In one of many stories spun about Anansi, the trickster spider from West African and Caribbean folklore, he stores up all the world’s wisdom only for it to be spilt far and wide. There is a worldwide web of wise Anansi stories, too, which became an oral tradition of the Ashanti people and have been spun over and again, their morals tangled inside the scheming hero’s spirited adventures.
Justin Audibert, the Unicorn’s new artistic director, retells three of them in a production for three- to seven-year-olds that is direct and effervescent. But it’s almost more striking to note what it is not. This is children’s theatre that is never over-egged or over-insistent. There are no winking asides to adults, no spoonfeeding the meaning to kids. Nothing feels superfluous. Each bit of interplay with the audience feels just right.
The children sit safe in the shadow of Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey’s set, with its tree trunks of bundled bamboo – several bearing instruments – and a canopy resembling upturned umbrellas. In contrast to the often male tone of the stories in which Anansi is father to six sons, the show is performed by a trio of women, each playing the webspinner in turn and bringing out different aspects of his character as well as portraying a supporting cast of goats, antelopes and a party-loving armadillo.
In the first tale, Afia Abusham is a cranky Anansi who gathers up paper pieces of “wisdom” that have been dispersed among the crowd. Inveigling a young audience to part with their treasure is a test of persuasion for any performer and Abusham achieves it with charm. The tale ends with that cliche of children’s theatre, the shower of confetti – but the message makes the effect beautiful.
Next, Sapphire Joy plays a chillaxing Anansi, too lazy to help plant vegetables but greedy enough to lure fellow animals to a grisly death – and almost a child or two from the front row. In the final story, Juliet Okotie is a vain, rapacious Anansi, attempting to get everything but ending up with nothing. Jointly celebrating teamwork, each tale has a distinct flavour, with the middle one offering genuine suspense and bite. They’re interspersed with musical interludes that use minimal props to atmospheric effect, with blue silks becoming a rippling ocean.
At the end, one child immediately turns to his neighbour and retells his favourite bit of the story. And so Anansi keeps spinning.
At the Unicorn, London, until 27 October.
