Toy Friend at the Clipa Theater

By MEREDITH PRICE
toys 88 (photo credit: )
toys 88
(photo credit: )
Have you ever wondered what toys would say if they could talk? This Pessah season, the Clipa Theater is offering the chance to find out. In Toy Friend, a new production written and directed by Noa Gur for young children, panda bears can whistle, ballerina dolls can cry and rubber ducks can dance. "It's a story about friendship, about being part of a group while maintaining your individuality," says Gur, who is also a member of the Clipa Theater group. Reminiscent of the Velveteen Rabbit, Gur says that the influences on her work were numerous, but by combining the story with the unusual performance art and visual aids that make the Clipa Theater famous, she was able to bring a new perspective to the well-loved theme. With the help of colorful costumes, lively dances and dramatic music, the magical world of five toys is revealed. By working together and respecting each other, they will solve the problems they face and overcome their fears. During the play, the living toys have a chance to feel, think and react to events in the household, but the human characters never appear on stage. "We wanted to make the toys gigantic, and if we had human characters, they would have to be proportional, so we keep the child and mother characters off stage. They are present in the story but never actually seen," explains Gur. In keeping with the Clipa Theater's philosophy that each group member participate as much as possible in every production, Gur wrote the characters with her colleagues in mind. "One of the Clipa actors is a gymnast and an athlete, so it was natural for him to take the part of the trapeze artist, and another is a musician who plays both sad and happy music in his role as the clown," Gur says. The central message that Toy Friend hopes to share with its young audiences is that they should always be true to themselves and never be afraid to speak their minds. Performances, which last 50 minutes, will be held today at 11 a.m., Saturday at 11:30 a.m., Monday at 5 p.m., Tuesday at 11 a.m., next Saturday, April 15, at 11:30 a.m., April 16 at 11 a.m., and April 17 at 4 p.m. Information and tickets - NIS 50, at (03) 687-9219.