early productions included). Central to the action of the plot is the notion that agency is possible, even for the young who must often confront adult power over their decisions and choices...

This video documents the making of a piece of theatre in education for children. Filmed over a semester, the video offers an account of the complex processes involved in taking an idea for a performance (the play, Shakespeare at Sea, written especially for theatre and drama students at Murdoch University) from the original script phase through to a professional performance. Writer/director Jenny de Reuck is interviewed about the process she has refined in her theatre in education classes and she offers an analysis of an effective production process with clips from the workshops on dance, circus skills, improvisation and auditions that the students undertake. Running in tandem through the narrative are interviews with the set designer, stage manager, and actors. Each facet is linked to the developing project. The video concludes with a sense of the excitement that builds as a production approaches and the script ideas of the early part of the process are realized in a vibrant performance where costumes, lighting, sets, music and sound are brought together. Ideal for teachers of drama at all levels (primary, secondary, tertiary), the documentary offers an in-depth but practical look at the various elements required to produce a professional piece of theatre in education with young people for young people.

A theatre in education e-book title by Jenny de Reuck that offers young playgoers an introduction to many of the characters from Shakespeare’s comedies including Feste, the Jester, Toby Belch, Maria, Sly and Sneak, Simple and Mistress Quickly. The tragedies are represented by characters in the subplots such as Hamlet (a mouse), Romeo (a dog) and Juliet (a cat) all of whom contribute to Will’s play in some way. Shakespeare at Sea combines fact and fiction to evoke a past era and invites children to go on a theatrical journey with the performers to other imagined worlds. The e-book contains the script of the play, film clips featuring interviews with the writer-director and the collaborators in set and costume design, photos and drawing of costumes, characters and set and a collection of drawings children made after seeing the performance.