ALL BY MY OWN. Quicksilver tour to 5 May

Young People

ALL BY MY OWN
by Carey English.

Quicksilver Theatre Tour to 5 May 2002
Runs 50 minutes. No interval

Review Mark Courtice 16 February

Taking Children’s Theatre seriously with a charming journey through some emotional baggage.
This revival of a 1998 production has a lot going for it. The show features puppets and live action and a performance full of charm and warmth from Karen Spicer. She sounds good and can look wild and exciting when she needs to.

All By My Own is a one-woman play set on Onie’s journey to see her granddaughter, from whom she has been estranged after a quarrel with her daughter. From her baggage Onie brings out objects and puppets which help her tell of incidents from her own childhood. Within this structure Carey English has made a text which, through tightly told stories, deals with loneliness, loss, temper tantrums, and the power of imagination and love to make things right.

There is a neat railway carriage set from Philip Engleheart plus a score and sound design which serve the piece well. A pile of suitcases and their provoking contents were well made and well handled (I was particularly impressed with the way that real sand from the beach was all wrapped away and disposed of at the end of the scene).

All By My Own does not condescend to the young and respects children's ability to understand and deal with emotion. It is, however, a rather solemn occasion. The lighter moments are few and far between, and despite the fact that Spicer's mobile features and physical command occasionally threaten to invest the show with the sense of fun it lacks, we could have done with more laughter amongst all that warmth and sadness, loneliness and loss.

We did, nonetheless, understand what was going on, and we could recognise the feelings that we have all had (however old we are) and left the theatre glad that we had been on a journey with Onie together.

Onie: Karen Spicer

Director: Carey English
Designer: Philip Engleheart
Lighting: Tracie Howitt
Composer/Sound: Nadine Owen
Dramaturg: Guy Holland

2002-02-20 09:43:42