East London children’s theatre specialists Half Moon Theatre are putting the family sofa in the front row with new digital productions of Paper Aeroplane and The House That Jackson Built, live-recorded at Half Moon Theatre over the past few months and professionally filmed and edited.
The productions, which will be screened on Saturday 14 November and Saturday 28 November 2020, form part of Half Moon’s autumn season of work for young people and are free to watch, though donations are being encouraged. Every two weeks Half Moon will release a new production, with screening tickets giving access to the production for seven days.
Closed captions and a BSL interpreted film of the shows are available for both productions. Audiences will also be sent a series of accompanying online workshop activities to take part in after watching the shows.
Paper Aeroplane, screening at 11am on Saturday 14 November, was developed with children who have shared their experiences of losing loved ones. The show, by Lots of Odds and presented by Half Moon, is for ages 3-7 and sensitively explores loss and bereavement, the challenges we face when trying to move on, and how we can help one another along the way. Lift-off on a journey full of music, physicality and zooming paper aeroplanes, where sometimes the skies are not as clear as we first think.
The House That Jackson Built is for ages 4-10 and is being shown at 11am on Saturday 28 November. Celebrating books and the joy of reading, this magical spoken word theatre show, by Justin Coe and presented by Half Moon, delights in family, recycling and the power of imagination. It features a larger than life pop-up book and thrilling adventures, including a giant who cannot say “fee-fi-fo-fum”, an elephant professor and the Wordy Birdie.
Chris Elwell, Director of Half Moon, commented: “We are delighted to be able to put the best seats in the house into your own home with our new digital productions of Paper Aeroplane and The House That Jackson Built. If audiences are unable to come to Half Moon, then we are thrilled that we can come to them with these new productions, filmed over the last few months at Half Moon Theatre. In these difficult and uncertain times these new live-recorded shows offer young people the opportunity to journey into new worlds and experience the power of theatre, from the comfort of their own homes.”
Paper Aeroplane and The House That Jackson Built form part of Half Moon Presents, the producing arm of Half Moon Theatre, supporting the promotion and development of theatre for young audiences at a national and international level.
Half Moon’s digital season of work was made possible by funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, distributed by City Bridge Trust through the London Community Response Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players for making this possible.
More information can be found here
