A young woman using a wheelchair and a middle-aged woman sit beside each other. They are surrounded by wooden crates and plants, with a billowing tent canopy overhead. Atmospheric low lighting, illuminates their faces with a golden glow and casts shadows of the plant leaves around them.

When The World Turns

Oily Cart / Polyglot Theatre

Sold Out

Information

Times: 11am, 2pm

Tickets: Free – booking required

Running Time: 60 minutes (no interval)

Age Recommendation: 0 – 25 years

This event takes place in person in our Lower Hall

When we are still, we can feel the world turning…

Join us on an adventure, where your senses lead the way. You will become part of a fantastical world where animals, plants and objects are brought to life all around you. Here you can fully be yourself. Here, you are an important part of the eco-system.

This immersive, sensory performance will take you into the heart of a living landscape, featuring surround-sound, singing, lights, shadows, scents, water, puppetry and over 300 plants. When the World Turns playfully explores our connection with each other and the world around us.

When the World Turns is an award-winning, accessible show from the pioneers of Sensory Theatre, Oily Cart. You can expect small audience numbers to allow for lots of up-close sensory moments, a gentle pace, and plenty of breathing space for processing. The show has been expertly crafted for and with disabled children of all ages who experience complex and multiple barriers to access (often described as having PMLD.)

 

‘A gem of an experience’ ★★★★The Scotsman

‘If any politician requires confirmation of the power and value of theatre then Oily Cart’s When the World Turns does the job and does it with a genuine sense of wonder.’The Stage

‘Truly remarkable. Access is woven into the production at every turn. It is theatre which is intentionally slow and deeply thoughtful…you emerge filled with a comfortable joy and appreciation for simply’ being.‘ Impel Theatre Blog

 

Looking for tickets?

If the performance you’re looking for is sold out, please e-mail the box office on boxoffice@bac.org.uk and we can add you to our waiting list for any returns, and we will let you know if anymore tickets have become available.

How to be Held: Songs of Self-Soothing

By Rhiannon Armstrong

 

How to be Held: Songs of Self-Soothing is an immersive, multi-sensory sound installation within a living landscape of over 300 plants, atmospheric light and surround-sound. Settle on cushions and beanbags, feel as the world fades from day to night and back again, and be held by a sound world that breathes with you.

Choral harmonies, synth textures, natural soundscapes, and looped melodies flow through a 360-degree sonic environment. Each track responds to a real self-soothing hook, lyric or riff offered anonymously by the public, and re-imagined by artists across musical styles. Come and go as you like, or stay for the full three-hour cycle, which repeats like a lullaby or a phrase we hum to get ourselves through tough times.

Songs of Self-Soothing is a work-in-progress by nature: always evolving, always responsive to its surroundings. Originally commissioned by Wellcome Collection as a digital experience during the Covid-19 lockdowns, Liberty Festival marks the first time it can be experienced in person, as a site-specific installation within the set of When the World Turns, by the director of the show’s UK tour.

Taking Songs of self-soothing into the rustling, breathing environment created by Oily Cart (UK) and Polyglot Theatre (AUS) brings two worlds together and delves into chiming themes of care, reciprocity and eco-systems.

Date: Thurs 25 Sept

Times: 4pm to 7pm

Tickets: This installation is free to attend (no booking required)

This is a drop-in event

This event takes place in person in our Lower Hall

Two male presenting figures who are performing outdoors. One is a wheelchair user and is leaning far forward and posing on all fours while the wheelchair is still strapped to their waist. The other is behind the wheelchair user and holding onto the wheelchair with one outstretched hand, while crouching down with one leg stretched behind them. There are a group of people of mixed age and gender in the background watching the performers.

PART OF LIBERTY FESTIVAL 2025

Liberty Festival is the Mayor of London’s flagship disability arts festival, platforming some of the most exciting disabled creatives, showcasing bold, innovative work for free that excites, challenges and reframes disability for audiences across the capital and hosted in each London Borough of Culture.

FIND OUT MORE

BSL Translation

WATCH THE TRAILER

Biographies

Oily Cart

For over 40 years, Oily Cart has been creating remarkable, accessible shows that connect with babies, children and young people, and their families. In this time they have pioneered a new artform: Sensory Theatre. By pushing theatre beyond words – using not just 5, but all 33 senses – they create immersive wonderlands that never tell children how they should watch theatre, but learn from them what theatre should be. An Oily Cart show can happen in your local theatre, hydrotherapy pool or school hall; on a trampoline or online; at home or even up in the air.

Credits

When the World Turns was originally commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne for major arts and disability festival Alter State 2022.

This UK tour has received support from Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The Boshier-Hinton Foundation, Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: A donor advised fund held at The London Community Foundation, The Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, True Colours Trust, Wandsworth Council, funders that wish to remain anonymous and individual donors.

Access

PRE EVENT INFORMATION

This event takes place in person in our Lower Hall. This space is on the ground floor, with step-free access to the space.

If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Content

  • Soft flashing lights
  • Sudden noises
  • Use of strong scented oils and diffusers
  • Cast interaction with the audience
  • Water interaction (sprayed mist, water play)

This performance takes place in a small group.

Textile touch maps, audience booklets, ear defenders, fidget toys and weighted blankets will be available.

Pre-Show Information

All performances will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to, and if you need to leave the performance at any point you will be allowed to return to the space when you feel ready.

VISIT OUR ACCESS PAGE

You might also like…

A bedside table and wooden four-poster bed trailing with ivy, spotlit in a darkened room. Fabrics printed with ornate patterns tumble from mattress to floor, snaking like tree roots into loose autumn leaves on the surrounding floor

25 - 28 Sep

Capturing The Forest

Kristina Veasey and Alejandro Ahmed

Immerse yourself in the essence of a forest landscape in this unforgettable multi-sensory installation.

Event Info Book Now
Simeon Campbell, a black man with dyed dreadlocks, wearing a black vest, grey shorts and white socks, stands centre stage, flanked by 2 other figures wearing trenchcoats, hats and masks. All 3 hold their hands over their mouths, their faces downcast. They are onstage, illuminated by spotlights.

26 Sep

SADBOI

Simeon Campbell / BirdGang Ltd

Follow acclaimed hip-hop performer Sim, as he is carried around by his thoughts. An explosive, personal story of understanding and unravelling.

Event Info Sold Out
Three women, two are white and one has brown skin, surround a pile of sand against a grey background in a variety of dynamic balletic positions.

28 Sep

Daughters of the Sea

Krystal S. Lowe / Ballet Cymru

A bold adaptation of the Welsh folktale brought to life with multilingual spoken word, dance, and soul/funk/folk music fusion.

Event Info Sold Out