MAKE and DO MAGICAL TH INGS for you to SEE,
WELCOME toThe HU LLABALOO
Hello and welcome to our Spring brochure; it’s packed full of fantastic shows and activities all about play!
Creative clowning, spellbinding dance, captivating sensory experiences and hilarious puppetry promise to bring playfulness and fun to both children and their grown-ups.
We’ve got some very special shows for inquisitive babies and toddlers, as well as some delicious treats to encourage older ones to see the world from new angles.
We’re particularly pleased to be bringing When the World Turns, an accessible, intimate, interactive show for disabled children from the pioneers of Sensory Theatre, Oily Cart, to The Hullabaloo.
We can’t wait to welcome you on your next theatre adventure soon!
Theatre Hullabaloo xx
What a wonderful initiative! Such a gem, we will definitely be back. Coffee was great too and the kids enjoyed the play area with books and colouring in.
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ABOUT US
Theatre Hullabaloo is a Darlington based charity and one of the UK’s leading children’s arts organisations. We work hard to maintain low cost and free activities to ensure that creativity is part of everybody’s childhood.
Every year we welcome thousands of families to our specialist children’s venue, The Hullabaloo, to enjoy lots of creative experiences including world class theatre made specially for children, free creative play, our cosy story corner, crafts and outdoor play, storytelling sessions, school holiday clubs, socially prescribed play programmes and much more! We also have a family friendly café with fully accessible toilets, baby change facilities and a buggy park. Everything we do at The Hullabaloo is heavily subsidised to make it available to as many people as possible. Without the generosity of the local community and our funders, we wouldn’t be able to do so muchcan you help us to do more? There are various ways to make a difference to us online at theatrehullabaloo.org.uk/we-couldnt-do-it-without-you Thank you for helping us to make the magic happen.
EVERYONE is wel come!
We want every child and their family to feel comfortable at The Hullabaloo, so we make sure that there are lots of opportunities for families who have children who are neurodivergent or have additional needs to join in, in the way that suits them best.
Our performances this spring are mainly non verbal and will appeal to a broad range of children, so we haven’t identified any specific Neurodivergent Friendly shows, but all our shows are relaxed and welcoming to all.
Our staff are specially trained to support you to have the best experience and little ones are also welcome to get up and move around the theatre should they wish to. Responding in your own way to the show is absolutely fine and we love hearing children talk about what they’re seeing.
• We can provide pre-show information such as a visual story to help you prepare for your visit
• You can peek into the theatre before the show begins
We’re really excited to be welcoming back sensory theatre company, Oily Cart, who create remarkable, accessible shows for babies, children and young people. Their shows push the medium of theatre beyond words using not just 5 senses, but all 33, for young audiences who relate to the world in a sensory way.
When the World Turns redresses the access barriers that disabled children face in experiencing both theatre and wild, natural environments.
Turn to page 10 for When the World Turns show information.
As always, The Hullabaloo was a fabulous venue. They’re super inclusive and very aware of neurodiversity and additional needs. They even included a visual story on their webpage to help guests to prepare for their trip.
Mum of boys, north east
What’s On
Creative Play Space
at The HullabalooPLAY for FREE
At the heart of The Hullabaloo is our Creative Play space where grown-ups, children and babies can play for free together between 10am-2pm Monday - Saturday. We also run neurodivergent friendly sessions outside of those hours.
Dreamland
By
Theatre Hullabaloo
Until Sat 25 January 2025
10am-2pm • 0-4 years
FREE, no need to book
Tuck yourself in for a bedtime story and listen to the sound of sweet lullabies, check your reflection out in the cloud shaped mirror, chillout in the tranquil tipi and become mesmerised by the beautiful bubble displays.
Bloom
By Theatre Hullabaloo, Lucy Cassidy and Greener Lavelle with the children from Borough Road Nursery
Mon 10 February - Sat 26 April
10am-2pm • 0-10 years • FREE, no need to book Bloom is returning to The Hullabaloo with a few updates to encourage even more play time fun! Lounge and snuggle, roll and dance, play and discover in this enchanting space where ideas can germinate, curiosity will grow new shoots as creativity blossoms.
NEURODIVERGENT FRIENDLY (NDF) SESSIONS IN CREATIVE PLAY
Spend valuable family time together by booking exclusive access to Creative Play or joining one of our group sessions with a few other families.
Sessions are designed specifically for families/groups with neurodivergent children or parents and those with additional needs. Refreshments included.
