The new production from Ragged Edge appeals to young audiences and adults who have a nostalgic yearning for episodes of classic Blue Peter, games of ‘consequences’ and community involvement.
The show is heavily interactive, and the content varies to take account of the features of the individual venues and areas where it is staged. Therefore, the name of the venue becomes part of the title: The Birch The Puppet Musical!. The Birch Community Centre in South Manchester is a venue which sells handmade cakes for a quid compared to the more traditional theatre venues where you need to take out a mortgage to afford an ice cream. There is a decent turnout with an audience made up of families with young children, retirees and age ranges in-between.
There is a high degree of improvisation in the show with songs adapted to incorporate audience suggestions. Keyboardist Owen Evans opens with an irritatingly catchy number into which he drops references to local attractions—Curry Mile, the ‘toast rack’ student accommodation, trams and frequent flooding. Master of Ceremonies Stefan Escreet explains the concept: the audience prepares puppets, sets out their biographies and suggests possible plot-lines, which the company uses as the basis for a musical.
Each of the three members of the company has a particular skill—Evans improvising the songs on the keyboard, Escreet as ringmaster while Imogen Barnfather has a bouncing cartoonish enthusiasm which works great for involving the youngsters. Escreet keeps a close eye on time so events do not drag.
The puppets are put together simply—a ball of newspaper covered in chip paper makes a head with the body from wrapping paper and limbs from twists of newspaper. They are an odd collection; one even has a pair of heads, Zaphod Beebbrox style. The company cope well with the eccentric choices of the audience—tasked with making a football, one team produces a snail.
Each team devises names and biographical details for their puppet and, prompted by questions from the company, comes up with ways in which, and reasons why, they might interact with the other puppets. One puppet has only a single hand, and his team, not unreasonably, suggests his motivation will be to find a matching hand. Armed with this information, the company cheerfully improvises a musical involving mismatched lovers being thwarted by a jealous rival but saved by intergalactic intervention.
Audience involvement is not limited to puppet making. Youngsters are invited onstage to work the puppets, and everyone takes part in a seated ‘hand jive’ dance celebrating the qualities of the community centre. Ragged Edge push their luck allowing an interval, which breaks the attention span of the youngsters causing some of them to spend the second half exploring the community centre rather than taking part in the play.
The Birch—The Puppet Musical! serves as an excellent introduction to interactive theatre for youngsters and a reminder to adults of the benefit of having an community centre in their neighbourhood. In these permanently austere times, if you don’t use a community resource, you’re going to lose it.
The Puppet Musical! tours to Dean School, Cumbria at 2PM on 29 March and Heysham Library, Morecambe at 2PM on 9 April.