Without sleight of hand an essential transformation took place, as the audience became part of the show. Within minutes there was yelling from the front rows: “the rabbit’s got it”, “it’s over there”. Its perfect for reading aloud with children (has subtly colour. The Time Out critic had a torch shone down his throat. It scales ridiculously well with age, and genuinely has a lot to say to an adult reader as well. A beaming tot had to prove his anorak was not concealing the bear’s shiny red cone. Hat checks were carried out among the audience. A gruesome neck-cracking sound rings out – and is met with saucer-eyed calm by an audience whose recommended age is from three upwards. Red woollen entrails dangle from the jaws of the dim hero. Though Fly Davis’s design, with a patchwork canopy above the stage over the band, looks comfortingly homespun, there is a touch more gore on stage than there is in the enigmatic book. The book and lyrics by Joel Horwood, and Darvill’s jazz-inflected music, with tuba bear footsteps and zippy accordion, amplify the story and give it extra sassiness. Jon Klassen’s short tale of a stolen titfer – elegantly drawn, simply told – takes vividly to the stage in Wils Wilson’s production.
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