Review of Return To The Forest at Aviva Studios, Manchester.
An evening at the theatre or a visit to a museum? Return To The Forest blurs the boundaries from the moment you step through its doors.
A gallery space awaits, with objects on display. You can look but don’t touch. After politely wandering around, pointing at pedestals, peering through glass cases, people take their seats around the perimeter. Watching more visitors arrive, and observing a scene we were once part of, it seems a dispiriting experience – small crowds trudging through the space, glancing, filling time, none the wiser.
The museum closes, and the gallery empties of people, but only momentarily. Disruption is afoot – and a bunch of intruders arrive to liberate the museum’s exhibits and grab our attention.
It’s a daring robbery that entertainingly riffs on previous cinematic versions. Full of jeopardy, with security cameras to be disabled, and a criss-cross of laser lines to dodge.
Clad in black, faces hidden behind sunglasses, the five-strong gang moves through the space with angular, acrobatic grace. These are performers with obvious skill, but choreographer Gregory Maqoma brings a cheerful, cheeky wink to their slinkiness, a sense of play to this heist caper.
Once the exhibits have all been stashed into bags, we are all on the move. Those objects become jumping off points for story-telling and, as this is a family show, plenty of adventures.
The audience is guided between various spaces, although for a lot of the time we are seated round a large circular stage, as the group are led on a journey by the various artefacts that are now in their possession.
A ceremonial stick conjures up different reactions, depending on who is holding it – its meaning and power shifting as it draws on each character’s perspective.
Objects are not merely things – they take on a life of their own, are able to transform. A security camera sprouts horns to become the head of cow, with the ceremonial stick as its tail. A brightly coloured cloak acting as the animal’s body is eventually lifted high to become a backdrop to the action.
But before it disassembles the cow is lead on a celebratory procession through the watching crowd. One of many moments when the production gathers in its audience that bit closer, inviting some in as accomplices to help hide their swag, or creating connection with fibrous threads held tightly by children sat around the stage. Building a sense that we are all part of a bigger story.
Theatre-Rites skilfully create somewhere magical. A place away from the daily grind – where, as the performers jokingly indicate, there is no mobile phone signal to guide the way for budding explorers.
Guy Hoare’s atmospheric lighting design takes it cue from the initial museum setting, with pools of warm glowing light piercing the darkness. A forest is conjured up – birds chatter in the distance, strange things hang overhead, there are tremors underfoot and unexpected appearances along the way.
It is a production that leaves room to let the imagination roam. Language is largely jettisoned, as performers rely on emotion, gestures and movement to guide the audience through the narrative.
Moments of wonder pepper the journey. Theatre-Rites’ skill in puppetry helps to create several of those, including a beautifully gentle sequence that sees an old map carefully uncrumpled, and made whole, with help from its ancient spiritual guardian.
A rich seam of invigorating music flows through the production, showcasing a variety of instruments from across the globe, and composers Frank Moon and Domenico Angarano also weave in some clever sound design. A surprisingly symphonic series of splashes accompanies the cast resourcefully capturing dripping water in the forest.
A production in forward drive, Return To The Forest is always on a quest to the next stage of the journey. An approach very much kept afloat by Maqoma’s smooth restless choreography, and the committed cast’s energetic and engaging performances.
Near the end, however, the show gets perilously close to running out of road theatrically, and resorts to an open invitation to party. Fortunately, there is plenty of appetite – and rather than collapsing in on itself, it all ends with much collective joy.
After the cast have left the stage, and the exit doors open, many of the young audience linger – exploring the museum setting, mimicking the contortions of the earlier intruders, and chasing each other around the exhibition. In no rush to leave, they are happy to revel in the world of Return To The Forest just that little bit longer.
Return To The Forest runs at Aviva Studios from 7 – 10 May 2026.
Then at Sadler’s Wells East from 28 – 30 May 2026.
Images by Tristram Kenton.
Performance seen on 7 May 2026.
Circles & Stalls 