(Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)
Forming a theatre company was a daunting but exciting task that was easier than first expected. The 10 of us within the group knew from the start of the semester that we wished to collaborate with one another, the idea of working with talented likeminded people to create a piece of theatre we all felt passionately about was an exciting prospect. We felt that as a cast and creative team it was important to create theatre that evoked some kind of emotion in us but also hopefully within our prospective audience. We discussed many ideas and researched certain events to try to find the basis of our show. We eventually decided on space with the moon landings in 1969 being our inspiration. We discovered that the Space Race would be an interesting and effective vehicle in which to explore a ‘coming of age’ story. After the Second World War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other in the Cold War as to who was the more superior power, the Space Race came out of this and “beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition” (History). Therefore this ‘dramatic battle’ that culminated in something that would change the world and it’s future forever stood out to us. The idea that a young boy could grow and learn through something as famous and iconic as the Space Race was an exciting opportunity for us as a theatre company. As the world’s knowledge grew and expanded as they explored the universe in the 1960s so would the life and knowledge of the little boy in our story as he too explored the universe around him.
The next big decision we faced as a company was how to tell the story of this small boy named Sam. The Space Race spanned over ten years so fitting all the events of the race into an hour would be an impossible task. Therefore a non-naturalistic style of theatre was adopted due to the amount of content and inevitable time jumps. We felt that the most effective method of portraying the life and emotions of Sam alongside that of the Space Race was best done through physical theatre with small snippets of dialogue to explain his inner thoughts. Due to the makeup of the company and the roles that individuals wished to undertake backstage our cast was made up of six girls and one boy. Therefore our story became about Sam, the little boy, and his mother with the six of us alternating as the mother figure, later called Barbara. Our story was to focus on Sam, therefore when not playing Barbara the six of us would become the physical theatre elements of Sam’s imagination. The story was not to be about us but about Sam, we served only to help tell his story. Imagination was a key theme we wished to explore in regards to Sam because “young children often learn about historical events, different cultures or people that they will never meet, and imaginative play is a way for them to discover the world that surrounds them” (1st Place, 2015). With the decision to represent Sam’s imagination on stage we were blessed with the gift of complete creative freedom. A child’s imagination is one of the most powerful tools at their disposal, it “is the source of all human achievement” (1st Place, 2015). This is because imagination:
“ – ignites passion
– helps create our future
– stimulates creativity and innovation”
(Serf- Walls, 2014)
All of which were effects the Space Race had on the world at the time. It ignited passion and helped to create the world we know today and stimulated untold creativity and innovation. Space to this day continues to fascinate and intrigue us. With the discovery of space we found a timeless theme that we were all able to connect with.
1st Place (2015) 1st Place: The Importance of Imagination in Children’s Development. [online] 1st Place. Available from http://www.1stplace.uk.com/the-importance-of-imagination-and-creativity-in-childrens-development/ [Accessed 20 February 2016].
History History: The Space Race – Facts & Summary. [online] A&E Television Networks, LLC. Available from http://www.history.com/topics/space-race [Accessed 20 February 2016].
Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts (2016) How I Got To The Moon And Back [image]. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums/72157668377551582 [Accessed 24 May 2016].
Serf-Walls, L. (2014) Huffington Post: 5 Reasons Imagination is More Important than Reality. [online] Huffington Post. Available from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lamisha-serfwalls/5-reasons-imagination-is-_b_6096368.html [Accessed 20 February 2016].