THE SCARECROW AND HIS SERVANT. To 10 January.
London.
THE SCARECROW AND HIS SERVANT
by Philip Pullman adapted by Simon Reade Music & lyrics by Chris Larner..
Southwark Playhouse To 10 January 2009.
11am 31 Dec
2pm 7-9 Jan.
3pm 26, 27, 28-30 Dec, 2-3, 10 Jan.
7.30pm 27, 29-30 Dec, 2-3, 5-10
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7407 0234.
www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 December.
Pointed and entertaining, a welcome addition to the seasonal variety on show.
It shows where a superabundance of self-confidence can get you. When hungry Jack meets a forlorn Scarecrow, Jack does the rescuing. But with a confident voice and wide smile, Scarecrow has no problem establishing Jack as his servant, despite having no material means of rewarding him; and off they go.
Lord Scarecrow, as he’s announced, becomes Captain Scarecrow when he’s enlisted as an army officer, being too stupid to qualify as an ordinary soldier. As they tread the chapters of Philip Pullman’s novel, made into an amiable play by Simon Reade, the pair’s search for Scarecrow’s paradisal origin, Spring Valley, takes them across lands suffering the devastation of war and industrial despoliation, the latter orchestrated by the all-powerful Buffaloni family.
Though the political comment and ecological content’s clear enough, it helps rather than interrupting the story, with plenty of space for comedy, and an overall lightness (though not superficiality) of tone provided by Andrew Pepper’s ever-cheerful Scarecrow. Recognising neither adversity nor embarrassment until the opposition finally seems to have done for him (the story ends with a familiar apparent-death/resurrection pattern) preceding a happy denouement, before any loose-ends are tied up in a narrative epilogue.
Simply staged on designer Tom Piper’s neutral rostra with their suggestion of distances to traverse, a rear-stage curtain’s used to suggest military might as soldiers’ shadows project at great height, and to reveal both natural and industrialised versions of Spring Valley.
By Pepper’s energetically cheerful side, Finn Hanlon’s Jack might seem too neutral, but the combination works well, with the other three cast members providing a series of apt cameos. Mark Leipacher soon casts aside the appearance of benevolence as agent for the powerful Buffalonis in his pursuit of Scarecrow, Stephanie Street moves aptly from archetypal oppressed peasant woman through stereotypical vain actress to a judge bewigged with folded newspaper cuttings, while Oliver Senton provides a richly comic series of characters.
Add Chris Larner’s jaunty score and lyrics, and Southwark Playhouse’s collaboration with Poonamallee Productions may not be a classic but makes a highly entertaining and, if you think about it, thoughtful new piece for 7+.
Scarecrow: Andrew Pepper.
Jack: Finn Hanlon.
Cercorelli/Colonel Bombardo: Mark Leipacher.
Chief Brigand/Signor Rigatelli/Sergeant/Don Giovanni Buffaloni: Oliver Senton.
Old Woman/Farmer’s Wife/Actress/Bernard/Judge: Stephanie Street.
Director: Simon Reade.
Designer: Tom Piper.
Lighting: Johanna Town.
Sound: Andrea J Cox.
Music Director/Dramaturg: Chris Larner.
Movement: Frances Newman.
Assistant director: Ollie Fielding.
2008-12-25 10:54:30