The Shadow Tunnel
Theater, Puppetry
Duration: 20 min
Language: Nonverbal
Suitability: 5+
Group: Kattas Figurteater
Country: Norway
Performers: Henriette Grøtting Kihle, Jon Vegard Hovdal
Team: Henriette Grøtting Kihle (Concept, idea, puppet maker, designer and puppeteer), Jon Vegard Hovdal (Audience guide), Tuva Synnevåg (Design), Anne Helgesen (Consultant), Anne Marthe Vestre Berg (Photos)
Description: The Shadow Tunnell starts out as a performance before it drifts into a workshop where the kids get to explore the magic of shadows themselves.
The performance
The kids are guided into the 6 m long tunnel made of white silk. Shortly after they enter they will be surrounded by amazing shadows and the journey starts. They will experience the shadows of a city - the park, the buildings and traffic - before the lively jungle shadows takes over - with trees, lizards, colors, creepy spiders and webs. Then the kids get to see the shadows of the seabed - with strange creatures, sharks and seaweed. At the end of the swim the kids come up into a boat surrounded by big waves splashing around them, underneath the beautiful starry sky with magical northern lights dancing above them.
The journey through the tunnel gives the audience a glimpse of a journey through the world, and lets their imagination drift thousands of miles away. The performance is non verbal and is accompanied with music and sounds. The episodes they will see are made with different techniques: moving light, reflection, refraction and polarization.
The workshop
When the kids reach the end of the tunnel they are provided with a LED torch and they are free to explore the installations outside the tunnel, explore the materials and puppets and play with the different light sources. This whole experience is mostly a non verbal happening. There will be played meditative music that brings focus towards the shadows.