In an extraordinary week of creativity, 25 young people from Bridport and across West Dorset stepped inside their own imaginations and invited us all to follow. Each day, we built a rich, immersive, multimedia installation that gave adults a rare glimpse inside the imagination of a child. The group designed puppets, conjured new worlds, crafted soundscapes, wrote stories, songs and wrote speeches that expressed their every emotion. They built secret tunnels, opened a café of living food, and a created a giant dream map, complete with surreal Sat-Nav directions - they truly gave the adults unusual access to the inner workings of their heads.
During the week, we were also lucky enough work with industry professionals who lent their expertise to the group. Guided by the incredible Natasha Nixon, theatre director, and dramaturge, the group worked on how to go about telling stories when you take away language and words. Holly Miller, a puppet-making specialist, helped the team to design and build puppets that became, avatars, guides and ringmasters. And Alani Cook introduced the team to the idea of fantasy foods - living meals that graced the menus of a café, but definitely had their own opinions! Under these leader’s expert tutelage, the group’s physicality and storytelling soared. Huge thanks to them all.
Food from Ambs kept us fuelled, with a special lunch from Dorshi in Bridport, also provided on one day (yum!). At week’s end, parents arrived to witness what the young people had achieved, and stepped inside the children’s minds, moving through tunnels, soundscapes, and magical books. They plugged themselves into the hive mind, they experienced the most annoying earworms (still struggling to get rid of some of those), and when they pushed that big red button, the transformation was electrifying. This was a week of pure unbound creativity; moving, silly and always joyful. Every young person was simply incredible.