It all started with a musical tree
Our Creative Director David Gibb describes how he stumbled into the world of family theatre, with the help of some design wizardy…
Around four years ago I decided that the title of my new album for families was going to be Climb That Tree. Around this time I was getting lots of enquiries from theatres asking if I’d play a family concert for them. With this in mind I decided that when I toured this next album I wanted the show to be a touch more theatrical. However, I was also very cautious about stepping into the unknown. At this point I knew very little about children’s theatre, and even less about how to produce a theatre show in general. I was also wary of having to do any ‘acting’. I’d done a lot of storytelling and loved chatting to audiences on stage, but the idea of having a script and learning lines made me want to run for the hills.
So, how could I make a family gig more visually appealing and theatrical whilst ensuring that music and song still remained the focus? The solution I came up with was a set piece which could add a framework and structure to the songs being performed. I decided that the best option would be a tree. After all, the album was called Climb That Tree and a tree is also something that’s familiar and friendly to almost all children. Trees also have a bit of natural magic of their own, and have been featured in stories, films, books and the like for thousands of years. I decided that this tree would absorb objects related to the songs I would play and, when the time came to play the song, a flower on the tree would open to reveal the object.
The next step was to find someone to make this tree for me. After speaking to lots of friends and colleagues, someone recommended that I get in touch with Vortex Creates, a theatre design company based in Coventry.
Nicola and Marianne, who run Vortex Creates asked me lots of questions that I hadn’t thought to consider including:
how big do you want it to be?
will it be 2D or 3D?
does it need to be weatherproof?
how will it be transported?
They helped me navigate these decisions, and I sent them over a Pinterest board that I had put together when I first came up with the idea of the tree. We all agreed that the tree would need to be taller than me (I’m 6″5) so as to look impressive on stage. We also decided that the flowers should be really bright and colourful to fit the feel of the show and music. They thought that the best way to have the flowers open would be to use electromagnets triggered by a series of foot switches which I would control.
Nicola and Marianne went away and started work, and after a week or so I received a concept drawing from them. It looked amazing and I very quickly sent them an email to say that I was really happy for them to start work on building the tree. Around three weeks later, I got another saying that the tree was ready to collect. To say I was excited would be something of an understatement. It was a very special moment when I arrived at their workshop and finally saw this thing that I’d been holding in my head for the past two years. It was HUGE and it was also beautiful, just the right balance of magic, welcome and intrigue.
My beautiful, magical, musical tree went on to appear all over the country in countless theatres, art centres, village halls, festivals, libraries and museum. I never got tired of hearing children and families gasp with delight every time a flower magically opened.
It kickstarted my journey into children’s theatre but, just as importantly, it taught me the value and joy of collaboration. As a song writer there’s a misconception that it’s only great art if you’ve written it all yourself, ideally in a log cabin whilst getting over a break up.
This was the moment when I realised that not only did I have the skills and the ability to make theatre for families in my own way, but that doing so could be incredibly fulfilling in a way that I until then I hadn’t really experienced.
So, to quote the song that inspired the show and led me stumble (blindly) into the world of theatre:
“I’m gonna climb that tree, I’m gonna reach the sky.”
Climb That Tree was made possible thanks to generous funding from Arts Council England.
With special thanks to Nicola and Marianne at Vortex Creates.
www.vortex-creates.co.uk