King's Theatre, Edinburgh
Four stars
In an expansive staging by co-directors Timothy Sheader and Dale Rooks, both Lilly and Oona are caught in the crossfire of these money-obsessed predators, as their destruction of the natural world is exposed. Beyond such an eco-friendly triumph of right over might, Paul Wills' vast set houses a parade of life-size animal puppets designed by Finn Caldwell and Toby Olie, operated by the company with a beguiling and emotionally charged finesse.
For all the puppetry's eye-popping delights in a production first presented by Chichester Festival Theatre and Regent's Park Theatre, and revived here by the Children's Touring Partnership , the show is carried by a remarkable performance by eleven-year old India Brown. As one of three young actresses who play Lilly, she remains on stage throughout the play's two hour duration. By switching the gender of the book's main protagonist, Adamson introduces a new level of emancipation to a heart-wrenching tale of grief, loss and survival.
Four stars
Ever since War Horse stole the world's
heart, another staging of one of Michael Morpurgo's deeply moral
novels was inevitable. Stand up Samuel Adamson's adaptation of the
author's 2009 work for young people, which starts off in a London
park, where nine year old Lilly remembers spotting wild birds with
her football crazy dad. Little does she know she will end up being
saved from a tsunami in the wilds of Indonesia by a flatulent
elephant called Oona. Somewhere along the way we learn that Lilly's
dad was a casualty of the Iraq war, while the hunters who stalk the
jungle are as likely to take pot-shots at her as an orangutan named
after footballer Frank Lampard.
In an expansive staging by co-directors Timothy Sheader and Dale Rooks, both Lilly and Oona are caught in the crossfire of these money-obsessed predators, as their destruction of the natural world is exposed. Beyond such an eco-friendly triumph of right over might, Paul Wills' vast set houses a parade of life-size animal puppets designed by Finn Caldwell and Toby Olie, operated by the company with a beguiling and emotionally charged finesse.
For all the puppetry's eye-popping delights in a production first presented by Chichester Festival Theatre and Regent's Park Theatre, and revived here by the Children's Touring Partnership , the show is carried by a remarkable performance by eleven-year old India Brown. As one of three young actresses who play Lilly, she remains on stage throughout the play's two hour duration. By switching the gender of the book's main protagonist, Adamson introduces a new level of emancipation to a heart-wrenching tale of grief, loss and survival.
The Herald, May 4th 2017
ends
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