Young Critics Collective: Mother Deer

As I walked into the Djanogly Theatre, I heard birdsong, and half the audience wore antlers from the workshop earlier that afternoon. Babies, toddlers, parents, and grandparents filled the room, and for many of the children, this looked like one of their first trips to the theatre, with excited gasps as they spotted the stage.

Mother Deer, by Acrobatic Adventures, is based on a Northern European folk tale about the winter solstice and inspired by The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. There are only two performers: Zoe Cochrane as Mother Deer, and Freya as the Sun Goddess, an aerial rope specialist and musician who also designed the costumes. The set is a single rope tree at centre stage, pulled apart into four corners and a central rope, then gathered back together at the end.

The children loved Mother Deer from the second she appeared. Dressed head to toe in textured browns, with a huge pair of antlers, she sniffled and twitched her way across the stage, rustling the leaves in her path. The giggling was immediate, along with a running commentary: ‘What is that?’, ‘Look at her!’, ‘She’s moving!’

As the seasons change, the Sun Goddess plays the flute live and slowly loses parts of her costume, which Mother Deer picks up and holds on to. The stage fades from gold to dark, and two of the ropes light up like birch trees in winter. When winter arrives, the music stops and a poem is spoken instead, leaving Mother Deer lost and scared without the sun.

My standout moment came near the end, when the Sun Goddess returns in gold, orange and yellow, grinning. She climbs the central rope, then descends holding a golden disco ball and places it between Mother Deer’s antlers, almost like a blessing. Then she spins around the deer, curling into a ball and stretching out wide like the warmth of the sun spreading across the land. This was where the aerial work and the story came together, and the audience ascended into applause.

Twice, four volunteers in little antler hats came up to help, first unravelling the tree and later rolling it back up so the tree was whole again. Watching them take the job so seriously, with their parents beaming from their seats, was surprisingly moving.

The show is slow and thoughtful, but during the Sun Goddess’s long struggle, with melancholy music playing, some of the babies and toddlers got restless. A shorter struggle scene may be more appropriate to maintain engagement.

It ends with Mother Deer lying down in the leaves as the lights go out. It’s a reminder to slow down, notice the small things and stay connected to nature all year, not just when the sun is out. Seeing it on the first of November, just after the clocks went back, it felt like the perfect way to welcome winter. I’d recommend it to families with young children looking for a calm, gentle introduction to theatre.

Acrobatic Adventure’s Mother Deer is a wonderfully mystical performance that feels as though you’ve just stepped into a magical folktale. The story is inspired by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Norris’ book The Lost Words, a book of spells that brings back the strangeness and magic of nature. Mother Deer captures this with an amazing big tree made of rope, with dried leaves scattered around the floor, which greets you as soon as you walk in, setting an incredibly mystical scene. It was brilliant to see a lot of the children wearing the antlers that they made in the workshop, ran by an experienced Autism Peer Support qualified craft leader, just before the show. With a mix of circus and dance, Mother Deer is an extraordinary performance which will leave you in awe.

The story follows the journey of Mother Deer, played by by Zoe Cochrane who appears to get lost in the woods at night and is found by the Sun Goddess, played by Freya, who helps the deer find its way home. Zoe really embodies the skittishness and curiosity of a deer with their quick movements and dance as they move around the stage. Throughout the show, there is no dialogue between the characters, but the way that Zoe  and Freya use their body movements and expressions to communicate shows that dialogue is not necessary for the audience to understand the characters’ emotions. The lighting on stage plays a crucial role in this, turning warm and comforting when Mother Deer is home or when the Sun Goddess appears to give them comfort, and turning a cool white when they are lost in the woods at night.

Ariel Acrobatics blur the line between performers and audience, making Mother Deer a brilliant show for young children, 5 and above. Zoe and Freya, bring a few of children up on stage, bestowing them with antler hats and guiding them to untie the rope trees. Bringing the children on stage is a great way for them to feel involved in the performance and feel as though they are a part of this fantastical world. It could be said that the gaps between when the actors exit the stage and enter again are perhaps too long, as ensuring the continued engagement of the audience is crucial for children’s theatre. It does, however, allow for the audience to enjoy the incredible staging in front of them.

The best part of the performance must be the amazing aerial acrobatics done by Freya. As Zoe  wraps the rope around their waist, Freya climbs up high and displays her extraordinary talent in aerial acrobatics. The whole audience was in awe as she hung by her feet whilst Zoe spun the rope in circles; it was truly indescribable. The warmth of the lighting bounced off her gold, sparkly costume and made her really appear as a beautiful Sun Goddess. After this amazing spectacle, the Sun Goddess bestows a magical yellow sparkly ball to Mother Deer, which helps them find their way home.

Mother Deer is a brilliantly magical performance for children and families to enjoy. With it’s dialogue-free storytelling, incredible aerial acrobatics and a stage that invites children to become a part of its world, this performance is a beautiful sensory piece of theatre.