ABOUT THE THEATER

Teatr Małego Widza is a unique place in Wrocław, created for the really youngest ones. Our shows are aimed at children from the first year of life!

Teatr Małego Widza is an uncommonly intimate theater - only 40 seats in the auditorium - a theater show almost within touching distance of the audience, without big decorations, without a moralizing story and literalness of the objects in the performance, but focused on dialogue with children, based on trust in their imagination.

The theatre for children from the first year of life is a specific theatre where the lights never go out, where little spectators can talk, babble, wriggle and fidget. It is a safe theatre where nothing happens unexpectedly; there is no loud music, there are no monsters or creatures suddenly jumping out of the blue. The story does not unfold rapidly and the plot itself is a pretext, a sort of invitation to join the fun, rather than a multi-thread story. This is a theatre for the very youngest, adjusted to their perception, their way of watching the world. It is a theatre of colour, sound, smell and touch, a theatre where little spectators do not have to lift their heads, since everything is going on at their level.

PHILOSOPHY

A child in our theatre is a PARTNER - a fully entitled spectator of art and participant of culture. We truly believe that respecting the right of the youngest children to explore the world of art, and their participation in the artistic process, conducted in a responsible and appropriate way, has an enormous significance for the harmonious development of the child’s sensitivity, emotional intelligence and competence. It is an extremely important issue in a social and cultural dimension, yet so rarely raised in public. Regardless of the age of the recipient this superior idea of our theater does not change. Only the way of communication and impact on the imagination changes. 

In the performances of the Teatr Małego Widza we want to talk to children using their language, not in a childish and fake way, but sincerely. This is the sincerity of the theatre that does not serve the fame and glory of the artists. In this theatre actors really experience what they do, search for a particular way of communication, knowing that children experience their own space and time.

ABOUT CREATING SHOWS FOR THE VERY YOUNG CHILDREN

SENSITIVITY AND SENSES

The performances of Teatr Małego Widza are very SENSORIAL. They appeal to deep children’s SENSITIVITY and engage many senses. Here the words are not so important, we are focusing on communication through images, music, light, rhythm, dance, movement, atmosphere, gestures and mime. Topics? They are hidden in everyday life, and fascinate those one or two-years - old children more than anything else. Colors, water, sand ... there is magic!

A LOT OF ROOM FOR CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION 

Our productions are usually a mixture of many arts. In our shows, workshops, installations and performances with live music, we endlessly experiment, play with abstraction and we find magic where it does not exist at first glance. Very often, we use everyday objects trying to see their other sides than just the functional one. We want to leave a lot of room for the children’s natural expression and build kind of communication platform where together we can learn how to receive and express emotions. We never show things straight, like there were ready, we want to show to the children the most beautiful world, the world of their own IMAGINATION.

THEATER SHOW WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE 

Teatr Małego Widza is a place where children can freely express their opinions, comments and laugh sduring the performance whenever they want. They don’t need to lift their heads, since everything is going on at their level within touching distance. At uncommonly intimate auditorium with only 60 seats, the spectators sit on pillows or lie if they feel like lying down.

NATURALITY, HONESTY, AND SIMPLICITY

Children are constantly experimenting and exploring the world, looking at what will happen. Nothing is obvious to them! Simple and ordinary things are often underestimated by adults, and children can easily see other meanings in them. The whole strength and magic of the theater for such small children is based on simplicity. This is a big challenge for directing and acting. It requires huge self-discipline, to not to complicate the message, to be able to give up the excess ideas, to limit actions to the most necessary ones, and after all on this minimalism build big emotions and maintain tension. Small children do not need great decorations, complicated stories, colorful costumes and stage props. Here the sense of all is communication, establishing a dialogue. Here, the actor constantly strives for the attention of the little spectator - he is looking for understanding. The language of the theater is just a tool in trying to reach the sensitivity of a small child. This is an important meeting. This is more than just a theater. 

VALUES

RESPECT

A small child is an absolutely unique spectator. It is a viewer who is able to receive a performance only on an emotional and sensational level, without asking for logic. The child simply absorbs, here and now, does not judge in advance, does not use schemes, because they are not there yet, is open to experiments, abstraction. Children are open, everything is interesting for them, that’s why they can be a wonderful public of even the most difficult theatrical forms, that many adults would have problem with.

RESPONSIBILITY

We truly believe in a theater that stimulates children's imagination and treats children as equal partners. In Teatr Małego Widza we appreciate children’s intelligence, their ability to think and analyze independently, their natural sensitivity and openness to receiving various stimuli.  Creating our shows we seek the truth, authenticity and sincerity of the message, without dressing up and infantilism. We are aware of the great responsibility that rests with us, the responsibility for having influence at sensitivity of those who are the future public of galleries, museums and theaters for adults.

QUESTION THAT WE CONTINUOUSLY HEAR -  Why do children need a theater?

Sensitivity, empathy, emotional intelligence and social skills are developing through contact with art, through experiencing art and undertaking creative activities. And that's what this whole theater is for. This is why people need it, no matter adults or children. To develop sensitivity, to teach empathy, to open, build and strengthen self-esteem, to practice the courage in formulating one's own opinions, to encourage expression and to see more, further, better.

Theater is an area of art that works beautifully with a deeper meanings. If it is not literal, than it requires constant involvement of the imagination. Leaving a lot of room for our own interpretation. It also causes the need to ask questions and search for answers.