Sea Legs
Sea Legs is a multi disciplinary art project for 3- 6 year olds by Tallaght based theatre collective Freshly Ground Theatre.
Sea Legs is an immersive, playful and sensory art experience, that invites children and parents to discover the beauty and wonder of life under the sea and the power of our own imaginations. Through a series of participatory theatre performances that involve musical and visual storytelling, shadow puppetry, theatrical meditation and tactile sensory play young artists follow a story about bravery, friendship and trying new things.
The project had a big focus on sustainability. The “underwater” experience took place in a custom built sensory tent made entirely from recycled, second hand, upcycled, borrowed and natural materials. There were also over 30 individual handmade sea creature puppets-all reimagined from household items. This choice was made to showcase the magic of imaginary play and world building. The design purpose was to encourage and inspire children to recreate their own adventures afterwards using objects at home or in the classroom.
The performance was filled with atmospheric, sensory lighting, designed by Conor Jacobs (Sofft Productions) and an immersive, live soundscape that transported the audience to an underwater world, composed by Martha Knight.
Freshly Ground Theatre worked with circa 300 children from the Brookfield and St Aidan’s areas and with various community groups including Creative Places
MacUilliam, Brookfield Community Centre, Tallaght Community Arts, Startbright Childcare providers, St. Thomas JNS, Scoil Aoife, JADD Creche & Preschool and ABA Preschool Academy.
Sea Legs was created by Freshly Ground Theatre with the help of many wonderfully creative artists such as designer and puppet maker Jack Rogers, writer Seán Farrelly, light designer Conor Jacob (Sofft Productions) and mentors Joanna Parkes, dramaturgy and early years consultation, and Sarah Fitzgibbon, workshop and access consultation.
27 Workshops took place from April - June where children explored the themes and narrative of the project before engaging the theatre piece.
There were also 27 presentations of Sea Legs for the local community. These included visits to schools and early years settings alongside a series of invited and public shows in Brookfield Community Centre in June. Amongst this there were a number of relaxed and guided performances.
Gallery
Freshly Ground Theatre Biography
Freshly Ground is a theatre collective of 4 artists: Bronwen Barrett, Vlad Gurdis, Michelle Henry and Martha Knight. Currently in residence in the Civic, we strive to create engaging and contemporary work, with the community at the heart of our practice. We are passionate about collaboration with, and work for, young people and families. We strive to create inclusive and accessible theatre experiences. Our team is composed of highly skilled facilitators who have a wealth of experience in leading arts participation projects, as well as youth ensemble, primary/secondary education and early year settings workshops.
Many of our latest projects have been inspired by Irish folklore and history and finding ways to connect the themes to contemporary Ireland. We have a strong interest in creating arts experiences that make connections with different languages and cultures and ultimately stand to advocate celebration of diversity and create open paths for dialogue and discussion with those who can experience it.
Recent work includes Sióg, a 90 min immersive experience filled with live music, original songs, dance and audience participation. Sióg was created in collaboration with children throughout the devising process. With a children's council on board and a team of young designers, the entire creation of the show was guided by children's voices. Sióg examines themes of Fairy mythology, definitions of magic, sustainability and protection of green space. It also explores gender expression, the Irish language and platforms voices of young people. These themes come together to make an engaging story suitable for children of all ages. Sióg was supported by the Arts Council, The Civic’s Ready Steady SHOW! programme for children & young people, South Dublin County Council, Creative Ireland and Tallaght Community Arts.
Other works include PlayMAKE - a free theatre craft program that ran over the 6 weeks during the summer of 2023. During this program children aged between 4 and 10 created art pieces to be hung in an outdoor gallery and used as part of the set for Sióg, Anam Óg - a project working with the local primary school and community in Glenasmole to explore the legend of Tír na nÓg, themes of youth and growing up and creating an installation (St. Patrick’s Festival x Tik Tok creative fund 2022), and Freshly Ground YE a free 4 month long theatre programme for teens/young people aged 13-21 which is designed to help grow the participants confidence and knowledge of theatre and theatre creation while being informed, designed and led by our young participants (Young Ensembles Scheme, 2022).