 THURSDAY'S CHILD
By Greg Snape
A CHILDREN'S RIGHTS MUSICAL FOR UNICEF - THE
STORY SO FAR ...
UNICEF commissioned composer Greg Snape
to write Thursday's Child to celebrate the 10th anniversary of thew
UN convention on the rights of the Child, an international charter
for children/ The musical is designed to be universal and to illustrate
the situation of children worldwide.
Thursday's Child follows a group of children who make
a journey to happiness from labour camp and a conflict zone, to
a city where they meet street children and gangs, to a playground
and then to a repressive schoolroom. The finale takes place in
the court room in the House of Just where the children's right
to a home and happiness is finally resolved.
Synopsis
Thursday's Child was launched with a major performance at the Commonwealth
Exhibition Centre, London, in February 1999. Gary Wilmot reprised
the featured role he plays in the video, along with a cast of 31 children
between the ages of 8 and 18.
The production played to a packed house including Brit Award winner
Des'ree (who introduced the event), actress Joely Richardson, and UNICEF
Special Representative for the Performing Arts, Vanessa Redgrave CBE,
who spoke after the show saying it was 'Inspirational'.
Thursday's Child is a 115 minute musical theatre production for performance
by young people based on the contents of the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child. It follows a group of children who undertake a journey
in search of home and happiness, through a land at war with itself. Their
journey leads them to encounter situations, which illustrate the worse
aspects of life for a child in a vibrant, dramatic, and sometimes humorous
way.
The idea behind Thursday's Child is to get people, especially young
people, thinking and talking about vital children's issues and the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, by watching, and participating
in, performances of the musical. Originally commissioned in September
1996 by the UK Committee for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's
Fund, Thursday's Child was published to mark the tenth anniversary
of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1999.
An excerpt from Thursday's Child was featured on BLUE PETER in April
1999, provoking a large response and initiating a number of performances
at home and abroad, including Spain, Malta, Hungary, and Tanzania.
More recently a presentation of extracts from Thursday's Child was
given at Lancaster House, Westminster, as the culmination of the UK
Government Reception for the Tenth Anniversary of the UN Convention
on the Right's of the Child, hosted by the Secretary of State for Health.
Thursday's Child Published Materials
- Full Music Score
- Script
- Songbook (Easy choral version of 12 of the songs)
- Teachers Book
- Video (Demo of full show)
- School Video (Cut for classroom use)
- Performance CD
- Backing CD (No Vocals)
- Poster (Artwork blanks for inserting your own details)
- Performance Pack (Containing Score, Script, Backing CD and
Poster Blank)
- Teachers Pack (Containing School Video, Teacher's Book and
Poster)
Review
For further details/discussion or to obtain any of the
above materials contact:-
UNICEF UK HELPDESK - 0870 606 3377 Web
: www.unicef.org.uk/education
GREG SNAPE - 0800 956 2647 Email : gregsnape@btopenworld.com |
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