This was a first piece made into a full production between Half Moon and an emerging company or artist – on this occasion Ripstop Productions – in what was to become Half Moon presents. This was piloting under the name of The Here There and Everywhere Consortium. Like this pilot collaboration, Half Moon Presents offers opportunity to develop a new piece of work into a full tour, allowing an artist or company for the first time to develop, direct and produce a full production piece.
Touring to 5 London venues after opening at Half Moon, Little Fish Big Storm particularly aimed to place cultural diversity at the heart of the play’s genesis, realised through a cutting-edge piece of shadow puppetry theatre, which was performed within an especially commissioned tent where the audience of a limited capacity, sat within to experience the performance.
One day Manu is fishing when he hears a voice. To his surprise he realises it is a little fish. “Save me! Save me and one day I’ll help you in return,” the fish cries. Manu is puzzled, “How can a little minnow like you help an old man like me?” He decides to help, never dreaming that soon his world would be threatened by a great storm and the little fish would lead him and his boat full of animals to safety.
An intimate show inside a large domed tent, using shadow puppetry to tell this story based on an ancient Indian flood myth. Little Fish Big Storm used a continuous evocative musical soundscape by Ansuman Biswas.
Performances lasted 30 minutes. Numbers were limited to 35 per show.
This production was based on an original piece of the same title, developed in 2004 as part of Half Moon’s Exchange for Change initiative which aims to develop groundbreaking work originated by artists from diverse backgrounds.
Little Fish Big Storm was developed into a full production having been developed from Half Moon’s artform development programme Exchange for Change 2004.