White

This show for very young children is a rare treat: a nuanced, captivating piece of fantasy theatre that is a world away from the patronising narratives that pre-schoolers are so often fed. The beautiful set is entirely white and cream, adorned with birdhouses of different heights, all with small trinkets—a hammer, a hairbrush—hanging off them. A tepee in the centre is home to two men, who spend their days performing simple tasks like brushing each other’s hair and collecting milk from a mooing tap. At a certain point each day, white eggs fall from the sky, which they catch in their aprons and nurture in the birdhouses.

It’s an appealing world, but also a subtly oppressive one. The pair has a mutually reinforced fear of colour, and the small pieces of coloured ticker tape found around the set are swiftly dropped into a deep bin.  One day a bright red egg falls from the sky and the more sentimental Cotton decides to keep it, without the knowledge of the older, sterner Wrinkle. But as the egg starts affecting the colour of the things around it, how will the pair react to their changed world?

The story held all but one of the dozen or so children in the audience completely rapt throughout. We are asked both to share and question the characters’ fear of change, and there is a real tension that is just on the right side of scary for this age group. The play’s call to celebration of life in all its rich, multi-coloured glory is both unforced and deeply moving.