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Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres have announced the cast for their new production of Anna Hibiscus' Song, the theatrical adaptation of the much-loved children's book by Atinuke. Staged in the intimate and flexible Playhouse, the story of Anna Hibiscus is directed and adapted by Utopia Theatre Founder, CEO and Artistic Director Mojisola Kareem-Elufowoju. My very favorite early-chapterbook discovery that I've made as a parent. (Is it still an early chapterbook if there aren't chapters? This is a collection of four different Anna Hibiscus stories, all around the same reading level as Frog & Toad, my lifelong favorites.)
To round off the year we bring the festive classic White Christmas to the Crucible stage this December. Directed by Paul Foster, it’s a musical that will delight all ages. ” In the third, Anna wants to sell oranges on the street like the other girls outside her house. She has bright, healthy oranges and a clean dress, and sells many more oranges than the other girls, but when her father, uncle, and grandfather wonder what upset the girls selling oranges outside--some of them in very difficult life situations--Anna realizes that she made a mistake. She amends for it by working hard the next day, bringing all the other girls oranges, and at the end, she's proud of how hard she worked.This is the story of a young girl named Anna Hibiscus. Anna lives in amazing Africa. Ibadan, Nigeria to be exact. Anna Hibiscus is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. And the more she talks to her mother and father and grandfather and grandmother and aunties and cousins about it, the more her happiness grows! There's only one thing to do...Sing! I read in an interview with the author, Atinuke, that she chose not to name the individual country - just to say that Anna Hibiscus lives "in Africa" - because she wanted to emphasize that happy childhoods and families can and do happen all over Africa, as a way of combating the slew of negative images summoned up in the West when people think of children in Africa. The physical descriptions in this book are so vivid and loving and enthusiastic (juicy sweet mangoes hanging on the tree in their garden! warm sand on the beach and beautiful white houses!), I bet there are a ton of kids who beg to go to Africa after reading this book. (Mine did!) And as a parent, I was really glad to find such a lovely book set in a different culture than the one my son is growing up in, to start to get across the idea of multiculturalism at an early age, but in a completely non-didactic way.
The narrative is such a celebratory way to discuss the importance of family and love, whilst also allowing children to explore how the same emotion can be felt or expressed differently, and perhaps reflect upon themselves. Admittedly, I would have liked Atinuke to give her books a country and not just a vague “Africa” for where they take place. It’s great for kids to know what life is like overseas, but there’s always the danger that they’ll just assume that all of Africa is one and the same. That said, it’s hard to find much fault with such a lovely series. From the pictures to the stories to the writing to the tone, everything about these books makes you feel happy and content. Here’s hoping there are more Anna Hibiscus books somewhere in the works. A finer crop of overseas fare I have yet to find for the early chapter book set. Memorable and enchanting. Saturday 9 December 2023 – Saturday 13 January 2024 (Press performance: Thursday 14 December 2023 at 7pm). It’s interesting to me that the very first story in Anna Hibiscus is a tale of how Anna and her mom, dad, and brothers try to take a vacation without the extended relatives, only to realize that they need them more than they thought. At first I was puzzled as to why you’d just thrust the reader into the family situation so abruptly. Then I realized that Atinuke uses this story to introduce to kids the notion of having lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents around at all times. It’s like the characters are being introduced on a stage to our applause. And once you understand the living situation (everyone lives in one big house) the rest of the book will make that much more sense. The story also reminded me more than a little of that classic folktale It Could Always Be Worse, which is fun.Irving Berlin’s White Christmas:A new production by Sheffield Theatres, staged on the iconic Crucible stage and directed by Paul Foster( Talent, Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun). This classic feel-good musical for all the family features the songs Blue Skies, Sistersand the festive favourite White Christmas.
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