So many page-to-stage adaptations for children feel as if they have an eye on the box office. Poppy Burton-Morgan’s staging of Jeanne Willis and Gwen Millward’s picture book about two sisters camping in their grandfather’s garden, who discover a magical world of creepy crawlies tended by a tiny winged king, is clearly a labour of love. But Metta Theatre’s show, which combines spoken word, song, circus, puppetry and shadow play, is less than the sum of its many parts.
There’s plenty to charm here including a trio of acrobatic bats hanging upside down, some entertaining object manipulation with grandad’s prize cabbage and a daddy long legs on stilts with a missing leg. A slug’s horns turn out to be two juggling clubs; tiny creatures are shown in shadow on the tent walls. An owl suddenly appears.
While it’s all perfectly pleasant, the show lacks focus, is overstretched and its centre keeps shifting: is it about the girls discovering that the night-time world is less scary and more amazing than they ever imagined? Is it about growing up and changing (there’s a bit where the caterpillar turns into a butterfly)? Or is it simply a celebration of the pleasures of jumping off the garden shed, an activity which is probably not going to pass most families’ health and safety test?
Udderbelly, with its attendant outside noise, was probably not an ideal venue for the show. Many elements – the songs and singing in particular – are simply not robust enough to keep the attention of the young audience. Pared back, and with stronger storytelling and greater concentration on the performers’ strengths, this may deliver but it needs a rethink because in its current form it sells itself short.
