Though child-friendly immersive theatre company Punchdrunk Enrichment shares a name with its more famous parent group, it’s fair to say that it has now comprehensively fled the nest.
With Punchdrunk now based in a huge complex far away in Woolwich, Punchdrunk Enrichment’s new show ‘Enitan’s Game’ is the first to be presented from the junior company’s new space in Wembley Park, a stone’s throw away from the unlikely cultural conglomerate of Wembley Stadium, ‘Starlight Express’ and Bubble Planet.
Co-created by Mia Jerome and Punchdrunk Enrichment founder Peter Higgin and directed by Omar F Okai, ‘Enitan’s Game’ sees the company move away from the tried-and-tested formula of its previous shows, which generally started off looking innocuous and then at some point inevitably wowing you with a fabulous immersive set.
Here, the magical and the real remain subtly blended in Casey Jay Andews’s design, which sees us begin in a perfectly recreated junk shop, run by Julian Smith’s affable old Ged. He chats away to us as if we’re up to speed on the recent passing of his friend Cecil, a windrusher and grandfather to sensitive twentysomething Enitan (Rachael Oriowo).
Long story short, he designed her a one-off, apparently magical board game that we join in a nostalgic game of; but as we proceed it soon becomes apparent that a second, unseen player is also joining.
Aimed at six to 11 year olds, ‘Enitan’s Game’ is three things: a fun treasure hunt-slash-clue finding show; an exploration of coming to terms with the loss of a grandparent; and a really cool physical environment and genre of show that most children in its age bracket are liable to have experienced before.
It is, famously, easy to be cynical about immersive theatre. But not when you’re six. A lot of the reason why ‘Enitan’s Game’ is good is simply because it’s a sturdy, stirring story told via a medium that nobody else is making for children – in my eldest’s first trip to a Punchdrunk Enrichment show, his only complaint was he wishes it had been bigger and longer. There are a weirdly high number of reasons to visit Wembley Park these days - and ‘Enitan’s Game’ is assuredly one of them until its run finishes with the school summer holidays.