FROG IN LOVE.

Edinburgh - Fringe

FROG IN LOVE
from books by Max Velthuijs

Tiebreak Theatre at C too To 24 August.
11.30am
Runs 50 min No interval

TICKETS: 0870 701 5105
Review: Timothy Ramsden 6 August

Lightly seasoned, colourfully told story for the young.To use the jargon employed by educationally wised-up politicians, this is probably a piece of 'bog-standard' children's theatre. To describe it so is to indicate how high is the standard of performance - clear but not patronising - for young audiences today.

As for the bog, here's a mix of acting, movement and song which employs a wide expressive palette, mixing colours into Frog's adventures. The two women actors swap character as the exigencies of staging require, hats giving the clue to who's who at any time.

Adults seemed to be amused throughout, though the auditorium predictably came to loud life when there was some slapstick or things went frighteningly bump in the night (incidentally, I regret a song line about monsters referring to 'Frankenstein and Dracula'. Young Vic Frankenstein was a perfectly respectable person - unlike his monster creation. Young people's theatre really shouldn't build up errors for pub-quizzes to come.

What the play does is examine through its animals both personal feelings - Frog in winter discomfort (thwack goes the percussion when a snowball strikes), then confident and chirpy in the green of spring.

Friendship comes before love in the play, and the importance both of recognising others' qualities and living within your own aptitudes gently underlines the story.

As for prejudice, well Rat the disliked Traveller turns out all right after all (a touch of the Oirish for the character possiblya touch too much stereotyping in its own way). Yes, the Rat's a good guy after all - but don't try cosying up too much with any rodents you find in your own garden.

Frog in Love's intended for 5-8s and should work particularly well with the younger swathe of that age-range.

Frog: Tom Burroughs
Rat/Hare/Pig: Rebecca Naylor
Duck/Hare/Pig: Isobel Suttie
Musician: Sean Ashton-Peach

Director: David Farmer
Designer: Jason Durrant Ions
Musical Director: Jonathan Lambert

2003-08-06 19:33:57