Review: Squirrel, The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath

Just walking into the cosy festive warmth of The Egg café, you know you’re in good hands. And the theatre itself has earned a deserved reputation as a home of quality theatre for young children in the south west.

This Christmas season, they are welcoming the return of their homegrown show, Squirrel, pitched for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, which delighted audiences and met with glowing reviews when it was first staged in 2019. It’s not hard to see why.

Squirrel loves a good acorn. But not all acorns are good. Some are downright second rate and Squirrel is fussy like that. Under the light of the winter sun, between the houses and the offices, and the rivers and the factories, Squirrel has buried their favourite acorn collection. It’s easy to remember where; it’s under the third tree from the left, or was it the right? Oh hang on a minute…

The 40 minute show is small and beautifully crafted. Created by director of The Egg, Kate Cross, and former creative producer Tim Bell, who is now senior producer at Complicité, the team enlisted the help of pre-school children and teachers from The Paragon School, Bath.

Their workshops gave them several goals for the project: they aimed to keep the narrative light, in order to stimulate young imaginations, and to capture moods, rather than being too prescriptive.

Oliver Langdon – photo: Camilla Adams

“At the end of our play, we want our intergenerational audience to feel communal and joyful,” explain Cross and Bell. “This is our way of creating a seasonal production that captures the conviviality of Christmas without being about it.”

Each performance features either Caroline Garland or Oliver Langdon, co-founders of site-specific immersive specialists Kilter Theatre, in tandem with a beautifully rendered squirrel puppet constructed by Mark Parrett, who also worked on Snow Mouse at The Egg (returning for a seventh year in January 2022).

Children are encouraged to be free, and to roam around when they feel compelled to. The set becomes an interactive playground at several points in proceedings, for gathering nuts to feed to the squirrel, playing with the set, or generally jumping up and down in sheer excitement.

Special mention should go to the clever and multi-functional design from Anisha Fields, Dinah Mullen’s jazz-infused soundscapes, and Dave Treanor’s gorgeous lighting, all of which are manipulated by both Garland, and the squirrel, who make full use of the space.

Squirrel is a playful, warm hearted and beautiful show that will make a memorable theatrical experience for the very youngest theatregoers and their families.

Oliver Langdon – photo: Camilla Adams

Squirrel is at Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath, BA1 1ET until December 24, with performances from Tuesday to Sunday at 9.30am, 11.30am and 1.30pm. Tickets are available at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

Main photo: Camilla Adams

Read more: Review: Josephine, The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath

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