Motionhouse is offering young theatre-goers the chance to enjoy a cosmic Christmas treat at Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre this month. A follow-up to the Leamington-based dance company’s critically acclaimed Starchitects, brand-new production Starchitects Save Santa! finds the same group of intrepid children engaging in a fun-filled space adventure...

Dance-circus company Motionhouse have teamed up with Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) to present a new festive show which promises to be an absolute Christmas cracker.

Featuring  high-flying choreography and dramatic digital projection, Starchitects Save Santa! tells the story of a group of children who are blasted into space to find Santa Claus after he disappears on Christmas Eve. Racing against time to ensure youngsters everywhere receive their presents, the kids soon find themselves caught up in an inter-galactic adventure like no other.

The production follows on from the huge success of Motionhouse’s Starchitects show, which first introduced audiences to these intrepid children and their fun-filled space missions.

Both shows have been created and choreographed by Motionhouse’s founder & artistic director, Kevin Finnan, who says the new production will appeal to children and adults alike.
“To make a really good Christmas show and a really good children’s show, what you do is try and make it fun for everyone. So we’re performing with a high level of skill, and there are a lot of things to watch and admire for adults and children together. 

“We’ve been really pleased with the success of Starchitects. It’s the same characters this time too; so a bit like the Famous Five, I think the Starchitects are going to have lots of different adventures. 
“The new story is easy to follow. This time the Starchitects are all excited, it’s nearly Christmas and everyone is waiting. But then something happens to Santa in space, so the Starchitects take it upon themselves to rescue him and save Christmas.”

The Leamington Spa-based company has built up a worldwide reputation for its dramatic combinations of circus, dance and projection, and Kevin says the new show very much builds on that.
“It’s always been Motionhouse’s ambition to make really exciting, immersive shows, so we interact with projections, we use dance-circus, we use aerial work and we include a lot of fun.
“This works really well in children’s shows, as they’re built around a sense of play, so we combine all these elements as dynamically as we can. So the dancers interact with the films to create an exciting explosion of action.”

Starchitects Save Santa! is the first time Motionhouse has created a production for the festive season.
“I’ve never done a Christmas show in my life, and it’s been tremendous fun,” says Kevin. “We’ve really enjoyed creating the show and have been looking forward to bringing it to children. 
“MAC has been there for us for years and years and has been a great supporter, so it’s a real pleasure to be working with the venue to bring this new commission to the audience there.”

MAC’s chief executive & artistic director, Deborah Kermode, first discovered the Starchitects four years ago - and was immediately eager to bring their adventures to the Cannon Hill Park-located arts centre. 
“I saw Starchitects at the Motionhouse studio space in Leamington, and it was really cheeky,” she says. “Like all their work, it was really high quality, but it had a real playfulness about it. I thought it would be interesting to invite them to present it as a Christmas show.

“It’s really unusual because most Christmas shows tend to have a much more familiar storyline or a more traditional approach to Christmas - even things like panto or some very well-known children’s books. What excited me about the work was that it’s more universal, in terms of our international community that we serve and what the festive season means to them. For some of these communities, the festive season doesn’t always mean a traditional Christmas, but it is a chance to be with their families, have time off, and come to MAC to see a show.” 

For Deborah and the team, Christmas is a key part of their annual programme.
“We are absolutely committed to doing a high-quality family show at Christmas every year, and it tends to be for younger children rather than for older teens. We really want young ones to feel at the heart of that Christmas presentation and feel the joy and the buzz about it. 
“Christmas is the only show where we make a commitment to so many performances - more than 60 this year - so it’s our commitment to doing a long run.”

Although MAC aims to put itself at the heart of the community all year round, this is especially true at Christmas. Audience members are offered the chance to ‘gift a ticket’ - providing an opportunity for a child to enjoy a show which they might not otherwise have been able to see - and there are relaxed and British Sign Language performances available throughout the run.

“More and more people are visiting our relaxed performances,” says Deborah. “Relaxed isn’t just about children; it could be a family member with dementia, or someone who has considerations of their own. It’s about making theatre open to as many people as possible.”

MAC has a long relationship with Motionhouse, having showcased many of the company’s works in the past. Deborah is proud the arts centre is premiering Starchitects Save Santa!.
“It’s fantastic to be thinking that organisations such as MAC can pioneer in this relationship with this work and send it on its way. We want to have a generous relationship with the sector; it’s really important that we keep making new work or adapting work.
“I think audiences will be excited about the physicality of Starchitects Save Santa!. There are lots of fantastic visuals, and the chemistry between the dancers is really beautiful. It’s very daredevil and I’m sure all of our audiences will be impressed.”

Starchitects Save Santa! shows at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham, until Saturday 30 December