2024年7月

Theatre for children under the age of one, two or three years old is no longer a rarity in recent decades. Theatre for the Very Young (TVY), Theatre for Early Years (TEY), or Baby Theatre is still a specific interdisciplinary field, but no longer exclusive, as when it was first attempted 40 years ago. History began in the late 1970s and early 1980s when two London companies, Theatre Kit and Oily Cart, began to look for suitable theatrical resources for audiences under the age of five. Later, in 1987, Joëlle Rouland staged the first performance for toddlers in France. And in the same year, Roberto and Valeria Frabetti presented a stage project called Water to the youngest audience at La Baracca Theatre - Testoni Ragazzi in Bologna. Gradually, the phenomenon of productions for the little ones has spread in Western culture. Nowadays, scenic or performative works or workshops for this target group are created in a wide variety of conditions and environments, from amateur groups to highly professional theatre companies and institutions, in a wide range of genres, of varying value and artistic quality.

Towards the theatre 0+

I encountered the specifics of theatre for toddlers at a German theatre seminar 15 years ago. What followed were years of intensive observation and meetings with creators and experts, studying theory and testing it in practice. I have also sought an original theatrical language in the field of theatre for the youngest audience through creative theatre and movement workshops, and even by teaching a regular course designed for parents with babies and toddlers. During this period, I was also involved as a lecturer for people with mental, physical and social disadvantage, with ongoing professional training to work in social service and art therapy.

“Strejčková’s work is patient and continuous, and her experience gathered in the east and west of the Czech Republic is reflected in the clear concept of the projects. She follows two basic directions, which very often intersect. One represents site-specific projects, the other - more prominent – theatre for family audiences and children of different ages. The productions have a gentle poetics with a strong appeal to positive values, friendship and parenthood, while trying to encourage imagination and playfulness in both children and adults. They combine dance, mime, physical, puppet and object theatre with live music and imaginative minimalist set design.” (Soprova, 2021)

Insect Hotel Bzzzz by FysioART (Photo: Anna Solcova)

In 2020, an original project for the very young audience called Insect Hotel Bzzzz was created in a Czech-German co-production, in a tandem creative collaboration with actress and costume designer Heda Bayer based in Germany. The starting point was to research the metaphor of the meadow world, insect superpowers and man’s attempt to match the perfectly equipped tiny animals. The production was premiered at the Komplex Theater as part of the Hang zur Kultur festival in Chemnitz, Saxony. Since its first performance has been selected for numerous curated festivals in Prague, regions of the Czech Republic and Germany, and was also a guest in the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture – InterUrban programme in Hungary. To date, more than 60 performances have been staged, including seasons severely disrupted by pandemic restrictions.

“The goal was achieved many times over. The Insect Hotel Bzzzz captivates children with the opportunity to observe, almost as if through a magnifying glass, a nature full of tiny, lively creatures crawling or peeking out of various holes and hatches, offering them a new form of playfulness that can unwittingly inspire them to their own locomotion and creative experiments, and at the same time contains an educational aspect.” (Soprova, 2021)

Another one of my original theatrical works for toddlers, which has been performed in dozens of performances and has repeatedly crossed the borders of the Czech Republic, is Orange Boat. Since its premiere in 2023, the production has toured France twice, been performed in Germany and showed to Polish audiences, and is headed to Israel and beyond. What probably accounts for its popularity is the toddler logic, the world of play and imagination based on a fundamental question: “Who will help them peel their orange?” It’s a friendly duet of two comic characters full of emotions about overcoming small difficulties, but ultimately showing the world as a safe place to experience joy together.

