Improvisational comedy has always relied on input from the audience, but most of those audiences are quite grown-up, even if not yet fully mature. Getting the under-sixes to contribute to your show and incorporating their ideas in your performance sounds like a recipe for mayhem, but theatrical animator and puppeteer Steve Tiplady and performer and sculptor Sally Brown clearly have nerves of steel. The brave concept gives rise to some classic moments, such as the discovery that the pirates who are attacking the castle to gain the treasure had arrived at the castle on dinosaurs. Will, aged four, was quite certain of that.
Claytime works like this. Tiplady and Brown play around with the clay, demonstrating its wonderous properties of transformation, while musician Giles Leaman provides a live soundscape with whatever is at hand, including whistles and saws. They explore the way the clay squelches, and how it can be patted and cut and turned from one thing into another with a little shaping and a lot of imagination - just like theatre. Then they invite the children in the audience to suggest ideas for a story and, while Tiplady develops the story with the kids, Brown sculpts the characters and the scenery so the entire story can be played out. At the very end, the children get a chance to play with the clay.
Theatre for the very young is reflecting changes that are happening elsewhere in theatre, and this little show has a pretty high level of sophistication. Inevitably, it must work better at some performances than others, but its playfulness and interactive nature make it an out-of-the-ordinary theatrical experience.
· At Unicorn Theatre, London, until April 29. Box office: 020-7645 0560. Then touring.
