New dates

A children’s show which made its public debut at this year’s Chichester Fringe, bringing a brand-new mini-musical to the city, now heads to Guildford.

It comes from Sardine Theatre, a group of drama students from GSA in Guildford.

They now perform on Saturday, September 19 at 2pm at The Stoke Pub Function Room, Guildford; tickets from £8 on

https://guildfordfringefestival.com/events/the-smallest-sardine-of-the-seven-seas/

The show comes from Sadie Ward, Liz Kellaway, Barney Cassidy, N’Asia Davis and Chichester-based Lily Barkes.

Lily said: “We loved performing at Chichester Fringe and had great audience feedback. We couldn’t have asked for a better public performance debut.

“Taking part in Chichester Fringe was a great hands-on opportunity to learn more about the industry. Performing came with the responsibility of running our own rehearsals, marketing, admin work, and we are very grateful for that experience.”

The Smallest Sardine of the Seven Seas (a very long name for a very small fish) sees a directionally-challenged pirate telling the tale of how a timid little tiddler finds her confidence. Meeting characters including a piano-playing crab and a lazy lighthouse keeper along the way, audiences can expect a heart-warming adventure, full of family fun and toe-tapping sea shanties.

Lily said: “Sardine Theatre was born out of a love for the sort of storytelling that excites and involves everyone and a passion for collaborative creativity and performance.

“We premiered the show for a class of seven-year-olds and the feedback, for pupils and teachers, was brilliant. We are so excited to bring the show to the Chichester Fringe and we are so grateful for the opportunity. I am also so happy to be performing in my home city where my love of theatre began when I started attending workshops at Chichester Festival Youth Theatre.”

As Barney says, the show grew out of their love of the course in Guildford: “It has been brilliant. There is a lot of freedom, and that's the USP of the course. You go into it and it's about giving you the tools that you will need that will set you up with your speciality. That's been the best thing for me. You make your strengths into your superpowers and it has been brilliant.”

Lily added: “We have a specific module on this in our third year so we're a little bit ahead because we wanted to set something up to take advantage of the Chichester Fringe. It's really great. We get masterclasses and they're really supportive in all elements of setting up a company.

“The company started off very much for this show that we have created but we've really loved creating it together. We worked really well together and we would like to continue making work together.”

As for the show, Barney says: “There is a moral element to the story and that's no matter how small you are or how young you are, everyone has a difference that they can make in the world. And I think that's the amazing thing about children. Children see the world with a purity and a creativity within their minds, and I think that is so special, and if there is one child that doesn't realise that they have that then I hope this show will show them that they really can make a difference and they really do have their space in the world.”

Lily says the creation of the show was very much a collaboration: “There are five of us in the cast and we all do a bit of everything. We started off with the key themes that Barney has spoken about. We came from a devised aspect just saying let's do a scene about this and see where it goes, and it was also influenced by the music that Barney was writing. We just built it out of nothing and then eventually we sat down and wrote the script.”

Suitable for children aged 4-9 years, The Smallest Sardine of the Seven Seas now comes promised as the “perfect introduction to live theatre.”