Spike Milligan
To hear a taster of Becky Applin’s songs from bagg theatre’s children’s show, Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Dreadful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon, click the play button below (if you don't see the button you need to install Adobe Flash first):
The Background - Dip the Puppy
bagg theatre’s interest in Spike Milligan began when Artistic Director Laura Baggaley was offered a place on the Company of Angels 2006 Directors’ Programme.
She spent two weeks at Drama Centre in May 2006 working with five third-year students, devising a piece of theatre for 4 to 6-year-olds based on Spike Milligan’s deliciously anarchic book, Dip the Puppy.
Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Dreadful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon
In 2007, under the auspices of bagg theatre, Laura decided to bring another Milligan story to life: Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Dreadful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon. The aim was to create a small-scale, low-tech pilot production to test in schools, with a view to developing the piece into a full-scale show in the future.
The actors were Miranda Calderon, Lisa Came, Rebecca Kenyon, Andy Pandini, and Louise White. Once again, the piece was devised in two weeks.
In September 2007, bagg theatre’s pilot production of Sir Nobonk was trialled in seven London primary schools. The show was completely free-of-charge to the pupils, who ranged in age from 5 to 10, some of whom had never before seen a live theatre performance.
Direct feedback from the children and their teachers was a major part of the process; a selection of their comments and drawings are on this page.
FEEDBACK FROM PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN, ALL IN THEIR OWN WORDS
‘It was the best show evre’
‘You are grat I enjoy the show. I whod not eat scastbanas’ [‘I would not eat squashed bananas’]
‘My favourite part was the horse when it step on the wizard’
‘I lict the hol sho I fort it was fantatick’
‘My faverit part was when thay made the dragn trap’
‘Exalent fablius briliant’
‘The show was amazing, hilarious and energetic’
‘I thought you were great and very entertaining. My best part was when you sang the song at the end. My favirote person was the lady in the green and yellow top.’
‘How do you become an actrecc? I whant to be one.’
‘It was slap bang good.’
FEEDBACK FROM PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
‘All the children were mesmerised! Talked about it afterwards and during playtime were pretending to be knights and dragons!’
‘When can you come again?!’
‘Very entertaining! Never a dull moment!’
‘Marvellous. Keep it up.’
‘They [the pupils] laughed a lot. It captured their imagination. I would recommend it to my children’s school.’
‘Super pace and clever character sharing with great audience participation that kept children focussed.’
‘Positive, fun. Allowed pupils to use their imaginations to the full. Fast moving, visually effective, great use of sound and bodies. Thank you.’
‘It was magical.’
Every teacher answered either ‘Yes’ or ‘Definitely’ to the question ‘Would you recommend this piece of theatre to another teacher or parent?’
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bagg theatre is an independent company that at present receives no public funding. We rely on box office income, sponsorship and donations to fund our work.
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