Good afternoon, friends! I’ve got two theatre for young audiences play reviews coming up this week, before returning to my regularly scheduled programming. I’m the only one on the Next Mag theatre reviewing team with a child, so whenever this beat comes up, I’m (happily!) called into action.

This morning, my son and I had the absolute pleasure of attending Tree at Young People’s Theatre. This was such a special treat for the both of us, because it was his first theatrical show.

Tree is a 40-ish minute sensory play catered toward kiddos aged 6 months – 3 years. My baby is 18 months old, so that works out perfectly.

Capacity is capped, so the room feels vibrant but not over-crowded. The audience sits on comfy lily pads surrounding a tree in the centre of the room, which is interacted with numerous times during the show. Props, instruments, and puppets magically appear out of the tree trunk, sort of like Mary Poppin’s bag. There’s no story per se – it’s more a series of actions around the tree (like frogs jumping and flies buzzing, the moon and stars twinkling, a drum beating, etc).

My son is normally quite restless during a situation where he’s required to sit in a specific position. Airplanes, for instance, can be a challenge. He also tends to get overwhelmed easily, and gets particularly annoyed if music class is too loud or too chaotic (to be fair, so do I). Yet he was completely captivated at Tree. He sat intently as the performers moved around him, he interacted with all the props when they were brought to him, and he circled around the tree when told to do so. He loved this show so much that he kept asking for “more show” as we walked to the car, and wouldn’t stop talking about it through his lunchtime.

See, Tree is neither overstimulating nor under stimulating. It’s just…the perfect amount of stimulating. The performers are calm, friendly and charming, and they take care to individually engage with every child. The music is soft and therapeutic, and the colours are natural and muted (but still nice to look at!). The elements are simple but feel thoughtfully curated. All in all, it was a lovely experience, and I’m so glad I got to share this with my son.

Thank you thank you thank you, Maggy and the YPT team, for the warm welcome and kind invitation to your show! This was a really fantastic morning, and what a wonderful way to kick off a lifetime of theatrical experiences.

Tree is only playing for 4 more performances (this Sat & Sun). At the time of writing this article, it seems to be entirely sold out. However, if you’re eager to attend the show, it’s worth checking the website periodically, as cancellations do happen. If not, I suppose you’ll have to be faster for the next one.