PEACH BOY To 14 February.

Tour.

PEACH BOY: THE ADVENTURES OF MOMOTARO
by Richard Hurford.

Oxfordshire Theatre Company Tour to 14 February 2010.
Runs 1hr 40min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 November at Begbroke Village Hall.

New tale from the East for the Christmas stock.
This is quite nearly very successful. Japan apparently has a tradition that peach-eating can make humans immortal. What more apt, then, than a young superhero being discovered in a large peach floating down the river?

Writer Richard Hurford swiftly follows young Momotaro's progress from podgy baby and child – great ballooning models – to Elliott Quinn’s lithe, live figure as the young hero set on recovering his adoptive parents’ property, stolen by grim, shadowy Ogres.

On his journey to their castle he finds allies in a dog, monkey and pheasant, which represent qualities the strong but callow Momotaro has to acquire himself, just as the treasure he recovers turns out to be something subtler than the wealth he’d expected.

How much of this will be clear to the full range of the 6+ intended audience? It’s suggested near the end that Momotaro’s animal army are humans transformed by magic and now recovered in human form. If that’s so, it needs to be more explicit; after all, animal puppets getting it in the neck without such redemption make for a sad ending with many young audience members.

And while the second of the brief acts is full of action, the first half is more of a prologue; little happens and by the interval there’s only the set-up to involve audiences. Also, Hurford, or director Karen Simpson, might have dug deeper into their hero’s mind, though that would need a more subtle, vocally varied performance than the production provides.

Yet there are many enjoyable elements. Jonathan Metcalf and, especially, Gilian Cally provide a range of clear characters along the way; Cally’s deathly Cold Lady and hand-glove pheasant are particularly strong. The final battle reveals the Ogres, so frightening as shadows, as brush-handled horrors, though they finally assemble to create a monster chief.

Helped by Jane Linz Roberts’ set, capturing the clarity, beauty and simplicity of Japanese theatre traditions, with flowing streams of silk for rivers, and craftily-constructed puppets on a screen-backed stage, plus Dave Thwaites’ peachy-toned lighting, Simpson’s production is visually rich, while Andrew Dodge provides an attractive theme-song to unite the various episodes.

Ma/Pheasant/Cold Lady/Sun Goddess: Gilian Cally.
Pa/Dog/Monkey/Moon God: Jonathan Metcalf.
Momotaro: Elliott Quinn.

Director: Karen Simpson.
Designer: Jane Linz Roberts.
Lighting: Dave Thwaites.
Composer: Andrew Dodge.
Movement: Togo Igawa.

2009-11-30 09:22:55