“me, us, (play)” by Kate Lee and Yuki Kawahisa with music by Brendan Burke

Photo by Miho Suzuki

Miho Suzuki’s sentiment of ‘kids at play’ and ‘spontaneous theater’ are the concepts behind “me, us, (play)”. Theater and performance is deeply rooted in a sense of play. Such processes like Drama in Education tap into the notion that play is considered a significant learning medium for children, with effects seen in literacy development and social interactions. This live performance merges and diverges from the exhibition ‘Our Children Today’. The performers re-create Suzuki’s images from the book in real time. They aim to tap into the spontaneous playful worlds of children by exploring how these worlds are inhabited by adults. The notion of spontaneity is explored in real time. Yet the contradiction is that the sense of play is contrived for the theatrical event.

Our question then is, how is the “play” interpreted when it is performed by adults?