Why are some objects special?

Why do we collect things?

These two questions were at the heart of Finders Keepers, a Unicorn commission, created by theatre-rites created for 3-6 year olds at the Livesey Museum for Children. The museum, the ideal place to explore the notion of value of objects and collections, was transformed through theatre-rites inventive use of visual theatre, shadow puppetry and live music in this site specific performance.
The audience explored a maze of rooms, each with an installation inspired by objects form Southwark Museums collection.
The production was an ideal opportunity for the Unicorn to work with the Livesey Museum on producing an education project for early years children. Thirteen schools and nurseries were selected from Southwark and Tower Hamlets to participate in the project. They were offered a pre-show workshop and a post-show workshop in addition to attending the production at the Livesey.
For the pre-show workshop, the starting point was focusing on theatre–rites' work with image and Unicorn's tradition of story and how these could be brought together successfully. A drama worker and puppeteer worked with small groups of children from reception and nursery to create a group story and used found objects and materials to bring the story to life.
The post-show workshops were designed by Livesey Musem to give the children the opportunity to create their own artistic response to the production in the form of their own Museum box. Their artwork was then displayed in the museum for the Finders Keepers Exhibition. Many teachers commented on how the children used the experience in their own imaginative play; "They are always going on treasure hunts, they collect materials and then find boxes to place them in and then decorate their boxes" Nursery worker - Nell Gywnn Nursery

This project was funded by the Pool of London Partnership, Peckham EAZ, Poplar EAZ and the Equitable Charitable Trust.