The six-strong cast already on stage singing sweetly arranged traditional songs including sea shanties is a wonderful way to welcome the audience into this new adaptation of Five Children And It. The harmonies between them all blend beautifully, sometimes a cappella, sometimes with the added instruments of ukulele, guitar, violin and box percussion which are a perfect choice, as they sit on the representational multifunctional set. This instantly sets the scene of the flavour of what’s to come, and nothing disappoints. Somehow, with the adaptation, the set, the vocal tones and costumes plus of course the story itself, we are transported to a simpler time, where children made their own fun, where imagination was paramount and could keep you entertained for hours. It’s like a wonderful deep breath of fresh air, a blissful escape from the super fast electronic world we now inhabit.
The original story by E Nesbit was written over 100 years ago, but many parents will remember the 1991 serialised television show, and perhaps the 2005 film version. This is a children’s show of course, but there is so much to love here as the accompanying adults as well as the children being enchanted by the strange wish-granting Psammead creature that the four children, plus their babe-in-arms brother, find in the gravel pit while playing. The adventures they go on as a result of their wishes are delightful and beautifully innocent: they often get into trouble and realise that they should take more care in what they wish for, keeping on correcting themselves and getting into even more scrapes.
Brighton Open Air Theatre on a late summer afternoon is the perfect setting for this magical and enchanting tale. The interactions with the audience – including sampling picnics and involving some of the front-row children – create a super atmosphere of innocent fun. Crustless cucumber sandwiches and homemade lemonade would not be out of place here while heartily enjoying the children’s jolly japes. The actors are universally strong and confident and have wonderful energy, four of them portraying the children with ease: adults can sometimes slip into archetype or stereotype, but this is not the case here.
The multi-rolling is enormous fun and achieved simply with added costumes and props. The creation of the cart, including changing direction, is brilliantly done; as is the change between day and night which is very necessary to the story: on a rotating wheel of the sun and moon. The Psammead is also puppeted marvellously, and the two girls flying using tiny puppets of themselves on sticks, is brilliant. The basket they steal becoming a tiny picnic basket added to one of the puppets is ingenious. All the added details work wonderfully in the whole story, making this stand out as something very special.
This is a charming show where absolutely everything works. Sarah Slater and Chloe Bond give clever direction, always keeping everything moving with never a lull, and the adaptation from the book also by Sarah Slater with Ethan Taylor is full of joy and warmth. Achieving something like this from such an old story without making it a nostalgia fest is no mean achievement: it’s a reminder that you’re never too old to play.
Brighton Open Air Theatre, 15th September 2024
Five Children and It, by ‘This Is My Theatre’
Photos by Ethan Taylor
