In the arts, being a children’s entertainer must be one of the hardest jobs to execute correctly. Having to relay a narrative to an audience with an unbelievably short attention span is no mean feat. Doing so whilst having to contend with pushy parents, uninvolved parents, crying children, vomiting children and a host of other obstacles is particularly challenging. I approached Curveball Collective’s production of “Rumpelstiltskin”, aimed at small children just in time for half-term, with as much optimism and sympathy as is possible.
The piece relays the classic story of “Rumpelstiltskin” through a single performer (Mahri Reilly) and the use of puppetry and song. Captivating and animated, the play manages to freshly deliver a timeworn narrative to its young audience. Whilst many of the school-aged spectators were engaged throughout, most of the toddlers in the audience got restless and uninterested extremely quickly. As fairy tales go, Rumpelstiltskin has a fairly complicated plot and this simplistic yet direct telling of the tale is probably more suited to audiences of age four, five and above.
This lack of audience engagement was compounded by the way in which the story was told. Reilly is clearly a capable and captivating performer. However, her narration of the text whilst operating the puppets one-at-a-time places the focus solely on her. The constant focus on one individual for a sustained amount of time is particularly problematic for this young audience. Has this issue been appeased by the inclusion of another performer, younger spectators would be more engaged and the piece would feel more dynamic. That the entire performance is underscored by an invasive and tonally dubious classical soundtrack enhances this sense of alienation for less sophisticated observers.
Overall, this production of“Rumpelstiltskin” is successful in its ability to succinctly relay a classic story. However, younger children and those with a short attention span may wish to find half-term frolics elsewhere, although a few changes would easily accommodate them.
