Splish Splash: New children's show immerses audience in water

A new theatre production has seen audiences completely immersed in water.

Splish Splash is designed specifically for children with complex learning needs.

National Theatre Wales and Oily Cart have produced the show, which is touring special schools and hospitals.

Two students accompanied by a grown-up each were the first to experience the show at Ysgol Maes y Coed in Neath.

The production is designed stimulate and surprise and the swimming pool gives freedom to children whose movements are restricted.

Four actors and a musician perform and interact with the children, many of whom need help to move around and communicate.

Anni Dafydd, who plays characters including a mermaid, said the children determine how the show proceeds.

"It's very interactive. We echo their sounds, it's very child-led and it's just a fantastic way of getting a totally different reaction from children," she said.

"Every child is totally different. Sometimes you get somebody smiling and you can just see the carer with them going: 'Oh wow, come over here and see them smile,' because that's not something that happens very often.

"Or you get a giggle, or even just splashing the water. It's fantastic to see that development, and actually it's a fantastic way of showing the carers and the people in the school how to get that reaction again."

The show has been is travelling to special schools and hospital hydrotherapy pools across Wales.

Production company Oily Cart has also developed versions of the show for children who are deaf-blind or who have autism.

The water is a stage for the performance, but it is also a comfortable space for children to experience the magic of theatre.

Demi was one of the first children to experience the show, and was supported in the water by deputy head teacher Cath Tucker, who could sense her enjoyment.

"We were just totally immersed in the whole experience. The vocalisations that Demi was giving showed she was really excited, as did the arching back that she gave," Mrs Tucker said.

"The smiles were really beautiful. She had a brilliant time, and really enjoyed it."

Two by two, the children get to experience the show and its floating instruments, which include a specially designed marimba and drums played by musician George Panda.

"We are not therapists, we are theatre people," Oily Cart founder Tim Webb, who will retire from the company in September, said.

"We make life seem more joyful, more beautiful, more interesting, more funny for a while."

Mr Webb said the company elicited different responses from children who are too often labelled by their diagnosis.