“The orange boat is light and fragile like a paper model and the performers are like children’s guileless souls. Sounds and simple melodic music underscore the action, encouraging a relaxed feeling of summer sailing. Even more than the play with orange balls, the child audience welcomes the construction of soft blocks, which turn into relentlessly unstable towers, a harbour jetty or, finally, a table at which an orange might finally be peeled... There is no trace of pandering or infantilism in Hana Strejčková’s productions, because the child wants to discover the world, not to be dumbed down; they are playful and kind, but the child is a partner to the performers. Of course, hand in hand with all this goes the aesthetic function - unambiguous but tasteful colours, simple props, often natural materials and artefacts, pure light design.” (Kocourková, 2023)

Orange Boat by FysioART (Photo: Anna Solcova)

BabyLaterna at the National Theatre

The first-ever production of the National Theatre Prague and Laterna Magika designed for toddlers, BabyLaterna, directed and choreographed by Hana Strejčková, was premiered at the New Stage on 16 March 2022. Toddlers are introduced to an attractive world that stimulates and activates sensory perception and is completely adapted to their cognitive abilities and motor skills. They find themselves in a whole new reality, opening the theatrical door to another type of cognition and providing parents with an inspiring platform to play and, through it, support their children’s development. From its premiere in 2022 to June 2024, there have been 180 reruns, including tours in Germany and Norway.

“BabyLaterna has a very nice poetics, it doesn’t impose itself on children and doesn’t slip into cheap attempts to attract attention. The set and all the props are delightfully colourful and imaginative, but not garish and visually tabloid, as we often see in toys for kids and in children’s theatre. The production is playful, fun and most importantly clever. It doesn’t need effects, it only needs three pairs of socks to entertain the most discerning of audiences.” (Kessler, 2022)

BabyLaterna is an original project for three performers: a ballet dancer, a dancer and an acrobat – the characters: Doll, Rascal and Muddle. It thematically works with the cyclical nature of time, framed by one year, more specifically with the alternation of four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and the daily phases depicted by common rituals (e.g. waking up, dressing up, playing, going out, being quiet). The performance communicates through movement actions ranging from classical ballet to dance, mime and acrobatics with elements of breakdancing in relation to all objects and specifically inhabited space. The directorial and dramaturgical concept that formed the basis of the choreographies was based on everyday activities, which are here significantly developed through the lens of fantasy – a language that is understandable to the youngest children. The audience even accesses our deliberate principle of object “idiomorphism” (from the Greek ídios = own and morph = shape), a set of scenic objects evoking the need for their own labels. For example, a huge ball on stage can represent both a melon and a chestnut, or even the sun, just as a green object with a hole in the middle evokes to some spectators a flat tire and a doughnut to others. Commonly available but also original objects are all identically derived from quite ordinary things, materials and natural objects, such as a blanket, socks, umbrella, melon, tree, cake, earthworm, duck, ball, foot and etc. Furthermore, they are placed at eye level and to the height of a toddler, while acknowledging the depth and perspective of space.

“The children’s audience was very receptive and enthusiastic during the performance, especially from the opportunity to examine the props and watch the dancers up close. Such a ‘Doll’ on ballet toes spinning pirouettes was a magnet not only for the eyes of toddlers.” (Blažková, 2022)

“The artistic game and the children’s game intersect at first and gradually even merge. This is the big bang and the catch of the event called BabyLaterna.” (Horansky, 2022)

BabyLaterna by Laterna Magika and National Theatre Prague (Photo: Vojtěch Brtnický)

The creative process was most significantly shaped by participative observation of play with toddlers and an excursion into developmental psychology under the expert supervision of two psychologists and a self-experiential exploration of movement patterns in children. Comparison of movement principles with toddlers themselves, aged seven months to three years, confirmed that each individual exhibits an individual pace of development and not infrequently seeks original solutions based on their own capabilities to achieve a goal. The performers were given the opportunity to verify on their own bodies how, for example, the constitution of an adult differs from that of a toddler when performing a particular movement and where, unlike a developing organism, limits may appear even for a trained body. The above knowledge is recognisably encoded in the choreographies. For example, “Doll” dances the choreography based on the psychomotor development of a child from birth to one year, or in a group choreography, an example of which is the competition to see who can crawl to a plush earthworm faster and more interestingly.

