FARMER’S CHEESE GOES WORLDWIDE !!! Following its great success in the UK before audiences in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southampton and London, the cast and musicians of The Farmer’s Cheese, a piece of music theatre specifically written for children with Cochlear Implants, will be making their international debut in South Africa this October. The Farmer’s Cheese was adapted for music theatre by the very talented Glasgow-based composer, Oliver Searle of the Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama, who has considerable experience in writing original music for cochlear implant users. His other compositions for Cochlear Implants include “Noise Carriers”. The Farmer’s Cheese is a delightful storybook written by Geoff Plant of the Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation in Boston and illustrated by Jane Eldershaw. It tells the sorry tale of a Farmer constantly outwitted by a cunning mouse in his attempts to recapture his prized cheese. This two act adaptation includes narration and mime. All the animals in this farmyard tale are represented by individual instruments with their own themes, similar to Peter and the Wolf, but in the Farmer’s Cheese the musicians themselves take on the persona of their animal. Antics on stage include a bull fight and even a cheese ballet. All the music in this composition is original and the show was devised by the composer, the actors and the musicians. As well as performances for invited audiences in Johannesburg, children at Eduplex school in Pretoria will be able to enjoy their very own performance of this enchanting play with music. Eduplex school caters for children of pre-school and primary school age and is well equipped for children with hearing loss, staff include speech therapists and audiologists, and all classrooms have been acoustically treated to create an ideal listening environment. A third of the school population is made up of children with hearing loss including a number of children with Cochlear Implants. There will also be a fund raising performance of the Farmer’s Cheese in Johannesburg in support of the Johannesburg Cochlear Implant Programme. The Farmer’s Cheese was commissioned by MED-EL and the performances in South Africa are being sponsored by MED-EL UK. For more information contact charles@medel.co.uk Finally, UK Farmer’s Cheese fans don’t despair – a little mouse tells me more dates for planned in 2011 !