At the Sherman |
| The Sherman Theatre Company- Pinocchio , Sherman Theatre, Cardiff , December 18, 2003 |
| From the vaulted crimson and gilt of Cardiff’s New Theatre to the modern expanse of the Sherman’s main auditorium (Venue One) I completed my round of the Cardiff Christmas shows in the intimate surroundings of the Sherman Arena (Venue Two). Here we have a postage stamp of delight, a fairy story for its fairy sized audience of three to five year olds, probably the most difficult audience to cater for. They were a lovely, noisy but very cuddly lot and although these three extremely pleasant storytellers didn’t pick up and hug each child individually, the show had that feeling about it. It was set in and around a cleverly designed colourful multi-purpose gypsy caravan, an ingenious creation by Guy O’Donnell. As well as welcoming their audience in the theatre foyer with Christmas songs, the three cast members, Clare Hingott, Rhian Green and Dan Lawrence led the little ones, Pied Piper like, into the theatre where we all sat on the floor and carried on our sing song until Rudolph was put to bed and we could sit back and listen to our story. As well as narrators and musicians the cast between them encompassed the roles of Pinocchio, Geppeto, the Blue Fairy, Jimminy Cricket, naughty boy Lampwick and the Puppet Master all with equal aplomb. Writer Mike Kenny has kept his script elegantly simple so that the pre-school mites were transfixed as they watched Pinocchio give in to all the temptations of miss behaviour and then try to lie his way out of his misdeeds as his blue sparkling nose got longer and longer to whoops of great delight. The blue fairy saved the day and Pinocchio did eventually become a real boy and it all ended happy ever after! The cast slipped effortlessly in and out of their different very colourful costumes, lightly scaring the audience when they were scary and befriending them when they were not. The key to the success of this production was that the actors clearly enjoyed working for their young audience who remained totally captivated and were intensely enjoying what for many of them must have been their first visit to a theatre. On this showing I’m sure they will be back for more. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
This review has been read 1872 times There are 95 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
