Reviewed by Flossie Waite
Sarah Forbes, Catherine Carter and Jenny Gould
Reviewed at Half Moon Theatre
Touring until April 2019
For ages 0-2

Over the Moon is opera for the under-2s, mixing Debussy with Hey Diddle Diddle, and Ravel with Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Using classical music, familiar nursery rhymes, folk songs and sensory play, the show takes audiences on a journey through a (in my eyes, ideal) day: waking, eating, playing and plenty of naps.

Using only a few simple props – some feathers, a shimmering cloth that turns from blanket to robe to river, and some colourful gauze fabric – the three performers create a safe, calm, atmosphere for an enchanting half an hour to unfold.

Sarah Forbes (soprano), Catherine Carter (mezzo) and Jenny Gould (piano, voice and composer) have plenty of experience working with, and creating and performing for, children. Notably, both Forbes and Carter were part of Katherine Morley’s celebrated 16 Singers, an in-the-round, through-composed performance for 0-18 month olds and their parents that blended movement, rhythm, breath and song. The trio’s familiarity with this type of work and audience really shows: they have a lovely way about them, the show a series of gentle interactions with, and delightful responses to, the babies who take up their invitation to play, or toddle, mesmerised up to them as they sing. Rarely have I seen such a young audience so comfortable, captivated and curious.

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