Carousel Theatre for Young People's Dot & Ziggy aims for the toddler set

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      Until recently in North America, the idea of taking babies and toddlers to a theatre production was considered just about as ill-advised as taking them to a five-star restaurant.

      That attitude changed long ago in Australia and Europe, where theatre has been created specifically for preschoolers since the late 1970s. The odd production has made its way here via the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, but the movement is finally picking up speed on this continent—so much so that we now actually have a term that’s being bandied about for the genre: TVY, or Theatre for the Very Young. And the latest example of it is a full-blown production at Carousel Theatre for Young People, which is making its first attempt to reach kids from newborn to three years old.

      “What does it mean if you integrate theatre that early in a child’s life so it becomes something you do, so it becomes the fabric of what you do and something that you want to participate in and makes you feel good?” says director Carole Higgins (also Carousel’s artistic director), speaking on a break from rehearsing Dot & Ziggy at the company and school’s Granville Island headquarters.

      Thanks to research and experience in Europe, theatre artists are learning how best to reach ankle-biters with productions—and there are many differences from regular shows. At the rehearsal, Kayla Dunbar, who plays a ladybug who wears a polka-dot crinoline, and Dustin Freeland, who plays a skunk in a white-maned hoodie, are hopping around little mats where children (and their adult companions) will sit amid the action.

      “There’s no proscenium,” says Higgins. “It’s about inviting them into our world. It dismantles any idea of a fourth wall.”

      She adds that the show, a story about friendship and sharing that was created by Linda Hartzell and Mark Perry and debuted at Seattle Children’s Theatre, will have natural light (and no dark, scary moments) in an intimate studio with about 50 or 60 people. Not surprisingly, there’s also a lot of music. “We’re exploring the senses—sound, shape, colour,” says Higgins. “There are sections of the show where objects are passed around to be touched.”

      She and the cast members add that they’ve had to work a lot on dialling the show down to a gentle level. “It’s not like being in the Waterfront and taking it to the last row,” says Freeland in rehearsal. Higgins adds later: “We’ve been exploring in the rehearsal hall what the difference between gentle and preciousness is.”

      Performing for toddlers also involves a lot of interaction—mostly unscripted.

      “They don’t have to sit still and be quiet,” says Higgins, making the show sound a whole lot more inviting than that new restaurant you were contemplating.

      Dot & Ziggy runs at the BEE Stage at Carousel Theatre for Young People until next Sunday (June 14).

      Follow Janet Smith on Twitter @janetsmitharts.

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