Kindur: The Adventurous Life of Icelandic Sheep

Still from Kindur

I had the wonderful opportunity today to attend a performance of Kindur: The Adventurous Life of Icelandic Sheep by TPO Company of Italy. It was encouraged that I go to see it because it was an example of TYA…and seeing as my degree emphasis is TYA….the logic goes to follow…the show was recommended for ages 5 and up.
When I walked into the theatre space, it was a conventional proscenium stage space. The stage was bare except for a white mat taking up most of the floor space and a curved, white freestanding backdrop. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the performance, but had heard and read good things about it. After experiencing a performance, I am definitely a fan and am amazed by the artistry that is being presented to and for the youth here.
All in all there were about 3 lines of narrative text in the very beginning of the performance. After that, there was no dialogue. Everything was relayed through dance, movement, music, and visuals. Upon entering the space, each child was given a small heart that resembled sheeps wool to pin to their shirts. When the actors entered the space, they were wearing these same hearts. As each actor/sheep entered the space, they began to interact with beautiful projections that were displayed on the floor and the backdrop behind them. At one point, everything went dark and their hearts began to glow…I then realized that ALL the hearts that had been given out to the audience were glowing too! Throughout the piece there was a large amount of engagement with the audience. The actors came out into the audience, welcomed children onto the stage with them to interact and explore the world, the audience was asked to respond physically and verbally to the piece…it was incredible. Each movement and image, each moment was so inherently interesting…I could see and feel the children around me leaning forward, eager to find out what would happen next. Interestingly, there were several moments of frozen silence…and even then, I would venture to say that the performers didn’t lose anyone’s interest.
What was interesting about the performance also was watching how the children engaged with the performers and projections on stage – and how the show seemed to adapt and react to what the children were bringing to it. The show itself was extremely responsive to the group, leading me to believe that although these sheep go to the same places in every show, each journey is very different and unique to the audience that is experiencing it.
A very cool technical aspect of the production was that there was some sort of sensory camera that detected the actors and audience’s movement and would create images on the screens correspondingly…I know that I am not describing this accurately enough, but it was incredible to watch – and another way of engaging the audience, especially those who didn’t feel comfortable heading up to the stage.
As I think back on this experience…and I have truly not had another like it, I wonder why it is that I HAVEN’T seen anything like this in the US yet? What is it that we are scared of? There are a lot of theories running around in my mind…but…I will save that for a later discussion and simply revel in the delight that was this performance! I found a clip on youtube that I will share in this post that will hopefully show some of what I have been describing:
Kindur