Directed, Choreographed and Concept by Natalia Barua

Composition, Sound Design and Collaborating Artist – Caitlin Mulgrew

Dramaturg and Collaborating Artist – Jo Timmins

Devised and Performed by the Young Company: Aiden, Arthur, Danny, Dawid, Hanna, Lucy, Manal, Nadia and Samuel.

Hosted by the Culture Crew: Amelia, Ava, Azelia, Brodie, Jay Jay, Max, Rayyan, Simon, Tamara, Tim & Zuza

To capture a ‘feeling’ is the aspiration and bane of every creative career: to bottle the essence of emotion, nostalgia and memory, buzzing excitement and crippling anxieties, and distil it into a single-act performance. And how fitting that it frequently tends to be the youth who manage it so successfully.

Hosted by the Culture Crew consisting of Amelia, Ava, Azelia, Brodie, Jay Jay, Max, Rayyan, Simon, Tamara, Tim, and Zuza, That Feeling When benefits from being crafted with the autonomy and agency from plenty of talented young people – all of whom have something to share with the audience in one form of expression or another. The chief principle for the sensory dance theatre experience is to offer an insight into how teenagers and young people process, and experience joy and beyond, but also extend the invitation for them to celebrate in their unique way. And that’s precisely what Lyra excels in doing.

The canniness of the cast and Natalia Barua’s direction to recognise and encourage authentic talents are remarkably adept and woven in a way to demonstrate enjoyment and knack for movement, vocals, comedy, and some spectacular spoken word. It’s evident to see where key performers flourish, and where others may feel a tad more uncomfortable. By no means a criticism, it demonstrates Lyra’s ability to push the comfort barrier in a safe space, to recognise individuals within the cast, but draw them together as a unit – remarkably well communicated.

Told through a series of visual vignettes, comprising movement, and vocally expressed performances and routines, stitched together with Barua’s excellently energetic choreography which dips from expressive and abstract, into more familiar shapes and moves. We traverse a mindscape that we’ve all been through or are just about to head full-throttle into. As such, an array of colliding poignancies and emotions catapult around the custom-made space as audiences see two teens demonstrating the paradox of ageing – how teens biologically require more sleep but are also encouraged to get up and eat breakfast. They’re told to focus on their studies but also to get out and socialise.

Elephants, Dragons, Sharks, and Whales oh my! Nicola Milazzo’s design work conjures magic on the outskirts of the city with surprise inclusions of mask work. Just one of the various techniques utilised in this dance-theatre storytelling bonanza. Under a canopy of tapered paper and spoons, catching the colourful and seasonally adaptive lighting, and right into the soft textures of the rugs on the floor – That Feeling When capitalises much on the senses of its audiences. With rhythmic percussion through much of the spoken sequences, with live keyboard and acoustics performed in the corners, the entire cast takes a moment to perform some of the live instrumentals in moments while performing routines, skits, and poetry relating to a breadth of life’s joys, difficulties, and uncertainties.

Theatre and art for younger people, by the folk that know them best: themselves. That Feeling When may spark a reflection of children watching, echoing the cauldron of feelings they are processing, Lyra’s creation goes beyond its intentions of crafting a production by children for children and will likely captivate and touch adults who have forgotten the joy of allowing these feelings to flourish – in a world where they are so often stamped out in favour of a stiff-upper-lip mentality.