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Spend A Penny
- A reworked and revised production.
Part of the 2004 Bank Of Scotland Children's International Theatre Festival
organised by Imaginate.
Co-creators - Shona Reppe and Ian Cameron.
Co-Directors - Gill Robertson and Ian Cameron.
Designer and Maker - Shona Reppe. Additional Knitted Textiles
- Suzanne Ferris and Jenny Dear.
Lighting Designer - Craig Fleming.
Composer - David Trouton.
Company - Shona Reppe Puppets.
Performances - At North Edinburgh Arts Centre. Family Perfomances
28 May at 3pm.
29 May at 12.30pm & 3pm.
At Garage Theatre. Family Perfomances 30 May at 10:30am
& 12:45pm.
Seen to review on 29 May at North Edinburgh Arts Centre (NEAC)
Edinburgh.
Run Time - 50mins.
Suggested Age - 4+ years.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Revamp clearer.
Revamped, rejigged and to some extent ripped down and refashioned Spend
A Penny is now a much clearer more entertaining production. I slammed
the earlier version. A year on the retread while still not running like
a dream is much more a play told through watching the characters of Spend
A Penny's world try to get what they need while the one penny in their
world circulates.
The central story takes a while to get going but that too is arrived at
much faster than before. The side plot of Shona's lost hare, or rabbit
in this version, Puffy is now exactly that rather than a rival story.
He's the nibbler in the night of the world's luminous flowers and, in
pitch black to the childrens' delight, we see them disappear into his
mouth. While the follicularly challenged Herring is a chap you warm to
and chuckle at.
The humour of the piece because its more sharply presented makes it easier
to take the slightly cloying, whimsical flavour of the knitted world where
the phrase Spend A Penny means exactly that. The sound effects and numerous
boxes operated by the one penny in the world are now placed for better
effect and Reppe has lost that diva energy which unsettled the production
previously. The set, as several do in this Festival, fascinates the children
who swarm forward at the end wanting to investigate the miniature world
Shona Reppe's production has animated - sadly that is a "Don't touch,
only look" experience.
It's to Reppe's credit that the production has been reworked, and now
Spend A Penny is worth spending time with. It's the first original piece
she has developed, all her previous productions were dramatisations of
know stories. I'll be interested to see the next, hopefully it will arrive
fully formed first time out.
© Thelma Good 29 May 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
More
info and reviews on the annual Bank of Scotland Children's International
Theatre Festival.
The earlier version of this show tour first in the Autumn of 2003 - review
by Thelma Good .
Review of earlier show Shona Reppe Puppets' Cinderella.
Theatre Editor, Thelma
Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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