THE SUITCASE KID To 30 December.
Richmond/Tour.
THE SUITCASE KID
by Jacqueline Wilson adapted by Vicky Ireland.
Orange Tree Theatre To 30 September then tour to 30 December 2007.
10.30am & 1pm15,22,29,30 Sept.
3pm1,16,23 Sept.
7pm 1 Sept.
Runs 1hr 15min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 8940 3633.
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 August.
Colourful, swift and well-suited to over-6s.
Given a choice between A and B, what 10-year old wouldn’t choose C? Or A and B? Only to find adult officialdom brushes their clear wish aside, conveniently interpreting it as alternating A and B; in this case, living in weekly rotation with newly-separated parents. Andrea (Andy), the girl in question, also has the problem of having been large from birth. So nobody thinks she needs help. And it’s always assumed she’s responsible for trouble with other children.
Her only comfort is Radish, her miniature toy rabbit. Andy’s parents war with each other on sight, while their new partners, Bill the builder and macrobiotic-lifestyle Carrie, seem respectively rough and ridiculous to her. With Carrie’s young children played by puppets, Andy is isolated in a world suddenly gone awry.
Worst is Bill’s daughter Katie, petite and sweet to others but a manipulative bully psychologically terrorising Andy when they’re alone. Only when taciturn Graham, grateful Andy’s drawn his sister’s spite from him, tells of Katie’s secret fear do things change.
A busy opening, with a rabbit-eared cast setting the stage and Andy talking to us - she’s our guide throughout – gives a sense of action and prevents the gloom into which Andy’s soon cast seeming too extreme for young audience-members. The sense of turmoil, created by swift scene-changes and adult behaviour that swirls around Andy, treating her as a mere object, is true to childhood experience.
A red-tinged nightmare in which a new child is confused by the displaced Andy with her own birth, and a green-textured adventure for Radish, are more challenging. And Vicky Ireland’s extremely playable adaptation somewhat glosses over the impact of the inevitably continuing split between the parents, while the late introduction of some nice old neighbours seems to offer a cosy solution.
Still, there’s been a fine examination of Andy’s problems in a production that moves swiftly and clearly on Pip Leckenby’s colourful set, with decent acting, particularly from Sarah-Lee Dicks, whose Andy keeps in sympathetic contact with the audience, and Kerry Gooderson as the girl determined to make others as miserable as she secretly feels herself.
Andy: Sarah-Lee Dicks.
Mum/Carrie: Holli Hoffman.
Dad/Bill: Henry Everett.
Katie: Kerry Gooderson.
Graham: Mostyn James.
Radish: Himself.
Director: Vicky Ireland.
Designer: Pip Leckenby.
Lighting: John Harris.
Composer: Stephen Markwick.
Movement: Ben Redfern.
Puppets: Lee Threadgold.
2007-09-01 00:45:51