As soon as we arrived at the Hurly Burly, we were welcomed personally by Mrs McMoon. In her chirpy Scottish accent she chatted warmly; encouraging us to sit closer; showing us her rainbow socks, and letting all the children play on her ukulele (assuring us it was a mandolin). Only slight chaos ensued, but that’s the risk of being interactive in your shows.
A story follows about Mary Jane. Mary lives in Cloudy Town in her big grey house, with parents who go to work in grey clothes while she stands barefoot in the tickly green grass, dreaming of rainbows. As you do.
Wishes can come true. With the help of mummies, daddies and all the children crossing their fingers and wishing for a rainbow. Soon everyone’s helping a rainbow move through the audience. There’s good use of the space, the wooden tent pole becomes an oak tree and Mrs McMoon has no fear of getting in amongst the children.
Getting kids to learn a song and a dance takes some guts. She pulls it off, although it might have been harder with a bigger crowd.
Of course despite all the offers, Mary Jane doesn’t want to sell the rainbow she’s discovered. The long queue of monied potential buyers is hard to resist. But... she does!
Sadly The Hurly Burly is aptly named in this instance. It’s in a poor location on a busy junction next to St. Peter’s Church, and I wonder if the traffic noise or fumes will impact on a show held in a tent. The smell of cakes and coffee from the in-house café covers the fumes, but poor Mrs McMoon has to contend with the noise. A problem, especially as she’s quietly spoken and not amplified. But again, she pulls it off, with enthusiasm.
Mrs McMoon includes some nice touches of mime. A simple show, ending with two treats, one a parachute and the other... a surprise.
The props could have been a little better prepared, to include, perhaps, more ‘home-created’ props. The ukulele felt, when it wasn’t referred to again, like a promise that sadly wasn’t kept. The mime could have been used more, and the plot of the story could have tasked the children more. Though they were mostly pre-schoolers, I’ve watched a similar range of children cope with two hours of Five Children and It.
Having said that, my daughter very much enjoyed the interaction, wanting to give Mrs M a big kiss at the end, which she did! And next day she taught her mum the song and dance routine, so she would recommend a visit.