We have the following group sessions (for up to 4 families) and individual sessions where each family has exclusive use of the space:
Dreamland (individual)
Free
0-4 years • 2.45pm / 3.20pm / 3.55pm / 4.30pm
Saturday 15 February
0-4 years • 2.30-3.30pm
Bloom (individual)
Saturday 15 March 0-10 years • 2.45pm / 3.20pm / 3.55pm / 4.30pm
0-10 years • 2.30-3.30pm
If you’d like to know more, please contact Theatre Hullabaloo on 01325 405680 or drop in and chat to one of our friendly Hullabaloo Hosts.
The kids absolutely loved this and thank goodness for the neurodivergent session! Without these sessions we would really struggle to attend as a family.
THE TALE OF NOBODY NOSE
Goofus Theatre
Sat 25 January • 11am & 1.30pm
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: £8 per person / £28 group ticket (max 4 people, min 1 child)
Earlybird price£5 per ticket, book by midnight 31 Dec 4+ years
Imaginative, wordless storytelling, skillful puppetry and classic clowning combine to delight audiences of all ages in this fantastical adventure!
Three clowns (Boz, Yolo and Flo) travel across land, sea, skies and to wherever their magical, map-of-dreams leads them!
All in order to help a lone puppet, find the most important thing - ever... their own red nose!
Celebrating the art of puppetry, red-noses and snowball fights! This accessible, fun-filled production promises to warm the heart whilst making you laugh out loud.
Sometimes, you just need to follow your nose...
Buy tickets here:
SPACE TO SNOW-PLAY
Theatre Hullabaloo
Mon 27 January - Sat 1 February • 10am-2pm
Space to Snow-play is our new winter themed play experience in our theatre. Taking elements from our popular creative play installation Snow Play, this new play space will include lots of opportunities for open-ended play. Tuff trays with sensory items, a dress-up station and more will encourage your imaginations to run free.
WHEN THE WORLD TURNS
Oily Cart & Polyglot Theatre
Fri 7 February • 9.30am, 11am & 1.30pm
We’re growing a new world....
Join us in a living, breathing, sensory adventure in this accessible, intimate, and interactive show. Expect lots of up-close sensory moments, a gentle pace, and plenty of breathing space for processing.
The show has been expertly crafted for disabled children of all ages who experience the most barriers to access (children who are wheelchair users who have historically been labelled as having profound and multiple learning disabilities).
Immersed amongst hundreds of real plants, watch, hear and feel as music, puppets, sounds, scents and shadows come to life around you. Here we can be still, here we can just be.
Duration:
Profoundly moving... reveals new possibilities
The Conversation
Buy tickets here:
GREAT BIG TINY WORLD
Oily Cart Sat 8 February • 9.45am & 11.30am Duration: 45 minutes Tickets: £7 per person
Welcome to this great, big, tiny world. It may be very old, but for us it’s brand new.
Settle in amongst hundreds of real plants, to watch, hear and feel the world come to life all around you.
Filled with beautiful sounds, scents, music, shadows and sensory objects, even the tiniest things play an important part. The world is different, now you are here.
Buy tickets here:
A ‘LOVE’LY MESS
Wild Child Messy Play Fri 14 February
9.45am & 11.30am (0-3 years), 1.45pm (3-5 years)
Wild Child Messy Play is back at The Hullabaloo for some Valentine’s Day themed messy play fun!
Explore new textures, make your own love potion, and get very messy in our theatre space; it’s the perfect way to spend some quality time with your littlest loved ones.
Duration: 45 minutes
Tickets: £4 per person
Buy tickets here:
WORLDS OF CURIOSITY AND PLAY
MeeMee Theatre
Tue 25 & Wed 26 February • 10am-2pm
Pady O Conor was the marvellous Mad Hatter in our Hullabaloo in Wonderland promenade theatre show at Hullabaloo in the Park. This February half term children can join him in his magical and visual world of wonder! Join Pady for a day or two of play where he’ll ignite curiosity and connect children through clown, mask, storytelling and games.
This workshop is specially designed for young theatre-makers aged 8-12 years.
Tickets: £10 per child per day
It’s been so magical seeing a sense of play awakened in the group.
Buy tickets here:
© Simone Rudolphi
SKYDIVER
Little Big Dance
Fri 28 February • 1.30pm Sat 1 March • 11am & 1.30pm
3-5 years
Prepare to soar through the fluffy clouds where flocks of birds and butterflies flutter. Explore the dream-like world that waits above us, in this multi-sensory dance experience for families. Take your little ones on a magical journey with Skydiver and experience how movement, sound and stunning visuals bring whimsical characters to life in an enchanting encounter in the skies.
