It’s Jack and the Beanstalk, folks, but not as we know it.
And that’s because it’s not a panto: it’s a piece of storytelling/physical theatre and it’s aimed at children between 4 and 7. There’s no Dame and no Comic but we do have a cow (Elspeth, not Daisy), a magic hen, a giant and, of course, the beanstalk.
It’s the tallest of tall stories and it’s told to us by four jackdaws who take on different roles, with sometimes a bit of disagreement about who should play what. There are no costumes apart from the addition of shawl or a jacket and the odd mask or two to the basic child-like clothing with a few feathers stuck on them here and there, and no set, apart from some boxes, a table, chairs, stepladders and a dustbin (from which the beanstalk grows). Lights fly in and out and there’s a flown hoop which provides the opportunity for a little aerial work. Oh yes, and the hen is a puppet.
These four actors and the very basic setting tell a magical tale which had the kids in the audience, mainly school parties, entranced for an hour. And it very definitely passed the “toilet test”: only two children had to go in the whole time. That is success!
It’s an experienced and very talented cast – which, of course, it has to be to carry along an audience full of very young children for an hour. Ian McLaughlin plays Jackdaw 1, Elspeth the Cow and the Giant; Rachel Teate is Jackdaw 2, Mr Broomby, a couple of shoppers and the Giant’s Little Sister; Rebecca Hollingsworth plays Jackdaw 3 and Jack’s mother Meg, whilst Ruth Johnson is Jackdaw 4 and Jack.
All the characters are well differentiated, so the kids were never confused, and played with just enough child-likeness to appeal without seeming silly. However there was enough subtle characterisation to appeal to the adults: Teate’s Little Sister, for example, reminded me irresistibly of Miranda Richardson’s Queenie in Blackadder, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that.
The show is directed by Rosie Kellagher with music by Jeremy Bradfield and design by Verity Quinn.
There’s also a bit of enthusiastic audience participation – row after row of excited 5 year olds thrusting their hands into the air is quite a sight to behold! They loved it!
This is Dance City’s first ever venture into producing their own children’s Christmas show. It has only a short run – just eight performances over four days – but all credit to the venue’s artistic director Anthony Baker for taking the risk. If all goes as well as the performance which I saw, it’s got to encourage him to do it again next year - and for a longer time.