Adults speak children’s exact words about love, life and the world in this fresh verbatim work. Drawn from interviews with over 40 whip-smart and brutally honest children, a dynamite adult cast allows an adult audience to hear kids’ ideas and experiences anew.The results are surprising, hilarious and profound.

CHILD-ish is a constellation of creative works: a web series, a live performance and an inter-generational process. Aged 6-77, our CHILD-ish creative team is truly inter-generational.

Sunny speaks about his original impetus for CHILD-ish:

"The idea for CHILD-ISH came about from a time I arrived to look after a 7-year-old, to find her on the couch, head in hands, balling her eyes out. I asked what was wrong and she shared her utter devastation that her classmate didn’t want to marry her. She was really going through it, until right between sobs she started doing acrobatics on the couch and in literally only minutes, she was over it! I’ve spent longer stewing when someone hasn’t returned a text message! Her mom and I shot each other amazed looks: when did we forget how to use playfulness and presence to move through things? And I started wondering if sometimes I try too hard to "adult" and what our lives would be like if we let ourselves be a little more childish.

I wanted to see what else we could learn from children’s experiences of the world and what would happen if we listened to kids more deeply, so over several years we interviewed over 40 kids aged 5-12, either individually, in pairs or small groups. And then I’d take the transcripts and combine together multiple interviews. I’d then workshop the scripts with our inter-generational team, often adding in new layers of verbatim material from the conversations with our young collaborators"

WEB SERIES:

You can watch it on this website for free!

Episode 1: You would have some company

Episode 2: Ghost friends

Episode 3: You need to ask before…

Episode 4: HELLOOO!

Directed by Sunny Drake and Peter Riddihough

‍

LIVE PERFORMANCE:

Toronto production: Oct 21- Nov 16, 2024

World premiere with Pacific Theatre was Feb 9 - March 9, 2024.

Sold out work-in-progress showings at the SummerWorks Festival (Canada, 2019).

As the work tours, local children will participate in part of the performance.

‍AWARDS

“Outstanding Ensemble” NOW Magazine 2019 (Canada)

PRESS

The Globe & Mail

* Critic’s Pick *

“One of the funniest, most tender pieces of theatre in Toronto this year”

“Unmissable”

“Equal parts entertaining, heartfelt and agonizing”

‍

Toronto Star

“Hilarious and affecting”

“Heads to some astonishing places”

‍

Broadway World

“A fascinating window into how children think”

“It’s easy to leave the show with hope for the future”

‍

A View From The Box

“Frankly dazzling”

Our Theatre Voice

“Seeing Child-ish has also profoundly affected my life.”

Next Magazine

“You’ll enter Tarragon Theatre as an adult, sit in the audience as a student and leave as a free, whimsical child wishing for marshmallow floors.”

Intermission Magazine

“CHILD-ish is much more than its product, modelling a process that values kids’ experiences of life and treats them as genuine artistic partners”

“Joyous and zany and a little like a sugar high”.

‍

From one of Vancouver’s most seasoned and respected theatre reviewers, Colin Thomas:

 “An effervescent combination of innocence, insight, and sophistication… I love this show, everything about it”

 “Had me rolling, laughing harder than I have in months”

 “The twists in Drake’s script keep refreshing the mind and the spirit”

 – ColinThomas, Fresh Sheet ‍

‍

Fill Up Cup

‍"Captivating”

‍“A masterful rendition of children’s perspectives skillfully brought to life by adult actors”

“A poignant reminder of the boundless joy and innate wisdom found in embracing our inner child”

‍

 RickChung Moves

"Drake has created a remarkably hilarious stage experience thanks to its direct transcription from the mouths of kids"

 “Child-ish is deceptively simple but highly effective”

‍

Family Fun Vancouver

 “A beautiful and awe-inspiring production unlike any other”

 “I was mesmerized listening to the deep and honest advice and what they most want the adults in their lives to know”

 “I laughed, I teared up a bit, and then I left feeling immensely hopeful for the future”

‍