“Inspired by our local woodlands with their trees, mosses, stag beetles, squirrels and frogs, this is a fun participatory show for all the family that promotes care and respect for the natural world. Come along before or stay a little longer after the show, and join us for some creature-making out of natural materials.”

Concept and performance: Judita Vivas

Costume and puppets: Barbara Touati-Evans

Funded by Rushmoor Borough Council.

Into the Woods, created for the PlayFest! 2024 in Aldershot, celebrates the beauty and diversity of Rushmoor woodlands and waterways. The audience/participants are invited on a magical journey through the woods, down one of the existent trails. Interactive storytelling, participatory movement and puppets made out of locally sourced natural materials help Judita share a story inspired by her regular woodland strolls, often with her 3-year-old son leading the way. 

Usually, not much happens on these strolls, apart from picking sticks, leaves and stones, and doing our best to shoo mosquitoes. At times, however, we have pretty magical encounters with real or imaginary creatures, plants and animals. 

After reading a story about a Witch in the woods, we went to look for one in our woodland. We failed to find her, but we are almost certain she lives inside a large rhododendron bush on the edge of the woodland, the one with the brightest purple flowers in early summer.

Early on, we discovered the Stag Beetle Stumpery, which is our favourite place to visit. We haven’t yet seen a stag beetle there, but we remain hopeful. One day, we sadly found that the Stumpery was falling apart, with most of the stumps pulled out. We spent a good hour putting it back together.

Basingstoke canal is also our favourite. This spring we were very excited to see millions of tadpoles swimming around close to the shore. And last summer we met a huge carp! It spotted us standing by the water, lazily swam pretty close, opened its huge mouth and, we think, waited for us to feed it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any worms with us.

A poor little squirrel stuck in the rubbish container is also based on a true event. We were passing the rubbish containers by the Runways End, heard something moving inside, and stopped to investigate. When we opened the lid, we saw a squirrel rummaging inside the rubbish bags. The container was too large for us to climb in to save the squirrel, so instead we found a very long branch. We stuck it inside the container, with the other end resting on a tree branch above. We are hopeful that the squirrel was clever enough to climb out this way.