The better question might be: how far can you stretch your imagination? The answer in Oily Cart's latest delightful interactive show for the very young is as far as you want or dare. Creativity knows no bounds in the work of this exceptional company, who are constantly inventing new ways to engage young audiences. This show begins before you even get into the theatre, with the children being encouraged to follow a piece of coloured string that leads them into a universe where string becomes a bridge, a sailing boat or a squelchy patch of mud. The playfulness is a constant reminder of the origins of the word play in a theatrical sense.
Once settled in the theatre there are string clouds, a lovable string dog, a novel way of getting dressed in the morning, and a strange machine of handles, cogs and pulleys that requires the input of the children to make it deliver a washing line of string babies. There's one for every child to look after. After that there's no slacking because the babies need to be fed, rocked, changed and bathed (lots of bubbles), taken on adventures, and reunited with their string mummies and daddies. All with a little help from the baby emergency services.
It may sound a tad on the twee side, but it's huge fun, a great big, dizzy theatrical game that the children take very seriously (some babies appeared to be being fed exclusively on an imaginary diet of porridge, ice cream and fruit gums) and which is so inspiring that you want to rush home and play imaginary games with the entire family and so weave your own magic.
