Big Up! is coming to Z-arts and everyone is really excited!

Who makes the rules in your house? Are the grown-ups in charge? Or do the children lay down the law? No matter whether you are Big or Small, the world is full of rules. Sometimes we make our own rules, sometimes we don’t know the rules and sometimes we want to play by different rules. This is what Big Up! is all about. It’s got hip-hop, puppetry and live music, and will leave you with the biggest smile on your face.

A Beatboxer, a Singer and a Puppeteer arrive on stage but nothing is ready for them. There are no rules, so they make up their own world full of joy and chaos where objects come to life and everything is possible. The cast is: champion beatboxer Hobbit, puppeteer Iestyn Evans, shadow puppeteer Clarke Joseph-Edwards and singer/rapper Dorcas Sebuyange.

Big Up! is presented by the creators of the brilliant hip-hop puppetry show The Broke and Beat Collective, Theatre-Rites and 20 Stories High. Both companies work with communities that are underrepresented in theatre and specialise in making brilliant theatre for young people that is also immensely satisfying for adults.

Big Up! will be accompanied by Residencies at Z-arts featuring a programme of outreach and activities, both for children and for Young Adult Parents and Young Carers. These will include participatory workshops for children.

The artistic director of Theatre-Rites, Sue Buckmaster, told us about what Big Up! means to her:

“Big Up! is a universal story – we all know how full of rules the world when we are young. We wanted to explore the subtle and not so subtle differences in family dynamics – who sets the rules? The five year old or the parent? And what do you do when one of you finds it difficult to follow the rules?

We hope Big Up! will enthral and provoke everyone in its audience, regardless of whether they are Big or Small. We delight in the shared experiences parents have with their children at any Theatre-Rites show and are thrilled to reach out to an audience of young adult parents and young carers who may not have had this experience or opportunity before. We look forward to sharing our Residencies, this show – and hopefully a future theatre-going tradition – with them. It is brilliant to be working with 20 Stories High again to recreate the magic we discovered together through The Broke ‘N’ Beat Collective.”

A vibrant, uplifting and energetic show, Big Up! will have children and everyone who cares for them bopping and dancing along.

Big Up! is at Z-arts on Friday 29 & Saturday 30 March with tickets at £6 – £9.