Reading the write-offs

You see abandoned cars all over Epping Forest - burnt out in ditches or left by the roadside, stripped bare, skeletons of their former selves. Not something one would wish to linger over on a summer's day.

However in Charabanc, so named after the rickety old-fashioned coaches that used to take people on sightseeing trips, five such cars become individual worlds - the picnic, the wedding bed, the angel car, the racing demon and the skeleton car - in a special installation and performance presented by Epping Forest Arts.

As dusk falls, the performers - drawn from local residents, students, members of the Epping Forest Theatre Company and children from Matching Green and High Beech primary schools - appear from under the cars and out of windows to tell their tales. The children have also created an animated film from old rubbish, devised a dance piece, decorated the cars and told stories of their own journeys as part of the narrative designed to spread a little summer magic to families with children of all ages.

Charabanc, Fri 12-Sun 21 Jul, The Stubbles, Epping Forest, Nursery Road, Loughton, Essex and Matching Green Disused Airfield, Matching Green, Essex (01992 564 551).