SOLSTICE at Battersea Arts Centre
★★★★
“Solstice may be a small show, but it has a large heart”
Wild Rumpus’ show Solstice, now running at the Battersea Arts Centre, is an easy winner if you are looking for a show for young children this holiday season. It’s just big enough in space and long enough in time for kids and their carers to enjoy a specially curated experience that brings the magic of the outdoors, indoors. There’s a light trail, storytelling, larger than life puppets, and activities designed to enchant the littlest audiences. Solstice isn’t just about the winter solstice, either. There’s a room in the show for every season, including a space where kids can gather to create their own intentions for “their next turn around the sun.”
Wild Rumpus is better known as an outdoors festival producer, where it has gathered an impressive reputation for creating immersive woodland events. Such events can last several days and include camping near the site, as well as getting involved in literature, music, dance, comedy, costumes and make up. Solstice indoors—and in a big city like London—loses some of Wild Rumpus’ original intent, which is to “provide family arts in the wild”. Solstice is so well designed and carefully thought out, however, that everyone will enjoy a brief trip to the world outdoors, even if it is inside. And Solstice is a timely reminder that the natural world is all around us if we know where, and how, to look.
Solstice is no mere light trail like so many others that are currently on offer around London. Each part of the experience merges seamlessly with the next, and there’s a story linking every space in the show. Solstice is about a quest to find and comfort the winter wolf who is missing his hibernating friends from the warmer seasons. The quest begins in spring, with a space filled with dragon sized eggs (some already cracked open!) and a beautiful larger than life sized, light filled dragonfly. Children are given activity sheets at the beginning of Solstice to draw, count, classify and create as they move through the rooms. I don’t want to spoil the surprises that follow meeting the dragonfly, except to say that the skills of storyteller George are a good preparation for the most magical encounter of them all—meeting the winter wolf. If parents are concerned that any of these experiences may be too overwhelming, kids can step out and take a break at any time. Every performance is relaxed, and the Battersea Arts Centre has also put aside a chill out space if needed.
Solstice may be a small show, but it has a large heart, perfectly sized to introduce kids to the world outdoors. Wild Rumpus and the Battersea Arts Centre have teamed up to create a lovely space where families can pause and reflect on the passing of the seasons.
SOLSTICE at Battersea Arts Centre
Reviewed on 5th December 2023
by Dominica Plummer
Photography by Harry Elletson
Previously reviewed at this venue:
Little Red Riding Hood | ★★½ | December 2022
Tanz | ★★★★ | November 2022
Hofesh Shecter: Contemporary Dance 2 | ★★★★★ | October 2022
Solstice
Solstice
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