To Waterloo

 The following journal is best read to the soundtrack of Waterloo by ABBA 

Aboard the double-decker bus, the troupe passed the theatre where Mamma Mia is playing. Some are unaware of the Mamma Miaverse they have entered. Sweaty little adults shake off their sleep as they wander through the morning maze of transportation. A walk, a swipe, a hustle, a wait, an oyster card, a discount Pret coffee, a forgotten lunch, a dead headphone.  The troupe of educators arrives at Waterloo station. The conversation takes a turn on the train route from Waterloo to Wimbledon, where the conversation starts flowing energetically like a tennis match. 

Here is where the interviews begin. 

Polka is a shared experience of surprise and delight. Tiny children, perhaps five years old, are exceedingly well-behaved in their tiny fluorescent vests. The content of the show, Paper Dolls, is moving in its portrayal of loss in the eyes of a child, her relationship with her mother, and the worlds she imagines with her toys. The staging was so imaginative with puppetry, particularly in the movement of small marionette & wired creatures. The directing took such care in the movement, and the performance was tightly executed to the recorded soundtrack, seamlessly. This became a theme as the artistic director Peter Glanville toured the educators through the space, even showing a snippet of a children's production rehearsal of dozens of students, likely anxious at the surprise audience of adults. He outlined: their funding model; the dedication to providing quality theatre to children, since they deserve it; the nine million pound budget; the versatile spaces for immersive experience, relaxation, and breaks; neurodivergent and accessibility accommodations; programming to schools, outreach, resource guides, and it felt so comprehensive it was hard to think of something that might be missing.

Then off we went back to our commute. Soundtracked to this: 

Once fed, the educators returned to their NYU London Campus classroom. Here they were led in a workshop with Carl Miller, Tony Graham, and observed by Cecily O'Neill. These creators of Unicorn theatre & other work tackled through layered exercises piecing together the emotionality of teenage Antigone going against her father's wishes in a treasonous act of proper burial. Through putting together puzzle pieces of script, improvising dialogue from different perspectives, and creating dynamic tableaus. Group work continued to be a theme in this afternoon's process.

Stills from the experience follow: