The Mouse and His Child - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford
There are times, dear reader, when the best thing a critic can do is keep his opinion to himself and go with the flow. This is one such time.
The RSC's Christmas show, directed by Paul Hunter, had hundreds of children roaring with laughter and hissing the villains for two frenetic hours. The kids loved it and thousands more will love it until it ends its run on January 12, and that's the only verdict that matters.
There are some great scenes and some dazzling music in this tale of toys who become Christmas presents only to be dumped on the tip and cannibalised by rats. The underwater sequence with the clockwork mice (Daniel Ryan and Bettrys Jones) trapped in a pond is a gem.
Frankly, I found much of the show charmless and confusing. It failed to explain the most poignant message of all, that toys end up as rubbish because children do not love them. A few lines of dialogue would have helped; a narrator would have been perfect.
But who cares what a grown-up thinks when magic enters the auditorium? The utterly vile rat king Manny (Michael Hodgson) was about to blow everyone up by connecting the TNT to the electricity pylon when a little boy in the stalls, totally swept up in his first moment of live theatre, cried: "No!"
An unforgettable moment. A theatregoer is born.
By Peter Rhodes
The Mouse and His Child
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford
By Peter Rhodes
There are times, dear reader, when the best thing a critic can do is keep his opinion to himself and go with the flow. This is one such time.
The RSC's Christmas show, directed by Paul Hunter, had hundreds of children roaring with laughter and hissing the villains for two frenetic hours. The kids loved it and thousands more will love it until it ends its run on January 12, and that's the only verdict that matters.
There are some great scenes and some dazzling music in this tale of toys who become Christmas presents only to be dumped on the tip and cannibalised by rats. The underwater sequence with the clockwork mice (Daniel Ryan and Bettrys Jones) trapped in a pond is a gem.
Frankly, I found much of the show charmless and confusing. It failed to explain the most poignant message of all, that toys end up as rubbish because children do not love them. A few lines of dialogue would have helped; a narrator would have been perfect.
But who cares what a grown-up thinks when magic enters the auditorium? The utterly vile rat king Manny (Michael Hodgson) was about to blow everyone up by connecting the TNT to the electricity pylon when a little boy in the stalls, totally swept up in his first moment of live theatre, cried: "No!"
An unforgettable moment. A theatregoer is born.
