17 June 2011
Bed in at the Barbican for dream show Lullaby
Emma Love: The Independenthttp://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/bed-in-at-the-barbican-for-dream-show-lullaby-2298464.html
Usually when you go to the theatre it's a bit embarrassing if you accidentally nod off in the middle of the show. At Lullaby, it's the exact opposite: the whole aim of the show is to send the audience to sleep.
"Most shows are meant to stimulate and challenge the audience but ours isn't, ours is all cocoa and cosiness," explains Simon Casson, producer of performing-arts collective Duckie who are putting on the sleepover show at the Barbican.
Rather than booking seats you book beds (single, double or triple), arrive at 10.30pm and change into your pyjamas. The first part of the show is an all-singing all-dancing, high-energy revue, with the "real show" kicking off after an interval of brandy nightcaps and Ovaltine. Tim Spooner and Matthew Robins (who's a Barbican regular and known for his surreal puppet theatre) will be providing the dreamy visuals and the storytelling, while the Plewis sisters will sing you to sleep with lilting, folk-inspired lullabies. After what will hopefully be seven hours of deep sleep, the 50-strong audience will be gently woken for boiled eggs and soldiers and showers to start their day.
"The idea came from seeing a foreign children's theatre company that put kids to bed in the daytime and read them stories. It's a bit like falling asleep in front of the television – but an arty version. If you don't fall asleep, we've failed," adds Casson.
'Lullaby', Barbican, London EC2 (www.barbican.org.uk) 24 June
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