Show credits will follow the article
“CHILD-ish is an intergenerational new twist on ‘verbatim theatre’ from a creative team that spans ages 6-77”[1]–That’s the hook here. Verbatim theatre was a new concept for me at the time of my introduction to CHILD-ish. As I learned, it’s when a script is written from the exact words of a real person, no editing all sic. When you consider that it’s children’s words from which the lines are being read verbatim, you start to see the charm of CHILD-ish.
So, children provided the thoughts and feelings, adults performed them– but not adults acting as children, adults acting as adults who are speaking the wisdom of children, which I suppose is where the “-ish” in CHILD-ish comes from. And I do mean wisdom. The underdeveloped brain of a young person is a pretty great balance; enough cortex to wonder, to grieve, to celebrate, but not quite enough brain power to get hung up on that pesky existential dread. Maybe that’s what CHILD-ish taught me in a nutshell: children have a fantastic set of priorities and focuses. When the boy you want to marry thinks you’re annoying, and doesn’t want to be friends, you do cartwheels and declare to never have loved him at all, for he is a fool.
Sunny Drake, creator and writer of CHILD-ish, interviewed 41 children over the course of a few years on a range of topics and moods. It’s this range that is, perhaps, my favorite part of CHILD-ish. From love and school-place politics to suicide and death, Drake isn’t afraid to peer passed the rainbows and unicorns. The tougher topics, once tackled, become the most potent reminders that maturity isn’t a one to one comparison with emotional depth. Young people can have complex emotions, and they do– regularly. Suddenly I arrive at a mental fork in the road. On one side, the deaf ear with which children’s words so often fall on. On the other side, memories, thoughts, and traumas from our collective childhoods begging to be taken seriously.
Maybe being called childish doesn’t mean what I thought it did.
CHILD-ish runs approximately 75 minutes and lives in the Tarragon Theatre extra space until November 16th.
[1] CHILD-ish house program, Tarragon Theatre 2025
CHILD-ish (Toronto Premiere)
Created by Sunny Drake
Directed by Andrea Donaldson
In Association with The Childish Collective
CAST + CREW
Created by Sunny Drake (he/him)
Directed by Andrea Donaldson (she/they)
Nightwood shadow direction by Oliver Pitschner (he/him)
Costume design by Ming Wong 黄慧明 (she/her)
Set design by Amanda Wong (she/they)
Lighting design by Andre Du Toit (he/him)
Composition & sound design by Adrian Sheperd-Gawinski (he/him)
Projection design by Laura Warren
Stage management by Frank/ie (they/he)
Apprentice stage management by Jacob Beecher (he/him)
Performances by Karl Ang (he/him; various roles), Janelle Cooper (she/her, various roles), Monique Mojica (she/her, various roles), Jordan Pettle (he/him, various roles), Asher Rose (they/them, interviewer)
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