Comedy Carpet Board Game

COMEDY CARPET CAPERS

We had the opportunity to work with other artists and performers within Blackpool Schools to help the local school children learn about Gordon Young’s Comedy Carpet and something of British comedy over the last century. We began the project by brainstorming on the comedy carpet itself at which point we realised what a colossal subject it was to introduce to children. Where to begin? How does you begin to navigate around such a huge artwork. We felt it was rather like standing on a giant board game and a board game was exactly what we decided to create! We began by finding child friendly catchphrases, jokes, comedy props and comedians and introduced them gradually during the game through the spaces and via game cards. It became rather like a cross between Monopoly and top trumps. In July we introduced the game to school children in Blackpool and helped them to make and play their very own comedy carpet board games.

We attended the comedy Carpet Book launch with Gordon Young and team in December where hundreds of children performed the charleston, to celebrate Gordon’s birthday, in the tower ballroom.