Colour Me Happy

Anyone who remembers their childhood should have something to take away from this dreamy bubble of a play. In a series of vignettes devised around the memories of being little girls in the 1990s, Group 13’s doe-eyed trio takes us back to that once-upon-a-time when everything was possible and the world was a big, fluffy plaything.

Describing itself as experimental, the play has no narrative. It’s as free of beginnings, middles and ends as the bright blue sky, with just a few puffy clouds out of which to daydream shapes. Accompanied by a lullaby-like soundtrack, the actors enter playtime with the objects scattered messily around the stage. It’s a casual piece of physical theatre with stage effects stepping in to rose-tint the action, elevating it to the heights of a child’s imagination.

Typical of their frolickings are an excited huffing and puffing at an enormous birthday cake (in technicolour child vision, everything’s huge) and a “dear diary…” reading with helium balloons. A large part of the content also relies on audiences being able to relate nostalgically to icons from the British '90s, so if there are no Spice Girls or rainbow slinkies down memory lane, you may feel alienated by many of the sketches.

Colour Me Happy is an ode to childhood memories. Its intentions are fairy-floss sweet and its effects gently cathartic. Embrace it with an open-heart and you’ll have it filled with fuzz.