Bamboozle bring students with complex needs onto Olivier Stage at National Theatre. 26 November 2007

Picture the scene:  the Olivier Stage at The National Theatre.  It is 11.00 am.  In one hour [one hour!] a group of students with their staff will arrive for a workshop.   This is a first for all of us - Bamboozle, the NT, the schools - we have a loose plan for how this will work but this moment is a bit nerve wracking.  Gathered on the stage are 4 members of Bamboozle Theatre and 26 [that is twenty six] people from the NT - stage managers and crew, lighting, sound and video technicians, puppeteers, actors, musicians from War Horse, media people, front of house and access staff, the list goes on - all waiting to hear words of wisdom from us about what is required! It is our job to brief this varied and talented group of people on their roles for the 2 hour workshop.  Now you will know that theatre is an exact science.  Actors and stage crew need to know when things are expected to happen.  "What is the cue for the smoke to appear then?" or "When do you want the goose puppet to make its entry?" are very reasonable questions.  The trouble is that this event is nowhere near so exactly planned.  Flexibilitiy is the key with the students who are arriving soon - students who have severe learning difficulties and complex needs. with a multi-sensory experience.    5 minutes into the briefing it was becoming complicated - too many unknowns - how will they react to a large and unfamiliar space - a revolving stage, the bigger than life size "Joey" horse puppet, worked by 3 puppeteers - will they be scared, intrigued, will they run up and grab it?  - and so on.

Stage manager, Jane Suffling, understood perfectly that this was different and cut short the need for a briefing by saying "Look we are all here, lets play it by ear, anything you want just tell us and we will provide it."

And that is just what they did - provided a brilliant experience for all concerned.  When we wanted smoke to billow through the stage, we got it; when we wanted the goose to reappear - it happened; when we suggested that Joey should spend longer with a particular student - they spent longer - nothing was missed - everything was possible.  The War Horse company were extraordinary and the stage crew could not have done more.  One of the highlights was when Joey came up to David [name changed] who was quite distressed and no amount of attention, or lack of it, from Joey seemed to be making any difference.  David continued to be very agitated in his wheel chair and make distressed sounds.  We then suggested that the puppeteers got Joey  to match David's vocal sounds, with equivalent neighs and whinneys.  The extraordinary puppeteers did this perfectly with the result that David calmed down immediately, took interest in the horse, made eye contact and smiled.  See next blog entry for more about the power of matching with students who have learning difficulties.

At the end of the workshop we were left with an overwhelming sense of a huge team working together with one aim in mind - to give the students a close hand, multi-sensory and meaningful experience of War Horse.

Bamboozle want to thank William Morris and Whitefields Schools, Pam and the NT Education department and the whole company of War Horse for making this such a brilliant event for the students.  We really had a good time too!

Posted Nov 26, 01:37 PM in category National-Theatre-collaboration

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