I Wish I Was a Mountain review – jazzy Hermann Hesse tale is stunning

The Egg, Bath
With two turntables, a street’s worth of houses and a German fairytale, performance poet Toby Thompson creates a beautiful show for over-sevens

Children live in the moment but by around eight – my daughter Aggie’s age – their thoughts stretch beyond next Christmas, beyond when they grow up and further into a future that outlives them. It can be bewildering when they begin to ask questions you can’t answer. Aggie’s current favourite: “When will the world stop?”

So it’s a joy to discover 24-year-old performance poet Toby Thompson’s beautiful first show for children (aged seven and up), directed by Lee Lyford. With wonder, wit and sophisticated storytelling, I Wish I Was a Mountain embraces big questions about time and contentment. This is a short but profound show, hatched by the Egg’s Incubator development programme, which reveals Thompson as a star in the making.

At the Egg, Bath, until 30 September. Then touring.