Genre: Chuildren's Theatre, suitable for 0ver 4's at least
This was such a disappointment; who could go wrong with this much-loved story of a boy's toy rabbit which became real? Well this young, probably student company did!
They simply got it all wrong; the rabbit wasn't even velveteen! And it's female voice was all wrong. The Raggy Doll looked great but spoke so softly and with far too many words from a faithful interpretation of the book, that everytime she was doing the storytelling, the children all lost interest.
There were many under 3's who were only occasionally engaged; the big rabbit and horse frightened even some older children and the magic of the story was only sometimes created.
The cast did not really know how to engage with their young audience, and by the comments I heard from them as they took down the set, they obviouslyt thought they were a great hit-- but they weren't.
I met someone there who is a producer of children's theatre himself, , " passionate about children's theatre", and he too was disappointed.
He was acting in a show at the Fringe, but I didn't catch which, (as I was leaving next day, shame on me!), but is currently touring a production of The Owl and the Pussycat which looked good from the flyer, and there are DVD's or clips available he told me. He was Ivan Stott, of Hiccup Theatre. Might be worth a look; this one isn't.
JO Cheshire
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