THE JUNGLE BOOK To 28 January.
London.
THE JUNGLE BOOK
by Rudyard Kipling adapted by Stuart Paterson lyrics by Barb Jungr music by BB Cooper.
Bloomsbury Theatre To 28 January 2006.
Mon-Sat various dates 10.30am, 1.30pm, 2pm, 5.30pm.
Runs 1hr 55min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7388 8822.
www.thebloomsbury.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 December.
Lively, energetic re-focusing of Kipling’s famous story.
Rudyard Kipling’s name is known and respected throughout at least the English-speaking literate world. His adaptor in this production has a reputation mainly in Scotland where his plays have been a mainstay of the Christmas repertoire for many years. Birmingham Stage Company’s tour of Jungle Book follows Stuart Paterson’s version of Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine in touring England, with a sizeable stop-off at the Bloomsbury till the end of January.
There isn’t the pantomime paraphernalia with which Paterson’s Christmas pieces entertain audiences while a deeper story unfolds around, but there are panto-style calls for audience help – we provide the vital vote that allows the Mowgli to join the wolf pack rather than be surrendered to tiger Shere Khan (an ill-disposed audience could make for a very short show).
Paterson often opens with a highly-charged Witch scene, before ushering in the everyday world. Here, the role’s taken by Shere Khan, a recurrent malevolent presence. And Paterson’s all-important mother-figure, from whom a developing child derives strength, is seen in the lost mother Mowgli finds when visiting the human village for fire to protect the wolves.
Fathers are usually ineffectual in Paterson plays; it’s too much to read this into the weakening of ageing wolf-leader Arkela; but Arkela himself is a substitute for a non-existent human father. And the underlying pulse in Paterson’s work for young people, the development from childhood through the appropriate amount of risk-taking into adult responsibility, is clearly visible in Mowgli’s growth.
Showing all this in under 2 hours loses a lot of Kipling’s detail. The animals tend to be simplified. Big bear Baloo, never realising how tight his affectionate hug holds Mowgli, or friendly panther Bagheera are among the more prominent, yet are still a subservient frame to Mowgli’s story rather than having the independent existences Kipling gave them. And while there’s mention of the Law of the Jungle, notably in Barb Jungr’s lyric for BB Cooper’s upbeat calypso-inflected final song, the wolf-pack politics are little investigated. Still, adaptation means selection and nothing is actually contorted, while all flows neatly along in Graeme Messer’s swift-moving production.
Mowgli: Tony Hasnath.
Shere Khan: Peter F Gardiner.
Raksha: Bita Taghavi.
Arkela: James Lavender.
Baloo: Trevor A Toussaint.
Bagheera: Alex de Marcus.
Tabaqui: Ben Redfern.
Kaa: Suzanne Ahmet.
Tima: Lloyd Warbey.
Snag: Allyson Addo.
Director: Graeme Messer.
Designer: Jacqueline Trousdale.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Sound: Glen Beckley.
Music mix: Duncan Chave.
Choreographer: Kenn Oldfield.
Animal Movement: Peter Elliott.
Assistant director: Ellen Mills.
Costume design assistant: Gillian Malster.
2005-12-29 09:22:24