6 Scripts

By Tim Webb

Oily Cart encapsulates what theatre is – a brief, transient visit to another world – while constantly redefining what it can mean. The company was ahead of its time in 1981, creating work for under-5s when most theatres and theatre makers had little respect for young audiences. It was pioneering in its efforts, beginning in 1988, to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oily Cart Co Ltd
• Release date: Nov 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781911079422

Book preview

FOREWORD by Flossie Waite

Oily Cart makes my job a difficult one. As a theatre critic, my role is to capture their productions on the page, but my words are an ineffective cage for each extraordinary experience, and my reviews always end up essentially saying the same thing: It was a bit like this – but you had to be there.

Any penned response pales in comparison to the ways Oily Cart communicates with children and young people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities or an Autism Spectrum Condition. The company has developed a language of the senses, so that each piece is as much about touching, smelling and hearing as it is about looking. Productions are a conversation between performers and audience, each child an essential collaborator in a unique adventure. And these immersive, multi-sensory journeys can happen in all sorts of places – on trampolines, in hydrotherapy pools, and even through the air, with audiences flying upwards in specially created nests.

There is an exciting sense of freedom in an Oily Cart show. Young people can engage however they want - not only will their actions be accommodated, but incorporated, so that each reaction is a valuable addition, and each performance a collective effort. Adults don’t have to police their child’s behaviour, and are instead given the space to witness them interacting with the world in their own way. Safe in the special environments that Oily Cart creates, audiences are able to connect with each other in ways that might not be possible in everyday life.

Oily Cart encapsulates what theatre is – a brief, transient visit to another world – while constantly redefining what it can mean. The company was ahead of its time in 1981, creating work for under-5s when most theatres and theatre makers had little respect for young audiences. It was pioneering in its efforts, beginning in 1988, to deliver meaningful arts experiences to children with profound and multiple learning disabilities. And now, 35 years after it was first formed, Oily Cart is still leading the way, though thankfully more and more artists and venues are creating work for children and young people with disabilities, many of whom have been inspired by Oily Cart’s work.

Oily Cart shows need to be felt to be believed: you can’t pocket the atmosphere or bottle the mood, and you definitely can’t write a review (or a foreword!) that does them justice. But for the audiences who wish they could revisit the worlds Oily Cart creates, and for the theatre makers who recognise and admire the genius at work in each production, here are six scripts – six tangible pieces of Oily Cart magic to hold on to.

Flossie Waite is a freelance theatre critic and editor of ChildrensTheatreReviews.com.

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BABY TUBE, 2011

Original introduction

BABY TUBE is a multi-sensory and highly interactive piece for children under two years of age accompanied by a parent or other adult. This will be our fourth show especially created for a very young audience and has three main aims:

First, to do everything that can be done with tubes. We shall conjure delights from each and every sense from a tube. The sounds and songs will be produced from the tubes. The scents, the textures, the magical images – all will appear from tubes.

Second, the whole show will take place within a tube. Our previous shows for this age group happened on a rather bare stage – at least in Oily Cart terms. In BABY DRUM, we sometimes found ourselves stranded on the bare and draughty floor of a community hall or studio theatre. In BABY TUBE, the idea is to create one of our Oily Cart Wonderlands in a tubular set that is not only true to the tubular objectives of the show but is also the setting for a 360 degree theatre experience. In this kind of space, wherever a child or adult turns their attention, they will be drawn to something delightful to see, to hear, to touch or to smell. Taste, as ever, is more difficult, but we must ensure that everything accessible is at least safe if you try to put it in your mouth.

Third, we need to incorporate plenty of opportunities for the parent or other adult to get really involved in the making of the performance. With only four in the cast and at least 15 young children in the audience, we will need the adults to help with moments like the Huff ‘n’ Puff straws and dusters and the Peep-Po puppets. I also believe that the adults will get a lot more out of the show themselves if they are actively engaged with their child.

Audience comments

Utterly wonderful and made our hearts sing. My baby was utterly mesmerised throughout. Wonderful.

Audience comment from STRATFORD CIRCUS

We loved the circle formation which meant that all the children had a close relationship to the show. It was a beautifully creative show – imaginative and engaging. A delight!

It was beautifully done. I’ve never seen my daughter react so strongly to anything! It was wonderful.

Perfect building of participation, magical, rhythmical, beautiful, funny. Loved it.

Audience comments from TARA ARTS

The audience

For children aged six months to two years.

Audience size

We can accommodate 15 children and 15 accompanying adults. Up to six observers, depending on space available outside the Big Tube.

Running time

40 minutes

Venues

Studio theatres and community centres

The characters

HUFF ‘N PUFF has a tube down which she blows.

TUBEE-DOO is the musician. He has a tube for listening and he uses tubes to produce music.

LOOK ‘N SEE has a looking tube.

Tubes to explore in the waiting room © Amanda Webb

Pre-show – IN THE WAITING ROOM OF WONDER

When possible, we meet the audience in a foyer space away from the performance area, an airlock between the world outside and the world of the performance.

On the floor of this Waiting Room of Wonder is a circular red carpet. On the carpet there are about 50 white plastic tubes of different diameters, all up on their ends, forming a sort of tubey cityscape.

The ushers encourage the carers and the children to play with the tubes. About five minutes before the advertised show time, the cast infiltrate the space one by one and play themselves, taking their time before directly playing with the children. It’s all very low-key.

The vocabulary throughout the performance should be limited to one word, ‘Tube’, if possible.

At show time, the Stage Manager pushes the end of the yellow hosepipe that leads to the Big Tube (performance space) into the waiting-room play area. The hose is discovered by the cast, who then encourage the audience to follow the hose trail to the Big Tube.

If the waiting room is inside the Big Tube itself, the hose coils around the outside of the Big Tube. While the audience is circling this, the Stage Manager puts the seating in place inside.

Tubee-Doo (George Panda) dancing with tube shakers © Patrick Baldwin

Scene 1 – WELCOME TO THE BIG TUBE

The Big Tube is 5m in diameter. The walls are pierced by three major circular openings. Two are entrances: one for the audience and one used by the cast. A third opening allows the big green musical pipes to protrude into the performance space, and above that opening is a large porthole for watching the musician play the instruments.

One aperture allows a clear plastic tube to be pushed into the space. Some glowing balls are delivered down this tube in Scene 6. There are several more portholes at head height that provide views for any outside observers and opportunities for the cast to play peep-po.

The Big Tube sits on a red carpet. The audience sit on the floor with their backs to the wall. Festival chairs provide the adults with back support. Much of the action takes place in the middle of the carpet.

The cast encourage the adults to sit on the floor seats. Each cast member has their own third of the audience to which they pay special attention. The cast have their own places to which they frequently return: TUBEE-DOO to a spot by his big green tubes, HUFF ‘N PUFF in the DS entrance and LOOK ‘N SEE in the US entrance.

Huff ‘N Puff (Ellie