BAKING TIME. To 28 February.

Young People

BAKING TIME
by Tim Webb

Oily Cart and Carousel Players Tour to 2004
Runs 1hr 10min No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 February at Warwick Arts Centre

Less kitchen-sink than oven-ready; an audience-aware recipe of comedy, music and imaginative narrative.Canada's Carousel and Britain's Oily Cart provide the cast for this kitchen drama, fresh-baking bread (mini-loaves all round, including gluten-free for those requiring it, on leaving the auditorium) and telling a story of dough and snow in the process. Well-leavened for 3-6s, it's bright, imaginative and cheerful, calling for concentration, but repaying with comedy and adventure against the background of warm, comforting baking odours.

The stuff of bread features prominently, with opening comedy as Ruth Calkin and Juliet Dunn knead their dough into a false mouth, moustache, eyebrow, earrings etc. (this potential bread's binned, and new dough kneaded for the actual loaves in a clearly hygiene-wise establishment).

Kitchen sounds form into rhythmic bread-rapping. The cooks give yeast a surely unfair reputation as a strong, unpleasant pong, and discover the Bread-Baby. This crunchy kid is the one whose story's told while our buns are in the oven.

It's a tale that takes us out into the wild weather, flour cascading as snow, covering the little child. The pattern's a common one: the child explores, adventures as s/he needs to do to develop. Yet there are dangers too.

Friendship matters the other great childhood theme. Someone's looking out for Bread-Baby. But there are new friends to be found, an array of kitchen utensils - a whisk clearly being the special friend. Both end up back home with loving parents.

Late in the tale, the story moves to shadow-play. It's here concentration's needed most, losing direct contact with the friendly performers just when attention's already been stretched. Still, it didn't seem to matter with Coventry's young audience, and there are more than enough entertainments that never demand extended concentration; something that does makes for a welcome challenge.

Bun: Ruth Calkin
Bap: Juliet Dunn
Stage Manager: Jo James

Director: Kim Selody
Designer: Claire de Loon
Lighting: Natasha Chivers
Sound/Music: Max Reinhardt
Puppets: Simon Auton, Jonathan Stockbridge

2004-02-12 05:17:38