The Arts Centre holds a special place in my heart, having lived above the Dux de Lux in the late ’80s while working at the Court Theatre as a stage manager. Coming back to the Cloisters Theatre in the corner where Southern Ballet used to reside, brings back many great memories.

On a rainy cold spring day, the towering bright green Grasshopper greeting us at the Theatre’s entrance brings a smile to the faces of the children and adults. She’s handing out pieces of fruit; not real fruit but large felt fruit and I get an orange. There’s a banana, a pear, a piece of watermelon… So much fruit.

As we take our seats, the sounds of a tropical forest surround us – frogs, crickets, birds and buzzing mosquitoes; it’s a million miles from the rainy Christchurch morning outside.

The Big Butterfly is colourful adventure for children aged 3-8 years and appeals to the kid in all of us. In fact the big smiles on the faces of the adults and the wide eyes of the children say it all. This is a simple, colourful, engaging and interactive show where we get to feed the baby caterpillar to help her grow bigger and bigger.

The Big Butterfly is performed – by Amy Leigh Broadstock (Butterfly), Pipi-Ayesha Evans (Grasshopper) and Yuching Chui (Flower) – with live music, storytelling and dancing on stilts, and what’s really delightful is the calm serenity of it all. There’s a peace in this performance that is like a warm hug. The children play instruments, feed the caterpillar and are a part of the marvellous metamorphosis we all know is coming.

It’s a perfect duration for littlies who may not be able to sit still for too long. If you’re looking for something to do over the next few days with your young children, you can’t go past The Big Butterfly.

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