Falling down the rabbit hole

Falling down the rabbit hole

Entertaining and inspiring children through theatre

Catherine Beger – the founder of ‘Little Muse Young People’s Theatre’ - will be premiering the company’s latest production of ‘Alice’s Wonderland’ on November 9 at Theatre Scala. This unique adventure is part of Catherine’s larger repertoire of weekly children’s drama classes and entertainment, and the one-woman theatre company has gained a reputation for being the home of children’s English-language theatre in Larnaca.

Featuring a cast of two; Catherine and Lefteris Moschovias - who also wrote the score for the production - the play is being directed by Torkild Lindebjerg, with design by Liene Kalpisa and translation into Greek by Eri Constantinou.

As Catherine explains, the play is loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ with its own twist: “The original story follows a child’s journey towards maturity which makes it the perfect vehicle to explore the theme of personal growth. In our version, Mr Apollonius is a travelling showman, eager for his daughter Alice to follow in his footsteps and take centre stage. She is shy and cannot, but tumbling into Wonderland, Alice meets a host of strange characters and begins a journey of discovery to find her own voice.”

Catherine originally met Torkild when she travelled to Scandinavia in 2003 to attend a children’s festival in Denmark as part of ‘Antidote Theatre’. Inviting him to become a guest director for the company, he went on to direct ‘The Little Man’s Best Friend’, which enjoyed 260 performances - many of which were abroad. He returned in 2007 to direct Antidote’s ‘Aesop’s Fables’.

When Catherine thought of Alice, she naturally thought of Torkild and invited him back to Cyprus to be part of the adventure: “He is not just a fantastic director, but a dear friend. He had helped to establish the identity of Antidote in the most difficult circumstances and now he was more than willing to do the same for Little Muse Theatre.”

But the vision was not without its road bumps; scheduled for a time when the economic crisis has affected funding for the arts, Catherine was forced to think of other ways to make her vision a reality and appealed to the community of Larnaca to help. The response was overwhelming and to date she has received donations of €3500 from local businesses and individuals: “I couldn’t believe so many people were prepared to come on this journey with me. Their help in any shape or form - be it financial, emotional, childcare for my daughter, providing a venue, materials for set and construction, has made this show possible and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.”

Little Muse itself is in still in its infancy, but is a natural progression of Catherine’s original organisation, Antidote Theatre, which she had set up in 1999 with Xenakis Kyriakides. At the time there was a distinct lack of opportunities, for children’s theatre, but undeterred, the duo started their first classes. Over the years, the success of the company grew and it was officially umbrellered by the Ministry of Education in 2004, taking theatre to schools around the island. Earlier this year, the two went their separate ways as Catherine wanted to focus on English-language theatre for children, and Little Muse was born.

Little Muse runs throughout the week for different age groups, as well as a Saturday morning event every second and fourth Saturday of the month, which includes a short play, a snack, crafts and song time.

Donations are still being accepted for Alice’s Wonderland, which will show on November 9, 16, and December 7 at Theatre Scala, 4pm in English. The show will be performed in Greek in January. Tickets cost €7 for adults, and €5 for children.

www.littlemusetheatre.com

This column first appeared in the Cyprus Weekly, 26/10/13

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