NEVER PUT YOUR HEAD IN A SPIDER WEB
Location: Paramaribo - Suriname - Latin America
In 2007, the annual children's book festival in Suriname asked the Surinamese/Dutch author Thea Doelwijt to make a children's musical of her own children's book. The theme of the book was nature and how man treats the environment. The production Never Put Your Head in a Spider Web, co-directed by Berith Danse, became the axis of this edition of the children's book festival. It was performed in Paramaribo, in addition to districts inland.
Several creative professionals worked together with children aged 10 to 18 years. Through this, children had the opportunity to be exposed to theatre and to develop themselves in it. The performance carried the theme interaction with the environment, which was the theme of the children's book festival this year. This included the harrowing effects of the flood of 2006 along with other issues.
Thea Doelwijt, Surinamese director:
"It has turned out to be a beautiful, playful performance that was received positively in Suriname. A few weeks after the project, the performance was given in inland Brokopondo.
Children and young people watched it breathlessly... such a thing, a real performance in Dutch, Surinamese and Saramaccan, they had never seen something like this before!
Teachers and parents praised the initiative. Usually folklore shows come from the city of Paramaribo, never was there a musical performed at this level, with children and adolescents."
