If Not Here...Where?
If Not Here… Where? was produced by Little Angel Theatre in partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital, with funding from BBC Children in Need and NESTA. Inspired by stories and ideas from inpatients, outpatients, and the Young People’s Forum at GOSH, the show is designed to pack down into a small box and be performed at the end of a child’s hospital bed for those unable to leave the hospital.
“Every single patient found it a magical experience”
Incorporating puppetry and a digital app, If Not Here…Where? allows the child to make choices throughout the performance to influence the way the story goes – ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style. At the end of the performance, children can interact through the app’s augmented reality universe with others who have seen the show before them and who may be in a similar situation in hospital. The show allows children and young people to imaginatively escape the clinical environment and explore a magical world far from the walls of the hospital.
“The show was so appropriate, universal, warm, gentle, and engaging. It is rare to see work of this quality”
The show toured throughout February 2020 to children’s hospitals and hospices across the UK, including Great Ormond Street, Alderhey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Leeds Children’s Hospital, and Shooting Stars Hospice in Middlesex.
During the pandemic, we filmed the performance and incorporated it into the app to provide a fully digital interactive experience. Transformed into a tablet-based show, this COVID safe experience was able to tour despite strict ongoing safety protocols; bringing isolated young people together when they needed it most. In the summer of 2021 we visited children’s care providers across the UK including St George’s Tooting, the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh, and Richard House Hospice, East London.
“The production was led by the needs of patients and the environment, without compromising on quality. The storytelling totally captivated the audience, and the opportunity for children and young people to make choices throughout was particularly powerful in a hospital setting.”