This extremely gentle, indoor theatrical light trail is billed as ‘a festive adventure for all the family’, but be aware that the vibe is strictly pre-school/early primary school.
Devised by immersive events company Wild Rumpus, Solstice takes up six rooms of Battersea Arts Centre, thematically divided between midsummer and midwinter. Its first half deals with the zenith of summer: bees, flowers, and in the first area a glowing, giant dragonfly puppet drifting around the room, covered in giant eggs.
It’s certainly pretty and briefly entrancing, but where outdoor light trails typically go on for miles, ‘Solstice’ only has a handful of rooms. They’re done nicely, and the puppets are beautiful, but there’s no escaping it’s not exactly chock-a-block with material. To even hit the half-hour mark the show is predicated on being pepped up by activities that are only going to appeal to little ones: drawing on sheets of card with colourful chalk, listening to a story about a wolf, making a cardboard star at the end.
This sounds like I’m moaning: I do think it should be clearer what ages the show is targeted at. I can’t help but think that in a happier era of arts funding, it would probably have been longer.
But accepting that we’re all on board with the fact ‘Solstice’ is short and for pre-tweens then it’s very cute, a flickering flame of a show that’ll brighten up little ones’ midwinters, if only for a while.