Turned On Its Head are a theatre company specialising in shows for very small people, in this case 0-4, which sounds an unlikely age group for a target audience. Will they understand anything? Will they sit still for longer than five minutes? Will they join in? Fortunately the company are brilliant at knowing what will interest their watchers, which included a much wider age range if you count the siblings and parents, all of whom were absorbed and delighted by it.
Sponge is a show about all things squodgy. A loose plot involves a toddler and her parent - he wants to mop up some drips, she wants to play with the buckets; he wants to put all the sponges away, she wants to tip them everywhere. Then it's bedtime, and a most bizarre but charming dream sequence ensues (if you haven't seen a giant jellyfish made of sponge pulsating to a moog cover of Bring Me Sunshine then you haven't lived). And then there is dancing, and by the end we are all joining in.
Everything was well-chosen, from the scenes which were easy to identify with, to the props which are easy to get hold of so you can recreate the activities at home (something Turned On Its Head specifically state as an aim). The audience were invited one by one to join in with scenes - picked up by sure hands, danced with, brought on to stage, returned to their parents. Most of the kids enjoyed this a lot, especially the child who learnt bits of the Saturday Night Fever dance! The sponges were great as a sensory prop: rubbed, pressed, poured on people, rolled on, and thrown around.
My only criticism would be that the music was quite loud, given the size of the space and the age group, but the songs were a lovely mix, centred around 70s Henry Mancini sort of style. This was defiinitely part of the appeal for the parents, though I think we all enjoyed the shower of sponges over the head too.
I should admit that my own child (18 months) watched with a sort of horrified outrage for the whole performance, as if we'd taken him to a night of mild torture and bad comedy. Even so, I think it was just the unfamiliarity, as he wore the same expression the whole of the first time we went swimming, and went on to enjoy that. I think if we had been to both performances, he would have loved the second one. So even with his stunning lack of endorsement, I would say it is an excellent show, and that I very much hope the North Wall have further Family Takeover festivals with similarly well-crafted shows. We would certainly go again.