Katy Rudd | Bouquets & Brickbats

04/08/26

National Theatre at Home

We’re visiting my mum and, when she reveals she’s taken out a subscription to NT at Home, we know exactly what we’ll be doing this evening. We start scrolling through the options – and then Ballet Shoes catches my eye.

Wait, what? It’s already played two sold-out runs in its South Bank location? I’d 100% have travelled to London for this if I’d known it was on. How have I missed it? I’m usually all over theatre news, but this one has completely passed me by.

Neither Mum nor Phil is particularly keen; there are lots of other plays they’d rather see. But my enthusiasm is so fervent, I don’t think they can bear to disappoint me. They agree to give it a go. And – spoiler alert – they are both mightily impressed.

Because this is an impressive production. Kendall Feaver’s adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s much-loved novel is exemplary, knowing exactly which ideas to heighten (and which to dispense with) to retain the heart and spirit of the book. Likewise, director Katy Rudd maintains a lively pace, expertly interweaving theatrical spectacle with more naturalistic storytelling.

For those not in the know, Streatfeild’s best-known children’s story tells the tale of three young orphans, Pauline (Grace Saif), Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez) and Posy (Daisy Sequerra). Rescued from various corners of the globe by an eccentric explorer known as ‘Great Uncle Matthew’ (Justin Salinger), they are thrust on his adopted niece, Sylvia (Pearl Mackie), who has been living a quiet life in GUM’s London home, drawing pictures of the relics he brings back from his travels. But these latest curios take a whole lot more looking after than the usual fossils…

When GUM goes AWOL and stops sending money for his wards, Sylvia and nursemaid Nana (Jenny Galloway) are at their wits’ end. They need to find a way to make some money. One answer is obvious: their shabby Cromwell Road house is enormous; they can take in lodgers! And, once the paying guests are safely ensconced, another opportunity presents itself. Their tenant, Theo Dane (Nadine Higgin), is a teacher at The Children’s Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. If the girls attend this school, they’ll be able to work and help out with the household bills.

Multi-roling Salinger perfectly embodies Madame Fidolia, the formidable Russian ballerina-turned-headmistress, who immediately notices Posy’s dancing potential, singling her out for one-to-one lessons. This plot point leads to some truly beautiful solo ballet from Sequerra, while the children’s other performances – in Alice in Wonderland and an experimental production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – allow choreographer Ellen Kane to create a gleeful extravaganza. No chance to dazzle is missed, as Petrova’s obsession with all-things mechanical is actualised by lodger Jai (Sid Sagar)’s stunning prop car, designed by Frankie Bradshaw.

I can’t think of a single way this glorious production could be improved. It’s lively, engaging and exciting, a perfect piece of family entertainment. And a message from Phil: you don’t have to know the novel to revel in this fabulous show.

5 stars

Susan Singfield

19/04/23

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Neil Gaiman’s novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, is a complicated beast – the story of a man reliving his childhood experiences of a series of bewildering supernatural happenings. This adaptation, by Joel Horwood, sticks pretty closely to the original, picking up the tale when, many years later and now grown to adulthood, the man returns to his old stamping ground to attend a funeral. Whilst there, he takes the opportunity to visit a farm, where he encounters its matriarch, Old Mrs Hempstock (Finty Williams). But why does she look exactly the same as he remembers? And how does she know so much about him?

Suddenly, effortlessly, the man is replaced by Boy (Keir Oglivy), the man becomes Dad (Trevor Fox), and Boy relives the tragic events of 1986, when he made his first visit to the farm, meeting Mrs Hempstock’s daughter, Ginnie (Kemi-Bo Jacobs), and Ginnie’s teenage daughter, Lettie (Millie Hikasa), with whom he instantly has a connection. Lettie is a precocious child, who claims to be skilled in magic. She offers to take Boy on a dangerous journey in search of ‘The Flea’, but warns him that, if she allows him to accompany her, he must never, NEVER let go of her hand…

And of course, he does.

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot because this is the kind of story that’s entirely open to personal interpretation. You can take the magical rituals and the weird demon-like creatures at face value, or you can choose to interpret them as allegories, the experiences of a troubled boy, a boy moreover who is completely addicted to fantasy fiction and who is haunted by his own childhood imaginings. But what really makes TOatEotL fly is the soaring magnificence of the production. The astonishing set designs by Fly Davis and the vibrant lighting effects by Paule Constable conspire to transform the Festival Theatre into a mysterious labyrinth, utilising every single inch of the large stage.

I also love the way the team of supporting players, all dressed in black, assume the role of stage hands, making the scene transitions an integral part of the story.

Katy Rudd directs with consummate skill, particularly with the arrival of sinister lodger, Ursula (Charlie Brooks), who worms her way into the affections of Dad and Boy’s ‘Sis’ (Laurie Ogden). A sequence featuring a whole series of illuminated doorways through which Ursula disappears and reappears is so brilliantly played that I find myself gasping aloud at each new revelation. Be warned, things get very spooky in the later stages and the production’s suggested thirteen plus recommendation is not just there for show. Impressionable younger viewers could find themselves disturbed by some of the scenes enacted here.

National Theatre productions are renowned for the ingenuity of their stagecraft and this is no exception. It’s triumphantly spectacular. Currently on tour, if it should come to a theatre near you, don’t miss your chance to see it. It’ll blow you away.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney