Unicorn Theatre announces new shows for spring and summer 2022

Unicorn Theatre has unveiled its spring and summer line up of shows for 2022.

Coming to the stage of the children’s theatre in London over the next few months will be Lulu Raczka’S radical re-imagining of the iconic Gulliver’s Travels and a new adaptation of Emily Hughes’s best selling picture book Wild.

Plus, there’s new show Get Dressed! and, playing to in-person performances following a digital premiere in 2021, Marvin’s Binoculars.

Find out more information about the shows below – for tickets and full details, visit www.unicorntheatre.com

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (6 March – 16 April)

Jaz Woodcock-Stewart directs Lulu Raczka’s radical re-imagining of Jonathan Swift’s surreal masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels for all the family this Easter. The Unicorn Production is designed by Rosanna Vize, lighting design by Jess Bernberg and Joshua Gadsby, composer and sound designer Ben and Max Ringham, video Design by Jack Phelan and video Associate Jack Baxter.

Lemuel Gulliver desperately wants to escape her home life. So she escapes to a world of strange islands and even stranger creatures – from the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput, to the giants of Brobdingnag, and the mysterious and wise Houyhnhnms – and embarks on an epic adventure of survival, unexpected friendship and self-discovery.

Gulliver’s fantastical imaginings are vividly brought to life using video cameras, intricate table-top sets and projection alongside live performance in this playful, funny and highly inventive show that uses Swift’s biting satire to view our own world from a very different angle.

WILD (11 March – 17 April)

Eva Sampson directs Wild, a highly visual, non-verbal piece of theatre for children aged two to six years. Created by How It Ended based on the book by Emily Hughes, the creative team includes dramaturg Teresa Burns, designer Samuel Wyer, design associate Cristiano Casimiro, original composition by Marc Teitler & Roly Botha, sound designer Roly Botha and lighting designer Zoe Spurr.

Wild’s home is the forest. Bears teach her how to eat, birds help her to speak, and foxes show her how to play. She knows nothing but nature from birth. She is irrepressibly wild.

But one day, some new animals arrive and they look oddly like her and they want to take Wild away. But what if she was happy where she was?

Adapted from the glorious picture book by UK based, Hawaiian artist Emily Hughes, Wild is brought to life by the inventive and much-admired company How It Ended, co-run by Eva Sampson and playwright Teresa Burns, who make work with and for young people and whose credits include The Little Gardener (UK Tour) and You Obviously Know What I’m Talking About (Underbelly).

This funny and moving story is full of wide-eyed wonder, celebrating the free spirit in all of us. Vividly told using atmospheric sound, skilful physicality and imaginative puppetry, Wild is about accepting people for who they are rather than trying to make them into something they are not.

Get Dressed! (13 May – 12 June)

Created and directed by Jade Lewis, Get Dressed! has dramaturgy by Stewart Melton, set & costume design by Cara Evans, sound design by Richard Haynes and choreography/movement by Sara Dos Santos.

Get Dressed! in an energetic, warm and playful new show, which explores an everyday routine which most of us take for granted and propels it into a gloriously funny and brilliantly imaginative poignant physical show for ages 2 to 5.

We meet a young girl who is obsessed with her very favourite outfits, whatever the weather, and despite what her Dad thinks. Get Dressed! is a riotous, fun and touching exploration of the relationship between a child and parent as they negotiate their world together.

A play that speaks to children and adults equally, expressing the familiar joys and struggles of family life.

Marvin’s Binoculars (1 June – 3 July)

Written by Justin Audibert, based on an original idea by Samuel Wyer and Justin Audibert, Marvin’s Binoculars is directed by Hannah Quigley with sound Design & music by Mike Winship.

Marvin loves exploring all the parks around his home in London and finding birds, bugs and animals. On his ninth birthday he’s overjoyed – his very own pair of grown up, pro binoculars! But then something terrible happens: he loses them, and to get them back, he must face the intimidating park warden.

Join Marvin as he discovers wildlife and friendship in the most unlikely places. Touching on themes of racial prejudice and overcoming grief, Marvin’s Binoculars is a highly engaging and vibrant show that will inspire children to explore the outdoors in their local green spaces.

This production follows the hugely successful digital incarnation of the show, which was produced as part of Unicorn Online and streamed for free in partnership with the Guardian in 2021.