Skellig, till 31 January

Skellig: David Almond
The Young Vic: Tickets: 020 7928 6363
Runs till 31 January
Review: December 2003, Heather Neill

A production that rises to the imaginative challenges of the book and some pure theatrical magic
There is no doubt about the quality of David Almond¹s Carnegie-medal-winning book about a strange character discovered in a dilapidated garden building. The story deals with the half-understood emotional muddle of Michael whose baby sister may die. He is coming to terms with feelings and ideas new to a pre-pubescent boy while coping with the rough and tumble of school and the upheaval of moving to an unfamiliar neighbourhood . It is at this crisis-point that he discovers the half-dead Skellig, who seems at first to be a grimy vagrant, hidden in the rubbish of an abandoned garage.

Who or what Skellig might be, where he comes from and where he goes to are never explained. He has wings, but he is no Christmas card angel: short-tempered and riddled with arthritis, he has a penchant for Chinese take-aways and brown ale. Awe-inspiring as well as crotchety, Skellig can fly but he needs to eat - and doesn¹t jib at suppers of mice and spiders. The book manages to combine schoolyard humour with Blake's poetry, theories of evolution, observations of natural history and love inside and outside the family. Michael¹s unconventional friend Mina, who is being educated creatively at home by her mother, shares his journey from innocence to the beginnings of experience.

This complicated narrative, which allows more room for the reader's imagination than most children's books, presents quite a challenge for anyone trying to stage its ambiguities. The Young Vic's version succeeds for several reasons: David Almond has written the script himself and retained the heart of the book, Trevor Nunn' storytelling direction requires an imaginative contribution from the audience and David Threlfall makes Skellig the right mixture of dirty old misfit and awesome visitor from some other realm. Kevin Wathen as Michael has enough anxious sincerity to persuade that he is a child, and the rest of the cast, doubling and trebling parts, keep the action swinging along while allowing for moments of pure magic. White owls swooping silently over the heads of the audience, operated in the simplest theatrical manner - by actors wielding poles - take the children's breath away.

Trevor Nunn's direction serves the story well (despite some intrusive musical numbers) using the whole auditorium, so that the characters go on journeys around the audience. The flying sequences, when Skellig takes to the air with Michael and Mina, are beautifully lit and this is altogether a good example of high quality theatre for children - or, indeed, imaginative people of any age.

Cast
Coot: Ashley Artus
Mum: Cathryn Bradshaw
Dad: Anthony Byrne
Miss Clarts/Lucy Carr: Sarah Cattle
Mrs Mckee: Noma Dumezweni
Mina: Akiya Henry
Dr McNabola/Rasputin: William Osborne
Skellig: David Threlfall
Michael: Kevin Wathen
Leaky: Mo Zainal

Understudy: Chris Lennon

Director: Trevor Nunn
Designer: John Napier
Movement: Kate Flatt
Lighting: Howard Harrison

2004-01-12 20:38:04