The team at the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, believe we all should have access to the very best creative experiences there are. That is why they are bringing us RoolaBoola Children's Arts Festival, a festival for children aged two to 12 years, over the October Bank Holiday weekend, 26 - 29. This year RoolaBoola includes really wonderful theatre shows and arts workshops to inspire and delight young audiences.
To open the festival, Theatre Lovett will be presenting The House that Jack Filled to both school and general public audiences. Jack McNally's Hotel has 13 rooms (all of them sunny ) for 13 people (all of them different ). There is old Mrs Chelsea, who is noticeably wobbly, Norma and Dorma, the Italian twins, Esteban with his two children who are wonderfully adventurous, and Mr Truro who plays the spoons. A show full of character, and characters, this is not just fantastic children's theatre, this is great theatre, full stop. This is Theatre Lovett's second collaboration with playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer and comes to RoolaBoola hot from the boards at the Dublin Theatre Festival.
On the Sunday, Galway based Branar Theatre Company will present Croí á Mhúscailt/Awakening a Heart. Croí á Mhúscailt is a magical story, that explores the relationship between young and old. Grandad is not in his chair anymore. Granny packs away the memories of their life in suitcases. The girl unpacks them and breathes new life into them. Exquisitely told with puppetry, music, and a wonderful chair, Branar take audiences on a beautiful heart warming journey into the world of a girl and her granny.
To complement Croí á Mhúscailt, Branar director Marc Mac Lochlainn will deliver Bring your Toys to Life a workshop for children aged five to eight years exploring the use of puppeteering skills as a means to animate toys, and Morgan Cooke, composer and musician for Croí á Mhúscailt, will present a Music for Film workshop, which will involve participants in creating and performing a score for a short silent film.
RoolaBoola is packed full of lots of other arts based workshops designed by a team of artists who are really keen that children get to explore and reach their creative potential. Participants can delve into the visual arts, drama, and music with guidance from real experts. And that is not all, running in parallel with RoolaBoola is a wonderful art exhibition, Sense of Place, selected from the art collection of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation especially with young audiences in mind. Over the festival RoolaBoola audiences are encouraged to engage with this visual treat in the Linenhall Arts Centre gallery.
Now all you have to do is get your tickets. And do not think these tickets will just get you into these shows and workshops. Oh no, these tickets will buy you memories that will last all your life.
