As I walked into the theatre for the afternoon performance of If you could wear my Sneakers, written by Sherre Fitch, I was caught up in the excitement of the children who could not wait for the show to start. There is nothing like children’s laughter to make a person smile. I never stopped smiling until the show was over. This was truly a delightful, energetic, insightful, and professional piece.
Children’s theatre is one of the hardest genres in the world of theatre. Children, while having wonderful imaginations, are not forgiving and will not stand for any phoniness. If they are not impressed or think you are trying to trick them, they will let you know. As an actor myself, doing this type of work always terrified me. I always think “what if they don’t laugh” or “what if they get bored.” With adults you know that at the very least they will not shout things out at you if they don’t like your performance (in most cases anyway). It is not the same with children, if they do not like something they will let you know immediately and if you lose their attention it is all over.
I can honestly say that this cast of performers have the talent, the energy and the right stuff to do this type of work. To make their jobs even harder, the playwright has created a piece that is not just cute and fun, this playwright has successfully written a play about issues that face us all: racism, rights to education and privacy, and the right to be free from child labour. Heavy topics for children to take in. Ironically the author has developed these themes in a light-hearted, relatable manner.
The four actors, under the direction of Sharon King Campbell, rise to the expectations of the playwright. They delivered the themes with enthusiasm, a sparkle in their eyes and a smile on their faces. All four actors, Danny Malena, Jeff Sullivan, Paige Robson Cramer, and Mallory Johnson were fantastic. This was just another show of this season whereby it is a true ensemble piece, each actor giving of their own talent and receiving the talent of the other actors. This is a true accomplishment for these four young professionals; I can only imagine the future that all four will have. I hope to see more of them in the upcoming seasons.
I must also mention the costume designer, Heather Freeman. While the costumes themselves were typical of a children’s show (overalls and bright tee-shirts), a little birdie told me that Ms. Freeman also made the puppets used in the show. These puppets were very cute and very cartoony which for a child’s theatre piece is actually kind of perfect. I would have like to have seen all of the animals used in the production to have been as big and wonderful as the puppets created by Ms. Freeman. The tiny toys were the only downside of an otherwise wonderful show. If you were not seated in the front row (and even then), the tiny toys were not visible to the rest of the audience so we were often unable to tell what animal was being used. However, even this did not fully detract from the overall feeling of the production.
I have to also discuss the set. The backdrop mural was perfect for this piece. It was bright and big and lovely. The design brought everything together so thank you to the designer Keith Roberts and Dave Bennett and Greg Davis for building and painting it. One last design thing must also be pointed out. The concept and construction of the scene with the elephant story was so lovely in its simplicity. I loved it.
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