The 14th Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, Ireland’s flagship Festival for Children and Families celebrates a programme full of wonder and delight this year. See the magic of well-known stories like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Jack (and the Beanstalk), The Gingerbread Man, Gugalaí Gug! - Beo and The Secret Garden come to dazzling life on the stage. Special treats are also in store for everyone with free exhibitions, readings and the very first Silent Disco for young people. This great week of events will be in ever family friendly Galway as a Festival from the 11th to the 17th October.
The biggest programme and largest weekend programme to date will feature artists and companies from Scotland, Germany, Spain, Canada, Italy, France and a particularly strong Irish programme featuring Ciotóg, Futa Fata, Miriam Lambert Puppeteer, Barnstorm Theatre, Moonfish Theatre, Róisín Beag Silent Disco, Macnas, Spud and Yam, visual art exhibitions Inscape, Enchanted, Reminders of Then and authors Patricia Forde and David Donohue presenting inspirational work for children and adults alike.
Highlights include, lL Cubo Magico by Pandemonium Teatro where two Italian clowns create an hysterically funny world full of horses, castles and beautiful women from a stage full of multicoloured cubes. Catherine Wheels Theatre from Scotland presents the breathtakingly beautiful, gentle and magical theatre production White, 2010 winner of the Edinburgh Fringe First and Total Theatre Awards. Ciotóg presents See Saw, a dance show for early years to explore dance in their own way. Gugalaí Gug! – Beo by Futa Fata brings together three generations of Conamara voice in Irish music, song, poetry and dance.
As a special treat Baboró present the first ever Róisín Beag Silent Disco for young people. Puppetry features in The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other Favourites by Eric Carle from Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, when Carle’s beloved stories are presented in this stunning blacklight puppet production. Miriam Lambert Puppeteer brings the age-old tale, The Gingerbread Man to life in her own unique way and Barnstorm Theatre presents Jack a quirky take on Jack and The Beanstalk in a visually exciting high energy performance served up with music, dance, singing and puppetry.
Echoa by Arcosm is one of the hottest tickets on the international circuit. This charismatic group of dancers and drummers create an electrifying performance of exhilarating dance and percussion that enchants children and adults alike. Teatro Paraiso presents Kri Kra Kro a mix of live and amazing digital magic that takes two friends on a fantastic journey without ever leaving the stage. Emerging Galway company Moonfish Theatre present The Secret Garden based on the classic children’s book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Visual Arts features Inscape a Group Exhibition exploring ideas of landscape and place; real, remembered and imaginary, by artists Christine Mackey, Ann Quinn, Julie Merriman and Marielle MacLeman. From Garter Lane Arts Centre comes Enchanted that celebrates illustrations from children’s books which feature ravenous beasts and many wonderful creatures published by award-winning illustrators Annie West, Adrienne Geoghegan, Bruce Ingman, Niamh Sharkey and Oisín McGann. Baboró Avatar brochure artist, Morgan O’Brien presents a beautiful watercolour exhibition Reminders of Then.
Literary readings will feature Frogs Do Not Like Dragons by Patricia Forde founding member and board member of Baboró, which tells the story of Lola, a bathroom, a witch and a dragon. David Donohue who will speak and writes backwards effortlessly like his character Walter Speazlebud and read from his two books featuring Walter, who intends to visit the moon by using his power of noitanigami.
Baboró On Tour will take Ciotóg’s dance production See Saw for parents and early years to Seanscoil Sailearna, Indreabhán. Miriam Lambert brings The Gingerbread Man to Kinvara Community Centre – in the boot of her car! Spud and Yam return to Baboró to perform a multicultural mix of lively music and stories in selected schools in County Galway.
In line with the Festival’s policy on access and development of the arts, Baboró will present Professional Development Opportunities for artists and teachers. Galway One World Centre will present a Global Education Workshop for Primary Teachers to explore practical, simple and creative tools for prompting children to explore global justice issues, and a teachers workshop from Spud and Yam on multicultural education through story and song. The Puppet in the Classroom by Miriam Lambert Puppeteer explores creative techniques and uses of puppetry in the classroom for teachers and trainee teachers.
The Spotlight On….Series continues as Baboró looks at other countries for inspiration in the development of quality programming for children. This year the Spotlight is on Germany featuring Theater Mummpitz production of The Terrific Adventures of Brave Johanna WoodSword an avid reader whose heroine is Joan of Arc. Helios Theater of Hamm presents Holzklopfen [Woodbeat] where a percussionist and a puppeteer create a land of wood and music for children to enter and explore on their own. New this year is the Talking About….Series, the topic is The Arts for Early Years, exploring the growing interest worldwide in the arts for 0 to 6 year olds. This forum is an opportunity to explore what artists from three of the companies presenting at Baboró have to say about creating their work, and the response to it. These fora continue the dialogue from the Natural Born Artists Conference 2009 presented by Baboró.
The full 2010 Festival Programme is available at www.baboro.ie.
The Festival Box Office will open Thursday 16th September at the Town Hall Theatre, Courthouse Square, Galway. Phone +353 (0) 91 569 777 Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm or online 24/7 at www.tht.ie and on www.baboro.ie.
Tickets cost €8, Family Ticket of 4 €25, Family Workshops €5, Groups of 10+ €6.50 per ticket and Forum and Teacher Workshop Tickets €10. For information on School Bookings contact Baboró at 091 62667. Find them also on Facebook and Twitter for up to the minute Festival news.