This touring show from Haste Theatre, based on a story by Tim Burton (The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy), has, unsurprisingly from that author, the tone of a dark folk tale. Reminiscent of Kneehigh’s story about a boy who wanted to swim with the dolphins, like that show it mixes acting and puppetry to great storytelling effect. By ‘acting’ we mean that broad-stroke ensemble playing that goes under the name of ‘physical theatre’, which typically mixes mime, dialogue, music, tableaux and often, as with the all female Haste Theatre, some free-form (nothing hidden) puppetry.
Like many a folk tale the story reeks of allegory. An immigrant Italian ice cream seller, Jim (Valeria Compagnoni) meets a beautiful American girl, Alice (Lexie McDougall) whom he rescues from drowning and the unkind attentions of a shark, off the beach of 1950’s Coney Island. No sooner married than an aphrodisiac-fuelled consummation – following a surfeit of oysters – results in a deformed baby boy with the head of an oyster shell. As we might expect there is a certain amount of revulsion from reactionary types of the, ‘he’s not one of us’ school, whilst a younger generation with a little more unfiltered humanity than their parents are non-judgementally inclined to acceptance. Never wanting in love from his parents, the constant rejection and vilification of the boy, Sam, nevertheless leads eventually to his finding solace in the sea.
It’s often the case that simplicity hides a richness of creative vision. In bringing the story to the stage Haste Theatre employ a free flowing style of ensemble acting that has the freshness of newly minted ideas and a willingness to approach any challenge with a can-do attitude. This gives the comic potential of any situation a good leg start and keeps the show swinging along at a brisk pace. There’s no set to speak of, but some clever use of simple props is enough to set the scene whilst some jolly polka-dotted costumes on the chorus are enough to transport us back to the fifties. For their part the chorus manage to retain their identities as individuals whose characters shine out and help leaven what could have the makings of quite a gloomy story.
The Regrave is a lovely theatre with comfortable seats, great sightlines …and a decent bar, so with so much creative talent around it would be good to see more of this kind of innovative theatre using such a great facility. ★★★☆☆ Graham Wyles 23rd March 2017