“The three performers playfully and very gently guide the children through an exploration of the surrounding world and its remarkable features. They use a large variety of colourful, soft, imaginatively designed props and sets, as well as quite ordinary, everyday objects. One of the funniest etudes makes do with three pairs of coloured socks and the wit and skill of the performers, who dance, prank each other and perform acrobatic stunts. Yet they do not act as clowns or comic figures, but as warm and cheerful guides through the diversity of the world. There are various interactions with the children entering the action, but also with those who, as if enchanted, do not move from their seats.” (Blažková, 2022)

The key to the construction of choreographies and performances has always been a creative task derived from the reality of the child, e.g. I want to sleep (I cover myself), I go to tickle my friend’s foot (I take off his socks), I make my friend wake up (I pull off his blanket), I want to play (I try to spin a wooden wheel on my foot), I imagine a steamboat (transforming the original object of action from an “egg” into a “paddle” and “hockey stick”), it is time to take the ducks out of the water (the ducks “float” on a velvet ribbon into space), etc. Although sensory activation is most deeply developed in BabyLaterna in the haptic area, it does not neglect any opportunity to stratify stimuli in the most effective way.

“The music also plays an important role in the production, as it underscores everything with an unheard-of lilt and lightness of touch, and at the same time it is wonderfully entertaining. Everything is then only enhanced by the tasteful projection in the background and the lights adapted to the fact that mothers need to see their babies.” (Kessler, 2022)

BabyLaterna by Laterna Magika and National Theatre Prague (Photo: Vojtěch Brtnický)

BabyLaterna’s directorial book resembles a sketchbook, a specific atlas of metaphors of reality. The emphasis was on everyday situations and related childhood rituals, on visual stimuli such as pastel colours and artistic unity, on inspiring materials in the sense of matter and its texture, on shapes with an emphasis on their possibilities of transformation. Reality and its dreamlike parallels were derived through the logic of the toddler, who sees such a world in his own way, or certainly differently from an adult, and in a variable way according to his stage of development and current state. The actions are often conducted at the eye level of the young spectator, i.e. lying on stomach and back, sitting on heels, squatting on knees, on elbows, and at the same time their gaze is also deliberately directed higher or deeper towards the horizon, to which the projection is directed at all times. Animation as a kinetic scenography and video-mapping projected onto the floor in certain parts was dedicated to the philosophy of the founders of the Laterna Magika. The rehearsal of BabyLaterna thus legitimately stood out above many others in its playfulness and the discovery of subtle surprises when confronted with just the most demanding of audiences, which toddlers undoubtedly are.

“The demands on the creative intelligence of the dancers are extraordinary: to improvise and to keep order, to inspire the children to interplay, but to make the shores of possible disorder. [...] Not a bit of chaos. For the most part, playfulness, freedom, mutual impulses reigned supreme.” (Horansky, 2022)

Performers are constantly held accountable not only for professional artistic performance across a wide range of skills, but also for the overall impression based on communication and interaction with the audience, which is not always predictable. Various situations arise during each performance that force performers to immediately evaluate the next course of action without deconstructing or devaluing any level of staging.

“BabyLaterna is not a difficult performance in terms of interpretive virtuosity, but the demands in terms of level of perspective, inner poise and ability to adapt to current events far exceeds a full-length ballet. All three performers do real artistic work on stage and are the refined guardians of an imaginary theatrical gateway that children can enter unusually early through BabyLaterna.” (Kessler, 2022)

