Kids Review: The Lighthouse

Patch Theatre's newest work explores light in the Queen's Theatre. Interactive and exploratory we take Miranda Hay (aged 11) to play with mirrors and lasers

feature (adelaide) | Read in About 3 minutes
33070 large
The Lighthouse
Photo by Matt Byrne
Published 01 Mar 2020

What happened?

It felt like I could almost touch the light but I couldn’t because a) it would be touching props and b) it felt like it was really really close but it was really far away.

I didn’t want to touch it. It was so hard because so much happened. It was all really exciting, it was spectacular, it was fun – I enjoyed it.

What was your favourite bit?

My favourite but was probably the laser lights. I’m not supposed to give away anything, but I don’t know what substance the floor was and I have suspicions about them wearing socks but I don’t know why.

Is it some sort of radioactive thingy, is that why they have to wear socks? It was really interesting. I felt like I could just hold it and pull it over here, but I couldn’t because it’s just light. Physics says no to that.

It’s a hard show to review because so much happened in such a short amount of time that your brain tries to go ‘Remember this moment’, but the next moment seems like you need to remember it more and everything happens so quickly that you need to go back and watch it again.

Would you recommend it to your friends?

I would. I would, definitely.

I think if you go alone you don’t notice a lot of things that I noticed. I feel like you could almost put it in a classroom and then you could come back to it. If I was sitting there watching it I would have been so bored but the fact that you have to move around, you have to touch, you have to get wet – it was so much fun.

I would recommend it to everyone I know. Almost everyone. I’d recommend it to most people I know. Which is a lot.

What five words would you use to describe the show?

Tangible, exciting, creative, exquisite and planned. Don’t ask why!

It’s got a storyline that sort of has things in the way and then finally, everything makes sense by the end of it. You feel like you’ve gone on this three-hour trip but it’s been a singular hour.

But it isn’t a drag, it doesn’t feel like you’ve been there for ages. How do you know how long you’ve been there if you don’t have a watch? Just like, ‘How long have I been here? I could have been here for weeks and not noticed!’ I probably would have.

The Lighthouse, Queen's Theatre, 25 Feb–7 Mar, times vary, $15-29