FLAT STANLEY. To 17 March.
Leeds/London
FLAT STANLEY
by Mike Kenny based on the story by Jeff Brown and illustrations by Scott Nash.
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre) To 13 January.
then Polka Theatre 26 January-17 March 2007.
Runs 1hr 10min No interval.
TICKETS: 0113 213 7700.
www.wyp.org.uk (Leeds).
020 8543 4888.
www.polkatheatre.com/booking (London).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 December.
Despite its title, a show which doesn’t fall flat.
Add the long-term popularity of Jeff Brown’s creation with the adaptation by a leading playwright for young people and a fine director of work for the young and what ought to emerge is a very good show indeed. But things don’t always work predictably in theatre. Here, though, everything’s as good as could be wished for.
It’s particularly delightful to see director Gail McIntyre come out of the Christmas closet that is the Playhouse’s Barber Studio with an upgrade to the Courtyard, where she proves adept at turning an illustrated book into a theatre piece as she has been in previous winters at giving inventive stage life to stories by Carlo Collodi and the Grimms.
Stanley went flat when a bulletin-board fell on him. Each “chapter” of the play (introduced by a close harmony announcement craftily giving the effect of turning to a new page) exploits his 2D nature to some benefit. In one chapter he can be economically shipped to spend summer with a West Coast friend in an envelope voluminous enough to accommodate an egg sandwich for sustenance during the journey. In another he’s able to pose as part of a picture in an art-gallery and catch a nocturnal thief.
Stanley here is a life-size puppet ably manipulated by Stewart Cairns, whose features, colouring, hairstyle and clothes all mirror the character. The move from page to stage makes clear his suburban family, the Lambchops, are at least as 2-dimensional as Stan himself. Their predictable manner, conventional dress and egg-dominated diet (mother repeatedly flings fried ones onto the walls) is clear in the performances: Lisa Howard, ever-cheerful as mother, her patterned clothes displaying ghastly good taste, Robin Simpson as the responsible father who bears the family burdens and Ian Bonar as Stanley’s brother Arthur. Kenny points out he’s neglected while attention focuses on the re-shaped Stanley, but is the one who eventually rounds things out.
Between their well-judged script and carefully-judged direction, Leeds’ Kenny and McIntyre ensure New Yorker Brown’s stories receive a smooth translation, with a calm, reader-paced style which gently leads 4-7s through events to happy outcomes.
Mrs Lambchop: Lisa Howard.
Mr Lambchop: Robin Simpson.
Arthur: Ian Bonar.
Flat Stanley: Stewart Cairns.
Director: Gail McIntyre.
Designer: Karen Tennent.
Lighting: Ian Scott.
Sound: Martin Pickersgill.
Composer: Julian Ronnie.
Animation: John Barber.
Voice/Dialect coach: Sally Hague.
Dramaturg: Frauke Franz.
2006-12-24 01:24:38