Winnie and Wilbur, Birmingham REP - review
The good news is that the madcap fun of the much-loved Winnie the Witch children's book series has seamlessly adapted to a stage show. There isn't any bad news.
Winnie's age is not known but she is played here perhaps younger than the books suggest, more of a truculent teenager than a batty old biddy. Whatever Winnie's stage in life, our endearingly clumsy, often calamitous, heroine is nicely underplayed by Sophie Russell.
The story is a meshing of at least three book plot lines, focusing chiefly on Winnie's upcoming birthday and her reluctance to have a party. It's mildly confusing at first but needs that treatment to fill 90 minutes.
There are some lovely moments in this production, my favourite being Winnie's agitated response to being asked the reason for her reluctance to have a party. She blasts: "I don't want to talk about it!" in a freeze-frame scenario, she leaning forward, practically horizontally, and the rest of the cast bending backwards as if from the force.
In the same vein, slow motion is used to great effect, for example when Winnie trips over Wilbur and tumbles down the stairs held in position by the cast, one of the more difficult manoeuvres to transfer from page to stage.
But this is clearly a company that relies more on stagecraft than whiz-bang effects and the results are the more magical for it. Watch out also for Winnie's bicycle ride and magic carpet trip.
Wilbur the cat is skilfully controlled by Ben Thompson who shows real feline empathy, not only in facilitating Wilbur's boundless physical agility but also his fabulously mobile facial expressions. He may be a puppet, and a puppet cat at that, but we are never in any doubt what Wilbur is thinking.
There are some nice contemporary references - Winnie's new wand, ordered on line, arrives by Wandathon and at her party Winnie takes a 'selfish' on her selfie stick.
The audience is asked to leave the auditorium at the interval so the stage can be set for Winnie's party. When we return, her bed has become a bouncy-castle bed and bunting is hung from every nook and cranny. The staging throughout is resourceful and imaginative.
Audience participation is, of course, compulsory, this being a children's show, so we are invited to stand up and join in the spell that conjures up Winnie's birthday cake in the finale and to sing her Happy Birthday.
This is an all-round family treat. I loved it almost as much as the six and nine year olds I brought with me.
By Marion Brennan
