Half Moon: Flotsam

OperaUpClose bring Half Moon: Flotsam to The Stables on Friday 6 November, with two performances on the one day: 11:00am and 2:00pm. It's a production for young children aged 2-6 and their families, based on David Wiesner's picture book Flotsam.

The story starts when a curious child finds a mysterious camera washed up on the beach. The photos inside reveal a chain of children linked across time and space, and an extraordinary underwater world: turtles carrying cities, starfish dancing and octopi reading by lamplight. Kerry Andrew provides the score and the text, blending music, movement and storytelling to explore curiosity, connection and the boundless power of imagination. It's the kind of thing that works well with the youngest audience in mind, where the visuals and the sound do a lot of the heavy lifting.

OperaUpClose have built a reputation for creating 'spell-binding, magical, inventive theatre' for children and their parents, and this fits right into that. The show runs 35 minutes with no interval, so it's a short, focused session that doesn't overstay its welcome—handy if you're bringing a toddler who might struggle with anything much longer. The two time slots give you a choice between a late-morning outing or a post-lunch trip.

Both performances are in the Jim Marshall Auditorium at The Stables in Milton Keynes, and tickets are £7.50 each, which includes the booking fee. With the 11:00am and 2:00pm options, it's easy to fit around a nap or a school run.