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The Elves & The Shoemaker
by Above Boundstheatre, children-and-family
A fun-packed & accessible retelling of a well loved tale, brought right up to date with a modernised setting & the help of a host of puppets
about the production
Two performers tell the story of The Elves & The Shoemaker, physically and with hand made puppets alongside original music. Above Bounds have brought this classic tale right up to date, highlighting modern themes like the gig economy and internet selling and urban isolation albeit in a clownesque, slap-stick way. Part of Above Bounds’ process in revitalising traditional tales is to switch up, or altogether remove inherent gender stereotypes allowing modern, forward thinking audiences to get to the heart of these fantastic stories.
about the artist
Above Bounds are an emerging Theatre Collective who tell stories in a visually exciting way, aiming to educate & inspire with every performance. The collective was formed by Helen Bovey & George Boundy, who graduated from East 15 Acting School in 2013. In 2017, their production of 'The Ugly Duckling & Other Tales' toured 16 venues across the southwest with support from the Bike Shed Theatre, Worboys Productions & Arts Council England. The Production was awarded the encoreinsure.com Brighton Fringe Bursary & nominated for the Balkan/Otherplace Award. In 2015 the company were selected participants of the Worboys Theatre Farm Retreat.
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stage dimensions
width: 3 metres
height: 3 metres
depth: 2 metres
All music is played live. An amp and microphone can be provided by the company. If avaliable an in-house technican for programming and operation of lighting, with cue-sheet and spec provided by the company. If otherwise agreed, a technican can be provided by the company. For non-traditioanl spaces, basic lighting can be provided by the company. Audience interaction is encouraged and actors move into the audience. Minimum get-in time is 2 hours including technical run through. This can be shortened for Festival settings.
Suitable for chilredn aged 3-6 and their families, the style of this production makes it a great offering for pre-vocal children and those with Special Educational needs. As the storytelling is mostly visal it may also appeal to young audiences who are deaf or hard of hearing.
At the end of the show we offer an optional 10 minute, 'meet-the-puppets' expereinces where audience memebers can get a closer look at our hand-made puppets and interact, take photos etc., this is included in the normal production fee/agreement. Additioally we can offer a separate workshop wherre participants make a simple 2D moving peg-puppets inspired by characters from the show. For Older Particpants we can also offer a workshop looking at object manipulation and building characters from found objects. Each of these workshops would last 45 minutes at a negotiable fee of £100 per session.
A full boy-out fee of £350 or an agreed B/O split with a £100 gauruntee per performance. This may be futher negociated if multiple performances are booked or in-kind support offered by the venue.
