Butterflies are one of the beautiful things in our world. Their short but amazing metamorphosis is something we all learn about as children.
Yesterday, in Kavanagh College Auditorium, two talented actor/dancers (Victoria Abbott and Thomas La Hood) interpreted the life cycle of the butterfly through mime and effective ''caterpillar action'', plus clever slapstick, immediately endearing them to the children and guaranteeing audience rapport.
A prelude of dance and story-telling set the stage with enormous long-stemmed tissue paper flowers moving gently to the breeze from two electric fans.
Bees on wires, with balloon bodies (for bursting antics) flew to and fro, and had kids giggling, along with the recorded birdsong and garden noises.
A very effective storm scene with thunder and lightning disturbed the tranquillity, as flowers struggled to stay upright, but spring returned and eggs were produced, growing larger and larger with each return from onstage ''igloos''.
The eggs turned into two giant caterpillars, and among other hilarious antics gobbled up several of the giant flowers.
''Oh no! Not the pink one,'' cried a little girl in the row in front of me.
A thin pop-up tent chrysalis eventually encased each, and of course two beautiful butterflies finally emerged, stretching their wings to fly away.
Such a lovely innocent storyline - charmingly educational, but really just fun to become immersed in, and to laugh a lot as things went wrong to be put right in clown-like fashion.
Colour, lighting, music and sound effects, but not a spoken word were all that were needed to stimulate the imagination of child and adult alike.
Caterpillars was produced by Show Pony from an original production developed in Finland in 2014 by Thomas Monckton, and has been a popular show in many Fringe Festivals.
It runs again today at 11am and 2pm and is a lovely experience for younger children.
-By Elizabeth Bouman
