A Ticket To Thrive from Three Feathers Theatre Company
Welcome to our #TicketToThrive campaign. We believe wholeheartedly that doing something creative with your child will benefit you both. We’ve asked some other people who believe in the power of creativity to talk a little about a benefit they have seen when families get creative, and to suggest a simple activity that you can do at home. Today, we hear from Natalie Imlay, founder of Three Feathers Theatre Company.
Tell Us About Three Feathers Theatre Company: I’m an American actress who trained in the UK at Mountview Academy. I had worked on stage and screen and gained years of experience working with and performing for children. I decided to set up Three Feathers in 2014, with a Mountview classmate, Emily Hodgson, to create unique, engaging, educational, exciting, and fun theatre experiences for children as both production developers, and audience members. We aim to find new ways children can express themselves and their ideas in a safe and fun environment. Our latest show ‘The Enormous Turnip’ is a retelling of the classic tales for the youngest audiences: 0 to 24 months old.
#TicketToThrive is all about encouraging families to do creative activities together. What do families and children gain from coming to your shows? At the end of ‘The Enormous Turnip’ we have some time where the audience can come and explore the playing space. During this time, parents and their little ones get to play together and interact with different elements of the show. Both babies and adults really enjoyed this time to play with the set, the actors and the puppets. It really makes it a fun and engaging theatre experience for the whole family.
How can families get the same benefits at home? Using puppets are a great way to be creative with your child of any age but especially for the very little ones. For babies, it’s best to use smaller puppets like hand or finger puppets, something that is easy for them to handle. Using puppets promotes verbal skills and hand and eye coordination. Even if you don’t have a puppet at home, you can use anything at all, a piece of material, a small cuddly toy, or even a baby bottle, get creative! You can retell a favourite fairy tale, make our own story or just have fun with puppet jumping around. Using puppets with babies is a fantastic way for you to interact and explore with your little one. Both of you will really engage with each other and your baby will love you being silly with their favourite cuddly toy.
Three Feathers Theatre Company are launching a series of Physical Theatre workshops for ages 4–9 in September. You can find out more information about their shows and workshops at the Three Feathers Theatre Company website, and find them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Let’s Play London shines a spotlight on the best theatre and live performance for Under 5s in London. Find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
