The Wind Tamer, The Quaker Meeting House Star rating: ****
Mr Fizzywigg's Story Factory, Sweet Apex Star rating: ***
Let The Earth Breathe, The Acoustic Music Centre @ St Brides Star rating: ***
Much has been said of the brain drain factor involved in the mobile phones and zip-zappy computer games that seem to occupy the attentions of today's kids. So it is a pleasure to make the counter-claim that challenging, entertaining and educational live theatre can still prove as diverting as anything with a SIM card.
The Wind Tamer, an imaginative new production by Newbury Youth Theatre, is a case in point. Made by kids for kids, under the deft direction of Amy and Tony Trigwell-Jones, it tells the story of unhappy and rather gormless hero Archie Stringweed. Archie is the yearly recipient of very strange gifts from an absent uncle, and when he starts listening to the wind and the creatures carried upon it, things really get interesting. Swathes of little pilots swish and sway into the scene as a warning to Archie to avoid the strange, whispering winds who dance across the stage. A charming, idiosyncratic and perfectly-realised Green Welly Brigade neighbour makes her presence known, while sophisticated music, skilfully played, adds menace and madness when needed. And above all, the ensemble shines in this dynamic and well-choreographed piece. The plot may prove a bit complicated, but The Wind Tamer is so interesting to watch that this hardly matters.
Mr Fizzywigg's Story Factory, on the other hand, is as simple as can be: take one panicked, story-less grandson of the owner of the doomed Story Factory, add a couple of kids and some costumes, and, voila!, you have a silly show, made up as it goes along, that kids will enjoy being in and parents will enjoy watching. Fizzywigg needs all the help he can get in creating a story to keep the factory open, so he enlists some rather reticent help from the kids in the audience. Once the characters have been assigned, kids forget that they're terrified and have a good time. Craig Ricci Shaynak, the man behind the masks (and hats and puppets) is a jolly and game director, and kids and parents will come out of the show feeling a little more sure of themselves.
Meanwhile, younger audience members of Let The Earth Breathe are bound to leave with some serious ideas about helping the environment. Not content just to entertain the wee ones with toe-tapping songs and some fun physical theatre, the naturally conscious collective of Kenodeke also give a few lessons on how to clean up water, reuse anything and everything, all while making this kind of responsibility seem fun and accessible.
They even go so far as to include earth-friendly tips in their programme. The music is fun, the props simple (and, presumably, found) and the participation just active enough to keep everybody interested. It's not for everybody, but its earthy heart is in the right place.
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