This production began with a cute song that went on for a little too long with an inartistic, uninteresting cartoon world displayed on a huge screen at the back of the stage. There were also several awkward moments when video props transformed into stage props through the ineffective use of a curtain underneath the screen. It felt odd that the company would not choose to use physical theatre and sound effects produced by themselves in order to build the world in which they were telling their story. The voice-overs were underacted and often merely bad. Younger children in the audience lost interest in this long, dull introduction very quickly.
The problem with the show as a whole was either an over-awareness of or a complete cluelessness with regards to the audience – that, and the acting, which was done so hammily and with such forced characterisation that the audience were more repulsed than endeared to these fairytale characters. The Tinker, the main character, loses his bordering-on-petulant daughter to some wolves when she, at his request, does not feed the fire, which keeps her safe. He awkwardly and incompetently handled addressing the characters on screen, such as the Tree, the Bird, and the Mole, whilst also having to direct his focus towards the audience. His acting also left a lot to be desired.
Finally, the moral message of this production left me feeling annoyed and disappointed. This must be the fault of the writer as not only was this moral obvious enough to feel like a slap in the face, it was also clearly ill thought through, due to it rendering the Tinker an egotistical and self-absorbed, failed parent. You children will not be enchanted by this forced production, save the ticket price and take them to a real forest.
