JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. To 23 December.
Tour
JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
Kneehigh Theatre Tour to 23 December 2006
Runs 1hr 45min One interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 November at Leintwardine Village Hall
Very silly, if not entirely stupid.
“Core! – It’s hot down here.” Just one of the lines you’re spared in Kneehigh’s tribute to the way B-movies could spice-up and dumb-down any subject. So, when the company opens by announcing that the production of Journey to the Centre of the Earth has been cancelled, they’re not entirely wrong. Jules Verne’s been sent for an early bath all right with this one.
Though the trio of characters claim science is a universal language, they’re soon squabbling. Young Alex, niece to devoted geologist Prof Lidenbrock, eventually dares to say she wants out to give writing a go. It doesn’t go down well, unlike the trio themselves who’re soon pursuing the Prof’s former colleague down an Icelandic volcano.
If there is a universal language, an Esperanto of the arts, it’s surely music. So there’s a fitness that the action depends on one of science’s contributions to the musical world, the theremin. This 1913 invention of Russian Lev Theremin is an instrument which, without being touched, produces whoops and groans that could compose a B-movie sci-fi score, and here pretty nearly does. Even as someone more inclined to the ondes martenot among such devices, I happily pay tribute to the theremin’s aural contribution.
Working it, and working hard throughout, is Kneehigh’s trio of tricksy scientists, who double as an Icelandic guide, a power-crazed geologist and a posse of moles. Fortunately, the story’s hardly what counts, less so the characters. The stereotypes in white coats are along for the fun they bring.
Many trusted techniques are here; transparent disbelief in the narrative, sudden exits for costume changes, shadow puppetry, fights with a model monster, references to tonight’s venue. The cast manage a manic edge while keeping enough control to maintain an earth's-crust-deep credibility.
So there’s fun enough. But it’s treading-water for Kneehigh, whose previous small-scale village hall tours have summoned up imaginative theatrical magic rather than displaying self-announcing trickery. Here, they’ve entered territory covered by many companies, and while they create fine under-earth landscapes and have a good time, here’s looking to more of the company’s imaginative potential on its next small-scale tour.
Professor Lidenbrock: Craig Johnson
Hans: Simon Harvey
Axel: Fay Powell-Thomas
Director: Craig Johnson
Design Co-ordinator: Fiona-Marie Chivers
2006-11-27 01:30:11