Lead Artist: Eoin McKenzie
Trainee Artist: Francesca McCoy
Artist Eoin McKenzie and Francesca McCoy worked together with two Primary 3 classes at St David's RC Primary School in Muirhouse in Edinburgh.
They led a collaborative process exploring the possibilities of the stage, the live moment – the anticipation of an audience watching with bated breath; the thrill of lights dimming and silence swallowing the room just before something starts; and the slight magic of people gathering in the act of being spectators.
The project invited the young artists to re-imagine classical theatrical texts such as Hamlet and Waiting for Godot, concoct their own performance actions for the stage, and to shape the kind of experience they would like their school community to be part of. The project culminated with the young artists presenting an original performance to an invited audience.
Eoin said: "I’m excited to be exploring important questions about the role of theatre and performance with these brilliant groups of young artists. I've been thinking a lot about how the stage can be used to see and hear young people in a way that they aren’t typically offered – and for me as an artist to find ways of seeing the joys and complexities of being an 8-year-old! But also for the wider exploration of this process, which is an inquiry into the relevance of theatre in our lives – and as a mediator of connection – as we continue to reconfigure our communities in response to Covid-19 and the rapidly-evolving modern world."