There are many questions in life we don’t know the answer to. Often they question our being, our morals and humanity, and often they aren’t particularly pleasant to ponder over. Often it’s easier to exclude children from them. What does it mean to be a person? What does it mean to be ‘good’ or bad’? And is the mind and brain the same thing? These are some of the questions Error 404 at Polka Theatre asks – and it cuts right to the core of honesty; it looks for answers from children.

Error 404 is about a boy whose best friend has died. Everyone around him tries to move on and cope with the loss, and one day a box arrives – it’s a new friend. It’s a robot. Trying to solve the mysteries of who we are and what makes us human, the children are asked to participate throughout and answer some of the difficult, philosophical and strange questions that emerge along the way. Daniel Bye is our storyteller and guides us through the wonders of imagination and science as our story unfolds. The children feed him ideas and try to solve the maths of the complicated human nature, and his great rapport with them and sense of ease in improvisation makes it a smooth and fascinating journey, using the simple tool of a story and the imagination. The set is a wall of small screens projecting animations throughout, and Bye manipulates the sound system from a table of iPads and gadgets, almost like the boy’s room in the story.

Often children aren’t involved in the process of theatre-making – often the show has been devised by adults and only in the end result do children become part of it. But with Error 404 the children are the secret ingredient, and their ideas matter; Bye engages with them throughout and wants to pick their wonderful brains which gives a delightful sense of ownership and group-mentality amongst the little ones. The atmosphere feels almost sacred as they’re acknowledged for their imagination throughout, and for adults that’s just a joy to watch, even if you haven’t got any little monkeys yourself.

Polka Theatre is the place to be for children’s theatre. It becomes clear from the minute you step inside that this is a place solely dedicated to the young ones and their development, their creativity and joy. The building is a bubble of childhood delight that hopefully will inspire many little ones to fall in love with theatre. Error 404 adds to the cake mixture by giving the children the power in the room, as well as guiding them through a big story in a small space. A story that needs to be told and questions that need to be thought of. Food for thought for all ages.

Error 404 is playing at Polka Theatre until 29 March. For more information and tickets, see the Polka Theatre website.