WHAT do we do with the kids? It’s the perennial school holiday question, and as usual, Dorset’s rural touring charity, Artsreach, has some fun events to fill a few colourful, crafty, musical hours.
Sam O’ Shanty has lived his whole life at sea, ever since he first stowed aboard ship when he was just a wee lad. Since then, he has sailed the Seven Seas, from Devonport to Durban Bay, Nantucket to New Guinea, Cape Wrath to the Cape of Good Hope. Now Sam has come ashore with his two shipmates, Davy Lad and Sonny Jim and together they have all manner of marvellous tales to share … stories of beguiling mermaids and batty sea witches, a boisterous retelling of the dastardly Blackbeard’s comeuppance, and tangled yarns of hidden booty and beasties of the deep.
This nautically comic show for all the family, from Angel Heart and Rattlebox, is crammed with facts, fantasy and farce – and the singing of a sea shanty or two. Perfect for children aged four-plus and their families, the show is at Sixpenny Handley village hall at 11am on Monday 17th February, Litton Cheney community hall at 11am on Tuesday 18th and Sturminster Newton Exchange at 11am on Wednesday 19th.
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Can you fit the entire world into just one show? If anybody can, it’s the inimitable Craig Johnson of Squashbox Theatre. Join this intrepid explorer on a breathless race across the planet as he attempts to decipher the clues left by his globe-trotting Great Aunt Gladys – clues that could finally explain her mysterious disappearance! Wonderful World crosses continents, encountering strange and wonderful creatures, meeting crazy characters and learning incredible facts about geography, ecosystems, climate, language and navigation along the way.
Blending ingenious puppetry, fantastic facts, slapstick and live music, Wonderful World will be at 11am at Swanage’s Mowlem theatre on Tuesday 18th February, Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall on Wednesday 19th and Alderholt hall on Thursday 20th. After the show, children can take part in a puppet-making workshop and create articulated card puppets of amazing animals from around the world; workshop places are limited.