The Giant’s Embrace
a theatre in eduaction performance for 4-8 year olds
The program lasts 50-60 minutes.
We perform in the nursery group’s own space to maximum one group of participants.
We have an English language version of this program.
The greedy Giant has eaten up the whole world. The poor people are starving. Jancsi heads for the dark and frightening forest, to find some food for his crying little brother and starving family….
A story about consumption, about society and nature, through story and play.
The Story
Uncle Laci is going to be a pensioner from tomorrow, he just doesn’t know what he should do with himself. And if that is not enough his young binman colleague Bence starts inventing stories from any piece of rubbish he comes across. It is impossible to work like this!
These two binmen arrive into the nursery group’s room and finally come to the agreement that Bence can tell one last story about Jancsi, a puppet he made from plastic rubbish, and then stops telling stories. At least for today.
In Bence’s story, the Giant, who used to be a friend to the people, has become extremely greedy. He is unable to control his hunger, and gobbles up anything and everything that comes in his way. As the Giant cares about nothing else just his giant belly, the people have nothing left to eat, the world has grown hungry.
Only one boy, Jancsi, is brave enough to go into the dark forest to find food for his family. On his journey he sees the devastation caused by the Giant and also meets animals who are in trouble. He selflessly helps them. But what can he do when he himself is locked into the greedy Giant’s terrible embrace?
We invent and perform the end of the story with the active participation of the group of children. And even uncle Laci can learn something from the story. And the children even give him advice about who he should spend all the free time he will have in his pension years.
Video
The full performance – a video in Hungarian
We thank the staff and the children at Kerekerdő and Tigris street Kindergarten!!!
Cinematography: András Táborosi, Tamás Benkó
Edited and directed by Zsófia Szilágyi
Playbill
The Giant’s Embrace – a theatre in education performance
for 4-8 year olds
a co-production between
Kerekasztal Színházi Nevelési Központ and InSite Drama
Actor/teachers:
- Ádám Bethlenfalvy
- Arnold Nyári
Length:
- The program lasts 50-60 minutes.
Creators
- Written by Chris Cooper
- Translated by Zsuzsa Hajós
- Director and designer: Ceri Towsend
- We use the story with the permission of Big Brum TIE Co.
Gallery
Reviews
Teacher’s opinion
I would like to congratulate the creators of this performance. I enjoyed the performance and the program greatly and saw that the small children (3-4 year-old) and the bigger one (6-7 year-old) were caught and held by the performance throughout. It is not easy to hold the attention of three-four year old children for an hour, so I would especially like to express my admiration for this.
Both the frame story and the folk-tale-like story within very well created. The design, the use of everyday objects and rubbish that are there around the children in their normal lives was also a fantastic idea.
Your performance complements our daily work really well!
Kappeller Zsuzsanna
We were extremely happy to see how easily the smaller children joined in with the bigger ones in the interactive play, the way both of you built a connection with them straight away really helped in this.
It was good to see how clearly the children express themselves in this programme, and how important it is for them to help Uncle Laci.
We have a mixed age-group class and apart from one girl, who usually shies out of joint activities, everyone joint in and they all had a fantastic time with you on this morning! They were able to contribute but also enjoy the humour of this performance.
Congratulations and thank you!
Juhász Zsuzsanna & Nyitrai Rita (méhecske group)
About the performance at Kerekerdő Óvoda (Budapest,IX. kerület, Vágóhíd utca 35-37.) on the 31st of March, 2016.
Reviews in Hungarian
Limonádé ötven jégkockával (Turbuly Lilla, Spiritusz online, 2017. április)
Együtt legyőzni az óriást (Szemerédi Fanni, Revizor online, 2017. április)
Egyenlő felek – Interakció színpad és nézőtér között a kortárs magyar gyerekszínházban (Herczog Noémi, Színház.net, 2017. október)
News, articles
The Giant’s Embrace in Beijing
The Giant’s Embrace was part of the 10th birthyday anniversary event of Jian Xue International Education and Culture Institute in Beijing, China. The 10-days workshop was held from 3-12 August, 2024.
The Giant’s Embrace is available with English subtitles
The Giant’s Embrace written by Chris Cooper is available on YouTube with English subtitles. The co-production between InSite Drama and…
The Giant went to Bethlehem
The Giant’s Embrace, directed by Ceri Townsend, was invited to Bethlehem International Performing Arts Festival. InSite and Round Table TIE Company members spent…
To whom
- We perform the Giant’s Embrace in Hungarian and in English. We primarily recommend it for 4-8 year old children.
Venue
- We always perform for a group not bigger than 26 children, in their own space.
Other occasions
We also perform The Giant’s Embrace at professional events, conferences, etc. in Hungary and also abroad.