ANANSI TRADES PLACES. To 5 January.
London.
ANANSI TRADES PLACES
by Trish Cooke.
Shaw Theatre To 5 January 2008.
Mon-Sat 1.30pm & 7.30pm.
no performance 31 Dec 7.30pm, 1 Jan.
BSL Signed 2 Jan 7.30pm.
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 033 2600.
www.talawa.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 December.
Spider burns quite bright in Camden.
That tricksy Caribbean spider-man Anansi has taken hold between Euston and St Pancras, at the Shaw Theatre. He wants to get out of Storyworld and find a real family. To do so he tricks discontented teenager Omari into taking his spidery place. Omari’s busy, successful parents suddenly find a pliant son in place of the rebel who rejected everything.
The joke is that, though Omari could fit twice-over into Geoff Aylmer’s Anansi, a change of clothes and a spidery hairdo mean the preoccupied parents notice nothing really wrong after the substitution.
The losers are the fiction folk who believe a real person in their midst means the end. And Omari, who discovers, like Dorothy in Oz, that home’s best after all. But there’s more here than a moral for naughty children. The old wisdom of the story kingdom is seen to have little reason behind it, while Omari’s parents, preoccupied with their careers, have to consider their role as parents too.
As a Caribbean male youth Omari’s in the biggest category for fall-off in educational achievement in modern Britain. But if this seems like a government-sponsored exercise in social responsibility, don’t worry. Talawa Theatre, presenting the first of an intended annual series of Caribbean-focused Christmas productions, are out to provide a good time. And Trish Cooke, author of this (and several previous) year’s E15 panto, knows how to provide story, characters and laughs.
It’s a limited budget show, played mostly front stage, but opening out at moments to show Anansi amid the web into which he lures Omari. This places him in a long tradition of evil-intentioned characters tricking vulnerable youth and it’s only the simple cheek with which Aylmer’s character addresses the Storyworld court, plus the meekness he adopts in his new family, that keep sympathy with him.
Among the show’s joys are the songs and some fine movement, especially from Shyko Amos and Susan Lawson-Reynolds. It’s strange audience participation is kept till the curtain-call, but Talawa score in bringing out a Black (mainly Caribbean?) audience for a piece which can also be enjoyed by any ethnicity London can supply.
Omari: Shyko Amos.
Anansi: Geoff Aylmer.
Wisdom/Dad/Tiger/Dog: Dermot Daly.
Wisdom/chicken/Kakky Roach: Marlon King.
Wisdom/Mum/Firefly/Witch/Bluebottle: Susan Lawson-Reynolds.
Wisdom/Tiger’s Wife/Bug Salla: Malinda Parris.
Director/Choreographer: Paul J Medford.
Designer: Colin Falconer.
Lighting: Philip Gladwell.
Sound: Tom Lishman.
Composer/Musical Director: Delroy Murray.
Fight director: Bret Yount.
2007-12-31 23:32:07