Our Planet

Text：Takuto Kashiwagi & Yuki Baba

 

After showing the adult play, he said, “that (the current stage) wasn’t very oceanic, was it? We’d like to recruit people who can make this place into a sea,” and that was the start of the Creators Team. I’d like to take a look back, sorting out what was happening and when.

”What’s in the ocean?
When asked that question, many people said, “Fish! “Sharks! and sharks!” Without hesitation, the children drew images of the creatures they had in their minds. After a while, I told the 5-6 year olds that there are no such things as fish called fish. I thought this might encourage them to think about what kind of fish they wanted to draw and what kind of fish they wanted to be. Some of them began to draw the shape of the fish while looking at the picture book they had prepared. Some of them put a picture book with fish next to them and drew their own pictures while comparing them.

 

What else is there besides the creatures?
After about three days, when many creatures had gathered, I asked a question that made them look at the environment other than the creatures. I asked, and they said, “Rocks! Waves! Sand! Caves!” and others came up. The focus had been on drawing pictures, but now they began to use cardboard to create three-dimensional objects. Some of them actually looked at the ocean and made waves. Among them, some continued to draw fish.

 

“Does it look like an ocean?
After watching the video of the rehearsal, we asked the audience how the stage they had created actually looked. The answer from many people was, “It didn’t look like an ocean. “It doesn’t look like an ocean because the walls aren’t blue! “The ocean is much darker!” were some of the words that came out from the six-year-olds. However, it was hard to get them to actually take actions to make them. I felt that the lack of a common image of the “ocean” among the participants may have caused difficulties in the process of creating the ocean as a whole.

“Do you want to see a video of the ocean?
Since we could not see the real ocean together in the time we had left before the performance, we decided to watch a video of the ocean. As we prepared blue and yellow cellophane, people came up to express the light conditions they found in the video. We also brought out flashlights to express the sway of the light and to create roles for the creators team members on the day.

 

As I look back on this process, I realize that what we wanted to do through the Creators’ Team was
To be able to encounter one’s own “I want to do it!
To encounter what the ocean looks like = observing the outside of one’s self.

Some people are attracted to fish, some to caves, and some to light. Some people are drawn to painting, others to shapes. For this reason, it is necessary to have a variety of materials available, as well as enough time for each person to do what they want to do.

As they did this, you become interested in what is outside of you, and you begin to wonder, “What’s going on? and start to observe. Noticing the difference between the image you have and the reality will lead you to know yourself and the reality = the world.
Although it is not an expression that is easy to see and understand like the Dancer’s Team or Actor’s Team, I believe that the experience of being able to accumulate the feeling that it is okay to do what I “want to do” and to create based on observation will be useful for future expression.

 

Many creatures and ships that were created during Under the Sea