06.12.2019
Cassie Vallance is no stranger to York Theatre Royal both as a storyteller in the Story Craft Theatre children’s sessions and an adult theatre workshop practitioner. But The Storm Whale, the Christmas show in the Studio, marks the first time she’s actually performed in a production at the theatre.
“I’m very familiar with the space. I’ve been here a lot and seen a lot of shows. Now I’m very pleased to be doing a show that both my kids can come and watch,” she says.
Her children, aged four and one, are the reason she knows the books by Benji Davies – The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale in Winter – that have been turned into a stage play by director Matt Aston.
“I have two boys so I read the books a lot. I knew Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies as well. I do storytelling at the theatre and the first one I did was The Storm Whale in Winter.”
Cassie plays Noi, a boy who lives with his Dad and their six cats by the sea. One day Noi rescues a little whale washed up on the beach during a storm and a friendship begins that changes their lives forever.
As in all good children’s theatre there are big issues featured. “It’s very much about the importance of belonging and relationships and not feeling lonely. Sometimes people are lonely even in the busiest crowded room,” explains Cassie.
“Noi is a sweet young boy who is very excitable when it comes to treasure hunting on the beach. He cares very much for his dad, but isn’t necessarily in a relationship where they talk all the time. He’s very passionate about finding friends, a bit awkward but very lovable.
“And yes, I’m a grown woman playing a 10-year-old boy.”
Ask her to sum up Noi in three words and she replies: “Endearing, awkward, thoughtful.”
In addition to three actors – Julian Hoult and Géhane Strehler are the others – the cast includes a number of puppets. There’s a whale of course plus seagulls, a cat called Sandwich and even a small puppet Noi.
“Puppets change everything,” she says. “And when you see a puppet being worked well you get completely absorbed and lose the person behind it.”
She doesn’t feel there should be any difference between working on adult theatre and children’s theatre. What she doesn’t like is going to see family shows that are patronising to kids. “A lot of the time children have a much great understanding than we give them credit for. Kids are really tuned in, especially on this big emotional stuff,” she explains.
Her message to would-be theatregoers about The Storm Whale production is come if you know the story because it’s “absolutely adorable” and will be lovely to see it come off the page. And if you don’t know the books, there are lots of important themes that will touch a chord not just for children but for parents and carers as well. It is, she declares, “a really lovely, hot chocolatey, yummy jam sandwich Christmas show.”
Cassie’s first time acting on the Theatre Royal stage but not her first time acting in York. During the summer she was part of the acting company at Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre playing an absolutely hilarious Fabian in Twelfth Night and Guildenstern in Hamlet. “It was absolutely brilliant and I had the most fantastic time doing it,” she says.
“I was very fortunate. My other half and I are both actors and got the opportunity to do the show. I had a whale of a time – no pun intended. It was lovely to see people come and getting so much out of it. I got to be an absolute clown which I loved doing.”
Sign Up to Our Emails
Stay In The Loop
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cf_use_ob | past | Cloudflare sets this cookie to improve page load times and to disallow any security restrictions based on the visitor's IP address. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | CookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
_dc_gtm_UA-* | 1 minute | Google Analytics sets this cookie to load the Google Analytics script tag. |
yt-player-bandwidth | never | The yt-player-bandwidth cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences and settings, particularly related to bandwidth and streaming quality on YouTube. |
yt-player-headers-readable | never | The yt-player-headers-readable cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences related to video playback and interface, enhancing the user's viewing experience. |
yt-remote-cast-available | session | The yt-remote-cast-available cookie is used to store the user's preferences regarding whether casting is available on their YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-cast-installed | session | The yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-fast-check-period | session | The yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos. |
yt-remote-session-app | session | The yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-session-name | session | The yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY | never | The cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
SRM_B | 1 year 24 days | Used by Microsoft Advertising as a unique ID for visitors. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_clck | 1 year | Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to retain the browser's Clarity User ID and settings exclusive to that website. This guarantees that actions taken during subsequent visits to the same website will be linked to the same user ID. |
_clsk | 1 day | Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to store and consolidate a user's pageviews into a single session recording. |
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_* | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views. |
_ga_GJDC5XBVGP | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_UA-* | 1 minute | Google Analytics sets this cookie for user behaviour tracking. |
_gat_UA-91938992-12 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
CLID | 1 year | Microsoft Clarity set this cookie to store information about how visitors interact with the website. The cookie helps to provide an analysis report. The data collection includes the number of visitors, where they visit the website, and the pages visited. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
iutk | 5 months 27 days | This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products. |
MR | 7 days | This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes. |
SM | session | Microsoft Clarity cookie set this cookie for synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains. |
vuid | 2 years | Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_dlt | 1 day | Zendesk set this cookie to create a unique ID for the session. This enables the website to collect data on visitor behaviour for statistical purposes. |
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
ANONCHK | 10 minutes | The ANONCHK cookie, set by Bing, is used to store a user's session ID and verify ads' clicks on the Bing search engine. The cookie helps in reporting and personalization as well. |
fr | 3 months | Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
MUID | 1 year 24 days | Bing sets this cookie to recognise unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations. |
test_cookie | past | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | 6 months | YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt.innertube::nextId | never | YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
yt.innertube::requests | never | YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_cfuvid | session | Description is currently not available. |
_dc_gtm_UA-741924-7 | 1 minute | No description |
cf_clearance | 1 year | Description is currently not available. |
CookieDetection | session | No description available. |
SessionId | session | Description is currently not available. |