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Two Cowboys and the Sky
with Hope Kennedy and Scott J. Brice

Two Cowboys and the Sky is a physical theatre show for audiences aged 3-6 and their adults. It was created and performed by Florence Logan and contemporary performance artist Hope Kennedy  (Chandler theatre, May 2024)

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Come dance like the seaweed, snore with the bears, grow old like the mountain and eat flies with the frogs.

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A show for dreamers, adventurers and make-pretenders, no matter how big or small. Two Cowboys and the Sky is a physical theatre performance featuring live music, improvisation and audience participation. When our imagination has no bounds, we can become anything! This performance trio explores how everything in life dances, we just need to pay attention. This sensorial and sensitive performance invites the audience to reimagine how objects, animals and ideas move, sound and feel. And to celebrate the music and movement present in all pockets of life.... and beyond!

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As part of creating this show, Florence and Hope led dance and movement workshops for children aged 3-6 at Dundee Rep and at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in collaboration with Short Courses and St. Columbkille's primary school. 

An audience member's experience: 

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" My three-year-old was scared of theatre: before Two Cowboys and the Sky all but one performance we went to (and we tried so many) ended in tears and fears. She was scared coming into this performance as well, but I could see her relaxing from the start - first she found the courage to sit down, then to come closer, and by the end she was on stage in full on participation. This is all because Two Cowboys and the Sky is a dialogue: children (and adults) are given ample choices (different seats, different instruments to consider), performers greet the audiences and make sure they are invited into the show, and then performance vignettes rotate different worlds and characters, with something for everyone. 

Two Cowboys and the Sky is also a rare find amongst children's theatre. It is not just that it doesn't look down on young audiences or that is as engaging for adults; it is also that it presents performance as play - a way to discover, invent, and explore different stories and creatures. My daughter spent the remainder of the day 'playing'  Two Cowboys and the Sky, finding different trios to test ('two cars and a bicycle!', 'two flowers and a cloud') and perform on her own. Whenever we go to theatre now (and we do, Two Cowboys broke the spell) she recalls the game again  - it has become a shorthand for performance in our house. "​​

R&D trailer with musician Scott J. Brice

Note from the artists: it's all about the joy!

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Dance opens the world up, it makes it lighter, playful, movable and knowable. It allows us to enact and share our experience of the world. And once the world is open, we can invent new meanings, concepts and images and play with old ones. We saw this in our workshops at Dundee Rep and St. Columbkille's primary school with creations such as the dance of the starfish-flower. I agree with Simon Sheppard who writes "empathy is a response of the whole physical person". We say in our show description that everything in life dances, we just need to pay attention - by dancing and 'becoming' the world, I hope we encourage the audience and workshop participants to find the joy present in every pocket of it. We invite them to care for the funny frogs and the small stones, to listen to the horizon and to remember how much life was dancing at the bottom of the sea- dance offers an embodied and emotional memory of the world to refer to. It offers an understanding that moves with us throughout our lives. We hope the play, dance and visual storytelling of our show gives children the freedom to help create the world they see on stage and to continue creating it after.      -Florence

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During this process we have thought a lot about who we are making this work for, and why.We reject the idea that all children's theatre must be educational, that it must shape young minds and prepare them for the future. We are making this show for young people, and how they feel right now. We are not thinking of them as future adults, future leaders, future world changers - during this performance they are encouraged to just be children, exactly as they are right now. We know that one of the most useful tools in a child's development is play. This performance encourages that play, and sense of fun, which doesn't need to be justified or excused by its educational merit. It has been such a joy working on this performance, and I hope we bring you a bit of that joy too.     -Hope

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It has been a truly joyous experience being part of Two Cowboys and the Sky. Unlike anything I've ever musically endeavored, applying my existing understanding of composition to a piece of physical theatre has allowed me to gain further insight into the broader spectrum of musical composition. I have learned so much from the process of playing a selection of instruments in response to live movement, both with Hope and Florence as well as the groups of young people from our workshops. The workshops reminded me of how important the process of exploring movement beyond the fundamentals (such as walking, running, reaching etc) is for both young people and adults. The 3-6 year old participants who quite intuitively morphed themselves into strands of seaweed, immovable mountains, vicious tigers and happy frogs, through only the way they held themselves, was an absolute delight to witness. Not to mention quite a profound reminder that exploring the freedom of movement is so beneficial to the human form, yet less encouraged and perhaps at times unnecessarily stigmatized as you get older. Attempting to sonically represent these scenes and moments in the room with Hope, Florence and the participants allowed me too to become a strand of seaweed, an immovable mountain, a vicious tiger and a happy frog!      -Scott

Created and performed by: Florence Logan and Hope Kennedy 

Music:  Scott J. Brice

Production Manager: Colin Bell

Stage Managers: Jamie McDonnell and Fiona Kennedy

Assistant Stage Managers: Kara Whelan, George Whitley and Samantha Kelly

Technical Stage Managers: Noah Dunnett and Cameron Mcgrath

Technical Stage Department: Trudy Nelson, Jasmine Hart, Jessica Ricci and Aimee Fleming

Lighting Designer: Benny Goodman

Production Electrician: Gun Lai

Programmer: Dylan McLean

Lighting: Anastasia Pipe, Elizabeth Booth and Haydon Brewis

Sound Designer: Danny Taggart

Sound PSE: Ana Carolina Sabino Cortes

Sound Dept: Gregor Dickov, Joshua Hanover and Ellie Shaw

 

With special thanks to: Pete Lannon,  Jess Thorpe, Jo Ronan, Romi Sarfaty, Amanda Lawson, 

Dundee Rep, Samantha Burns and St. Columbkille’s primary school

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