Installation Photography of UNIQLO Tate Play: Monster Chetwynd: Thunder, Crackle and Magic, at Tate Modern 2025 © Tate Photography (Lucy Dawkins)
From 19 July to 25 August 2025, Tate Modern’s popular UNIQLO Tate Play series will welcome Monster Chetwynd to the Turbine Hall with an immersive new theatrical installation titled Thunder, Crackle and Magic. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1975 film The Magic Flute. Based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1791 opera of the same name, the film follows a group of characters on an adventure as they overcome monsters, villains and other perils. Chetwynd’s new work invites visitors of all ages to take part in collective storytelling to reimagine scenes from this opera. This playful experience takes place across three fantastical sets, each presenting a living spectacle of performers, creatures, costumes and handcrafted props. Visitors are encouraged to move back-and-forth between centre-stage and behind-the-scenes to consider all the elements which come together to make a performance.
Upon entering the Turbine Hall installation, visitors encounter an excerpt from the opening scene of Bergman’s The Magic Flute before stepping through a curtain to take the stage and play a role in the story themselves. Costumed performers animate the scenes across three vibrant stages or ‘sets’. On the first, Dragon Island, visitors are tasked with charming a dragon. In Wild Animal Forest, participants are invited to bring handmade puppets to life and create movements and sounds deep in the forest. On the final stage, Tested by The Elements, visitors face the forces of nature as they journey through fire and water. Wicker dens are positioned throughout the installation, filled with cushions where you can lounge and watch clips from Bergman’s film.
Chetwynd, who began as a painter, is best known for creating joyful and mischievous performances, which prompt collaboration, spontaneity and humour. Thunder, Crackle and Magic builds upon the artist’s practice of creating interactive performances, film, collage and painting, weaving in references to folk and popular culture, and making use of readily available materials to create handmade costumes, props and sets. Visitors wanting to experience more of Chetwynd’s fantastical worlds can also view A Tax Haven Run By Women 2010–1, an installation of sculptures and costumes imagining an anarchic game-show style competition between two teams, in Tate Modern’s free collection displays.
Karin Hindsbo, Director of Tate Modern, said: “Monster Chetwynd’s playful and humorous commission offers a wild experience for all visitors including families visiting the gallery this summer, foregrounding participation, performance and play. With support from UNIQLO, every year UNIQLO Tate Play allows us to work with a range of fantastic artists to enable our visitors to co-create works of art. These activities are free and open to all-ages, encouraging creative encounters for everyone.“
All year round, UNIQLO Tate Play offers free activities to families visiting Tate Modern and encourages people of all ages to play together and get creative. The programme is always made available to all, inspired by the belief that art and play are for everyone. Since it launched in 2021, it has commissioned large-scale projects by renowned artists including Rasheed Araeen, Ei Arakawa, Yayoi Kusama and Oscar Murillo, and it has seen over 652,000 people take part in the gallery alone. Building on this incredible success, last year UNIQLO extended their support of the programme until 2029.