ASSITEJ South Africa
Interview
By Ndalo Mbombo
Interview
By Ndalo Mbombo
“Growing up and growing together through theatre.”
This is the motivation behind the imaginative work from ASSITEJ, a network of artists, educators, organisations and institutions who have come back to the National Arts Festival with a bounty of theatre for young audiences. Launched at NAF in 2007, ASSITEJ is a global network of artists eager to tell stories to children and young audiences.
Executive director Yvette Hardie said that audiences had been enthralled during performances from the 19 shows under the ASSITEJ banner. “It is quiet, but also there have been lovely engaged audiences. We have enjoyed having a venue close to our sister venues and the Village Green.
“Parents have been saying it is great to have children’s shows so close, and we have a lovely collaboration with the children’s activation tent.
“It feels like the [NAF] experience for families is better this year. We have brought shows for children from as young as two, to young adults. We try to be very specific about what is appropriate for which ages.
“We try to conscientise our artists and audiences about age appropriateness. If you think about children’s development, children go through different phases, and in those phases, they have different interests and capabilities.”
According to its website, the organisation hopes to build this sector by “supporting and developing the artists, empowering education through the performing arts, creating strategies for access to the arts, and advocating for the role of the arts as an essential right of every child and young person.
“When you introduce children to theatre you are introducing them to imaginative worlds they might never get exposed to,” Hardie said. “It is an opportunity to build their empathy muscles.
“You are giving them a platform to think critically about the world around them and have an opinion about it. That is what theatre does — it creates dialogue around important issues.”
Hardie said she hoped to see the works grow, that artists continue to develop their work, and that the State Theatre would create more space for theatre for young audiences in their own programmes.
This includes shows like Butterfly Heart/Serurubele, which unpacks grief; interactive dance show The Forest, children’s show I Don’t Believe in Dinosaurs; Umbhobho — The Red Pipe, and more. “We have brought a great diversity of programming. From serious work about loss, to fun clowning work, to socially conscious work in a variety of styles.
“Theatre is a space of engagement with the world, it allows us to dive into our inner and outer worlds, to grow and develop as human beings,” Hardie said.
This is the motivation behind the imaginative work from ASSITEJ, a network of artists, educators, organisations and institutions who have come back to the National Arts Festival with a bounty of theatre for young audiences. Launched at NAF in 2007, ASSITEJ is a global network of artists eager to tell stories to children and young audiences.
Executive director Yvette Hardie said that audiences had been enthralled during performances from the 19 shows under the ASSITEJ banner. “It is quiet, but also there have been lovely engaged audiences. We have enjoyed having a venue close to our sister venues and the Village Green.
“Parents have been saying it is great to have children’s shows so close, and we have a lovely collaboration with the children’s activation tent.
“It feels like the [NAF] experience for families is better this year. We have brought shows for children from as young as two, to young adults. We try to be very specific about what is appropriate for which ages.
“We try to conscientise our artists and audiences about age appropriateness. If you think about children’s development, children go through different phases, and in those phases, they have different interests and capabilities.”
According to its website, the organisation hopes to build this sector by “supporting and developing the artists, empowering education through the performing arts, creating strategies for access to the arts, and advocating for the role of the arts as an essential right of every child and young person.
“When you introduce children to theatre you are introducing them to imaginative worlds they might never get exposed to,” Hardie said. “It is an opportunity to build their empathy muscles.
“You are giving them a platform to think critically about the world around them and have an opinion about it. That is what theatre does — it creates dialogue around important issues.”
Hardie said she hoped to see the works grow, that artists continue to develop their work, and that the State Theatre would create more space for theatre for young audiences in their own programmes.
This includes shows like Butterfly Heart/Serurubele, which unpacks grief; interactive dance show The Forest, children’s show I Don’t Believe in Dinosaurs; Umbhobho — The Red Pipe, and more. “We have brought a great diversity of programming. From serious work about loss, to fun clowning work, to socially conscious work in a variety of styles.
“Theatre is a space of engagement with the world, it allows us to dive into our inner and outer worlds, to grow and develop as human beings,” Hardie said.
* additional reporting by Rosa-Karoo Loewe, Daily Dispatch.
