THE SHOW

Tall Stories co-directors Olivia Jacobs and Toby Mitchell wanted to create a show for children in Year 6 – who will shortly be making the transition to secondary school. They decided to work around the themes of decision-making (as secondary school is when children really start making some of their own decisions) and time travel.

Olivia and Toby came up with an idea for the show – that a 10-year-old wishes he could go back in time to change a really bad decision he made a week ago.

They then worked together to make the idea into a story – and held a weeklong workshop with five actors, a set designer and a sound designer to develop the story for the stage.

Then Olivia (assisted by Natalia Scorer) spent two weeks directing Toby and his 10-year-old son Dominic in the original version of the show, which played for two weeks at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, enjoyed by audiences and critics alike.

Finally, the creative team rewrote the script for two grown-up actors to perform in schools, and developed it with a new cast during three weeks of rehearsals prior to the schools tour.

As part of the show, students created their own personal Time Machines –double-sided cards which contain moments (good and bad) from their past on one side and on the other side, dreams to make their future perfect.