A beautifully paced, endearing piece written and performed by Shona Reppe. Billed as a piece of children’s theatre, it actually entertained both children and adults alike, indeed the majority of the audience were adults at the performance I saw. It uses a Victorian scrapbook as the vehicle to tell a quirky and interesting story about a lonely Victorian watchmaker Artemus J Mood and his love affair with a tiny young woman called Josephine Bean who had travelled across the oceans from the Caribbean in a Sea Bean to meet her love. Shona’s quiet, gentle and self contained humour and lots of visuals particularly on two projected screens brought interest and life to what might have been a somewhat dry subject, particularly for children. The audience seemed spellbound.
I loved the piece and would love to see it on rural touring. I spoke to Shona afterwards, but she felt that the show was perhaps too technical to tour and would prefer to do longer runs in one place, which I could quite understand. Pity, though, as it was a super piece. Definitely one to watch if she makes other, less technical, work.
Review by Gill Vickers
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