Hup
Seen at Falkirk Town Hall
Touring until July 4
Reviewed by Mark Brown
Hup, the new show by Starcatchers and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is a delightful little production aimed at very young children, from babes in arms to two-year-olds. It features an endearing raccoon which is eager that its three guests - two violinists and cellist - be transformed to look like its stripy self.
Composer Abigail Sinar (who co-created the show with theatre-maker Hazel Darwin-Edwards) has devised a beautifully simple musical score. It both reflects the action nicely and, in the CD which is gifted to every child, stands alone as a piece of chamber music for young ears.
Sadly, however, the show, which Karen Tennent has designed variably (lovely costumes, disappointing orange Perspex trees), is not well pitched to everyone in its intended audience. While it delights toddlers, who danced and, in one hilarious instance, conducted during the Falkirk performance I attended, it is difficult to see what it does for babies.
Theatre for children aged under 12 months is, as great practitioners such as London-based Oily Cart have proved, abundantly possible. What it requires is not only a benign environment, which Hup enjoys, but also an aesthetic which is both immersive and eschews narrative (which, of course, small babies' brains have not yet developed to comprehend).
Despite its good intentions, Hup is still too traditional in playing to, rather than with, its audience. A tagged-on 15 minutes of interactive play at the end of the performance is almost an acknowledgement of this shortcoming.
For tour details, including Imaginate, see www.starcatchers.org.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article