Sharing the Story of Tiny Treasures

On Saturday, the Tiny Treasures creative team (complete with newly cast actors Adam, playing James, and Leanne, playing Mother) reconvened in York for another development day and, importantly, to share the script for the first time with the Young Carers Revolution. Since we met with them in February to devise ideas for what the story might be, there has been a huge amount of activity behind the scenes.

Kevin, the Playwright, has crafted the stories we developed into a fantastic play in three sections which tells the story of James, a young carer who is 13, and what his life is like at home looking after his Mum, his sister Katy and his two fish, Goldie and Silver. Bek, the Designer, workshopped some design ideas with the Young Carers Revolution and, inspired by their mood boards, has created a model of the set design which is now being built in preparation for rehearsals.

Stuart (Director), Kitty (Movement Director) and I spent time auditioning a very talented group of actors in order to find the pair who would play our Mum and son. Stephen, Stage Manager, has been busy researching the kindest way to transport live goldfish and Diann, Tour Coordinator, has been busy organising the show into schools, sorting our van insurance and booking rehearsal digs.

Meanwhile, the young carers have been writing a book about their process and so there was lots to tell each other when we got together again. We showed them pictures of Bek’s set model, which they really liked and then Adam and Leanne did a script-in-hand reading of the whole play, stopping a key points to talk about the action of the play and whether the Writer had made the right choice or not! Apart from a few games and a sausage roll break, we worked solidly to get through the whole play (which is running far too long at the moment so poor Kevin has the challenge of cutting it without losing anyone’s favourite bits!) We all covered loads of big bits of paper with post it note thoughts which will feed into the final rehearsal draft and by the end of the day – and the end of the play – we were all feeling pretty emotional. Once again, the dance duet section in the middle of the piece, even though the actors were just improvising, was the most affecting bit for us all underscored by Simon (Sound Designer) playing beautiful cello and looping it with the voices of the young people.

It’s been a big responsibility to create this play for and with the Young Carers Revolution because it’s so important to us all that it does what they hoped it would, bringing great theatre to younger children and a better understanding of the issues that face young carers. The feedback was all reassuringly positive and particularly Beth’s comment, “It will be really good for other kids, but it’s very moving for us because you’re telling our stories”

I think they liked it.

- Miranda Thain (Creative Producer of Theatre Hullabaloo)

Read more about Tiny Treasures.