A festive farce from Twinkle and Jingle

It’s that time of year again when Santa’s Workshop sets up in the Eureka! Theatre. Inside our resident elves, Twinkle and Jingle, make the last few preparations before the big day. But (as always) something goes horribly wrong and the elves need a helping hand from some children in order to save Christmas.

This year’s play, 'Santa's Magical Toyshop' is not the first adventure that our elves have been involved in. Last year they found themselves in a similar mess for our 2009 Christmas show. I wrote last year’s show, and again volunteered to write the ‘difficult sequel’. I was determined to write a different script which contained new elements; it was important to me that the show was not the same as before and merely dressed differently. I also wanted to make sure that the 2010 play did not deviate too far from the framework we established the previous year as it proved very successful. As a result the activities the children (and adults) take part in during Santa’s Magical Toyshop are vastly different to last year but the dynamic interactions and banter between the two characters has remained constant.

Enablers turning the Theatre into Santa's Workshop!

The interactive quality of the show has been increased since last year, and requires many children from the audience to join the elves onstage and physically help them to complete their important jobs before Santa wakes up.

Where younger children will respond to the interaction of the performance, older children and adults will appreciate the humour in the guise of Twinkle and Jingle’s frantic dialogue. Jingle, the overworked and underpaid ‘line manager’ elf clashes with his docile yet kind-hearted worker, Twinkle. There are many one-liners within their interaction specifically aimed at an older audience that will amuse them while not confusing the young ones.

Writing for an interactive show differs in many ways to writing for the stage. A key difference is that you cannot be too narrow; that is, there must be room for the performers to improvise should anything go wrong including: the children not giving an expected answer or a toddler wandering onstage and starting to dismantle the set. The performers must be more fluid and be ready to change the contents of the show in response to the situations that occur, which is not possible if they have strict dialogue patterns or subtle punch-lines.

One of the main things that attract people to the show is, of course, the opportunity to meet Santa. All children can speak with Santa at the end of the show and get a photo with him should they wish. But the staging is beneficial for children who are intimidated by Santa as they have support, from all other children in the audience, a gentle introduction to him, and the choice to either go to see Santa up close or just  watch him from afar. So due to way it is staged no children have to miss out on the Christmas experience.

It’s fantastic to see a project through to the end and due to everyone involved the finished production is hilarious, heart-warming and full of Christmas magic.

Ben Healey is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Don't grow up to be an eggplant!

Imagination is a wonderful thing and children have an almost unending capacity for using theirs, especially at this time of year.  The following quote by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Language of the Night) is, thankfully, very true.

“I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”

In all my years working at Eureka! I am happy to report that I have never met a child who was destined to become an eggplant!

Some of the most heart warming and incredibly entertaining moments I have experienced at Eureka! have been when I have been sat in a darkened corridor providing ears and a voice for a talking dustbin. Talking to Scoot the Robot can be a magical experience for a child and one that they will remember forever. Sometimes it will bring them back to Eureka! again and again to renew their acquaintance with their robot friend. For the tiny tots Scoot is as real to them as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. As they grow and learn more about the world they begin to question and challenge Scoot.

Child: "You’re not real."

Scoot: "I am. You’re not imagining me. I’m right in front of you."

Child: "There’s somebody talking for you."

Scoot: "That’s a worrying thought. Is there somebody talking for you?"

Child: "No, I’m talking myself."

Scoot: "Can’t I talk for myself?"

Child: "No – somebody has to talk for you."

Scoot: "Golly, I’m glad they’re there to help me then; I love talking; I’m a bit of a chatterbox."

The conversation continues with the child happily chatting to a metal dustbin that they have established is not a real robot. Even the children who discover Scoot’s secret, once the problem is solved, will continue to chat to Scoot as before. Does that mean they are stupid? Certainly not; they are using their imaginations and, in the words of George Scialabba:

“Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.”

There are many children who consider Scoot a friend and thoroughly enjoy telling him their latest news and discovering things about a robot’s life. Robots don’t have families; that’s why they enjoy making new friends so much. Robots are made of metal so they don’t like the rain as it can make them go rusty. Robots don’t grow so it’s very difficult to guess how old they are. (Scoot was ‘born’ on the same day as Eureka!, 9 July 1992).

I finish with a final quote from Theodore Geisel; which explains why even I believe in Scoot the Robot – and is yet another reason I love my job.

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”

Jill Ward is an Enabler in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Play and make good cheer

This is our last quote before Christmas so a festive saying is in order today. Thomas Tusser (1524-1580), a sixteenth century farmer and poet is known for an instructional poem entitled Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. As well as the well-known quote below, he is credited with coining the much-repeated proverb, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

"At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year."

Have a read of this article by Idler Tom Hodgkinson whose fantasy Christmas involves lots of time for play and possibly resembles the kind of holiday that Thomas Tusser would have recognised! 

What games will you be playing with your family this holiday?

Children say the funniest things part 2

Anyone who has ever interacted with children has undoubtedly been moved to tears of laughter at the things they say. As we've noticed here at Eureka!, children do say the funniest things!

This year's ‘Santa’s Magical Toyshop’, a special workshop just for Early Years groups has been no exception. ‘Santa’s Magical Toyshop’ is about two mischievous elves (Twinkle and Jingle) who have not got very far through Santa’s job list and so need the children’s help to complete the festive tasks before Santa’s returns.

Many of the Enablers at Eureka!, myself included, have been caught out laughing at some of the responses children give to Santa and his Elves alike. One such response was from a little boy who, when Santa asked ‘who would like a present?’, innocently declared:

“I’ve already got a present from a different Santa I saw last week!”

In another workshop Santa, on returning from his annual holidays with Mrs Clause, was met with the cries of one child shouting:

“…but where’s Mrs Clause gone?”

On leaving one particular workshop one child stated, whilst wagging his finger:

“Twinkle…you have been very mischievous today…you’ve got to be good”.

Such heart warming comments as these remind us all why we have chosen to work with children. Merry Christmas everyone!

Penny Dargan is in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Rooted in play

With Diwali celebrated earlier this month, Eid this weekend and Christmas approaching - Advent Sunday is also this weekend - here's a quote from Dutch historian Johan Huizing (1872-1945) reminding us about the role of play in our society:

"Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primeval soil of play."

Find out how to make your Advent Christingle on The Children's Society website

Who needs toys?

A well known cliche that it pays to be reminded of at this time of year: children invariably would rather play with the cardboard box than the expensive Christmas present inside!

Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) knew this back in the seventeenth century when he argued that children should play with minimal toys and playthings made from their everyday surroundings. Conversely it was Locke who helped to introduce the very concept of a 'toy' when he reasoned that children were different to adults and should be treated accordingly.

When children pretend

Today's quote comes from well-loved, American children’s TV host, Fred Rogers (1928-2003) who said:

"When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero."

And a grown-up can go to 'Santa School' to become... Father Christmas as we learn from today's BBC News!

These children in last year's Eureka! Grotto seem to definitely be using their imaginations as the museum becomes a magical, Arctic hideaway. Fortunately the staff at Eureka! have no need for 'Santa School' and are already fully trained in the art of play!