NANNA'S NIGHTINGALE. To 17 July.

Young People

NANNA'S NIGHTINGALE
by Neil Duffield

Royal Theatre, Northampton on tour to 17 July 2002. School performances only
Runs 1hr + 30min Workshop

Review Timothy Ramsden 15 July at Blisworth Primary School

A fine revival of Duffield's well-crafted adventure play, with its look at childhood relationships.Lloyd's got it all – the latest automatic toy zap-machine, a mobile 'phone. Hundreds of friends – though these may be wishful-thinking. But he's not going to be friendly to newcomer Sally. She's got nothing except her big bouncy dog Che. Lloyd's dog's a better dog because he can talk – even if he's only a bit of circuitry in a mobile.

From all this Neil Duffield takes 5-7s on a magical journey, opening from Nanna Sidhu's store of traditional stories, to a part of India ruled by a selfish Rajah, with more than a touch of the Lloyd about him – queue cast doubling. The tale artfully combines humour, music and verbal lyricism. In Simon Godwin's lively, colourful and well-acted revival a class of children watches as the nightingale seems to fly over their heads.

There are physical journeys, through the kingdom to find its sole nightingale. But there's also the Rajah's internal voyage, to overcome his possessiveness (going back on his word and imprisoning the bird). Duffield handles the imaginative flights delicately, grounding them in childlike comedy – the Rajah's favourite form of punishment is stamping on people's hands and Major Moustache is a grotesquely bluff military caricature.

There's also a link as Sally's dog Che becomes the malapropistic gofer Dogsbody (both splendidly incarnated by Rosanna Lowe). And the final return to here and now shows how the story leads to negative childhood emotions dissolving into friendship to the benefit of all.

A brief pre-show discussion introduces audiences to a participatory song and gives some background to the song of the nightingale, while the post-show workshop develops the theme of imagination through an imagined jungle journey, with groups of children becoming various menacing creatures. Unlike, of course, their everyday selves.

Nanna Sidhu/Major Moustache/Rani: Nisha Dassyne
Lloyd/Rajah: Tom Edden
Sally/Jasreena: Polly Lister
Che/Dogsbody: Rosanna Lowe

Director: Simon Godwin
Designer: Kate Unwin

2002-07-16 11:54:01