Chris Elwell talks all things The Three Bears with the team at Full House Theatre and Daryl and Co.
Just at the start of The Three Bears’ winter into Christmas tour, we catch up with Harriet Hardie and Ben Miles of Full House Theatre and Daryl Beeton of Daryl & Co – the creative minds behind the show – to find out why they came together to make this new piece for families, and how much they relish being just a little bit subversive.
Hello all. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules to shed a little light on what you have been up to over the past weeks. What was the creative catalyst that brought two of the UK’s most exciting makers of work for children and family audiences together at this point in your creative journeys?
Harriet: Thanks Chris – a good place to start. We’ve known Daryl for a long time and have always loved his work. Ben and I have been creating shows together for nearly a quarter of a century but we’re always looking at how we can work with new collaborators and challenge our own ways of working. There has always been a synergy and connection between Ben, Daryl and myself, although our work is quite different in style, so it made sense. Of course, we didn’t know when we started on the journey of making a piece where we’d end up, but we just knew that we really wanted to create a show together.
Ben: For me, it was an admiration for Daryl’s work and a strong personal connection. Being in a room with a new collaborator is daunting, especially as a mid-career artist with many years of working with comfortable and familiar creative partners. Knowing that there was a strong connection with Daryl ahead of the project was comforting and exciting in equal measure.
Daryl: We say at Daryl & Co, that the ‘Co’ is just as important as the ‘Daryl’. Our whole model of working is based in collaboration and a desire and commitment to become more inclusive in how we make work and ultimately reach more young audiences as a result. Full House have been on their own journey about access and inclusion. Over those years we’ve shared ethos, discussions and positive actions to ensure no one is left out. So, a natural progression was to put our money where our mouth was and make a show together that put all of those lofty conventions into practice.
Can you tell us a little about the rehearsal process for The Three Bears?
Harriet: We’ve been working on the show on and off for about eighteen months, and it’s been a joyfully collaborative experience. Initially, it was about merging Full House’s often text based approach with the more physical and non-verbal style of Daryl & Co’s work. But actually, that happened totally organically, and we’ve just had a lot of fun together.
Daryl: The whole process has been just right from my point of view. What I didn’t expect when we started was that we’d end up with a shared brain. We would often have the same idea at the same time without saying anything out loud. Of course, the creative process doesn’t come without challenges or differences of opinion, but we became a family, we knew what each other were thinking and this made the collaboration super easy.
Ben: As with many new creative projects I’d say the process started with a lot of head scratching and some silences of thought! As a new team we needed to get under each other’s skin a bit. We had lots of conversations about the themes of the piece, including ‘family’. What does a family look like? What does it mean to be part of a family? How does someone feel like they belong to a family? We spoke personally and about situations or people we knew. The process was insightful and inspirational and got us started on our creative journey.
What I’ve always enjoyed about both Full House and Daryl & Co is your often subversive approach to the stories and styles you choose to present for family audiences. How does The Three Bears continue this ambition?
Ben: Initially we were reluctant to tackle such a popular and well know title, due to our desire to subvert. It’s always hard to meet audience expectation when turning a well-loved tale on its head. This particular fairy tale is simple but with very strong ingredients that will be expected by audiences. It is tricky to make sure we offer challenging and enjoyable theatre that also meets those expectations.
Daryl: Daryl & Co don’t usually create shows from well-known stories or even adaptations of them; we tend to devise shows around themes that young people experience in their everyday lives. The original three bears story was created in 1831 by Eleanor Mure, a handmade book as a gift circulated within her family and was called The Story of the Three Bears, about three bears who moved to the city as they were no longer happy with their station; they wanted to live as equals with people.
The three bears were not a family as we have come to know them, but three bachelors who moved into a house together. Goldilocks was an old woman who didn’t want them there. Over the years, the story changed into what most people would be familiar with today. So ultimately it was a story about an unconventional family of friends who lived together but didn’t fit into the ‘norms’ of the time – so we went with that.
We want audiences to reflect on what the ingredients are that make a family. For some people, life is not a daddy bear, a mummy bear and a baby bear. It’s something quite different. And this show reflects that. This is the heart of the story we’re telling. Some may say we’re subverting it, but I think we’re just continuing the evolution of a story, one that’s been changed again and again over the last two centuries to meet the morals of the time.
Ben: As one of the performers, like Daryl is too, I hope families we will meet on tour will enjoy this fresh and innovative take. I believe there is a lack of work in the UK for children that is different, alternative, mind expanding. Even parents often think that the only reason to take a child to the theatre is to see their favourite TV programme live. I am committed to bringing well-crafted theatre made especially for children to venues across the UK, even if those venues are underfunded and overstretched.
Harriet: As the director of the show, I think it really does subvert the classic story in a brilliant and anarchic way. We’ve unpacked and unpicked all of the elements of the story that people think that they know and fused them back together in a fairy-tale remix that explores the idea of family and belonging, in a playful and often heartwarming way. Full House work a lot in adaptation and there is always the balance of challenging, meeting and hopefully exceeding audience expectations.
I get the impression Ben that you are looking forward to taking the show on tour? What about you Daryl?
Daryl: Touring has been part of my life for thirty years and I love it! When you have faith in what you create, when you know it says something you feel needs to be said, you wanna share it with those who need to hear it, wherever that might be.
If you were to sum up the work in three words, what would they be?
Ben: Bizarre, touching, amusing.
Daryl: Heartfelt, punky, relevant
Harriet: Anarchic, playful, bold.
Thanks to Ben, Daryl and Harriet for finding the time to chat ahead of the tour. The Three Bears is aimed at ages 3+ and is a Full House Theatre and Daryl & Co co-production in association with The Culture Trust, Luton.
The production plays at Half Moon Theatre from Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 November (tickets here) before touring through November and December.
