‘The Forest is "a place where things are not quite what they seem. People become animals, birds become music, wood becomes water, leaves become light. Everything changes (can you hear it?), everything moves (can you see it?). It’s all around you. It’s full of adventure. It’s the forest."
The show hopes to provoke discussion about the protection of our natural environments. Fevered Sleep, who produce new work in performance, publication and visual art, for children and for adults, are known for their extraordinary and imaginative work for young audiences and worked closely with children and teachers during the research and development phase to involve them in the creative process throughout.
19 real trees are being used for the amazing set, all classic indigenous trees found in UK forests - hazel, birch, ash, hornbeam and western hemlock. They have planted 30 new trees in London to replace the ones that they have taken. Real leaves tumble from the ceiling and in the last few minutes hundreds of conkers fall onto the stage. The show aims to trigger discussions about how forests and other natural environments need protection, and the responsibility we all must share to look after our natural habitat. Fevered Sleep hope that families who see ‘The Forest’ will be encouraged to go out and visit their local forests and take an interest in the secret life of trees and their preservation.
Fevered Sleep has worked closely with children and teachers to engage them in the creative process throughout. In April, during the research and development phase of ‘The Forest’, they delivered a workshop at a Lambeth school with 12 children aged four to eight which was followed by an afternoon visit to Epping Forest. Of these 12 children, half had never even visited a forest before. They encouraged the children to explore the forest through creative play, drawing, movement and conversation, to develop the children’s relationship with and understanding of the natural environment. During the workshop, the children talked about their understanding of what a forest was, what it feels and smells like, and what animals live there. The children took a big interest in the insect life of the forest, which connected to a science project they were working on with their class teacher. They also took part in a movement and sensory-based workshop where they were asked to listen to, smell and touch their environment, and move around it as if they were part of the forest life. The feedback from the children was unanimously positive, with one young seven year old explorer commenting: "This was my first time in a forest. It was good fun. I really liked climbing trees."
Further research and development work included a week of workshops at Sadler's Wells working with a group of professional dancers to test out ideas for choreography. During this week children from Laycock Primary School observed the material explored and responded to the movement and dance work with the professional dancers. From September to October children from two Lambeth schools attended rehearsals and became part of the creative process with the performers. The children did short warm ups with the cast then watched excerpts of material being developed in rehearsals and were asked what they thought. When they got back to the classroom, this was followed up with written and drawn feedback and thoughts, from both teachers and children.
‘The Forest’ is the first in a new series of projects for children by fevered Sleep that explores different kinds of landscapes, and will be followed in 2010 by Freeze, a response to landscapes of snow, frost and ice.
‘The Forest’ runs from 9 - 24 December. Tickets and information from www.youngvic.org, 0207 922 2922.
