Oh Suivant: a perfect introduction to theatre

If you’re looking for a terrific show for fussy audiences, Oh Suivant at the Arts Centre won hearts and kept everyone’s attention – even the grown ups!

This two-person circus from Belgium melds trick, live music and theatre in a work that’s created for little ones, but enchants everyone and refuses to treat children as anything but the most intelligent and discerning audience.

Juggler and balancer extraordinaire Dirk Van Boxelaere and musician Fien Van Herwegan delight with a gentle and gorgeous work that feels like it’s from a 1940s circus tent from a world where entertainment was made by live people instead of electronics. There’s room for more story in the character and trick, but the characters are so lovely and the tricks so slick that it wasn’t a problem.

But it is a show to be enjoyed with children. There were as many small as big people in today’s 11 am audience and everyone was having fun (and if only it were ok to ask “Why is the man on the table?” and other questions during non-kid shows). I was with a 7-month-old who bounced and giggled for an hour and a nearly-three-year-old who couldn’t tell me what her favourite bit was because she loved it all.

Suivant is a perfect introduction to theatre and promises to create a love of theatre in little hearts and may even re-ignite that love in some of the older ones.