Dunedin Arts Festival really does have something for everyone, including the littlest ones amongst us!
Dunedin Arts Festival Director Charlie Unwin says it’s all about making sure the Festival has something for everyone. “Everyone knows that the most important people in our lives are our babies, and we believe they definitely deserve to have their own shows. Plus, it’s never too soon to take babies and little ones to concerts!”
DSO, Beethoven to Baby is perfect for toddlers and little ones – especially those who like to clap and sing along. Six musicians from Dunedin Symphony Orchestra will play a special concert for kids. They’ll demonstrate what different instruments sound like and then play some well-known classical music that everyone will recognise. There’ll even be a nursery rhyme for everyone to sing along to. Beethoven to Baby will be heaps of fun while entertaining the young, the very young, and the young at heart.
Another show in the Festival programme is especially for babies. Up & Away is a playful and gentle theatre experience created exclusively for “pre-walking” babies. (Toddlers won’t be allowed in!). The play is in a specially made tent that creates a calm and safe atmosphere, so that each baby (and their grown-up) is the centre of attention. The two performers interact with the babies with music, play and light, knowing exactly what appeals to babies’ curiosity. Up & Away uses current neuroscientific research and has been developed in consultation with a speech and language therapist. It’s been travelling across the country for the last few years and getting rave reviews – the Spinoff called it a “brain-building experience”. Best of all, after the show, the performers explain a few tips and techniques for playing with babies.
The third show is for grown-ups, but it’s all about babies, especially what it’s like to have a baby at 4am and no one’s had any sleep. Rants in the Dark is a play based on Emily Writes‘ book of the same name. Emily was awake one night, with her two little boys – no one’s sleeping and everyone’s exhausted. So, she wrote a blog post and within a couple of hours it had over one million hits. This led to her best-selling book, Rants in the Dark, about her own parenting experience, offering comfort and connection to other dog-tired parents all over the world. The play features three actors in a hilarious and heartfelt show that delights with its insight into parenting in the 21st century. Honest, authentic and laugh-out-loud funny, the play is full of the things that every parent thinks in the wee hours but would rarely be brave enough to say out loud. The show arrives in Dunedin after sell-out seasons in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and at festivals across the North Island.
DSO Beethoven to Baby
Thurs 8 April at 1pm
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Up & Away
Mon 12 April at 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm
Clarkson Studio, Regent Theatre
Rants in the Dark
Sat 17 April at 7pm
Regent Theatre
