Smaller shows at Adelaide company Patch Theatre makes 'profound' impact on children

Australia Broadcast Center

8 hours ago

Patch Theatre artistic director Geoff Cobham knew a radical change in direction was working in one emotional moment after a show.
"This child came up very animated and told us all about how he controlled the show, [he said] I made the lights work and he had a great narrative about the whole show," Cobham said.
"And his teacher's standing behind me and she's crying and we're going, 'Alright, what's wrong?'
"She said, 'Oh, he's non-verbal,' which is making me cry now," Cobham said.
That magical moment was an early sign this Adelaide theatre company was onto something in changing the way it stages shows.
It has opted to move from just putting on the traditional two shows a day in theatres seating 400 children, to an interactive, smaller scale theatre.
These new-look shows create immersive worlds for kids, a set up that's quick, agile and can be repeated up to 22 times each day.
"I think the way children engage with their world has changed over the last few years and they're so curious and aware of themselves in the world," Patch creative producer Sasha Zahra said.
General manager Penny Camens said the experience of a family with medical needs showed the smaller, more involved performances are working.
"One family said their children were anxious, not sure what they were going to experience," she said.
"They were reassured by our performers and had the most joyous experience.
"Their medical needs made it difficult normally to leave the house, it was just a real treasured family memory to see the freedom and expression and joy for the children in that experience."
Patch Theatre performed to more than 76,000 children across Australia and internationally last year.
Its immersive shows were set up in museums, libraries and community hubs.
Cobham said the impact was significant.
"I've made a lot of art over the last 40 years and rarely do I affect my audiences in a profound way like this," he said.
"Finally I've found an audience who are completely involved in the art and it is making a difference to their lives."
The work has also helped Cobham deal with the loss of his partner Roz Hervey.
She lost her battle with motor neurone disease in 2024, choosing to access South Australia's voluntary assisted dying provisions as her symptoms worsened late in the year.
Her close knit family, who includes actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, knew the following months would be painful.
The performing arts had been with the couple every day.
"Our life together over the last 38 years has been about art, if we're not making art, we're talking about it or going to it," Cobham said.
"Our holidays are not lying on beaches, they are being at festivals and absorbing art."
Cobham knew part of the healing process included returning to work steering children's arts company Patch Theatre.
"There was no time for grief, she doesn't want that, she wants joy, she wants us all to live our lives to the fullest, so we're endeavouring to do that."
Tilda will be staying close to home in 2025, helped by Screen Australia announcing financial backing for her movie It's All Going Very Well No Problems At All.
"Her film that she's written, is going to direct and star in, has been funded, so she'll be making a film in Adelaide over the next year which is great cause I get to have her here," Cobham said.
He's just returned to working full-time as he continues to deal with living without Roz.
She may have worked with a different arts company Restless Dance, but her influence at Patch Theatre was also significant and is still felt to this day.
"In the last few months when we've been making theatre, invariably we'll get to a point in the show where you've got to decide one thing or another," Cobham said.
"We often ask ourselves what would Roz do?"