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'Sponge' is on at the BAC for Christmas 2017. This review is from its 2016 opening run.
Turned On Its Head's ‘Sponge’ is a beautifully thought through show for tots, that combines pleasingly playful visual sequences in which performers Shane Shambhu and Louise Gibbons dress up in weird suits made of (wait for it) sponge, with bits in which toddlers are invited to come up and mess around with massive buckets full of (yes) sponges. It also – slightly incongruously but entirely delightfully – has another layer for adults wherein for the free-for-all final quarter hour the lighting goes a bit school disco and an original score of faux-golden era disco numbers play out – I was almost as excited as my son.
In essence ‘Sponge’ is a soft play session with bells (made of sponge) on, and by the time we hit the final third, Shambhu and Gibbons are just two more bodies running about in the springy retro mayhem. But it’s their careful stoking of the audience that gets us there, lightly amusing and encouraging the little ‘uns but also keeping the more rambunctious toddlers contained until everyone is ready to get involved (there are separate morning performances for babies, meaning they won’t get stomped on by an unruly two-year-old).
Theatre for the under threes is still a comparative rarity, and since becoming a parent it’s been a slight disappointment to me at how little there is even in London. My son will be ready for shows with actual plots and stuff soon, but for anybody thinking of acquiring their own toddler or baby, Turned On Its Head is a name to watch out for.