Continues...When I reflect on Apple Cart and on earlier training with Oily Cart and THEATRE IS, I realise just how much the project has inspired and energised me and built my confidence as a developing artist.  I have been creating very intimate theatrical experiences for under fives in my Story Tent sessions for Trestle Arts Base LINK, so the experience of Oily Cart’s interactive, close-up and multi-sensory style gave me confidence in the validity of what I was doing. But much more than that, it really fed me with ideas and questions to help me develop and refine my approach.

I have worked largely alone as a storyteller, but here had the chance to see the benefits of being part of a collaborative creative process. I saw how artists from a variety of disciplines generate work together to create an aesthetically coherent whole and am thinking about collaborations, particularly with musicians for my own work in the future.

Oily Cart’s explorations of work for non verbal audiences incorporating poetry have fed directly into my forthcoming research project where I will be exploring story based work for babies from six months to two years old. The project will be a mixture of observation of baby behaviour and parent child interaction followed by trialling a variety of theatrical interventions inspired by those observations. Thankfully as an Escalator Artist I am being supported to do this.

Observing Oily cart’s research and development model, where they embed themselves in a school for the whole process of devising a new piece gave me the confidence to make my initial proposal to Escalator and with their support make a successful funding bid. Best of all, Tim and Amanda Webb from Oily cart, who have cradled and helped me to dream have agreed to mentor me throughout the project. I can’t wait.

If you would like to hear about Kathryn Holt’s work do visit her website www.kathrynholt.com