Contact with the little ones is always a challenge, and no matter how prepared we are, even if it has been proven many times, it still does not guarantee that today or tomorrow it will intersect with the youngest audience on the same “island”, on the same “wave” or in the same mood. The unpredictability of the incoming toddlers and their guides is the driving force and the prevention of the work’s fall into templateness. This ensures that theatre for toddlers will always be a little different each time, always open to all suggestions and wishes on the part of the creators. The stage-audience relationship is born and transformed, and persists here by the necessity of its nature. It does not end with applause, but continues by blurring the usual boundaries and the stage becomes a common playground. Theatre for the youngest audiences is a mythical adventure, a descent to the roots of childhood in the general and individual and at the same time a metaphorical climb up a perpendicular wall of pitfalls that go well beyond the artistic dimension to the scientific disciplines. Theatre for toddlers may sound to some like an invention of the modern and postmodern age, to others, on the contrary, as part of a comprehensive approach to raising a child in the contemporary world. However, an approach to aesthetic-educational activity can demonstrably influence a child on many levels, opening new spaces for exploration, perception and cognition, despite the fact that it is a subliminal experience at his age.

Bibliography

Blažková, Tereza. BatoLaterna – Okouzlující batolení s profesionály (BabyLaterna, glamorous toddling with professionals). tanecniaktuality.cz, 28.3.2022. Available from: https://www.tanecniaktuality.cz/recenze/batolaterna-okouzlujici-batoleni-s-profesionaly [cited 20.7.2024].

Horanský, Miloš. Na jevišti se smí i kojit. BatoLaterna je hodna iniciačního ducha Laterny Alfréda Radoka (It is allowed to breastfeed on stage. BabyLaterna is worthy of the initiating spirit of Alfred Radok). Lidové noviny, 31 May 2022. Available from: https://www.lidovky.cz/orientace/kultura/batolaterna-nova-scena-narodniho-divadla-alfred-radok-jeviste-kojeni.A220531_114656_ln_kultura_ape.

Kessler, Michaela. BatoLaterna je krásný počin, kterého si rodiče málo váží (BabyLaterna is a beautiful achievement that is little appreciated by parents). Opera+, 23.3.2022. Available from: https://operaplus.cz/batolaterna-je-krasny-pocin-ktereho-si-rodice-malo-vazi/ [cited 15.7.2024].

Kocourková, Lucie. Hana Strejčková: Divadlo pomáhá oddat se fantazii a světu, kde převládá něha a krásno (1) (Hana Strejčková: Theatre helps to indulge in fantasy and a world where tenderness and beauty prevail (1)). Opera+, 15.3.2022. Available from: https://operaplus.cz/hana-strejckova-divadlo-pomaha-oddat-se-fantazii-a-svetu-kde-prevlada-neha-a-krasno-1/?pa=2 [cited 15.7.2024].

Kocourková, Lucie. Pohybové divadlo pro nejmenší: líheň nových generací diváků (Movement theatre for the little ones - Hatching new generations of spectators). Opera+, 25.6.2023. Available from: https://operaplus.cz/pohybove-divadlo-pro-nejmensi-lihen-novych-generaci-divaku/ [cited 21.7.2024].

Soprová, Jana. Rodinné výlety do světa fantazie (Family trips to the world of fantasy). Divadelní noviny, No. 7, 2021.

Hana Strejčková is a Czech theatre critic with deep focus on mime, new circus and physical theatre and performance, a member of the Ex-Com AICT/IATC, and also Czech Committee of the Association of Theatre Critics and a member of the Syndicate of journalists, a member of Czech Committee of ASSITEJ. She publishes mainly in journals: Dance Context, Theatre News, Opera Plus, Dance Zone and with the reflections from culture she contributes to the Czech Radio Broadcast. She is an academician, scholar and a teacher at the Music and Dance Faculty in Prague and Palacky Univerzity in Olomouc. Since 2021 she works as a dramaturgy for Laterna Magika where she also staged as an author and director the historically first show for babies and toddlers called BabyLaterna at the National Theatre Prague. She is a co-founder of an independent performance-art platform FysioART. As a researcher she cooperates with the Arts Institute Prague on the long-term project mapping the contemporary theatre under the title Theatre and Freedom, Theatre and Democracy.