I Wish I Was A Mountain, Scottish Storytelling Centre/
Small Wonders, The Warehouse Edinburgh
Mary Brennan
*****
Herman Hesse for 7 to 12 year olds? Well Toby Thomson’s solo version of Hesse’s fairytale, Faldum, is a wonderfully persuasive example of story-telling as a magnet for childhood curiosity and imagination. Thomson, himself a poet, has an unaffected charm that turns the stage set - a scatter of little wooden houses, a piano, two record players - into a personal space with Hesse’s twist on wish-fulfilment, and what we really need in life, emerging as something wistful, profound yet beguilingly accessible. He totally inhabits each moment: conjuring up vivid word pictures, playing (vinyl!) records of jazz greats - occasionally adding in his own piano riffs - and, like a gentle Pied Piper, leading us to understand why one man wished to be a mountain, and why eons later he let time and nature take its course. Toby Thomson - an unshowy craftsman who makes words, and values, matter whatever your age.
London-based Punchdrunk is deservedly renowned for making immersive theatre where thrilling visual flair melds with interactive slices of meaningful actuality. Small Wonders (for 5 to 11 years) is an intrinsically honest encounter with old age, memory loss and mortality that nonetheless shines with humour, cheeky mischief and a gorgeous element of transformative magic - believe, like Nanny Lacey (Liz Watts-Legg), and you too will see the special sparkle in everyday things. Nanny has made her happiest magic moments into exquisitely detailed miniatures - our visit to her clutter-crammed living room begins with gleeful memories of those past times with daughter Bella (Sarah Akokhia). Nanny then invites us to help create her final memory/miniature. If finding a working house inside an industrial unit is amazing, discovering a lush jungle-woodland by entering the fridge is a serious wow! But it’s here we all realise that Nanny is passing on... It’s a tender, mystical parting, beautifully done. The magic in the air? Love. Believe it.
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