Nathan, and The Boy and the Yellow Bird, originated when Moving Hands Theatre was approached by the hearing impaired unit of Bentley West School for effective ways to communicate difficult issues to deaf children. Nathan was born.
A child-like puppet, Nathan uses mime and very basic sign language, and becomes involved in a series of difficult situations. He has to make decisions about how to deal with problems, such as people making fun of him or trying to draw him into situations he did not want to be involved in. The children would support him through these situations by suggesting various courses of action.
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We did a great deal of ground work on recognising and naming feelings and encouraging children to feel comfortable about expressing point of views different to that of their best friend. A performance called The Boy and the Yellow Bird developed, which intended for deaf children, was so powerful it was integrated into a general health education program for all children and toured theatres nationwide and also abroad. also see our Education page and Articles on our research projects |