Little Leap Forward is an hour-long show that combines puppetry, mask, and music to tell the true story of an eight-year-old growing up in China during the 1966 Cultural Revolution of Chinese president Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong aka Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976).

Two best friends, Little Leap Forward and Little Little, live in rural China. They spend much of their time innocently playing by the riverbank, fishing and flying kites. Back at home, Little Leap Forward lives with his mother, a teacher, and his elder sister. His father, a talented musician, died before the story begins.

As the grip of the Cultural Revolution tightens, communist Red Guards sweep the country to root out counter-revolutionaries. Little Leap Forward's mother is regarded as a bourgeois intellectual and is sent away to labour in the countryside to be 're-educated'. Little Leap Forward finds solace in his bamboo flute and in the company of his best friend and a young female classmate.

This excellent piece blends different techniques - from hand puppets to computer-generated animation - to tell the story. Bob Frith's complex set, painted with delicate, calligraphic ink strokes, is the key to making this work. On one side, a doorway suggests the exterior of Little Leap Forward's house. The actors play out wordless exchanges through and around this in full-head masks. On the other side is a two-tiered puppet area which represents the countryside in which the children play. On the top tier, set a little way back, smaller hand-puppets play above larger, more delicately-expressive table-top puppets. This gives a charming sense of perspective, as well as highlighting interesting differences in the puppets' capacity for expression. In the middle of these two areas is a cream silk screen. Sometimes light is shone behind it to create silhouettes of characters making eloquent shadow exchanges. At other times, computer generated animations are projected on the screen. The continual interplay between these areas of the set, and the shift in the size of the characters is enthralling. A tiny hand-puppet may return home over a hill, emerging at once from around the corner of the other side of the set as a masked, human-sized figure. A vast series of judicious, well-executed lighting changes provided by Richard Owen and Jonny Quick drives these shifts in focus.

Music is integral - Loz Kaye's original score provides a poetic alternative to dialogue. The emotional state of the characters is often reinforced by, say, a dynamic piano solo or the sparse pluck of a Chinese stringed instrument. The versatile cast of four are a fine asset to the show: Nicky Fearn, Jonny Quick, Frances Merriman and Mark Whittaker animate the puppets with confident skill - pure joy. When hidden behind their magnificent full-head masks, they channel expression into their bodies. Thoughts and emotions are evoked in fluid, balletic movements and subtle changes in pace.

Towards the end, the story does become a little unclear and repetitive. But any sense of confusion is more than compensated by the magic of the creation as a whole. It's a vivid, original and wondrous piece of theatre.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Nicky Fearn - Little Leap Forward. Frances Merriman - Little Little. Jonny Quick - Red Guard. Mark Whitaker - Red Guard.

Company Credits: Published Book: Title - Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing. Writers - Guo Yue & Clare Farrow. Illustrator - Helen Cann. Publisher - Barefoot Books, 2008. Website - www.barefootbooks.com. This Production: Writer - Alison Duddle. Director - Alison Duddle. Musical Director - Loz Kaye. Set Designer - Bob Frith. Lighting Designer - Richard Owen. Lighting Designer - Jonny Quick. Sound Designer - uncredited. Puppet & Mask Designer - Alison Duddle. Costume Designer - Felicia Jagne. Film Maker- Bob Frith. Animation - Steff Lee. Technical Operator - uncredited. Bamboo Player - Guo Yue. Puppet Costume and Shadows - Vanessa Card. Puppet Rigging - Mark Whitake. Additional Making - Weston Hammond. Production Intern - Jayne Walling. Producer - uncredited. Horse and Bamboo Theatre Credits: Artistic Director - Bob Frith. Chief Executive - Helen Jackson. Associate Director - Alison Duddle. Marketing Manager - Alithea Wardle. Producer - Esther Ferry-Kennington. Accounts Clerk / Administration Assistant - Emma Porter. Technical Manager - Jonny Quick. Associate Artist - Music - Loz Kaye. Associate Artist - Puppetry - Mark Whitaker. Current Artists: Nicky Fearn, Frances Merriman, Mark Whitaker. Company - Horse and Bamboo Theatre. Website - www.horseandbamboo.org.

END

(c) Jonny Lodge 2009

reviewed Sunday 12 July 09 / Halifax Square Chapel for the Arts, Halifax UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com