Reviewed by Giada at London's Southbank Centre
Ticket was gifted in return for an honest review
In the Blue Room of the Southbank Centre, for a couple more days, you can step into another world - a Great Big Tiny World. Part of the Imagine Festival, this show is specifically designed for babies and their adults, touring alongside When the World Turns, which is created for children with PMLD and their families or companions.
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| Photo by Suzi Corker |
Originally inspired by a collaboration between Oily Cart and Polyglot Theatre, this production sets a new standard for what “accessible” theatre can and should be. Here, accessibility is not just about removing barriers to fruition; it is embedded into the very fabric of the performance, from the idea to the contents. The show is designed for audience who may not understand, relate to, or use language – whether yet or ever – ensuring an experience that is both immersive and inclusive.
The magic begins the moment you enter. Seated on the floor among colourful cushions, beneath a white canopy bathed in shifting natural hues, surrounded by plants, you are enveloped in a world of sensory wonder. The sound design – crafted by Max Reinhardt (also composer and musical director) – blends music, forest sounds, and animal calls into a rich, layered symphony, masterfully recreating the nature’s landscape.
Immerse in what feels like an hour-long ASMR TikTok (genZ paradise), I found myself unable to pinpoint which of the 33 senses this sensory theatre piece targets was most stimulated. Yet, I felt a profound sense of peace radiating through my body, particularly during the mesmerising light play – is light therapy about to become my new unwinding technique? – designed by Marty Langthorne.
To help you grasp the depth of this experience, imagine being huddled beneath a paper roll forming the ceiling of a cave, as story-makers gently tap overhead, mimicking the soft pattern of a rainstorm. The sensation of dewdrops falling, time suspended, and complete immersion in nature’s rhythms is grounding and transformative.
It is both beautiful and bittersweet to realise how easily urban dwellers can reconnect with nature. Merits also go to the production, for being so exquisitely executed to facilitate such a genuine transportation to another time-space. The set, designed by Andrea Carr is informed by research on biophilia – the innate human affinity for nature. Something atavistic and primal is awaken in the body. As a species, we are increasingly losing our ability to understand and collaborate with our environment, not only due to our capitalistic and consumeristic excesses but also because of the exclusionary belief that certain bodies do not belong in natural spaces. This show offers a powerful reclamation. It urges us to embrace our instinctive need for nature-based experiences that enhance emotional and psychological well-being.
For an hour, my own sense of time dissolved, replaced by a heightened awareness of co-evolution with living systems. A sense of belonging emerged - one where every being in this carefully woven ecosystem is heard and valued. This harmony is nurtured by three story-makers (Nisha Anil, Kim Heron, Ed Yelland), who sensitively embody the voices and practices of nature while responding to each person’s unique engagement.
Spinoza’s philosophy of panpsychism suggests that all beings (humans, animals, plants) are not independently existing entities but rather modes in which the single substance expresses itself. Everything is interconnected through a causal or logical order, and the only difference between these modes lies in consciousness. The idea that all living things possessing physical extension also possess thought serves a reminder that, despite our illusions of superiority, we remain deeply dependent not only on one another but on our ultimate mother-nature itself.
Under the artistic direction of Ellie Griffiths and Orin Edelman-Griffiths (Orin is Ellie’s baby, the show was written on Ellie’s maternity leave), Great Big Tiny World is both bold and profound, an exquisite balance of the vast and the intimate. It dares to reimagine accessibility, reminding us that no matter how tiny we may feel, we are (part of) something immeasurably great.
When the World Turns and Great Big Tiny World are on tour from 3 February to 30 March 2025. For more information, visit oilycart.org.uk/whats-on/
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