FE FI FO. To 27 April.

London.

FE FI FO

Little Angel Theatre To 27 April 2008.
Thu 10.30am, 11.30am,1.30pm
Sun 10.30am,11.30am.
Runs 30min No interval.

TICKETS: 020 7226 1787.
www.littleangeltheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 March.

A short Beanstalk well-fitted to 2-5s.
It’s an admirable scheme at the Little Angel to provide a show for the younger among its young audiences, that relates to the piece being produced for the over-5s. Fe Fi Fo is a Fe-Fi-Friendly piece to accompany Jelly Bean Jack (reviewed separately), a version of Jack and the Beanstalk set in the Mexican desert.

Running slightly under half the length of the longer piece, the first half of the show follows the outline of its companion. There’s Jack and his mother, the cow that’s milked then sold when supermarkets take over packaged milk production, depriving the already poor family of their market.

Spoken narration fills in the situation, but it’s when Jack’s magic bean, flung away in disgust by his impoverished mother, grows into the beanstalk that there’s a radical departure from Jelly Bean Jack. There’s the same masked, Elvis-like giant (played by one of the actor-puppeteers) but here he’s a friendly creature, the smile on his face emphasised as he waves at the audience rather than sitting with his back to us, increasing his pile of gold.

Gone is the caged chicken that lays golden eggs, or the battle with Jack and subsequent threat from the Giant down on earth. Here, he’s a sleepy creature who can’t get his magic guitar to play. Jack, and then the audience, join in with the magic words of the title (which lose any connection with blood or revenge) to set the guitar’s strings a-playing. And Jack’s rewarded by the happy Giant with the gold coin that enables him to buy back the family cow. In a fine final image the three puppets, Jack, Mother and Cow, sit looking up at the sky – or possibly at a friendly Giant in the sky.

Though the change in Jack’s town acquaintances from happily independent chilli-sellers to bland supermarket assistants remains, a rather sophisticated point for 2-year olds perhaps, this is a colourful, non-threatening show that holds the attention of its audiences throughout.

Director: Peter Glanville.
Designer: Mila Sanders.
Composer: James Hesford.
Puppets: Sue Dacre.

2008-04-01 12:22:36