Adventure In the Park

Jul 5

Who: Adventure in the park / Eventyr i Parken

What: An outdoor theater experience for all children

Where: Bergen

Project period: 2024

Adventure in the Park will create an outdoor theater experience for all children, regardless of their level of ability, in a safe and informal setting. We aim to develop a performance that is adapted for everyone and does not exclude anyone from the experience. Our usual form of outdoor promenade theater is exclusionary to those who cannot navigate narrow forest trails. The performance is loosely based on the children's book 'The Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame and will be performed outdoors in parks in the Bergen area. The performance will be developed in the fall of 2024 and spring of 2025, aiming for 6 shows in the spring of 2025. It is also a goal for this performance to be carried forward in the cultural backpack and in other parks in Western Norway after its premiere.

About the project:

This performance will be played outdoors in parks in the Bergen and Øygarden areas: Nygårdsparken (two shows), Kirkebukten, Gamle Bergen, Siljustølen, and Blomvåg (Øygarden). We plan to create fun dramas from everyday situations with characters from 'The Wind in the Willows' as the starting point. We are in dialogue with Bergen Public Library to collaborate on family days in the mentioned parks, but we are also considering the possibility of other partners, if the collaboration with the library does not materialize. The idea is that episodes from the book will be played out throughout the park day. This will not be a chronological performance, but rather part of a day in the park where there are multiple activities for families to participate in. There will be music and picnics and other possible park activities that fit into the universe of 'The Wind in the Willows'. Here, we will work broadly to contact many potential partners.

'The Wind in the Willows' is a British children's book by Kenneth Grahame, written in 1908. Curious, cautious Mole, confident Rat, stoic old Mr. Badger, and the utterly eccentric Toad are characters people can relate to, and none of them are magical or have superpowers. It is said that this was the first story to anthropomorphize animals, a concept that is now almost universal in children’s entertainment, and it would be valuable to make these old characters accessible in a new format for a new generation. Many who are now parents or caregivers remember the characters and the ambiance from the book or its adaptations. This nostalgia factor, where one gets to share and relive with new generations, is valuable cultural communication.

The choice of 'The Wind in the Willows' comes from a desire to create a fun and cozy theater experience. We notice a tendency (in our own and others' work) for children's theater to become overly dramatic and for very big things to be at stake. Or that it deals with serious issues like war or climate crisis. We do not deny that these are important themes, and that theater is a platform for conversation, but we simply miss a bit of feel-good atmosphere and a playful approach to theater for the target audience. In this project, we aim to engage the audience without it being a matter of life and death, focusing instead on play and discovery

A performance for all the children

Adventure in the Park has long experience with promenade theater, where the action unfolds at various stops along the journey. In this format, children get small breaks along the way; they do not experience a performance that plays continuously for 60 minutes. This approach works very well for a younger audience. Here, children do not have to sit still in a dark room for a long time, and they can talk with the characters in the intervals between planned parts, which enhances the experience and the building of the fiction. We will stick to this form in 'The Wind in the Willows': the planned action is spread throughout the day in different episodes, not in a continuous block. This is also how the book is experienced, as if it were short stories with the same characters, not a long narrative. Additionally, we will have interactive parts where children are encouraged to interact directly with the characters.

In this production, Adventure in the Park is moving away from its usual format of promenade theater. 'The Wind in the Willows' is performed outdoors, but there is no requirement for the audience to walk along with us. This makes the performance accessible to children who cannot walk and need wheels to move around. Having performed a lot of promenade theater, Adventure in the Park has noticed that there is a missing audience group, because it is difficult, for example, for wheelchairs on narrow hiking trails.