Arts / ‘Something very special indeed’ – ALICE theatre show a big success
WITH nearly 100 young performers, the ALICE Theatre Project’s recent Saga Stanes show was pretty big – and that is not including its many volunteers helping out with its production too.
But perhaps most impressive was that the drama show – held in the Mareel auditorium twice on Sunday 22 June – featured stories, scripts, characters and design created by the young people themselves.
Reflecting on the big day, managing director Stephenie Georgia said she “couldn’t be more proud”.
The Saga Stanes was the fifth large-scale production for ALICE Theatre Project, a local not-for-profit community interest company that holds weekly theatre and performance classes for children aged P1 to S1.
Georgia said the roots of the show stemmed back to August, where youngsters started working on a theme of ‘Shetland’ – exploring culture, identify and “our sense of place”.
“Following an away day team building at local historical sites with our young volunteers, the theme of ‘listening to stones’ started to evolve and it eventually became ‘The Saga Stanes’,” she said.
Since January all young performers – from as young as four years old – explored the theme of ‘sagas’, considering their relevance today.
“This led to each class devising their own ‘saga’ entirely from their own ideas, experiments and imaginations,” Georgia said.
“From angler fish, to gods, to stories of creation and nature – and even a few dinosaurs – our incredible young companies were able to see that everything they can dream up in their imaginations really can come true with a little creativity, teamwork and bravery,” she added.
Georgia thanked ghostwriter Lesley Leslie for her support in bringing the ideas together, as well as local group Shetland ForWirds for guidance on the use of language – not just Shetland’s, with but old Norse and Scots too.
When you add the production team to the list of 96 performers, the headcount for The Saga Stanes was more than 123.
A 16-strong ALICE youth production team also benefited from a learning trip to Liverpool, where they worked with award-winning theatre practitioners Chris ‘Tomo’ Tomlinson and movement director Grace Goulding.
“Our youth production team are ambassadors for our values and each has the potential to become a talented theatre maker in their own right,” Georgia said.
“Supporting home-grown talent goes right to the heart of what we do at ALICE and we are so pleased we have been able to offer this deserving young group such a rich experience this year.
“Between them they have contributed over 1,000 hours of volunteering in the past year alone, not including their work over the past two months.”
She also had a range of thanks to give – from Mareel and Shetland Arts to Historic Environment Scotland, after youngsters held sessions at Jarlshof and Fort Charlotte.
Georgia also said Saga Stanes would not have been possible without financial support from the Viking Community Benefit Fund and Zetland Educational Trust.
Outside of the show, ALICE has four creative theatre classes led by Georgia, and two creative music classes overseen by music practitioner Suzanne Briggs, with all taking place at the Islesburgh Community Centre in Lerwick on Saturdays during term time.
She said ALICE will be opening for new registrations in August.
Georgia highlighted how the group works by a series of overarching values – ‘celebrate diversity, ‘embrace curiosity, ‘nurture bravery and ‘cultivate joy’.
She added that she “couldn’t be more proud of ALICE Theatre Project this year”, saying “each and every performer achieved something special, individually and as a collective”.
“I am so proud of the finished result, the plays, the performances, the creativity,” Georgia said.
“But more so, I am incredibly proud of the kindness, support and generosity each member of our companies gives each other as they bravely step into the unknown.
“Every theatre show is magic, but seeing this wonderful little community come together is something very special indeed and it is an honour to work as their director.”
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