A TERRORIST attack is the focus of a play at this year’s Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. Us/Them centres on the Beslan tragedy when 1200 schoolchildren, their parents and teachers were held hostage by a group of armed terrorists in the small Russian town of Beslan in 2004. It lasted three days and ended in utter chaos. A total of 334 people died including 186 children.
The play is by Belgian writer Carly Wijs who has said it “is an attempt to talk about something that is supposed to be an impossible subject for children”. Performed by Brussels-based theatre company Bronks, the recommended age has been raised to 12-plus after first showing in Flanders to ages nine and over.
Rather than give children nightmares, Wijs said she wrote it “for children in Europe to talk about stuff that is really far away but which is happening and must be confronted”.
After its first outing on the continent, attacks in Belgium and Paris brought terrorism closer to home.
Wijs said that initially she had thought that one of the reasons the play worked was because it was something that had happened far away and could be looked at “with a distant eye”.
Following the more recent attacks she said the show provided “a way of thinking and talking about terrorism and its realities”.
Festival chief executive Paul Fitzpatrick agreed the terrorist siege in Beslan was a “terrifying” subject but added: “It’s always about the context and how a theme is presented to a young audience – how is it relevant to them, what will interest them?
“What Bronks do so perfectly is to present this horrifying event through the eyes of two [fictional] children experiencing it and it becomes a story of survival and adventure which tries to make sense of the events unfolding around the two central characters.”
Fitzpatrick said it was “the artistic integrity and daring” of the shows in the programme that made the children’s festival “ground- breaking”. “The work ranges from the very best text-driven plays to experimental works that push the boundaries of what theatre can be. Identifying these works and then bringing them together in one place is a unique experience.
“It also says a lot about how we value children and how we respect them as individuals in their own right. By putting this exciting and adventurous art out there for children to see, says that we recognise them as intellectual and emotional beings with the capacity to connect with artistically challenging work, and gives them an opportunity to ask questions and create their own view of the world.”
Other shows at the festival, which runs until June 2, include Super Human Heroes which deals with mental health. Performed by the Letter J, it is a new commission by the festival and is supported by the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund.
It is described as “a comical and musical dance with darkness, exploring the ways we are, fail and try to be super human heroes”.
Also in the programme is a new production of the internationally acclaimed play This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing from Stellar Quines, the award-winning Scottish theatre company that celebrates women in theatre.
Another new commission supported by the Festivals Expo Fund, it is a contemporary fairytale about triplet sisters abandoned in a forest who follow their own path in the world and fulfil their dreams through courage, determination and friendship.
Director Jemima Levick said it was “a fantastic, feminist fairy tale about empowerment, love, the importance of family, carving your path and choosing your own destiny”.
“It’s a hugely imaginative, sometimes challenging story which asks us as theatre makers to use everything we’ve got to make the production work.
“At this moment in time, we need to grab all the opportunities we have available to us to encourage young people not to be afraid of the world and of different places, people and experiences. Just as these three girls are not.
“At Stellar Quines we want to inspire and empower our audiences, particularly young people, to ignite their interest in theatre, to engage with us and to experience theatre where women and girls are as strong, clever and adventurous as they are every day.”
The festival this year celebrates its 30th anniversary with 15 productions from eight countries.
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