The Moon’s A Balloon
Is the Moon a Balloon?
It can be. A balloon can be whatever you
want it to be.
We live in a cluttered world packed with
amazing gadgetry, yet a simple balloon or
a cardboard box are still the most loved
and utilised objects in children’s play;
perhaps because balloons and boxes can
be whatever a child imagines them to be.
We decided to call the “whatever” that a
balloon can be – a wOt-be.
wOt-be Gallery
Please go to the link below to share your wOt-be activity.
http://www.patchtheatre.org.au/moon-downloads.html
Here’s an example of a wOt-be created by
the children at il nido Children’s Centre.
Our performance is inspired by an
ee cumings poem called The Moon’s a
Balloon, which suggests that amazing
possibilities can come from the simplest
of things.
who knows if the moon’s a balloon ...
coming out of a keen city in the sky ...
filled with pretty people ... ee cummings
Our creative team spent hundreds of
hours playing with simple white balloons
in a black space. Our balloons came in a
range of sizes from 5 cm to 2 metres with
a variety of manifestations. We played,
explored, discovered and invented over a
period of 3 years.
The outcome is a performance which
speaks of childhood play, invention,
friendship and connection. It does not
need language to explain itself, nor does
it tell one story. Its content is the essence
of life, not the details of living. Whether
you are 3 or 103 years of age; we hope you
will enjoy sharing our performance as
much as we have enjoyed making it.
Sharing Our Art-Making Adventure
Our artistic team so enjoyed creating
images, music and events around
balloons that we decided to extend an
invitation to our audiences to join our artmaking adventure.
We based our theatre-making around the
idea that a balloon can be whatever we
imagine it to be.
It’s a Bottle Tree wOt-be.
There is a simple way to begin making
your own wOt-be using our place and
name activity.
Place a balloon in an interesting
surrounding and name your wOt-be. Eg. a
balloon peeping through curtains, (Peek
a Boo wOt-be) in a cereal bowl, (Breakfast
wOt-be) in front of a TV (Couch Potato
wOt-be) or on a pillow (Sleepytime wOtbe.)
Take a photo of your wOt-be and make
up a story about it. How is your wOt-be
feeling today? What adventures has your
wOt-be had?
You can share your wOt-bes with us on
our wOt-be Gallery by using our simple to
use, child-safe, online wOt-be application
designed for 4 year olds +.
Our wOt-be application currently works
on computer with the latest versions
of browsers - Safari, Internet Explorer
and Chrome. Join in our art-making
adventures. There are no rights or wrongs
– just open-ended wOt-be possibility.
We invite wOt-be submissions from children, teachers,
parents , grandparents, carers and friends. There’s no
one too young or too old!
Patch Theatre Company
The Moon’s A Balloon
1
Scene 1: Arrival
3
Scene 2: Big
Scene 3: Little
Scene 4: Wanted
2
4
Patch Theatre Company
The Moon’s A Balloon
Scene 5: Chase
5
7
Scene 6: Sync
Scene 7: Zap
Scene 8: Risk
6
8
Patch Theatre Company
The Moon’s A Balloon
Scene 9: Care
Scene 10: Spin
9
11
12
Scene 11: Babies
Scene 12: Work
10
Patch Theatre Company
The Moon’s A Balloon
Scene 13: Home
13
Scene 14: Forest
Scene 15: Song
15
Scene 16: Moon
14
16
Collaboratively created by:
Josh Bennett, Dave Brown,
Morag Cook, David Gadsden,
Rob Griffin, Roz Hervey and
Katrina Lazaroff.
Director: Dave Brown
Designer: Morag Cook
Lighting Designer:
David Gadsden
Composer: Josh Bennett
Performers: Katrina Lazaroff
and Rob Griffin
Music performed by:
Josh Bennet
Provocateur: Roz Hervey
Production Manager:
David Gadsden
Stage Manager:
Catherine Simitsis
Assistant SM: Trevor Griffin
(AC Arts Secondment)
Lighting, Sound, AV
Technician: Lachlan Turner
Set Construction: Bob
Weatherly, Michael Ceniuch,
Glennco Set
Lighting Construction:
Julien Gibson
Digital Imaging:
Dave Brown, Chris Petridis.
Build Solutions: Tao Millar
Patch Theatre Company
Odeon Theatre
57A Queen Street
Norwood SA 5067
Ph: +61 8 8333 0444
Fax: +61 8 8332 2256
[email protected]
www.patchtheatre.org.au
Support: Our simple white
balloons have connected us
to a host of collaborators
through partnership,
residencies, creative play,
artistic exchange, community
engagement, online cocreation, theatre-making and
performance both at home
and abroad.
We thank all those who have
contributed to our project
thus far including:
University of Texas - Dept of
Theatre and Dance
Adelaide College of the Arts
Flinders Drama Centre
Bathurst Memorial
Entertainment Centre
Saint Peters College ELC
Free Range Future
Thanks also to State Theatre,
Slingsby and Steven Mayhew
for equipment support.
We are proud to be part of
Come Out 2013. Thank you for
presenting our world premiere
season of The Moon’s a
Balloon.
all sorts of possibilities
reside in the
simplest of things