Since her mother mysteriously disappeared when she was three, 12-year-old book-loving Meggie (Katherine Carlton) and her bookbinder father, Mo (Paul McEwan), have been on the move, taking their stories everywhere they go. But when the strange, fire-juggling Dustfinger (Andrew Sheridan) makes contact it becomes apparent that father and daughter are no longer safe. Mo, also known as Silver Tongue, has the ability to bring characters from the pages of a book to life, and this gift, also a curse, is connected to Meggie’s mother’s absence and a plot by the evil Capricorn (Will Irvine) to take over the world. But maybe the pen is mightier than the sword and words can be a useful weapon?
As in Matilda, there is an element to Cornelia Funke’s story that suggests that if we don’t like the tale we find ourselves in, we may have the power to rewrite it – against the odds. It’s a show dominated by books: a huge heap of them are used ingeniously in Stéphane Laimé’s design, which pays homage to the power of the imagination. It conjures a world where books are burned because they can be powerful and dangerous. Capricorn is intent on finding every last copy of the book in which he appears so that he can destroy it and stay undefeated in the real world.
It’s a page-to-stage adaptation, but a refreshing one, even if the darkness of the original and the frightening nature of Capricorn is downplayed and the comic double act of bungling baddies Basta and Flatnose given more emphasis. The plotting could be a mite confusing to those unfamiliar with the novel, the characterisations are broad rather than complex, and some of Walter Meierjohann’s staging is unexpectedly clumsy. Yet it’s a sprightly, good-natured evening that vigorously celebrates the pleasures of reading and theatre.
• At Home, Manchester, until 9 January. Box office: 0161-200 1500.
