Beneath The Banyan Tree Evaluation Report '09

In Partnership with

Evaluation Report ‘09

What We Did… In 2009, Theatre Hullabaloo’s 30 th birthday year, the company took part in an exchange of work with Toronto-based young people’s theatre company. The exchange involved Theatre Hullabaloo taking their Early Years dance installation, Five, to Canada and remaking it with Canadian artists and the creative team from Canada coming to the UK to create a new production of Beneath the Banyan Tree.

Beneath the Banyan Tree toured to national venues and schools in the North East as part of Theatre Hullabaloo’s new programme of work and was the company’s first major national tour. The national tour was supported by funding from Grants for the Arts and the regional tour was in partnership with the Pakistani Cultural Society based in Newcastle.

The co-producing relationship has been a very successful one with each company sharing their specialism and a strong emphasis on artist development at the heart of the exchange. The tour was fully booked with many new and interesting venue relationships. Working with a dedicated press agent meant that the tour received good coverage in both regional and national press, including several positive reviews.

An accompanying education programme in schools, which focussed on Bharatnatyam dance styles and storytelling brought more value to the experience for regional schools who were also supported by a comprehensive teacher resource.

The company also made real progress in the development of marketing materials, use of the new website to maximise social networking as an engagement tool and being able to better support venues in their marketing through the new core staff role of Communications Officer. In some venues, box office returns were a little disappointing, but this is part of a wider decline in attendance and tended to be in venues where work for young people is not a high priority. Supporting venues to attract larger audiences for our work will be a key strategic objective for future touring.

Evaluations from schools are resoundingly positive, many wowed by the quality of the performance and pleased that it had captured their children’s imaginations to such an extent and that even younger children had grasped the important messages within the piece. Family audiences also fed back positively and several people from the South Asian community contacted us directly to say how affirming they had felt the production to be for their children.

We look forward to building on these achievements through our ongoing programme of work.

Where We Performed…

40 performances that visited 10 schools and 16 venues where 3676 children and their grown ups enjoyed the show.

Beneath The Banyan Tree performed a total of

18 Indian Dance pre and post show workshops were carried out in which 518 children took part.

The Venues…

Darlington Arts Centre, Darlington The Crypt, Middlesborough Terry O’Toole Theatre, Lincoln Stratford Circus, London Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexham Northern Stage, Newcastle Nuffield Theatre, Southampton New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth The Arc, Stockton on Tees Norden Farm, Maidenhead South Street Arts Centre, Reading The Rose, Ormskirk York St John University, York Old Town Hall, Gateshead

What They Said…

Grange Primary School, Hartlepool Relevance to age group?

‘Very relevant and the one Asian child we have has come out of her shell at last!’

Children’s reactions?

‘Cannot praise this production highly enough. In Britain today it should be a compulsory show. Some loved the dancing, some the characters and links between them – could go on forever’ Quality and standard of performance?

‘Absolutely superb – unanimous from staff and children’

The Family Audience Steven 6 ‘Best Show Ever’ Dora, 8 ‘Funny and the dancing was really good’ Laura, 5 ‘I really liked all of the show. It was really funny when Anjalis grandmother said the English people wear raincoats in bed. The dancing was good. I will be kind to people from every country.’

Charlie, 9 ‘I thought it told an important message, and it kept you on your feet’ Meg, 8 ‘I liked it all but I especially liked the stories’ Christina, 36 and George, 7 ‘At last, children’s theatre that is truly excellent. Thank you. We look forward to your next show.’

The Press The Stage, Monday 12 October 2009 at 13:15 by Kevin Berry ‘…draws children and their parents in and they are thoroughly absorbed. There is vivid, exciting colour in the costumes and the props, such as an adorable peacock fan, and sweet exhilaration in the free ranging physicality.’

The British Theatre Guide, Review by Peter Lathan (2009) ‘At an hour long, it gripped both children and adults (and this reviewer), enabling us to see both points of view and delight in their reconciliation.’

Darlington & Stockton Times, Friday 16th October 2009, by Peter Ridley ‘Emil Sher’s story has been adapted as an oriental Billy Elliotmeets-Aesop in the dinner break.’

Press Summary…

With the help of Duncan

Clarke, Freelance PR Consultant, Beneath the Banyan Tree achieved 37 editorial pieces in local, regional and national newspapers and also in specialist arts magazines. This coverage includes 5 reviews of the show, 7 radio interviews and a TV promotional piece focusing on the experience of the children watching the show.

What The Venues Said…

Stratford Circus, London ‘The show was beautifully presented, with stunning costumes and design. A lovely story. All the audience members gave favourable feedback and were fascinated by the colours and costume and how the props were made.’

The Arc, Stockton on Tees ‘ I really enjoyed the show and the spectacle was fantastic… and it really worked for the target age group.’

Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury ‘Publicity materials were great, great image and clear description of show.’

The Creative Team…

Cast & Crew Archana Ballal - Anjali John Afzal - Maitri/Gampu the Elephant Paul Conway - Aidan/Bundar the Monkey Grethe Jensen - Ajji/Savannah/Morni the Peacock Adrian 'Mitch' Mitchell - Stage Manager

Creative Team Lynda Hill - Artistic Director Emil Sher - Playwright Lata Pada - Choreographer Cheryl Lalonde - Set and Costume Design Edgardo Moreno - Sound Design and Composition Michael Kruse - Lighting Designer Alison Ashton - Design Coordinator Chitraleeka Bolar - Supervising Choreographer Lisa Baxter - Marketing Consultant Duncan Clarke - Press and PR

For Theatre Hullabaloo Miranda Thain - Creative Producer Diann Allenby - Tour Coordinator Dorcas Pye - Communications Officer Anna Harris - Finance & Office Manager