The Importance of At Home Shows: Making Theatre Accessible for Everyone

Sam Bowen is an SEND in Museums Consultant, founder of SEND in Museums, award-winning inclusion campaigner and mum to Lucy. Her family have experienced all of Oily Cart’s At Home shows.

The Covid-19 legacy

As a shielding family with a disabled child at home in lockdown, it was extremely isolating for all of us. We missed the cultural experiences we had before, like going to Sensory Theatre.

Unable to make the in-person shows we had always enjoyed attending, Oily Cart began experimenting with new formats that would bring sensory theatre to audiences in a safe way.

One of these formats was At Home shows. These send the magic of theatre through the post, directly to each family. Together, the family unwrap a series of sensory packages that gradually build a narrative, at a time and in a space that works best for them.

We were lucky to be one of the families sent Space to Be. This was the first At Home theatre experience by the team at Oily Cart, and I can honestly say it was a profoundly moving experience. 

Our Journey with At Home experiences

Each Space to Be box had different activities in. The first was just for me as the carer parent. In 13 years, no one had ever acknowledged my emotional needs in the way this box did. I put on the eye mask, held the tactile sculpture and listened to an audio track that spoke to me directly and brought me to tears. Here I was seen, valued and even thanked for the role I have been playing that’s so hidden from society, but that Oily Cart knew was pivotal to my family.

We unpacked a new box each day and enjoyed them as a family. One had a self-build sensory space which made a dark den. We all lay in it together, my husband and I with our daughter between us. Instantly calmer, nurtured in a safe space together. Our daughter played the Lyra musical instrument whilst we listened to the audio track on the Bluetooth speaker that was in the box. 

At one point the non-word voice of a disabled child spoke out and our daughter responded, vocalising back. I thought I’d dreamt it: what had just happened in this magical ‘tent’ hadn’t happened ever before. What had the child on the speaker said that my daughter had understood and responded to? That I couldn’t understand but she did made it all the more powerful and empowering for us.

We bought our own sensory tent after this with lights and a Bluetooth speaker and regularly now use it as a family to chill out. We were so moved by the Space to Be experience.

Why At Home shows are essential

Through Space to Be, Oily Cart learnt that At Home experiences are often the most accessible, or even the only, way that some families can experience Sensory Theatre, even once lockdowns ended. So few opportunities for families like ours are available outside the home and that’s a desperate shame.

There can be so many barriers to attending live theatre, from lack of transport or physical access, to unpredictable medical and care needs which make booking and turning up to a show stressful or impossible. Families who experienced Space to Be shared that it was ‘nice to do something as a family where there were no barriers to everyone being included in the experience’, that being in a private, familiar setting meant young people could ‘relax and fully be themselves’, and that it gave them the space and opportunity to ‘just be together’.

The future of accessible theatre

So, Oily Cart have committed to making At Home shows part of their main programme, putting the same level of resource, craft, creativity, and rigour into these formats as the live touring show. 

This summer, families across the country, including ours, received A World Beneath Us, a sensory show about the invisible world beneath our feet: mycelium. Through a sensory film and accompanying sensory experiences, the show unearthed these magical, natural networks to explore the hidden world in the heart of each home, reflecting and celebrating each family as its own ecosystem. Again, it gave us new ideas. The shadow play with the shadow boxes and canvas screen was really effective. Such a simple idea but one I hadn’t thought of before! Another moment involves water being lit from beneath; seeing the movement this made on the ceiling was mesmerising.

As a family, A World Beneath Us reminded us why we love getting the chance to play with Oily Cart. At Home activities are not only more accessible, they can be revisited time and again and then adapted or added to with other items at home. A different At Home experience we enjoyed, Sound Symphony, has completely transformed bathtime every night in our house. One activity box has literally had a life-changing impact on all of us. You can’t really put a value on that.

Oily Cart are bravely stepping outside the box by delivering magical shows full of meaningful moments of wonder right into the homes of those who need and deserve them. At Home shows are important because they see, value and celebrate children like mine, and families like ours.