As it was mothers day in the UK today I thought it would be the perfect day to spend some quality time with my girl. We hardly ever get a minute to ourselves so off we went, full of smiles, waving frantically to the boys.. We hopped into the car and headed for Art Play. We have never been before and were so excited to be getting involved in ‘Gut Feeling in the Making’ a brand new interactive performance by Born in a Taxi (who I already know are pretty awesome).

We were promised an immersive, interactive journey through the human digestive system, from top to bottom. Oh yes, Poppy was to be turned into Poopy and boy was she excited. Happy Mother’s day!! It was a little less ‘breakfast in bed’, and a lot more tummy rumbling and gassy noises.

We were greeted by a lovely lady called Reeham, who was super friendly, and gave us lots of info on what we were about to embark upon. Benjie then came in to get the whole thing started. Rules: No shoes, no sharp things and no bashing into the side. (I am now thanking my lucky stars that Monty isn’t with us with his sword and his endless bouncing off walls). The children were given their  individual food group (a picture pinned to a t-shirt) and they were all champing at the bit to get in to the enormous pink mouth in front of us.

As if by magic, we heard some little voices, and all of a sudden two creatures appeared through the giant inflatable lips! They hopped out and introduced themselves; a few kids burst into tears, another one ran behind her mum, and the ‘bacteria’ proceeded to serenade us with a wonderful song about bottoms and guts! Poppy thought this was hilarious, oh, and I did too. Nothing funnier than bums, tum’s, guts and farts!

Once the ukulele was put away, and the kids had sorted if they were a protein, a fat or a sugar, (amazed that we grasped that one straight away) the children were ‘ingested‘ into a massive, anatomically correct (well, kinda), inflatable, human digestive tract. The ‘food’ is guided through it’s digestion by the Blabbermouthed Belly Bacteria and shown every detail as this gut turns food into energy. The large intestine (approx. 30 meters) is big enough to ‘stoop walk’, but you absolutely need to crawl through the small intestine (approx. 80 meters). Poppy loved it; I was a little clammy, but once I was in, and there was no going back, I was happily making my way toward the back passage like a well digested marshmallow!!

A morning of physical theatre where the kids get to watch real bacteria projected directly onto the stomach lining,  and then rather gracefully get projected out of the sphincter! I know!! And with the sound effects too!

How awesome to have the opportunity to be turned into poo.. No!! I mean… how awesome is it that our children can explore their creativity and share unique artistic experiences with professional artists, in such a wonderful, up close and personal space?

This performance was not only hysterically funny, a bit yucky at times, and pretty warm, it was also a wonderful lesson in the human body, which I know my 8 year old learnt a lot from. To be able to get inside the gut, with two hilarious ‘Gut Guides’ is by far the best way to learn, and the Q & A session afterwards just went on to prove how awesome an experience this was.

Another huge tick on our list of Awesome Expat Adventures!! Thank you Art Play & Born in a Taxi!!

This project is part of ArtPlay’s New Ideas Lab program, where artists are supported to create new work with children and families.