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Pilloworks

for 3-6 year olds

Commissioned by Visions2000, the Festival of International Animated Theatre

Director Cindy Oswin
Installation Artist Sophia Clist
Musical Director Nigel Piper
Production Manager Jane Mackintosh
Performers Marleen Vermeulen, Benjamin Blake

This installation was at the Gardner Arts Centre in Brighton and ran concurrently with our production of Sleep Tight in the main house. Two performers guide an audience of fifteen children and adults through four sections.

The entrance is lined with ‘going to bed’ items – toothbrushes, sponges, plastic ducks. The second space is covered with many different kinds of pyjamas, and one of the performers tries to find a pair that fits. The third space is a room full of pockets that contain many little installations about bedtime.

The audience sits on the floor and one of the performers tells a story. The audience then picks up their pillows and are led into the fourth space – a huge bed.

Everyone lies down under the duvet while a pillow puppet interacts with them. The room darkens and night-time shadow puppets appear on the sloped ceiling. At the end of the shadow play one end of the duvet rises up, allowing the audience to exit underneath into the original entrance corridor, now transformed into the night sky.