The autumn season at Half Moon Young People’s Theatre kicks off with a new play by Fin Kennedy, We Are Shadows, which runs from 26 September-1 October. The season then continues with a programme of Saturday shows and another Half Moon production, Icicle Bicycle, in November.
We Are Shadows, suitable for young people aged 14 and over, is a hard-hitting, coming-of-age drama, developed in direct contact with young people, that presents a snapshot of contemporary urban life. The play is a series of nine tales in which three actors (Daniel Broadhurst, Tracy Green and Samantha Schefele) portray a group of disconnected young people who face harsh choices in their lives. A chance encounter reveals the invisible links between them all and how an action can unknowingly cast a shadow on someone’s life, plunging their world into darkness.
Kennedy is the author of the award-winning play How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found, and Locked In, which was produced at Half Moon last year.
Half Moon’s comprehensive season of Saturday shows runs throughout the autumn, with productions for all ages. Family show Jabuti begins the season on 29 September, continuing with Lyngo theatre’s Watch The Birdy (6 Oct) and Egg And Spoon (13 Oct), DNA’s Ball Pond Bobby (20 Oct), a family show from Tara Arts called When The Lights Went Out (27 Oct), Danny, King Of The Basement by David S Craig (1 Nov), puppet shows Nobody Rides The Unicorn (3 Nov), Dragon’s Teeth And Other Tales (10 Nov) and The Elves And The Shoemaker (17 Nov), Kazzum’s The Boy Who Grew Flowers (1 Dec), Red Ladder’s drama for teenagers, Doors (6 Dec), Tutti Frutti’s production of Silly Billy (8 Dec) and Krazy Kat’s family show Clownderella. The Saturday shows finish on 22 December with Garlic Theatre’s ecologically-minded take on classic story The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Half Moon presents its second production of the season on 21-24 November. Icicle Bicycle is a show for children aged two to six and is performed with fully integrated British Sign Language. It tells the story of Spike and Bella, who, one chilly winter’s day, wonder what their Grandma gets up to when she goes beyond the garden gate. Following her footsteps through the snow, the children tumble through a frosty hedgerow and discover the faded grandeur of an old circus tent, entering a world of memories where balloon sellers, trapeze artists and high wire acrobats can become a possibility.
Half Moon, based on White Horse Road, aims to produce and present professional theatre for and with children and young people – from birth to age 17 – that informs and challenges their artistic potential. Half Moon shows are presented both at the venue itself and in schools and youth centres.
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