Mark Arends’ miniature masterpieces, in which tiny silent movies are constructed live on stage in front of your eyes, are suffused with love and loss. His latest, part of the Old Vic’s ongoing and welcome commitment to family theatre, focuses on a devoted couple: a toffee apple loving fisherman and his fish selling wife. As if trying to keep fear at bay, their days follow a strict routine: he puts out to sea, she sells yesterday’s catch and when she returns to their cottage in the evening he signals that he is safe and homeward bound with a winking light.
Until, one day, the light is missing and the young fisherman does not return. Years later she is still looking for the light. Arends’ work is defined by its crafted simplicity, and it is magicked up by the onstage artists who animate monster-mouthed fish, flying cars and a complete fairground using both drawings and models. It is both sturdily down to earth and boasts flights of the fantastical. Like kidult novels it has appeal to grown-ups and children.
Perched on the stage of the Old Vic, some of the magic is lost because the live creation of the film shown on the blown-up screen is happening so far away. The narrative in which the young woman grows old but eventually learns to re-engage with life is a tad predictable too. But there is something brave about this small unhurried show that encourages audiences of all ages to contemplate loneliness and isolation and does it with such unflashy and unassuming charm.
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At Old Vic theatre, London, until April 8. Box office: 0844-871 7628.
