We arrived at Botlhale Primary school one very hot morning in Gaborone, Botswana - there is nothing quite like the Botswana heat - its dry and close - as if the sun were almost touching you - fine dust sits in the air the way salt hangs in the air at the coast. And it's 6am.
Our two cars packed to the roof with props, set pieces and costumes... We were shown into the school hall where the performance was due to take place in about an hour. I casually checked the number of students... and - just cos I'm pedantic - the grades of the students. 150 junior primary students! The average age was between 5 and 7... We had never performed to such a young audience. We set up as quickly as possible and reworked the show - to completely simplify the story line.
We were competing for their attention not only against the heat, with the fairly complex story line, but a small bird had managed to get itself trapped in the hall and flew from window to window desperate to get out... but amazingly we managed. I love in the small clip we got on my stills camera - hence the quality of the footage - how they all go quiet when 'Theodore' tries to get 'Lerato's' attention.
It was such a liberating show actually... we were able to do things that you can't normally do - like ask the kids if they're following the story... let them ask questions in the middle of scene... negotiate who is going to come up for the audience participation...
It was fun - but the show is still really for older kids!
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