SWINDON’S YOUNG TALENT PERFORMS ICONIC PRODUCTION OF THE TERRIBLE INFANTS

Young people from RPA (Revolution Performing Arts) Rapport CIC are all working hard to make their next amazing live Swindon performance a real visual and musical feast.

The production of The Terrible Infants by Oliver Lansley is based on the original story Les Enfants Terriblesand is pure old-fashioned storytelling.

The Terrible Infants production is a collection of cautionary tales told through puppetry, dance and storytelling and is directed by Dan Wyatt and Jim Stretton, both of whom are leaders at RPA, one of the South West’s top performing arts companies for children and young people.

Dan and Jim are fairly new at RPA Rapport and this will be their first big directing job. Dan, who lives in North Swindon, joined RPA four years ago, but then left to go to drama school. He returned about two years ago to become a leader with Rapport. After studying acting at Bristol, Jim joined RPA whilst Dan was away at drama school and then took on his first leader position with Rapport in June 2020.

Dan said: “It has been my absolute pleasure and privilege to be a part of the wonderful team that has created this performance. I feel a huge amount of pride and happiness watching these gifted young people bring words on a page to life and see their confidence grow.”

Jim, who lives in Chiseldon, continued: “The storyline is great for big kids and small grown-ups, as they are brought back to a childhood state of curiosity. The production is a hugely theatrical, scary, funny, sad, silly, junk-filled, puppetry-packed, dark, delicious, musical, magical piece of performance!”

The cast of nine actors – all young people from Rapport – plus four dancers have been rehearsing for five weeks. All the lines are scripted from the original, which has been slightly edited and have been split into equal parts, so there is no main character.

Oliver Lansley has described The Terrible Infants as his homage to all the great children’s stories he remembers from his youth – be it Roald Dahl or The Brothers Grimm – and he remembers them because they were always the ones that scared and excited him the most.

“The young people are involved in every part of the production process – from the actors and the set design to the tech and stage management,” explained Dan. “The myriad of props and puppets have been either bought or adapted or specially created and painted by the talented youngsters. They are all so inspirational in their commitment to this performance.”

RPA Rapport’s The Terrible Infants also features compositions and music by professional musician, Sharron Lindo, a multi-instrumentalist who has been drawn to the theatre, particularly Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the National Theatre and Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre.

The Terrible Infants performance takes place from Sunday November 21 to Tuesday November 23 at The Swindon Arts Centre, Devizes Road, Swindon. The running time is 1 hour and 50 minutes including an interval. An age restriction of 11+ applies.

Tickets are available at £16.50 (£3 discount for concessions) and can be purchased online at www.swindontheatres.co.uk