Acclaimed theatre company The Wrong Crowd come to Liverpool with Kite; a new show about grief, family and imagination, following a celebrated premiere at London’s Soho Theatre. For an audience aged seven and over, Kite is a show for all generations and both performances will be ‘Pay What You Want’.

A lonely girl is to live in her grandma’s airless flat in London where the windows are shut tight, and memories of seagulls and sand dunes begin to fade in the silence. One night a handmade kite comes to life and heralds the start of a wild adventure and the chance to find what it seemed was lost forever.

Inspired by the world of indoor-kite flying and stories such as The Snowman and The Red Balloon, Kite is a beautiful play without words for audiences of all ages. Featuring puppetry and indoor-kite flying from The Wrong Crowd’s Rachael Canning, Kite’s creative team also includes originally composed music from Isobel Waller-Bridge (Lampedusa, Fleabag, Blink), and movement choreographed by Eddie Kay, who has worked extensively with Frantic Assembly (Othello, The Believers, Beautiful Burnout).

Formed by designer/puppet director Rachael Canning, writer/director Hannah Mulder and Producer Bonnie Mitchell, based in Devon, The Wrong Crowd make visually-inventive, storytelling theatre. Fusing puppetry, live action, physicality, music and song. The work is for cross-generational audiences, designed to transport the young and old, together.

“Unlike our previous shows we wanted to start from a visual idea rather than a pre-existing story. I came across indoor kites and immediately wanted to make a kite a character in our next Wrong Crowd show. So much personality reveals itself when the kite’s in flight. Sometimes it’s mischievous and often it’s deeply moving. The kite felt like a Mary Poppins type benevolent force, needing to help someone somehow. And so we created a story whereby a kite comes to life to help a young girl who has recently lost her mum, come to terms with her grief. It’s our first play without words, which suits us well as visual theatre makers. We’re thrilled to be making the show with Soho Theatre and premiering as part of London International Mime Festival 2016” said Rachael Canning, Director/Designer of Kite and Co-Director, The Wrong Crowd.

Since 2012 Soho Theatre has supported The Wrong Crowd in their work to provide highly imaginative storytelling to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. This relationship began with the Total Theatre Award nominated The Girl with the Iron Claws in 2012, and went from strength to strength with their second show Hag that picked up a Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013. After research and development in the Theatre back in June, Kite has been supported artistically by Soho Theatre’s associate director Nina Steiger, and casting director Nadine Rennie.

The Wrong Crowd and Soho Theatre will tour Kite across the country to friends, old and new. Kite will play at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool (15th – 16th March). Tickets for the show are on sale now from the Unity Theatre, Liverpool.