by Mike Kenny

Here are some quotes from children, grown-ups and teachers...

What grown-ups have said about Scarecrow

"Thank you for a delightful morning! It's a very rich play and production, beautifully performed by yourselves and by your clever violinist/composer. Mike has written with a delightful economy, that both forces the brain to create images, and also tells the story with no mucking about with long-winded descriptions. The use of rhyme, too, is infectious and, I would think, imagination-triggering for the young audience - who were riveted from start to finish."

David Wood OBE, Playwright, Children’s Author, after seeing a performance at the Unicorn Theatre, London

'Fantastic'

'All my children 9, 9 and 7 were enthralled by the show - Thank you.'

‘Both thought it was very good. Thank you.’

‘Very dramatic, enjoyed the show.’

Acclaimed small-scale theatre compamy ajtc arrived in Strachur Memorial Hall last Friday to put on a performance of award-nominated children's play Scarecrow .

Sitting in a silent semi-circle right next to the two performers, the children of the district were fascinated by the tale of a scarecrow who just wants to be left aone.

Actors Mick Jasper and Iain Armstrong, supported by accompanying music from superb violinist Sharon Lindo, performed the roles of farmworkers, crows and scarecrows with gusto.

This, however, is no saccharine children's production.

Teletubbies it is not.

The opening scene is set in winter: bleak skies, biting cold, a furrowed field and the spooky distant cawing of crows…younger members of the audience…. were enthralled.

Guildford-based ajtc is touring with the play around the UK, and left Cowal to head for another Argyll venue in Benderloch

From a review by Colin Cameron, Dunoon Observer

Whilst the music was composed by Sharon Lindo the violinist for this particular performance was Holly Harman

What venues have said about Scarecrow

'The striking quality of a production such as ‘Scarecrow' can be attributed to the combined ingredients of substantial expertise delicately but knowingly crafted.

Strength in equal, complementary measures coming from the poetic economy of Mike Kenny's script that leaves space for the emotional resonances within to resound, sculptured by Rosamunde Hutt's sensitive direction from which we are given the substantially rooted and ever-sincere performances by Mick Jasper and Iain Armstrong who work in a partnership that reveals their integrity and experience as actors.

The production has musicality, not just through the beautifully integrated live soundscape that reflects the emotional and temporal journey undertaken but also in the structure and pace of the piece that has a rhythmic feel to it, rather like the movements of a symphony.

The design works to suggest a keen sense of place, and transformation, allowing the audience to believe in the suggested rural location whilst accepting the various conventions introduced through the use of objects, puppetry and staging.

Something is gently reminiscent of the meeting of Samuel Beckett's Vladimir and Estragon in this production.

There's complexity behind what appears quite simple, and economy within a piece that is richly layered. This is not easy to achieve, but the creative team behind this production have done just that.'

Jo Belloli – Associate Producer Polka Children's Theatre, London

'Our audiences loved Scarecrow - for its inventiveness, its live music and its tender and heart warming story telling. Such different, imaginative, work.'

Pippa Smith, Head of Learning - Brighton Dome