THE JUNGLE BOOK by Neil Duffield. Duke's, Lancaster. To 5 January.

Lancaster

THE JUNGLE BOOK
by Neil Duffield

Duke's Playhouse To 5 January 2002
Runs 2hr 15min One interval

TICKETS 01524 598500
Review Timothy Ramsden 30 November

Kipling gains in colour but loses out to seasonal expectations in Lancaster.Here's a colourful, comical, capably performed entertainment taken from Rudyard Kipling. Young Mowgli is brought up by wolves. Aided by the friendly panther Bagheera, he sees off the vengeful tiger Shere Khan, who patently bides his time for revenge. That comes in act two, when Mowgli finds his human mother and, in his absence, the next generation of wolves side with Shere. It's only firepower, the 'red flower' brought from the human world, that sees off the striped menace.

Neil Duffield's flat adaptation focuses helpfully on the Shere Khan/Mowgli conflict. But its language, a mix of Victorian aspic and plain bloke colloquial, limits the poetic resonance of the piece. And the human world of act two provokes some comic opera business with a pompous Sergeant Major which might be found humorous in an amateur Gilbert & Sullivan production, but only by immediate relatives in a close family, on their best behaviour.

Stuffed in at this point are a couple of 'let's entertain the children' versions of kipling's Just So stories. What's more likely to entertain any age is a piece of powerful theatre that explores the mythic and psychological complexities of Kipling's novel. That way the narrative adventure of the surface would be deepened by the disturbance and resolution of less apparent, but still powerful, human forces. In other words, imagination would be called into play and the Christmas show – a rare opportunity to gather a wide audience in school and family groups - could have become exciting, not merely amusing.

Latish on, confirmation of the fast disappearing lost plot comes with a chase through the audience. Yes, it excites the young spectators. It also leads them to thinking a panto. response is called for, so they scream out – and the actors' clear bemusement indicates this was not planned – to prevent Mowgli picking up a firebrand (sensibly – the last time he touched the fire he burned himself). An audience that could have been led into a wonderland has been dumped in a funfair.

Overall, in adaptation, direction and performances, this is less Just So than So So.

Baloo/Father Wolf/Wolf 1/Villager 1: Nick Camm
Bagheera/Villager 2/Fire Dancer: Rachel Colles
Mowgli/Villager 4: Dean Hussain
Shere Khan/Monkey 2/Sergeant Major: Terence Mann
Raksha/cobra/Voice of Chil/Monkey 3/villager 3/Wolf 3/Fire Dancer: Praveen Sond
Messua/Akela/Monkey 1/Wolf 2: Neve Taylor

Director: Eileen Murphy
Designer: Dee Sidwell
Lighting: Brent Lees
Sound: Gareth Roberts
Composer: Keith Morris
Choreographer: Ruth Jones

2001-12-03 02:03:37