Award-winning Smoking Apples Theatre premiere new show Three, exploring grandparents, tea and British Culture.
Award-winning puppetry and visual theatre company, Smoking Apples Theatre are taking their latest production Three to select locations around the UK. For the first time, the company will be incorporating masks into the show to explore the family relationships of three neighbours. Three evocatively blends puppetry, mask and storytelling to address the importance of intergenerational connections.
For this brand new show, audiences are invited into the lives of three neighbours – Ida, an adventure-seeker turned Grandmother; Jaanvi, the head of an Indian family and Ralph, an ex Military man, content in his solitude – who gather in the heart of every family home; the kitchen. The three neighbours share their experiences and uncover their personal histories, all whilst learning how to make the best cup of tea. Following on from each character and their families, Three profoundly captures the heartfelt bonds between grandparents and grandchildren, as these endearing tales touchingly resemble common experiences and dynamics shared across everyday families.
Notably acclaimed for their ingenious use of puppetry to visually propel storylines and magnify human actions, Smoking Apples Theatre are expanding their repertoire with the introduction of mask work to their latest production. The addition of mask remarkably drives the exploration of aging in the three central characters, by dramatically showcasing these physical changes. Further use of physical storytelling is expressed through the moving carousel-like set, hosting the three kitchens, fluidly guiding the intertwining narrative between the neighbours and their families. Largely influenced by the company’s relationship with their own parents.
Three serves as a powerful reminder that we need our third generation as they provide us with an unrivalled knowledge of the world, wisdom and experience that only comes from a life lived in full.
- 12th July: Farnham Maltings, Bridge Square, Farnham GU9 7QR
- 24th – 25th October: EM Forster Theatre, High Street Entrance, Tonbridge TN9 1JP
- 28th - 29th October: BEAM, The Wash, Hertford SG14 1PS
- 4th - 7th November: The Quarterhouse, 49 Tontine St, Folkestone CT20 1JT