大象传媒

Do you do it the popstick way?

"That's me - in one of my primes. 1972 - bringing entertainment, fun and a bit of an opportunity for creativity to the adventure play-schemes of south Wales.

The first one we did took a week, in Adamsdown, Cardiff. We turned up in character - cartoon characters really - a Hollywood film crew looking for a location to make a horror film, and of course, the playground was just perfect... and as we were pretty incompetent, we needed help - lots of help - which the children were keen to give...

...and over the week we did, altogether, make a real film. In those pre-video days there was only one copy. I don't know what happened to it, but I'd love to see it now. Later, we devised events that would work in a day and we took them round many play-schemes.

Captain Confucious - we'll all lend a hand to Confucious - the best in the land. Who is Professor Popstick? Why is he here today? To show you all the popstick way! We are the robot-makers. We make robots out of paper ...and paint and glue ...and potato sacks.

By my reckoning, there must be several hundred people who are now in their late thirties and early forties, who might just remember being amazed, mesmerised or excited by this group of strange characters who arrived at their playground, put on a show and got them to join in.

I hope they all enjoyed it and that now they have children and maybe grand-children, they continiue to nurture that spirit of fun and pleasure in making and doing, in playing together that we strove to encourage all that time ago."

Please tell us a little about yourself.
Since arriving in Wales in 1967 I have spent most of my time working as a freelance video producer, principally in the area of community arts.

What's your story about?
It's a reminiscence. In the 1970's I was one of a group who formed "Jack Russell's Road Works", a theatre group who devised performances to encourage children to participate. We toured holiday playschemes in Cardiff and many other places throughout South Wales. I was reminded of that time when looking through boxes of old photographs. By articulating the story I was able to recapture some of the enthusiasm and idealism of the time; and hopefully by publishing the story it might reach some of the people, now grown up, who participated in those events as children.

What did you find the most rewarding aspect of the workshop?
It provided a very clear and supportive framework for me to organise my thoughts and learn how to use the technology to do so.