Imaginate is one of the world's most prestigious festivals for children's theatre and I was lucky enough to work as a production assistant throughout the festival! There were companies coming form all over the world to perform. I was based at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh where I was helping with the get-ins/get-outs, scene changes, and technical rehearsals for the shows. It was such an incredible learning experience and one I definitely won't forget!
Here I am helping to set up the Imaginate welcome desk!
This is Fluff, an Australian show about lost toys, created by Christine Johnston with Lisa O’Neill & Peter Nelson. The set is mainly constructed using cardboard boxes with toys placed in every nook and cranny you can find! I helped with the get-in and get-out of the show and it was incredible to see the huge set fold down into 2 flight cases! Touring theatre at it's best.
This is Constellations! A magical dance theatre piece from the Spanish company Aracaladanza. "Multi-award winning international company Aracaladanza consistently delights audiences throughout Europe with their extraordinarily magical dance theatre made especially for children and families." I got to watch this performance twice and what a delight it was! I helped with the get-out for the show, which was incredibly quick considering how many props there were! They used some ingenious tricks to fit the whole show into very few flight cases.
This is the Great Illusionist by the Dutch theatre company Het Filiaal Theatermakers! It tells the story of a boy who wants to become the next best magician and is told through magic tricks, live music, puppets, and witty humor! I helped with the get-in and get-out of the show. It was incredibly compact and even the wooden flight cases that the show's equipment are toured in are used to create the set!
This is The Bookbinder by the incredible New Zealand Company Trick of the Light Theatre. "They say you can get lost in a good book. But it’s worse getting lost in a bad one…" The bookbinder uses puppetry, shadow play, paper art and music to tell the story of an apprentice bookbinder who is thrown into a wonderfully mesmerizing fairy tale adventure! I helped with the get-in/get-out of the show which packed perfectly into the boot of a hatchback! If anything, it shows the to tell a good tale, one does not need anything more than a enchanting story that sparks the imagination on the audience.
