You know that feeling when it’s the night before your birthday?
And that sensation as you slip into a deep sleep with nowhere to be in the morning?
You know that feeling when you and your friends cannot stop laughing, your face wet with tears?
And how satisfying it is to cut paper with perfectly sharp scissors?
From the softest new gloves in winter to screaming on rollercoasters in summer, THAT FEELING WHEN is a sensory dance theatre and live music production, which asks how the seasons can be a guide to what feels good in the cycle of teenhood.
Director Natalia Barua said: “That Feeling When is our Young Company’s first live work since the pandemic and my first show with them as their new Director, so I am delighted to share what we’ve made together. The show represents their diverse talents, and I hope leaves the audience with not only a deeper insight into how teens experience joy (beyond preconceptions) but also an invitation to celebrate their own unique ways of feeling good.”
THAT FEELING WHEN promises an immersive experience, and throughout the show audiences move through the seasons of the year and the action is all around as the young company explores what makes them and young people today feel good, all devised and performed by Lyra Young Company.
If you haven’t heard of Lyra, then you’ve been missing out. They bill themselves as, “A performing arts company that makes world-class performance with children and teens in Greater Craigmillar, Edinburgh.”
Honestly, it’s an understatement. They produce amazing work and run Artspace – Scotland’s only arts venue exclusively for children and teenagerss. You read that right. In contrast to the famed bastions of the arts in Edinburgh, Lyra has been building an uplifting, empowering arts movement in the heart of an underserved community since 2012. More than that, they are young-person-led, giving them agency to decide which projects they work on, who they collaborate with, and the shows presented.
Where many of the ‘access’ schemes trumpeted during our August Festivals fail, Lyra is doing the work that makes the arts a meaningful, integral part of young, economically challenged lives. They don’t do that by setting their sights low, or managing expectations. When they say they make world-class performance, that is because this is precisely what they do.
Since setting up, the company has produced 21 works, performing over 165 times at home and overseas. Each year they estimate an average of 2000 people take some part in what they do. 2000. For over ten years they have been blazing a trail that our wider society and the arts have been slow to follow.
theQR was lucky enough to see a preview of That Feeling When, as a work in progress earlier in the year. It was fascinating, multi-disciplinary, and polished then. By now, I expect it will be spectacular. That isn’t relatively spectacular, just spectacular. So if you don’t have plans later this week, book tickets, and thank theQR after.
That Feeling When is a Lyra Young Company production by Natalia Barua with Caitlin Mulgrew & Jo Timmins. There isn’t time to detail each of their notable accomplishments, suffice to say, this is a serious performing arts company led by serious people (doing what the children tell them to do.)
Show Details – Lyra (Artspace), Edinburgh
Dates: 25 – 28 October 2023
Showtimes:
- Wednesday, 25 October, 7 pm (preview)
- Thursday, 26 October, 11 am* and 2 pm*
- Friday, 27 October, 11 am* and 7 pm
- Saturday, 28 October, 3 pm and 7 pm
(*Note: These performances are for school groups only.)
Ages: 10+
Booking: Tickets are free but booking is essential. For booking and more information, visit Lyra’s website.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair Accessible Venue
- Wheelchair Accessible Toilet