Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 11th October 2017,
Windmill, The Children's Theatre company, is presenting Matthew Whittet's Big Bad Wolf, written from a concept by Kaye Weeks, a work that has been around for a while and is being repeated once more because of its immense popularity. There are, of course, always going to be new audiences for children's shows and a good few around me would not have been old enough to have seen it before. I previously had the opportunity to review this show in 2013 and felt that it was time to take another look at this excellent production.
It was immediately obvious that it has lost none of its appeal to young children over the years, in spite of advances in technology having its impact on youngsters. A great live show still beats the Internet, television, and films, it seems. What I found most interesting, though, is that there were more 'unaccompanied' adult couples in the audience than people with children. This says a lot about the universal appeal of Windmill's choices of plays.
Wolfy is sad and lonely because everybody is terrified of him, simply because he is a wolf. Try as he might, he cannot makes friends, since nobody will come near him for fear of being eaten. Little Red Ridi... Oops, I mean Heidi Hood, a distant relative of Little Red Riding Hood, is not as prejudiced as some people, and she takes the time to get to know Wolfy, the two eventually becoming firm friends.
Initially, Heidi is just as scared of Wolfy as all of the people in her village and, wisely, has an elaborate wolf alarm in case of an emergency. She is also a high achiever, her cottage crammed with awards. She hears from the television of a poetry competition and immediately wants to win it and add to her collection of awards, but the creative muse is elusive. To her surprise, that muse turns out to be a wolf, and Wolfy helps her to write the winning poem. Eventually, he reveals himself to the villagers who cheer for him and realise how wrong they were about him. Even his mother is proud of his achievements.
Patrick Graham is Wolfy, the harmless poet and "vegematarian" wolf, and Emma J Hawkins is Heidi, and the rapport that they have is priceless. Graham is charmingly disarming as the wolf, who is dreadfully bad at actually being a wolf. He doesn't really have an accent, Wolfy explains, it is the sharp fangs that get in the way, and Graham makes great use of this device to generate laughs, as well as affection for his character.
Hawkins has more energy than all of the children in the audience put together, bouncing around the stage as though gravity doesn't apply to her. She has worked with Circus Oz so her acrobatic performance is well-honed, but she is also a superb actress and thoroughly delights as Heidi.
The very versatile Matilda Bailey brilliantly fills in all of the other roles, including a television announcer, a flea, a rabbit, Wolfy's mother, who happens to be the overbearing head wolf, a tree, and, believe it or not, a talkative sofa. She not only plays several characters but also provides the voices for the non-human characters, and she is also the puppeteer.
There are messages in this tale, of course. Not all Muslims are terrorists, just as not all Christians are perfectly good. Not all North Koreans are like Kim Jong-Un, just as not all Americans are like Donald Trump. Don't judge a book by its cover.
Director, RoseMary Myers, and choreographer, Carol Wellman Kelly, have created a vibrant piece of theatre with this production which, with Jonathon Oxlade's wonderful set and the colourful lighting design, by Chris Petridis, is a visual feast, which Harry Covill's music matches so well.
The production runs until Saturday week, so treat the kids, and yourselves, and go into the woods to meet these fun characters while you can.
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