SHIMMER

“Shimmer is sensational! An absolute feast for the senses. My baby was engaged and enthralled throughout, as was I. Shimmer brings together dance, music, light and space in a way which sparks the imagination and evokes wonder from both the young and old.”

Anna Newell is of Ireland’s leading theatre-makers for young audiences, creating unique theatre adventures for babies, early years and children/young people with complex needs, with her work for early years audiences having been seen on six continents and off-Broadway.

Anna’s shows are informed and inspired by their audiences at every stage of their creation and have human connection at their very heart.

Shimmer invites its audiences into an immersive reflective space created by Katie Davenport animated by a twinkling original score by David Goodall, gentle choreography by Hayley Earlam that responds to its individual tiny audience members and stunning wraparound video art by Conan McIvor.

Directed by Anna Newell.
Co-produced by Anna Newell and Riverbank Arts Centre.
Performers: Hayley Earlam, Jess Rowell, Oran Leong.
Producer and Production Manager: Ashley Smyth.
Shimmer is a Network for Extraordinary Audiences production, originally touring in early Autumn 2021 (often the first production as venues re-opened after Covid19) and is now touring nationally through Autumn 2025.

Funded by The Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

For more from Anna Newell: 

https://www.annanewell.ie/

@annanewelltheatreadventures

FAQs

CAN I HAVE TWO ADULT TICKETS WITH MY BABY?
We limit it to one adult per baby for everyone’s safety and comfort. However, you could bring your baby more than once with different adult guest accompanying them! We find babies really enjoy seeing it more than once. We are, of course, flexible so if there are special circumstances (eg a parent who needs support for whatever reason), we’re happy to look at making exceptions.

HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?

The official ‘show’ lasts 25 minutes and babies and their adults are welcome to stay for more informal free play after the show for up to another 20 minutes – some do and some don’t – it’s completely up to them!

DO I HAVE TO JOIN IN?

Don’t worry, you won’t be asked to dance or clap along or even introduce yourself! – you can just relax and share the experience with your baby.

HOW DOES EVERYONE SIT?

Each baby/caregiver combination is allocated one of the 8 specially designed mats which are incredibly reflective and some babies watch some or all of the show through the shadows in the cushions. Some babies sit in their parent’s arms, some in front of their parent, some lie down – whatever’s comfortable for them. For safety reasons, we’d ask that people stay as close to their mats as much as possible. If any baby needs a bit of time out, you’re welcome to head away from/ out of the performance area and come back in when you’re both ready. If you need to feed your baby during the show, you’re very welcome to do that.

IS MY BABY TOO YOUNG?

Through rehearsals we ran creative consultation sessions with babies and their caregivers and babies as young as 3 months attended and enjoyed the show. The lower end of the age-range is set at 3 months as the show is more ‘epic’ than the more intimate shows like I AM BABA where we have had babies as young as a week old in.

MY BABY IS JUST OVER THE AGE LIMIT – IS THAT OK?

The show is very specifically designed for babies under 12 months – through years of making shows for babies we have found that babies over 12 months (even just 13 months) want to move around more than is possible in the current situation and so it would be too frustrating for them. We’re also found that it’s very unusual for babies under 12 months to get scared going into the low light of the performance area – but once babies are 12 months old, this happens fairly regularly. So we ask that people strictly follow the age-range – for the comfort and safety of the babies.

CAN I BRING ANOTHER SIBLING?

For the same reasons listed above, we would heavily discourage bringing a sibling – as with the additional adult question, it also means there are too many people in the performance space!