Oily Cart publicity image 1981-2. Featuring Max Reinhardt (left) and Tim Webb (right). Photo: Amanda Webb
You Can’t Have A Park Without….. (demo version) from Out of Their Tree(1981)
Performer Maureen Hibbert: ‘Playhouse’ and taking young audiences seriously
For a couple of years before Oily Cart, Tim and Max had been intermittently touring their Exploding Punch and Judy shows, designed and made by Claire. They then decided to form the company, aiming to create original theatre for new audiences, and began by making shows for under 5s and their families. These shows were musical and multi-sensory for small audiences, playing in nurseries, libraries, primary schools and small theatres. The first was Out of Their Tree.
Oily Cart Co-founder Tim Webb: ‘Hammocking’ and discovering the kinaesthetic sense
Former specialist school teacher Sue: ‘Tickled Pink’ and shows in specialist schools
Dinner Ladies from Outer Space (1992). From left to right: Nicola McCrae, Paulette Brown as Dinner Ladies. Geoff Bowyer as Top Scientist. Photo: Amrando Atkinson
Dinner Ladies from Outer Space fromDinner Ladies from Outer Space (1992)
Box of Socks (1988). From left to right: Tim Webb, Max Reinhardt, Maureen Hibbert. Photo: Gina Glover
Bip, Bop and Beep (Hello) (2023 Remaster) from Box of Socks (1988)
In 1988, the Deputy Head of a Specialist School asked Oily Cart to perform an under 5s show in his school. Learning that the age range of the students was 3-19, Tim, Max and Claire asked if they could do research with the school instead. What they found out has inspired our work ever since:
There was a huge range of personalities in the school, and any show should aim to engage all of them
A typical show length (45 to 60 minutes) was too short – more time was needed for us to get to know the young people and the young people to get to know us
‘Hammocking’ – being rocked and bounced in hammocks – was hugely popular with students, our first experience of the delights of the kinaesthetic sense!
Dinner Ladies from Outer Space was the first show for which the music and songs were recorded and distributed on cassette to each school the show visited. Since then, all of our shows created for specialist schools audiences have received casettes, then CDs and now, downloads, of the music.
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