A Message for the Future is a multi-sensory art installation and gig theatre experience designed for early years (ages 0-3) and family audiences.
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| Photo by Pete Woodhead. |
DIY punk poetry gig theatre parents Brigitte Aphrodite and Quiet Boy offer a multi-sensory experience that subverts the early years genre through joyful rock n roll storytelling, celebrating a journey of nature and kindness. This calm pocket of punky joy explores a future full of hope, the wonders of the environment, and its unsung heroes.
This experience offers a meditative, immersive, theatrical space in surround sound which explores themes of coexistence with nature and creativity. Combining creativity, community engagement, and artistic innovation, the show nurtures a sense of hopefulness and connection with our little ones and the environment whilst engaging multiple senses – sight, sound, touch, and smell.
Commissioned by artsdepot and Southbank Centre’s Imagine Festival in 2025 to sold-out audiences, A Message for the Future has already captivated and engaged a wide range of families and communities.
Created by Crescendorious with original storytelling and live music by acclaimed Margate gig theatre-makers Brigitte Aphrodite and Quiet Boy. Set design and costumes by internationally renowned set designer and concept artist Xander Lo Lo Noble, who has collaborated with Lady Gaga, Björk and MTV.
We chatted to Brigitte Aphrodite to learn more.
A Message for the Future subverts traditional early years theatre by infusing it with punk energy and rock 'n' roll. How do you balance high-energy, subversive musical genres with the sensory and emotional needs of very young children without overwhelming them?
We build towards the big numbers. The show slowly earns that moment. We have a piece called “Minibeast”, and everyone vibes so hard to it, but if we came straight in with the big, wild “Minibeast” song it would be too much. The sound, music, lights and performances are all built to gradually reach a climax of rock ’n’ roll, punky vibes of collective energy and action. After all, toddlers are very punk! They really want to express themselves if you create the right environment for them to do so.
We’ve researched and developed the show over three years with more than 150 families at Windmill Community Gardens, during a week-long installation at artsdepot and at Quex Forest School. We followed what our very young audience showed us they wanted. We knew what inspired them because we had rigorously tested it.
We also don’t forget that, when you’re making a show with and for early years audiences, parents and carers are part of the audience too. If a show ignores them completely, you’re missing something massive. I’d go so far as to say that if we ignore carers, we are feeding a patriarchal narrative in which mothers’ and carers’ needs, humanity and labour are ignored in our society.
Mothers and carers are invisible and undervalued in our society. They are isolated, and they’re doing the hardest, most important job in the world. By acknowledging grown-up needs in our show, we allow the children to enjoy it even more, because they can feel their parent or carer relax, and therefore they relax too. It’s our little bit of activism: telling parents and carers that they matter through the art we make.
The show is described as both a "calm pocket of spirited joy" and a high-energy multi-sensory experience. What design choices did you make across sound, sight, touch, and smell to achieve that delicate balance between immersion and calmness?
Everything is soft. We wanted the whole floor to be soft so children could roam around freely, again adding to the parents’ sense of relaxation. Every material used in our set and multisensory props has been deeply thought through and tested. We know the herbs we use have a calming effect because we’ve tested them.
The lights take us on a journey. The costumes are tactile, and you often find a small child mesmerised by my skirt, which is full of sunshine and dandelion. It was made from repurposed materials from TRAID and hand-stitched by Xander, our designer.
The music does a lot of the heavy lifting, making sure the space feels immersive and calm, while also building at the right point, when we’ve earned it. It’s in surround sound, so it really creates the space alongside the incredible set. It’s like the sound is giving you a warm hug.
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| Photo by Rosie Powell. |
Characters like the punk poet Dandelion, rock 'n' roll Minibeast, and operatic super Herb reframes how young audiences view the environment. How did the collaborative process between Brigitte Aphrodite, Quiet Boy, and the wider creative team shape these specific personas and their musical styles?
We love to delight, surprise and make each other laugh in Rehearsals.
We often find the genre of music through the character that comes poking through, or we find the character through the music that we’re creating. Our character work is very gig driven.
Dandelion is me, Brigitte Aphrodite, as a dandelion. Me as a performer, I’m a bit like Danny Dyer: iconic, but can only play myself! Dandelion is like the ring master of the Future Garden, and the music supports that.
Minibeast is based on rock ’n’ roll show personas. Imagine Jarvis Cocker opening a Pulp gig in the ’90s and is played by my Co-Director and partner Gaz Tomlinson (aka Quiet Boy). Our operatic Herb, played by multi-sensory specialist performer Sophie Coward, is a kind of Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, if Julie Andrews was a Mancunian working-class hero!
We had a lot of fun developing these cheeky characters in the room with our wonderful director, Liv Morris, one half of Bourgeois & Maurice.
If we found it entertaining, and the kids found it entertaining, and the families laughed in our development then the ideas stayed. I think you can probably hear that we love to subvert genres, give a fresh perspective and surprise audiences, whilst having their back at the same time!
Designing for early years and intergenerational family audiences requires multi-layered storytelling. How do you construct the performance so that it feels equally engaging, joyous, and meaningful for a toddler and their parent or carer?
There’s incredible music, you know, music that belongs at a music festival, with humour that isn’t rude but is cheeky and buoyant, drawn from lived experience of being parents and carers. There are multisensory moments for adults too.
And there are music moments that ignited a very young child, a baby and an adult alike!
Who doesn’t want to put their hand in a saxophone or feel the delicacy and magic of a flute so close you can literally touch it without getting told off!
The themes are inspiring, focusing on both the micro and the macro. We zoom in and zoom out. We remember what’s important: breathe, slow down, love each other and love your community. It’s about collective energy. Parents and carers appreciate this, and children and babies feel that feeling and absorb it and the show.
Artsdepot and the Southbank Centre’s Imagine Festival saw sold-out runs for this installation. As you prepare to take this surround-sound, multi-sensory space on a UK-wide tour, what creative or technical adaptations are you making to ensure its intimacy and impact translate across varied venue spaces?
The project went through major developments to make it tourable, working with Technical
Manager Dhugal Harrison, who tours extensively with the exquisite Frozen Light (multisensory theatre company specialising in work with adults with PMLD audiences also known as sensory beings).
From the very first installation, we knew we wanted to tour this show around the UK, so those conversations started early. Our big dream was to get into a van with a 5 person team and not compromise on any of the magic. We’ve done it! Woo hoo!
We even found a way of taking the show to Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a collaboration with Dirty Protest and Allvalidation Disability Arts Festival. We put all the props that we could possibly fit into two suitcases, and anything that we needed to create the world whilst we were out there, we bought from the Green Bazaar, which is the most incredible market in Almaty.
We used local herbs from the Kazakhstan market and collaborated with the most incredible venue technicians who worked through the night, had a kebab at 3am in the morning and opened the venue at 11am. They used traditional Kazakh cushions to create the softness of the space instead of floor tiles and our translator Kate, who was such a talent, became the third team member of our cast playing the operatic Herb. We made friends and collaborators for life. It was pure international collaboration theatre magic.
A Message For The Future tours until 31st October 2026. For full tour dates and more information, visit https://www.crescendorious.com/shows/message-for-the-future
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| Photo by Rosie Powell. |
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