The family theatre is set to celebrate its 60th anniversary with a range of digital and live events.
Having first opened its doors on Saturday 24th November 1961, this newly announced season at the Little Angel Theatre is set to include a ‘choose your own adventure’-style live digital production of Sean Taylor’s Where the Bugaboo Lives directed by Little Angel artistic director Samantha Lane and designed by Ellie Mills. Available from the 14th March until the 2nd May, tickets will cost £13.50 per household.
Meanwhile, Julia Donaldson’s The Smartest Giant in Town is going to be brought to life in a new co- production with Fierylight. Directed by Samantha Lane, she also collaborates on the adaptation with Barb Jungr. The production will be performed live – subject to government restrictions.
Elsewhere, the new digital series People Behind the Puppets will celebrate 60 years of ground-breaking puppetry design as Little Angel’s very own puppet ‘Angel’ interviews makers including Toby Olié and Alison Alexander will take place weekly.
Little Angel’s co-production with Great Ormond Street, If Not Here…Where?, has been adapted into a digital production that can continue to tour hospitals and hospices throughout the summer transporting some of the most isolated children to a magical fantasy world.
Talking about the news of the season, artistic director Samantha Lane and executive director Peta Swindall said: “The new season kicks off with an adventure-style play for an adventurous year as we continue to find advanced and innovative ways to engage our audiences digitally with a new production of Sean Taylor and Neal Layton’s interactive story ‘Where the Bugaboo Lives’. Each performance will be different as young audiences ‘choose their own adventure’ while they watch, deciding which way the story goes. Following this, we cannot wait to welcome audiences back to our theatre, as soon as it’s safe, to see our new production of Julia Donaldson’s much-loved story about helping others in need ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ and look forward to collaborating with Fierylight for the first time. We are also kicking off a new digital interview series ‘’People Behind the Puppets’ to celebrate 60 years of the world-class artistry at the heart of Little Angel. We hope it will inspire the next generation of puppet makers. Created from ideas and stories from young people at Great Ormond Street, our production of ‘If Not Here…Where?’, toured hospitals and hospices throughout the UK last February. Now at a time when young people in hospital feel more isolated than ever, we are so proud to have created a digital version of the show enabling it to tour again in a Covid-safe way this summer. We also hope to brighten up the streets of Islington with a special project this June ‘The Wishing Tree’ inspired by a new poem by Joseph Coelho. Our community is at the heart of everything we do and this is a wonderful chance to celebrate our birthday with them.”
To find out more about theatre and its upcoming season visit: https://littleangeltheatre.com/