‘Nutcracker Sweet'

Press, 9 May 1983, Page 8

‘Nutcracker Sweet'

“Nutcracker Sweet,”, by David Wood, directed by Penny Giddens for the Canterbury Children’s Theatre, at the James. Hay Theatre, May 7 to 21. Running time: Two hours. Reviewed by Gerrit Bahlman.

The reputation of the Canterbury Children’s Theatre for hard work and effort is once again vindicated in this May holiday production. The tale of nuts at the Nutty May Fair is simple and easy to follow. The nutty characters are: Kernal Walnut (Patrick Paynter), a military nut of the nonsense variety; Monkey nut (Andrew Riach), a peanut pet to the Kernal; Gypsy Brazil (Irene Macdonald), your hot Spanishblooded type with the odd “twinge” of prophesy; Hazel (Judith Gibara), the intellectual sort of nut with a social injustice conscience; William the Conker (Martin Small), a tough nut; and Old Ma . Coconut (Pauline Huggins),? a fairground-weary nut.

Only one evil character appears in this collection of allsorts, Professor Jelly Bon-Bon, who is determined to make his selection of chocolates redolent with nuttiness.

As his dastardly plot unfolds we -discover, that his modus operandiis to glaze captured nuts then choco-late-coat them. Unfortunately our heroic nuts fall into his evil trap and it is only by craft and the will* infcness of the young audir efce that evil Professdi]?

Jelly Bon-Bon meets his fate.

“Nutcracker Sweet” has only been available to professional theatre companies and this production by the Canterbury Children’s Theatre is a world premier of its amateur release. Unfortunately, it is also a production which provides considerable difficulty. Musically, it is derivative and textually it is geared ,to the economies of professional theatre with all that that entails: a small cast, and a high level of performing skills.

Consequently, the strengths of the Children’s Theatre were not able to be employed, namely a large cast, chorus, and grand sweeps of characters and energy. The entire show must be carried on the shoulders of seven hardworking players whose singing and dancing skills were over-stretched. It is well worth remembering that children are nowhere as critical as this reviewer and while the first half of the performance provided little in the way of audience participation, the second half did and was much more successful. There were, opportunities in the first half to extend involvement, but the cast was understandably nervous and over-ran them. The progress during the season, will bolster the effectiveness of that half. Malcolm Jones as musical director once more demonstrated his versatility

by leading his acorn band by piano-accordion through the audience and then switching to piano in the band’s podium. The placement of the band was a big weakness in that balance was virtually destroyed, only hints of the other instruments being heard.

The dislocation of song and music underlined the positioning problem. Peter Brown, as the villain; found it easy to involve the children, not only because of his experience which shone through but because his role was the simplest to comprehend. Pauline Higgins, as Old Ma Coconut, had plenty of strength and made an immediate impact which was sustained throughout. Patrick Paynter, as the Kemal, had a dominating spoken presence but unfortunately could not sustain it in song. Martin Small, as William the Conker, underplayed his lines effectively and achieved a successful comic portrayal. Irene Macdonald and Judith Gibara, as Gypsy Brazil and Hazel respectively, worked well together and sang a competent duet while under the glaze of the wicked professor. Costuming and set construction were, as usual, first-rate and the technical strength of the company was in full evidence. As always, a remarkable effort by a dedicated team worth'# of public supped