British Theatre GuideAct With Caution (2009)
by Alexander Garfath, Sara S and Sarah-Jane Wingrove.
Our first project as Handheld Arts was commissioned by the Broadway Theatre in Barking to deliver their summer youth theatre project. Over the course of one week Sarah-Jane and Sara worked with twenty-seven 5 - 18 year olds to create a new performance using Belloc's Cautionary Tales as a stimulus. The final performance was a fast-paced and anarchic ensemble exploration of what happens to people who leave on their laptops, 'super-poke' their friends and encounter a scrabble-playing ghost dog in a derelict theatre.
The Knitted Promise (2010)
by Alexander Garfath, Sara S, Sarah-Jane Wingrove and Ilana Winterstein.
“Nobody wants to feel cold at night, not even the sun.
At the edge of the world there is a small village. The villagers there have made a promise to the sun to knit her a new scarf each year to keep her warm at night in return for her sunshine. However... as time passes the villagers forget their promise and the sun stops shining so brightly. It is left to the moon to remind the villagers of their promise and that they must keep their end of the deal if they want to feel the warmth of her rays again. The villagers will need to stay awake all night and work together to knit the sun a new scarf... can they keep their promise?”
The Knitted Promise is made for children aged 3 – 7 and incorporates strong themes of community and responsibility. The show uses puppetry, physical theatre, and rich media design to enchant and delight small and big people alike. Previously performed at the Croydon Clocktower Children's Theatre Scratch Festival 2010.
“Handheld Arts' enchanting début into the world of children’s theatre was witnessed by a wide eyed audience at the Croydon Clocktower's first ever scratch children’s theatre festival in September 2010. Their stunning folk tale ‘The Knitted Promise’ lead the children and families present on a magical journey to a village at the end of the earth where the villagers forget a very special promise they made to the sun. With stunning visual imagery and interactive visual media projections the knitted promise was a well and truly enchanting offering from Handheld Arts, the original sound design offered a creative alternative to traditional storytelling and complimented the projections beautifully.”
Martha Palmer, Festival Coordinator Croydon Clocktower"Very enthusiastic actors. Lovely story with 'hidden' message! Imaginative for children and adults."
Adult audience feedback“I like the bit where the ladies bed turned into the shower then the door.”
Child audience feedback“Creative, imaginative, engaging for children and adults alike and lovely from start to end.”
Adult audience feedback
Performance History
Children's Theatre Scratch Festival - Croydon Cloctower
24 September 2010
Deep Blue (2011)
by Alexander Garfath and Sarah-Jane Wingrove.
Man vs. Machine: a performance work inspired by the 1997 chess tournament between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.
The series of 6 matches was marketed as the ultimate test of Man against Machine sparking global interest in the contest. The Machine won the series but Kasparov was convinced of human interference by IBM and at key moments during the contest he felt that the computer played moves that “only a human would make”.
This production explored an evolving love/hate relationship between humanity and technology.
Performed as part of Freshly Scratched 2011 at the Battersea Arts Centre.
Handheld Arts are a collective of theatre and arts practitioners, who are a combination of graduates of the Central School of Speech and Drama's MA in Advanced Theatre Practice and BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education.
E-mail us: info@handheldarts.co.uk
