The
last few months have been something of an artistic nightmare for Gill Robertson
and Catherine Wheels, the internationally renowned theatre company who have
blazed a trail in making theatre for children and young people over the last
two decades. This might have something to do with Eddie & the Slumber Sisters,
the company’s ambitious new co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland,
in which an Andrews Sisters-styled all-gal vocal trio act are charged with
getting children’s dreams back on track and the little ones kept safe from
harm. Scripted by Anita Vettesse and with music by Danny Krass, Eddie & the
Slumber Sisters opened this weekend before a Scotland-wide tour of theatres and
village halls, where audiences of eight and over are immersed in Slumber HQ
“We
were originally going to fil the halls with beds and tell bedtime stories,”
says Robertson. “Then we started thinking about dreams, and came up with this
story about a little girl whose granny dies, and whose dreams become nightmares
because, even though she’s okay, she doesn’t know what’s going on, because her
parents are trying to protect her by not letting her go to the funeral and not
telling her what’s happened.
“Then
we had this idea about the Slumber Sisters, who aren’t angels, but are ethereal
beings who’ve been with us since the beginning of time, and are this 1940s,
Andrews Sisters inspired close harmony trio. Their aim is to make sure that
children’s nightmares turn into dreams so they have beautiful sleep.”
Inspiration
for Eddie & the Slumber Sisters aren’t exactly kid’s stuff.
I was
very taken by what Powell and Pressburger did in A Matter of Life and Death,”
says Robertson. “In the back of my head as well I was thinking of The Singing
Detective.”
Robertson’s
first reference is to Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s classic 1946
film, a celestial fantasia, in which a British World War Two pilot argues his
way back to life by way of a spirit guide after his plane is shot down. Her
second nod is to the late Dennis Potter’s equally classic 1986 TV series, in
which a mystery writer hospitalised with extreme psoriasis has visions of all
about him lip-synching to 1940s pop songs in a series of surreal and
elaborately choreographed routines.
“The
Slumber Sisters actually only do one song from that era,” says Robertson. “They
do songs by Elvis and the Beach Boys, and their singing and being in time with
each other enables them to do their job properly. Because the cast are doing
this right next to an audience of eight-year-olds, and because the singing is
so beautiful, the kids are a little bit blown away by it all, and the whole
story becomes an adventure.”
For
all its fun and games, Eddie & the Slumber Sisters takes an inherently
serious look at how children deal with the death of a loved one.
“We
wanted to take Eddie’s grief seriously,” says Robertson. “We did a lot of
research into kids and grief, and how adults handle that. I think we’re getting
better at it, but we still don’t do that very well. By not letting them go to
the funeral we think we’re protecting them from what is a very painful
experience, but how much do we tell them?
“In
our story we deliberately decided to have a granny who Eddie loses. Losing a
parent would’ve been too much for this story, so we have a mum and dad in a
busy household, and each member of the family is dealing with things in
different ways.”
Robertson
and the rest of Catherine Wheels were in development for Eddie & the
Slumber Sisters when the company’s real life nightmare began. That was in
January, when Catherine Wheels were inexplicably cut as a regularly funded
organisation by Scotland’s arts funding quango, Creative Scotland. The company
weren’t alone, as, along with several other theatre companies, artist-led
galleries and other organisations, all children’s theatre companies were axed
from Creative Scotland’s RFO portfolio. This was despite the fact that those
companies, like Catherine Wheels, have helped transform children’s theatre in
Scotland on a par with far better resourced organisations abroad. Given that
the announcement came in the first few weeks of the Scottish Government backed
Year of Young People 2018, it wasn’t a great look.
Within
days, however, much publicised outrage, both from the public and within the
children and young people’s theatre sector, forced Creative Scotland into a
humiliating U-turn, as regular funding for Catherine Wheels and four other
organisations was reinstated. The fall-out of the arts funding body’s latest
crisis may appear to have dissipated since then, but serious questions remain
regarding the credibility of those who oversaw the original decisions, and how
they came to be made.
“The
whole experience was obviously very traumatic,” says Robertson, “and we
immediately went into fighting mode. We were able to galvanise ourselves,
because we can be light on our feet. It’s very clear what we’re about, which is
theatre for children and young people, so we can focus all our energies on
that.”
While
Catherine Wheels may be on a sound footing for the time being, the company’s
recent experience has wider ramifications for Scotland’s world-class children
and young people’s theatre-makers that have opened up a potential for change.
“In
children’s theatre we need to go back to what it was like twenty-five years ago
when funding for it was ring-fenced,” says Robertson. “We need theatre for
children and young people to be protected and seen as a sector in a way it
wasn’t at Creative Scotland, who saw it as a genre. I think everyone no looks
fondly at the old Scottish Arts Council days, which, for all its faults, was
made up of people who knew the companies, knew the scene, and knew what was
going on.”
As
she talks, Robertson is pounced upon by designer Karen Tennent, wielding a
sword made of sticky-backed plastic. Such an assault jolts her, not so much
back to the reality of running an artistically successful children’s theatre
company such as Catherine Wheels, as the land of make-believe where Eddie &
the Slumber Sisters serenade the sweetest of dreams. It also sums up one of
Catherine Wheels’ greatest strengths; a sense of play in everything they do.
Eddie & the Slumber Sisters is testament to this.
“For
me,” says Robertson, “the great thing about Eddie and the Slumber Sisters is
that this really heart-felt story is being told in an immersive environment by
these top quality singers, but it’s more than that. It raises questions about
how children deal with grief in a way that makes for a special experience. If
it was just pure entertainment I’m not sure I could do that, because that’s not
really me, but what we’ve got here isn’t just a play that you watch. It’s
something the audience are right in the middle of. It’s an event.”
Eddie
& the Slumber Sisters, Corn Exchange, Haddington, May 2-3; Volunteer Hall,
Galashiels, May 5; Dunoon Burgh Hall, May 9; Raasay Community Hall, May 12;
Macphail Centre, Ullapool, May 14; Mareel Theatre, Lerwick, May 18; Cumnock
Town Hall, May 21, Clarkston Hall, May 23; Castle Douglas Town Hall, May 27;
Edinburgh International Children’s Festival @ Southside Community Centre, May
30-June 3.
The Herald, May 1st 2018
ends
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