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War with strings attached
A November Day
Malvern Theatres
*****
WE are rather spoiled for puppetry in
Malvern, with frequent magical miniature shows at The Theatre of Small
Convenience, the world’s smallest theatre, the proprietors of which we
spotted amongst the audience.
Thingumajig Theatre’s
A November Day
is on a slightly larger scale, and uses a variety of types and sizes of
puppet to tell its tale.
Created and performed by Kathy and Andrew Kim,
and directed by Mark Whitaker, this production is aimed at ages 10 and
upwards, but, with World War One as its theme, is engrossing for
children and adults alike.
Created in 2008, the show is now touring Britain
to mark the centenary of the outbreak of war. We follow the story of two
brothers, one aged just sixteen, as they proudly sign up to fight for
their country, then suffer the muddy and bloody indignities of the
trenches.
A multi-talented pair, Kathy and Andrew bring the
puppets and their story to life, incorporating gentle humour which helps
to make this piece a pleasure to watch. They use various unusual
instruments, sing, act, take on different characters, create sound
effects and somehow make the story vivid without ever trying to conceal
their own role as puppeteers.
There are moments of great sadness in A
November Day, and it is a credit to the performers that they were
able to move their audience so much with this simple but all too typical
account of life and death on the edge of no man’s land.
POIGNANT
The mother’s words as she said goodbye to her two
sons were all the more poignant for me as I sat in the front row between
my own two boys. Throughout the play we were kept up to date with the
fates of other young men from that one same street who had left their
comfy homes for the cold and wet of a miserable field in France.
But the real test for A November Day was
how it measured up to the expectations of the discerning critics to
either side of me, one aged nine, the other thirteen. The younger wrote
a list of positives as he watched: emotional, tuneful, made me feel
happy, talented, thought through and cleverly presented, which he read
out to Kathy as she chatted to audience members after the show. He was
particularly impressed at the way props were used as one thing and then
became another, and how the set changed constantly without disrupting
the flow of the tale.
My other budding reviewer made a note of the
‘awesome marching and drumming’ near the play’s start, remarking on the
acting talent of Andrew, and the ‘cool, odd instruments’. He also found
the grumpy granddad cool, and noted that the whole production was
educational as well as being interesting.
He was quite taken with the cheeky dog which
appeared to make mischief in the trenches, and I think the bigger
version of the dog was my favourite puppet and deserved more use in the
show. We all loved the eerie no man’s land scene created by shadow
puppetry, and my boys particularly enjoyed the drama of a shooting
scene, portrayed with high emotion and empathy but no gore.
It was a great shame that audience numbers were
not greater, and perhaps seven o’clock on a school night is not the best
time for something aimed primarily at children. A November Day is
a wonderful piece of theatre and I hope that Thingumajig Theatre take
their work into schools to reach a wider audience.
At just one hour long and with World War One
being studied in so many classrooms at the moment, this would be a
fantastic way to allow children to look at some of the themes of war
from a very personal and touching perspective, and to get them thinking
and talking about the realities of war for those on the frontline, as
well as volunteer medical staff and those left waiting at home.
A November Day had just one showing in
Malvern but is touring Britain now and is well worth going to
see.
Amy Rainbow
16-10-14
A November Day returns to the Midlands on 31st
October at Walsall Forest Arts Centre 0300 555 2989 and
again on 13th November at Stafford Gate
House The MET studio 01785 254 653
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