HIP MAGAZINE: for kool deaf and hard-of-hearing kids and their pals. Video Review: "Playing from the Heart" Rating: EXCELLENT This is a video of a play about Evelyn Glennie when she was a young girl. She wanted more than anything to be a musician. In real life, Evelyn grew up to become a famous percussionist. (See story on page one.) She gives concerts to audiences all over the world. "Playing from the Heart" tells the story of Evelyn's childhood up to the time she becomes a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Polka Children's Theatre of Wimbledon, England put on this play. It uses few sets and only five actors to play many different characters. It shows Evelyn's inspiring story of perseverance. The staging in this play is sophisticated. Scene changes happen in front of the audience with subtle lighting effects. There is a full set of percussion instruments at the back of the stage. As the actress Evelyn pretends to play instruments at the front of the stage, a real percussionist plays in the darkened background. At one point, the young Evelyn insists, "I am not disabled, I am not disabled." The message of this play is to show that with determination and perseverance, it is possible to do anything you set your mind to.

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