The Small poppies

For the 2000 Dublin Theatre Festival, Sydney’s Company B Belvoir were invited to perform a production of “The Small Poppies”. This documentary traces the play’s rehearsal of a comic work, pitched at young children, about experiencing the first day at primary school. The cast is a bevy of well-regarded Australian actors, including David Field, Julie Forsyth, Deborah Mailman, Rebecca Massey, Arky Michael and Geoffrey Rush. Interviews are conducted with members of the audience, mostly small children, who humorously reminisce about their first day at school and consider why people create works and attend the theatre. Geoffrey Rush discusses theatre, his history as an actor, and desire to create a piece of theatre, back in 1986, about the first day at school, with playwright David Holman. Interviews with the cast, Holman and director Neil Armfield, are interspersed with black and white stills of Rush and Holman, from 1986, researching, visiting schools and observing young children first hand, much of which formed the finished play. Displaying rehearsals, discussions and processes that attribute to a successful play, makes for a fascinating view of collaborative art, and this documentary shows extended footage from the Dublin performance and what appears to be an extremely amusing and affecting work.