LEEDS children's theatre company Tutti Frutti will present the world premiere of Evan Placey's WiLd! on tour from April 30 to July 9, visiting York Theatre Royal in June.
In the wake of their exploration of Alzheimer’s Disease and memory in their 2014 production of Brendan Murray's Monday’s Child, Tutti Frutti will now tell the story of a boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Aimed at children aged eight upwards, WiLd! will be performed by Rhys Warrington, accompanied by musician Molly Lopresti, and will portray the fragility of a misunderstood boy who lives within his wild imagination, presented in a "sensitive, empathetic, but fun and accessible way".
The boy will navigate his real and imagined worlds in a journey through life underpinned by emotions, behaviours and perceptions in relation to ADHD, and Placey's text will be informed by biomedical science and will interrogate the use of medication and behavioural intervention.
Supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, Tutti Frutti’s creative team have worked in partnership with Professor David Daley, of the Centre for ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorders across the Lifespan (CANDAL) at the Institute of Mental Health, on researching with ADHD patient groups. They joined his team at the University of Nottingham, where the CANDAL centre researches the causes, recognition and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders throughout life.
Likewise in 2014, Tutti Frutti worked in collaboration with a neuroscientist and a psychologist from Sussex University and the Alzheimer’s Society for Monday’s Child.
WiLd! will be directed by Tutti Frutti’s artistic director Wendy Harris and will feature music by Dominic Sales, movement by Jo Bernard, designs by Kate Bunce and lighting by Lighting by Zanna Woodgate.
Playwright Evan Placey
“WiLd! is one of the most thrilling projects Tutti Frutti has embarked on for some time," says Wendy. "This play will tell a really important, but uplifting, story, which is underpinned by research in the area of ADHD in children. We're also delighted to be making this play for children aged eight and over, a development from our usual age band of three to seven. Following the huge success we had with Monday’s Child, a show based in scientific research about memory, we can’t wait to get started on this new, brilliant project.”
Playwright Evan Placey, winner of the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Play for Young Audiences for Girls Like That, adds: "I'm really excited about finding theatrical and innovative performance-based ways to express the brain of a child with ADHD. Having spent my early years as a writer working with young people with ADHD, I'm aware of the stigma and misunderstanding that surrounds these young people.
"I'm eager to create a piece in which the audience see everything through his eyes, and through engaging with his creative imagination and the journey of his mind, they can begin to understand him.”
The WiLd! tour opens at The Carriageworks, Leeds, on April 30 at 2pm and 7pm and plays the York Theatre Royal Studio on June 15, 16 and 18 at 11am and 1.30pm and June 17 at 1.30pm and 7pm. Box office: Leeds, 0113 376 0318 or leeds.gov.uk/carriageworks/; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
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