Licketyspit's brand new show for 2008, Heelie-go-Leerie is an exuberant piece of theatre for children and families with live drumming, singing and bagpipes!
A Witch likes to eat…..!
There was a witch and her fingers were long and green
She liked bread and soup
And carrots and potatoes
In a scary, spooky house this witch could be seen,
With a scarecrow, a vampire and a crow
Eating her shoes! Created in a Heelie-go-Leerie workshop with Nursery children in East Lothian.
Licketyspit has always played with children and it is children who inspire the nature and direction of our work. Children constantly surprise us with the scope of their imaginations and their limitless capacity for play. There is obviously a vital connection between 'a play' and how we 'play' – especially in a play for children.
Heelie-go-Leerie is therefore a play about 'play' and has been specifically inspired by a series of workshops undertaken by the core Artistic team on this project last Autumn with children in East Lothian and Glasgow.
Heelie-go-Leerie is set in the secret world of three children – Bella, Kaiser and Taz, in a place that could be anywhere – the middle of a roundabout or the back of the bins or garages, in a shanty town in South Africa or India or on a bit of waste ground in Glasgow, Edinburgh or London - it's a place where children go. Where the boundaries between real and imaginary worlds can blurr. Where the real world can be radically improved by play and imagination.
Bella is holding a stick to block a hole in the Big Roof that covers the city, waiting for the man to come and fix it. She lives with a witch who makes her porridge for breakfast, tells her stories and dances when she plays her bag-pipes. Kaiser has a telescope and wants to look through the hole at the planets. 'We are all specs in a giant universe!' he says. But even if Bella wasn't blocking the hole, the sky beyond is so thick with smoke Kaiser wouldn't see into space anyway. Taz is bursting with stories. He knows about the Dragons in the dustbin and what and why they need to come out and play!
Drawing on the rich repertoire of children's games, rhymes, songs and stories from Opie to Grimm, together with rhymes made by Scottish children now, Heelie-go-Leerie will celebrate the richness of childhood and children's marvellous and wonderful ability to play and imagine, all over the world, no matter what else might be going on.
Licketyspit
New work for Early Years
Heelie-go-Leerie is Virginia Radcliffe's seventh new play for Early Years audiences in Scotland since 2001.Since the formation of Licketyspit in January 2004 the company has mounted eight productions of her plays Wee Witches, Molly Whuppie, Quangle Wangle, Magic Spaghetti and Green Whale to prodigious audiences and with critical acclaim. They have also published two children's books and a CD. In 2006/7 their Scottish audience was over 30,000. The company is run on a shoe-string from The Brunton Theatre Musselburgh where they have recently been invited by East Lothian to take up residence in order to develop Early Years audiences in the region. Heelie-go-Leerie is partly funded by a Scottish Arts Council project grant.
Licketyspit is distinctive for the unusually broad age range of its audiences. Although targeted at 3-7's the work is popular with children as old as 12 and over and adults.
Family feedback on Wee Witches Dec'07:
'Fantastic. They all loved it from the two year old to the ten year old' 'Really entertaining. World a three year old understood.' 'Brilliant. Both my children, two and five, were engaged throughout.'
The company is also noted for the long term impact of its shows on children and produces free interactive programmes, books, CDs and Teacher's packs and now The Heelie Big Book of Play to encourage children to play with and re-interpret the experience they have had in the theatre. The company receives tremendous feedback thoughout the year – pictures, letters, emails – from audiences about this.
Production team
Designer - Ali Maclaurin
Lighting Designer - Janine Davies
Musical Director – Tim Brinkhurst
Movement Director – Christine Devaney
Actor/musician – Annie Grace (singer/piper)
Actor/musician – Paul Chaal
Actor – John Macaulay
The Heelie Big Book Alongside the show Licketyspit have already begun to compile The Heelie Big Book – a collection of games, rhymes and songs for children and families to enjoy. All Licketyspit audiences are invited to make submissions and the 'book' will eventually be published. In the meantime much of the material will be available to everyone via the Licketyspit website.
Touring to major theatres, community venues and schools:
Wed 20 - Sat 24 Feb - Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh various times 0131 665 2240
Tues 26 Feb - Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock 6.00 pm 01563 554900
Wed 27 Feb - Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock 10.00 am 01563 554900
Fri 29 - Sat 1 March - Perth Theatre various times 0845 612 6328
Sun 2 Mar - Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy 3.00 pm 01592 583302
Wed 5 Mar - Cumbernauld Theatre 1pm 01236 732887
Fri 7 - Sat 8 Mar - Byre Theatre, St Andrews various times 01334 475000
Wed 12 Mar - Macphail Centre, Ullapool 4pm 01854 613336
Thurs 13 March - Talla Nan Ross, Kingussie 7pm 01540 662061
Saturday 15 March - Universal Hall, Findhorn 2.30 pm 01309 690110
Sunday 16 Mar - Cairndow Village Hall 3.00 pm 01499 600260
Thur 27 - Sat 29 Mar - Platform, Easterhouse various times 0141 276 9696
Sun 30 - Mon 31 Mar - Eastwood Park Theatre various times 0141 577 4970
Sun 6 - Mon 7 April - Strathpeffer Pavilion 4pm & 11am 01997 420124
Tue 8 & Wed 9 April - Dundee Rep various times 01382 233530
Fri 11 - Sun 13 April - Traverse Theatre various times 0131 228 1404
Thurs 17 April - Barthol Chapel 7pm
Sat 26 April - Macrobert 11am & 3pm 01786 466 666
licketyspit@blueyonder.co.uk
www.licketyspit.com Heelie-go-Leerie is funded by SAC, Glasgow City Council, East Lothian Council and EIS
