York Theatre Royal Studio, Tuesday 7th November at 1pm and 4.30pm
What does it mean to follow a dream when you don’t fit in and the odds are stacked against you?
Great Odds is a new play for six to 11-year-olds about how to follow a dream in a world where that can feel impossible dream.
A collaboration with d/Deaf* and hearing actors that integrates puppetry, visual storytelling, drama, music and sound with British Sign Language, it has been co-produced with Lighthouse Poole, where it opens a UK tour on 18 October.
Weaving British Sign Language throughout, Great Odds is the first production by Mac’s Arcadian, a new theatre company re-founded a year ago by theatre maker Esther McAuley in order to create accessible, visually unusual and socially conscious work in collaboration with d/Deaf and hearing artists.
“We will be working with two sign language interpreters in the rehearsal room and we will do a very basic deaf awareness session for everyone at the start, but at no point is anyone’s disability named or labelled – the play is about communication and about what it might mean to follow a dream, literally and metaphorically,” says Esther.
Exploring ambition, communication and friendship, the story follows the Great Odds – Marco, Grouch and Jewels – on an exciting and sometimes wobbly journey in which dreams change shape, unexpected things are uncovered and success comes through surprising discoveries.
When their landlord The Big Boss hikes up the rent for the theatre that is their livelihood, the three insist they will find the money in 24 hours by creating a sell-out show that will save the day. Working with the audience they conjure a story about a puppet who sets out to follow a dream that escaped from its ear at night, but before they can finish The Big Boss tells them she has had a much better offer from a supermarket chain and they must leave immediately.
Turned out into the silent darkness, gradually self-generated lights twinkle into life and the Great Odds find a new way to tell their story and enable the puppet to follow its dream after all.
Funded by Arts Council England, Great Odds was developed in R&D sessions at the Unicorn Theatre and Improbable in London with read-throughs and informal sharings before being co-produced with Lighthouse.
“The aim of this project is to engage audiences throughout the UK, especially children and families who may face barriers accessing the language used in mainstream theatre productions touring locally to them,” says Esther.
“It’s incredibly exciting for me to be working in partnership with Lighthouse on Great Odds and, as well as a lot of practical support, it has been a great source of nurture and encouragement.”
Great Odds
York Theatre Royal Studio
Tue 7 Nov, 1 and 4.30pm
Tickets Adults £12, £7 under sixteen
Box office 01904 623568. Website
* d/Deaf is a short-cut term used to describe simultaneously people who are Deaf (sign language users) and deaf (hard of hearing who have English as their first language and may lip read and/or use hearing aids).
