Programmer Picks: Brighton Festival Family events to enjoy this May
Looking for events to take the kids to this Brighton Festival? Pippa Smith, Children's and Family Programmer shares a couple of her top performance picks for families.
Penguins
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, two penguins in New York Zoo adopted an egg and hatched a chick...but Roy and Silo are both boys. After their keeper spotted them trying to hatch a stone, he gave them a discarded egg to adopt. Roy and Silo loved their chick very much and taught it to dive and swim.
I saw this exquisite piece of dance-theatre in Birmingham. Despite travelling there and back from Brighton in one day, I came home grinning with delight! I am so proud to be bringing it to Brighton Festival. This really is a show for anyone who loves dance, and dance which tells a story. It has enough colour and laughter to entertain any child.
Snigel and Friends
If you look closely at the picture of Snigel and Friends (0 - 12) in your brochure, you'll notice the parents gently restraining their babies in the background. Babies are drawn to Caroline Bowditch (Snigel) and her company of insect friends like teens to a rock stage! The stage is deliberately low so that the artists are within touching distance of the non-walking audience. The audience are free to spend the performance crawling alongside the actors, sharing the colour and costumes, the discoveries and the delights. Borrow a baby and be there!
Apples
I discovered Apples (1.5 -3 years) at a Theatre Festival in Belgium. Casier and Dies are a couple from Netherlands and their work has never been seen in England before. Enter a cosy yurt to discover an unusual apple tree. The show is as much about the functioning of extraordinary and unexpected kitchen equipment, as it is about the dance theatre performance of these two charming cooks. You will see apples cut from their tree, smell them cooking and see the delicious puree squirt into miniature bottles, carried by a moving truck.For more information on our range of amazing performances for kids, see our full Family programme.