CHILD-ish: children are welcome but an adult audience is in mind

REVIEW by Drew Rowsome

14 Jun 2021 - photos by Peter Riddihough

"I hadn’t even considered a web series," says Sunny Drake (No Strings (Attached), X) of his new web series CHILD-ish. "The pandemic has made so many of us have to get creative and consider other mediums." A theatrical version of CHILD-ish was presented as a work in progress at SummerWorks but the surprise progression was a pivot to the internet. The central concept of CHILD-ish is that interviews with children are spoken by adults. Hilarity, poignancy and soul-searching result. "We are listening for the source of the words, the children, as well as what it sounds like when adults are speaking them," says Drake. "In the SummerWorks presentation, I’d set a few scenes in adult locations like nursing homes, because the text was so resonant. But I learned that I don’t need that: simply having adults speak kids words is fascinating on it’s own."

The project itself evolved thanks to feedback Drake requested at the initial stagings. "The SummerWorks work-in-progress production was largely focused around themes of love and relationships. The audience said they wanted to hear what kids had to say about . . . everything. And indeed, the kids themselves wanted to talk about a whole range of other things: from climate change to mental health to unicorns. So, we did several more rounds of conversations with children. The web series and other CHILD-ish creations are now focused around this much wider range of topics."

The CHILD-ish web series was filmed in a literal playground, not a metaphorical space. "I felt strongly about was utilizing this different medium to its fullest, adapting the work entirely into a web series format, rather than filming a theatre piece. We wanted to find the most powerful translation of the work into this visual medium. Seeing adults look terrified on a merry-go-round or awkward on a seesaw starts to give us a window into the concept, even before the actors speak. The direction to the actors remains the same: be adult, don't pretend to be a kid. Be playful if that’s called for, but playful as an adult. This is very important in the work - we're not imitating children, we are trying on their words and ideas to see what we learn about both kids and adults, and to challenge ourselves to consider how well we listen directly to children."

Drake had a specific quality he was looking for in his cast. "We chose the actors for their outstanding skill, their adventurousness in trying out unconventional work, as well as being able to carry a certain gravity so that it’s clear we’re not imitating kids. We've worked with a whole range of other brilliant actors throughout the development process as well, and I wish I had the budget to have all of them in the work, because they each brought so much to the work. As with each stage of the process, we also wanted to reflect the diversity of the children interviewed, which in turn reflects the diversity of Toronto."

Casting himself was a conscious choice, not just an excuse to show off his skateboarding skills. "I wanted to have a turn at the particular acting challenge that I’ve been asking of other actors," he says. "The difficult but rewarding task of 'speak the words of kids, but be entirely adult.' On a more practical front," he admits, "we wanted to keep the team small to help with COVID safety. It's certainly a lot easier to act and co-direct simultaneously in a film than in live theatre. For starters, I could rehearse with my own video camera and have some semblance of how that was going to read, compared with filming a live theatre rehearsal which is not meant for that medium. It greatly helped that I was co-directing with Peter Riddihough who specializes in film and TV work." 

Even the children are now involved beyond being source material, they will be co-hosting the launch with Drake. "So that we can get great production quality, the videos themselves are pre-recorded, but children will be asking the adult audience various questions. The audience will use the chat function – I can’t wait to see what the audience answers these particular questions. It’ll all be embedded on my website or our co-presenting partners’ websites, Soulpepper and Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. A number of interviewees have seen the web series. It was super fun to share the work and get their feedback. Something that stood out to me was a strong yearning from kids to not only be heard, but to also be able to have an impact on the world. Even kids who have family or friends who listen to them, were thrilled at the thought that their stories, experiences and ideas were going to be shared beyond their family or friend groups."

Drake is enjoying working in a different medium. "I never want to go back to single format. I'm now obsessed with the combination of different mediums. I’m not intending on leaving theatre behind - I will always love live theatre - but rather creating universes with each work. I want to open up different pathways into my work and between different offerings." And he agrees that there are other advantages, "The most obvious one is reach and accessibility. I've had my works presented in over 60 cities across the world, and this is the first time I will be able to offer all of my audiences an experience at once. We've got three different showings to accommodate different time zones. I’m excited to get to be in conversation with people from across the world." 

But the stage still calls. "I’ve now got an advanced version of the live script, ready for production," says Drake. "I’m in conversation with a number of theatres nationally and internationally, and my hope is that there will be many different productions of the work. It will be a very different experience than web series each will bring out a different layer of the work." And there will be yet another medium going CHILD-ish. "Next up, the CHILD-ish podcast! The podcast episodes will follow a different format: first the verbatim material - adults speaking kids’ exact words - followed by turning the tables and having children interview adults about similar themes. It’s going to be fascinating to experience how the results will be different when the conversations are entirely shaped by kids. What I'm excited about with CHILD-ish is flipping the usual format of adults making creative works for children, and instead having children participate in making work for adults. Children are very welcome to be at the events, it’s just made specifically with an adult audience in mind."