Don't walk into the trees

Sunday Afternoon: at 4:30pm the doorbell rings. It turns out to be most of the theatre team, wondering why I didn’t meet them at four as planned to go off into the woods. The reason was that I’d completely forgotten, but never mind; we set off anyway in the gathering darkness.

The idea is that we take a group of children and parents into the forest and tell them a story as we go from place to place. I’ve mentioned earlier that this could be difficult in the dark so we are going through the forest a few times to see what is possible, get to know the landscape and see where the trees/rabbit holes/streams are, and also to make decisions where people are supposed to come from.

It’s impossible to have more than a rough idea on paper, so the long-suffering team spent a couple of hours hunting for useful gaps in the trees or just trying not to freeze to the spot. Afterwards we came home and Michi mixed up about a gallon of hot chocolate to try and warm them up.

Team marching off towards the forest. Left to right: Ruprecht (Technical and Acting) Steffie (Stage Manegement) and Dominik (Directing)

Hmm... If we move that tree to the left... Dominik surveys a field that will hopefully become the point where the children enter the “Other world” Team playing with Stephan in the background

Tell me again why I agreed to do this? Steffi figuring out some of the technicalities. Behind her is the field; hopefully a rope for the children to follow will stretch to the tree in the distance, taking them away from the lights of the village into the new environment.

Afterwards, trying to warm the team up again…

“Look daddy, all these people came to play with me!” Tobi sees the real purpose for theatre team.