Theatre for children has come a very long way in the last twenty years. Gone are the patronising, low budget, low production value shows and in their place are a new generation of cleverly written, well performed, very entertaining productions like Babe, The Sheep-Pig.
Based on Dick King-Smith’s best selling book and adapted by Olivier Award winner, David Wood OBE (The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Goodnight Mister Tom) the production stays as faithful as possible to the book, and to the 1995 film version, with a fascinating mix of puppetry, live music, acting, singing and dancing.
On a huge wood and corrugated iron farmyard set, dominated by a barn that swiftly transforms into a farmhouse living room, the back of a lorry or a sheep pen, the eight actors bring a whole host of animals, including sheep, ducks, dogs and a huge turkey, to life while also playing about a dozen human characters as well.
Nicola Blackman plays Fly, the ageing sheep dog, who works as the main narrator of the piece, as well as being the adoptive mother of the pig, Babe (probably the cleverest puppet of all those on show). Blackman’s voice is powerful, her stage presence infectious and her warm hearted performance, quite brilliant.
Oliver Grant spends the entire show dressed as a sheep, but also operates the complex puppet of Babe. With multiple joints, moving eyes and mouth, and Grant’s voice, the puppet is very convincing and, in the dramatic and emotional parts of the show, really gets the audience onside and into the story.
Ben Ingles and Emma Barclay play the Farmer, Mr Hogget, and his wife. They wear very clever masks which transform them into the elderly couple, with cut-out pieces around the mouth area to ensure that their lips can be seen and their tremendous West Country accents can be heard clearly.
The rest of the cast, Thomas Gilbey, Claire Greenaway, Jacqui Sanchez and Lucy Thomas, are all dressed as sheep but, with the clever use of hats, masks and other props, the also become rustlers, TV commentators, villagers and, at one point, a rather terrifying wolf. The sight of a fully grown man, in a sheep suit, playing a violin is not something that one sees every day but, in this ingenious production, it fits perfectly well.
Without shying away from the difficult subjects of loss, death and bullying the play takes it’s audience on a rollercoaster of emotion that everyone watching, many of whom are as young as four of five, is more than happy to indulge in.
The strength of the small pig in the face of such adversity makes the production both inspirational and entertaining and leaves the audience clapping and cheering for more, while also trying to sing along to the, very catchy, theme tune.
**** Four Stars
