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Danny Lane as Owl and Sally Frith as Pussycat in their beautiful, pea green boat The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat
Coventry Belgrade B2
***** ANYONE reading
The Owl and the
Pussycat might well be
forgiven for wondering what exotic variety of tobacco Edward Lear had
been smoking at the time of writing. It is complete and utter nonsense. And that is the premise
Eric Idle starts with in his book, The
Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and Pussycat
which has been adapted by Douglas Irvine for
this world premiere production. The poem is nonsense, so to make sense of it we
need a story to explain it – at least that is the theory. What we get is
still nonsense, of course, but it is now fun with narrative nonsense
introducing us to an evil Firelord played by Vedi Roy who is dressed as
a cross between Ali G and the Prince of some small principality in a
hidden corner of 1930's Europe. He manages a nice balance between being
evil and yet not so much so that it frightens the children. Then there are his evil henchmen Flicker and
Brimstone, both played by Yanick Ghanty with a remarkably fast reversing
baseball cap to distinguish his two moronic charges. His fight scene
between the two, all him of course, is gloriously funny. They are out to capture the Bong tree which flowers every 65 million years or so to repopulate the Earth when catastrophe threatens – and the threat is a comet heading on a collision course. The Firelord does not want the earth repopulated though, he wants it barren like the other planets his brothers are in charge of – it’s a long story, just accept, and don’t ask why or argue. So then we have the Owl, who can’t fly . . .
because it causes rain . . . played with some lovely touches by Danny
Lane – he was my five year-old grandson’s favourite - and Sally Frith as
a delightful pussycat who does not eat the owl because she has eaten two
birds already and three gives her wind. Perhaps a few porkies
going on there from the vegetarian cat and the somewhat flightless owl,
and, speaking of porkies, we have Lizzie Wofford as Professor Bosh, a
dinosaur, or at least its fossil projected on a back wall, and the pig
with a ring it will sell for a shilling through its nose. The pig,
dressed in pink gingham, appearing to be American and an extra from
Carousel
or State Fair.
She's just a pig who just wants to dance. Kids
loved her
Lizzie Wofford as the pig with pie-rats Yin and Yang Miri Gellert weighs in with the Irish turkey who
lives on the hill, who even in this load of old tosh – that’s the city
where it all starts by the way – talks nonsense. She also has her hands
full, literally, with hand puppets Yin and Yang the pie-rats who scour
the seven seas looking for pies. Put them all together and that explains not only
Edward Lear’s much loved poem . . . sort of . . . and why the comet
never collided with earth which meant that the Bong tree, who sounds
remarkably like Eric Idle, perhaps because it is him, and is the only
tree that can migrate, can become dormant for another 65 million years
or so. The production, from Selladoor, and directed by
Hamish Glen, is delightfully daft with enough pace and simple humour to
carry children along with enough subtlety to amuse adults as well. Libby Watson’s setting is a masterwork in packing
a whole world into a small space with a circular rear wall full of
doors and a revolve for the journey in the pea green boat as well as
steps behind, into the clouds to reach the rainbow. Video projected on wall
and floor give us sea, ice, rainbows, comets, night skies, flying owls,
odd creatures, a Bong tree -whatever the story demands to give an ever
changing
backdrop. Irvine, the adaptor, has added some simple songs, both cheery
and sad, which are not too long and have a nice rhythm making them child
friendly. Not sure if nonsense to explain nonsense actually
makes sense, like double negatives or something, but it certainly makes
for an entertaining couple of hours for sox, or so, and upwards. Still what do I know. I have managed to avoid
growing up so far but when it comes to shows for children I bow to my
grandson, and he loved it, and he should know, with more than two dozen
shows under his reviewing belt already. And as a big kid at heart, I
tend to agree with him. To 04-03-17 Roger Clarke 21-02-17 |
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