Creative youth company Studio 18 and St James Cavalier have joined forces to bring to life a stage show aimed at children between the ages of five and 10.
The Brat and That! introduces audiences to Maia, a troublemaker who is nasty to other children. As the story unfolds, Maia goes on a fantastic journey with the mysterious Munfipuss, which sees them meeting with extraordinary creatures, bizarre minions and one cheeky villain on an adventure that transforms Maia’s life forever.
The show itself takes a different approach, using storytelling techniques that make use of several exciting mediums.
“It’s a fun show with a lot of play and storytelling. It is only about an hour long, which means kids won’t get bored,” says Jean-Marc Cafà, the creative director of Studio 18. “It is not a musical, pantomime or play, but rather a show that makes use of colours, instruments and sounds that will grip its young audience.
“To create this show we held a number of workshops and brainstorming sessions with creatives, during which we worked with different stimuli, puppets and music. Ultimately, we took a number of fairy tales, looked at what they had in common, what worked, what didn’t, and created a mash up,” Cafà said.
The Brat and That! also ties in with Studio 18’s ethos to help young creatives grow, both as artists as well as responsible citizens, with the piece also allowing these young individuals to further their knowledge and creativity, and put their new knowledge into practice.
“A lot of the people who have worked on this are very new to devising a piece, which included putting instrumental pieces together, sourcing props, and coming up with designs for how some creatures would look. To help them make the most of their abilities and achieve the best results, we set up workshops with Chris Gatt, Simone Spiteri and Daniel Cauchi. The results are wonderful and will all be on view in The Brat and That! ”
The production aims to bring back the magic of the theatre to a generation that is usually more focused on video games and television, encouraging the mind to wander through magic and wonder.
Cafà hoped that the work would prove that children can also be part of a theatre’s target audience.
The Brat and That! runs between tomorrow and December 20 for schools, and on December 21, 22 and from December 27 to 29 for the public at St James Cavalier. For bookings call on 2122 3200 or 2122 3216, or send an e-mail to boxoffice@sjcar.org.