Rudyard Kipling dreamed up the fanciful origin myths of the Just So Stories to put his daughter to sleep. He must have quickly come to regret it. As anyone familiar with a young child’s bedtime routine will know, they had to be repeated ad infinitum with no variation allowed. Kipling wrote in the preface to the first edition: “You were not allowed to alter these by one single word. They had to be told just so.”
The tales of why the rhinoceros ended up with wrinkled skin, and how the camel got the hump have proved enduringly popular, though not all are in keeping with contemporary taste. The stories in which a prehistoric family gradually domesticate the wild beasts seem expressly designed to show that an Englishman’s cave was his castle. And some narratives are blatantly racist: you really don’t want to be reminded how Kipling suggested the leopard received his spots.
Vicky Ireland’s adaptation steers sensibly clear of the more off-colour tales, but introduces a nice twist in that there are, apparently, no actors involved, simply a team of the theatre’s day staff who are flummoxed to find the auditorium full of schoolchildren.
In the end the cleaner (Catherine Lamb), usher (Cate Hamer) and a slightly reluctant stage-door keeper (Dan Henley), resolve to keep the kids entertained with whatever materials come to hand. The zoomorphism of items from the broom cupboard becomes a principle source of delight. The extendable nozzle of a vacuum cleaner creates a perfect illustration of how the elephant came by its trunk. And it’s remarkable how much a jobsworth janitor with a sink plunger on his head can resemble a fuming rhinoceros. There’s even a new tale, invented with help from the audience, explaining how the bat developed its “upside-down-iness”. Bats, apparently, began to swing from the roof so that cleaners would be able to access the floor. It’s a nice theory, though what happens when you want to brush cobwebs from the ceiling?
• At Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough, until 27 August. Box office: 01723 370541.
