A new children’s show by Snap Elastic is on tour across Scotland from today, and flies into the Storytelling Centre on Saturday 10 November to entertain with a tale of friendship that also brings a social message.
‘Puffin’ is the story of how a girl meets a puffin, and a puffin meets a girl, and how their friendship raises questions, teaching them to deal with change in our uncertain world, even climate change.
Music, song and movement come together in a fun exploration of our relationships with and our responsibilities to each other, wildlife and the world around us.
Why do clouds multiply in inexplicable ways?
Why do sand eels just disappear from the sea?
Snap Elastic is a new, artist-led ensemble made up of theatre makers Alice Mary Cooper, Eszter Marsalkó and Claire Willoughby. Their mission is to create work that makes a real connection between the art and its audience – sparking a healthy debate between peers, teachers, children and families – aiming to make the audience feel connected, present and important.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre is delighted to support this new ensemble, and welcome back Alice Mary Cooper, who charmed audiences during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with her one-woman show, ‘Waves’, which won the Dark Chat Best Performance in a Children’s Show!
It was Alice’s experience working at the Scottish Seabird Centre that ruffled her feathers of creativity for the show, as she states:
‘I was working at the Scottish Seabird Centre performing shows about seabirds for young people, and the Centre’s mascot is a puffin. I couldn’t help but notice how quickly and excitedly young people went toward it – there’s something infectiously happy and inherently funny about puffins, the “clowns of the sea”, but although perceived as joyous birds, there’s a serious threat to their survival as a direct result of climate change.
‘Due to warming seas, their food source is travelling further and further north, pushing them extreme distances to fish, away from their homes. This fragile and likeable creature faces real problems due to human induced global warming and I think it’s the perfect character to help engage children and young people in discussion about, and hopefully, action on climate change.’
Did you know?
- Puffins are one of only a few birds that can hold several fish in their bills at one time. They can gather, on average, around ten sand eels on a single foraging trip, meaning they can bring more food back to their chicks; they don’t have to regurgitate the meal for the young either.
- For all their cuteness, Puffins are tough. They can stay out at sea for 3 years without ever going in to land!
To find out more about these wonderful creatures and be entertained along the way, come along on Saturday 10 November.
Show starts at 11am and is suitable for everyone 7+ years.
