Review: The Welcome Project, LAT

The Welcome Project is a series of short films released by Little Angel Theatre in association with Chicken Shop Hermits. The films are live animated or puppet shows which are free of charge. The fact that this resource is free, is of course an incentive for teachers to use in their classrooms.

However, it is more than just a free resource, it is an interesting addition to any teacher's toolkit due to the quality of productions and the variety of topics of conversation which would come from them; ‘Noise’ for example (released on 18 January) uses entirely recycled materials to tell the tale of Reuben who has his world is turned upside down when he and his mom suddenly move to a completely new country. The puppetry film shows the boy who does not know the language but must join a new school and a new class. The theme of identity is explored in a different way using hand puppetry in ‘Baggage’ where wordlessly we learn how even when we are alone there is always a hand somewhere to help us feel at home.