Duration: 45 minutes
Tickets: £8 per person / £28 group ticket (max 4 people, min 1 child)
Buy tickets here: The performers, music, set and props were all stunning! The creative colours and lights especially in the clouds made this all so dreamy.
© Nikolas Louka
SOFT OR SPIKY?
Half Moon and Polka Theatre Thu 6 & Fri 7 March 9.45am, 11.30am & 1.30pm Sat 8 March • 10am, 11.45am & 1.30pm
Duration: 25 minutes, followed by a 10 minute stay & play session
Tickets: £7 per person 6-18 months
Discover a wonderful world of soft or spiky with your baby. This playful and interactive new show is full of shapes, sounds, textures and words exploring different ways to connect and understand each other.
Inspired by heartfelt conversations with new parents, this humorous production explores the multiple ways we communicate, ensuring that no one is left out.
This is a lovely two-in-one package of performance and play that will heighten the senses and bring smiles to very young faces.
Buy tickets here:
THE BENCH
Teater Refleksion in partnership with Young at Art Fri 21 March • 10am & 1.30pm Sat 22 March • 10am
A moving and hilarious story about an ordinary day in a bench’s life. It’s so mundane, the bench, and yet so magical! Everywhere in cities, parks and gardens it stands, like an open invitation. Sometimes the bench’s visitors merely brush each other. At other times they hope for peace and quiet, but they get something else.
An elderly lady does everything she can to keep life at bay - from her bench. But the hectic surroundings take her by surprise. If only they could let her be old and grouchy alone! But the boy is skateboarding, the dog is sniffing and scuttling around, the birds are chirping, and a friendly, elderly gentleman wants to read his newspaper. All of this is a nuisance!
Duration: 40 minutes
Tickets: £8 per person / £28 group ticket (max 4 people, min 1 child)
SCHOOL VISITS: Buy 10 tickets and get 1 free! Contact us on 01325 405680 to book a show or for more info on school bookings.
Buy tickets here:
GIANT’S PICNIC & SILLY SANDWICHES
Theatre Hullabaloo
Mon 14 - Tue 22 April 10am-2pm • Free, no need to book
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play amongst a giant’s picnic? To stack the biggest cheese sandwich tower? To roll with sausages, rest under a lettuce leaf or jump in and out of doughnuts.
Created by North East artist Lynda Nelson for our festival ‘Hullabaloo in the Park,’ Giant’s Picnic is returning with lots of oversized food for supersized play potential!
You can also join us in the café to make some ‘Silly Sandwiches’! What would you put in a sandwich to really make your friend laugh?
THE FARMER & THE CLOWN
Flibbertigibbet Theatre Fri 25 & Sat 26 April • 11am & 1.30pm
Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: £8 per person / £28 group ticket (max 4 people, min 1 child) 3+ years
Based on the book written and illustrated by multiple awardwinning American author and Illustrator, Marla Frazee. Her book, The Boss Baby was an animated hit for DreamWorks in 2017.
An old hard-working farmer lives alone. A baby clown bounces off a passing circus train in the middle of nowhere, now separated from family and friends. Unsure what to do, the farmer takes the clown home. Can a friendship span the generations? Can old dogs learn new tricks? Can the young clown find its way home?
The Farmer and The Clown is a story of an unexpected friendship for all ages, told through physical comedy and dance, and performed with an original live soundtrack.
Buy tickets here: Utterly heartwarming and relatable. A beautiful, simple, and charming piece of theatre, suitable for all!
Plan your visit
How to find us
PARKGATE
Café Hullabaloo
Open Monday - Saturday • 10am-2pm
Our family friendly café provides a relaxing space to spend time with friends and family, serving hot and cold drinks and light snacks (including some gluten free options). There are plenty of highchairs and comfy chairs available for your visit. There’s easy access to toilets, baby change facilities and our buggy park. We also offer free wifi access.
The Hullabaloo, Borough Road, Darlington DL1 1SG
The Hullabaloo is easily reached on foot from Darlington Town Centre, public transport or car. We are only a 5 minute walk from Darlington train station.
Box Office
We share our Box Office with Darlington Hippodrome and this means they will be the lovely people making your booking over the phone.
Phone: 01325 405 405 Monday - Saturday • 10am-8pm
In person:
Monday - Saturday • 10am-8pm
Open until 6pm on non performance days
Online:
Tickets can be booked online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and there are no booking fees.
Parking
The Hullabaloo does not have a car park but there are short and long stay off street car parks close by to the venue. There are also 2 hour parking bays on the roads surrounding The Hullabaloo.
