Fresh air theatre is a not-for-profit company that was set up to produce drama work which explores environmental and social issues. It creates original performances aiming to communicate and inspire people. The performances are interactive, highly visual and great fun. An important part of fresh air theatre's work is with young people, many of whom have not had much experience of live performance. We do not fit our productions to suit the demands of the curriculum although our work aims to be of relevance and interest to young people.
Our current production is "A Need For Speed" a performance about sustainable transport. There is a lot of emphasis on physical health in schools these days and children are encouraged to walk or cycle to school through various programs. We want to make sure that they really understand why it is so important. The links between the planet, their health and car use are not always made clear for them, so having created two larger than life characters, a whole world of mime, bucket loads of comedy and a huge amount of audience interaction we attempt to do just that. A giant metal cage is the car of choice from which the audience sees how traffic jams cause frustration and stress. Whilst sailing across the sea we show oil pollution, from a mountain we take in the view dominated by landfill owing to unrecyclable car parts and up in a hot air balloon we find global warming and asthma caused by driving cars. However, it is hard for the audience to stay gloomy for long when we show that there are real solutions to these problems by making thoughtful and intelligent travel choices. It is great to show children that they really have power to do something about this issue.
The performance is only half of the experience for we also lead the children in drama workshops. For the really little ones we practise crossing the road and debate whether building more roads in the countryside is a good idea. The older children take part in a demonstration of how carbon dioxide is causing global warming. It's great to see the light go on when children make the link between trees and plants taking in carbon dioxide and the fact that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to climate change. We also discuss advertising and the power of persuasion. They start to see how ridiculous some of the images they are shown in adverts really are. So they make their own adverts to persuade each other that sustainable transport, such as cycling, walking or even rowing a boat, makes sense. It's great to see children co-operating and negotiating their ideas whilst creating a performance, and we are always amazed by the sophistication and imagination that they are capable of in presenting them.
There is always one bright spark who wants to know how we have travelled that day. Sometimes we have to drive to the schools because public transport is not quite what it could be. However, we have taken steps. When we arrive at a school, are asked where our van is, and we point to our tiny Volkswagen Lupo, we are often met with a little disappointment, "What kind of theatre show is this?" However, 45 minutes later when they see a whole theatre set in their hall, people can't believe it. Our little vehicle does 70 miles to the gallon on recycled vegetable oil thanks to a conversion the guys at Dieselveg did for us. We don't believe that biofuels are any kind of solution to our transport problems but recycling a used product does feel positive.
Some people ask if there is really any point to what we are doing. Of course it is adults who buy the cars and it is adults who drive them, but children are the next generation of car drivers. They also hold a lot of influence over their parents. We hope to inspire young people with ideas of how they can use their influence and they are going to need to use this if they want a planet that can sustain them through their adulthood.
www.freshairtheatre.co.uk
