HEIDI. To 18 January.
Milton Keynes/Greenwich.
HEIDI: A GOAT’S TALE
by Andrew Pollard from a story by Johanna Spyri.
The Stables Wavendon To 11 January.
1.30pm 26-28, 30 Dec-4, 6-11 Jan.
5pm 26-28 Dec, 3-4, 10-11 Jan.
7pm 2, 9 Jan.
then Greenwich Theatre 13-18 January 2009.
10am & 1.30pm 14 Jan.
2pm & 7pm 17 Jan.
3pm 18 Jan.
6.30pm 13, 15, 16 Jan.
Runs 1hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 01908 280800.
www.stabgles.org (Milton Keynes)
020 8858 7755.
www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk (Greenwich)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 December.
Northern Broadsides place Heidi high on the list of imaginative children’s shows.
Young Pip rounds-up her trip of goats (the collective term says Northern Broadsides’ programme for their touring production, spending Christmas and New Year at The Stables), which are fraternising with the audience. But she re-emerges as Heidi after the animals collectively swallow a copy of the story.
The goatlike gabbles of stylised English before this happens aren’t easily comprehensible for a 5+ audience. But once into the story of young Heidi coming to terms with mountain life, then dealing with the city as companion to sick young Clara, language and story move into focus. There are nice adults and more forbidding ones in both places, and as the goat quartet play them all, and assist with the physical staging, Andrew Pollard’s script and Adam Sunderland’s imaginative direction take firm hold on the imagination.
Pollard and Sunderland are both experienced Broadsiders and their work, following last year’s Water Babies, offers a splendid extension of the company’s spirit into fresh work for young people.
Doubtless designer Dawn Outhwaite’s ingenuity aids a lot. What first seems a miscellany of old farming equipment – bath, cable-spool, tarpaulin – all become involved in creating imaginative stage pictures. A grandmother spinning yarn, a sleigh-ride, busy city traffic, a table with Heidi’s arm seeming to stretch to an impossible length to obtain the soft bread-rolls her toothless grandmother needs, are among the inventive images created from seemingly random, simple objects.
They’re followed by a Clara made out of clothes and a tall grandmotherly figure who teaches the alphabet through varied musical styles. It’s the highlight of Rebekah Hughes' strong musical score, thanks in good part too to her own singing.
If all that demonstrates ‘the magic of theatre’, the play teasingly debates the subject. The ‘Goats’ are all sure Pip became Heidi, but the farm-girl says she was just pretending. How much does an actor ‘become’ their part? And what does an audience see: adults as a girl and four goats? Or do those characters become real for a time?
However, for most the furry fun, visual invention and later moments of genuine feeling will be sufficient enjoyment.
Yan: Gareth Cassidy.
Tan: Clara Darcy.
Tether: CP Hallam.
Mether: Rebekah Hughes.
Pip: Sienna Lloyd.
Director: Adam Sunderland.
Designer: Dawn Outhwaite.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Composer: Rebekah Hughes.
Puppetry: Lee Threadgold.
2008-12-25 22:34:57