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Fashion Spies Quick Duck Theatre Company Piccolo Tent Assembly Festival Gardens, Coventry **** Quick Duck Theatre Company has put together an engaging and fast-paced piece for the three energetic and versatile actors, Jack Davies, Eleanor Rattenbury and Abigail Greenwood, that’s geared for children aged over eight. I have to say that the adults in the audience looked like they had a good time too. There was plenty of audience participation with props and vocalisations that worked really well. Written and directed by Will Jackson, the action takes place against the backdrop of a spate of burglaries of top fashion items including a Dalmatian Beret worth $12,000, a Columbian diamante stole and a priceless Golden Fleece, designed by Kamara Linguine which is under threat at the latest fashion show at Burwell-upon-Twine in the heart of the English countryside. Three intrepid investigators Captain Blackwell, Captain Thunderbolt, Scarlet and us…the rookie cadets recruited to help, armed only with two pieces of cloth, two toilet rolls and bountiful imagination. I was expecting Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly meets Disney’s Cruella de Ville but was enchanted watching the actor playing, among other parts, the designer behind the latest fashion show; Kamara Linguine. The thick Italian accent owed a lot to Donatella Versace, prima donna first class, leaning heavily on her increasingly exasperated side kick Vivian. I lost count of how many parts the three actors were called upon to play; at least four apiece. Heroes and villains aplenty unmasked to reveal the opposite confuse the action though I was unclear how Stacey the Fashion Fox fitted into the action. There was good use of music, including some Turandot, with lots of really well choreographed dance sections supporting the action throughout. There was a serious message underlying the action that the fashion industry is already trying to address; ethical sustainability. But there was also a range of other messages within the action, ‘It doesn’t matter what you wear, it only matters how you wear it’. That’s a useful mantra… Jane Howard 18-09-21 |
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