Review: Leave Hitler to me, lad

Name of company Duck Egg Theatre

Name of show Leave Hitler to me Lad

Genre theatre

Venue Paradise in Augustine’s

Date 20 August

This was a youth theatre piece from one of our local theatre groups in North Lincolnshire.  It was a large cast piece and therefore not really suitable for rural touring, although Duck Egg tell me that they are looking at adapting it for a much smaller cast with a view to touring it more widely in the future.

The piece was set in the early 1950s in Lincolnshire after the Second World War and followed the story of a young boy, Brian, who was split from his family during the war and created his own little family with schoolfriends and pets.    He is  eventually reunited with his sister.  The story was told using dance, song, original music and puppetry and the young cast acquitted themselves well.  Particularly strong  central performances from the two young leads - the brother and sister. 

The boy's mental image of his father as hero was not matched by the harsh reality of the truth, and  the thrust of the piece seemed to be that sometimes it is better to hold the dream intact rather than let the truth destroy the illusion.

Suitable/ready for rural touring - no, not in its current state - not practical to tour as too large a cast.

Would you book them - Not unless the piece was radically altered in terms of cast size.

Would it be worth pursuing this company to consider work in the future Yes, possibly

Any other comments 

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