'Handa's Surprise' review or 'Altogether now!'

Handa's Surprise, Eileen Browne
Little Angel Theatre, 2nd April 2015
Written for Guardian online 

My goddaughter, Blue, is refusing to budge from her seat in the stalls. Handa’s Surprise is an interactive show for young children, and the audience is required to sit around the stage. Blue is unconvinced by this strange new setup and I have to carry her on stage. She sits down on my lap and moodily sucks her thumb. Things have not started well.

Sophia Lovell Smith’s set is stark and simple and, again, I can tell that Blue is initially disappointed. A bright tangerine tree flourishes on the stage, and plants and woven baskets are scattered about. It’s a beautiful set, which suggests the Kenyan location with evocative economy, but Blue adores dry ice, elaborate costumes and crazy lighting, and this all seems a little tame in comparison.

The show starts with some gentle singing, as young Handa (Toniche Wallace) explains that she is en route to deliver a sumptuous basket of fruit to her friend, Akeyo (Michale Keyamo). The children are encouraged to sing along, but Blue resists. She can’t quite get the hang of this interactive malarkey. But the singing is pure and powerful, and most of the kids, and all the adults, are having a whale of a time. I croon enthusiastically into Blue’s ear and can feel her gradually easing into the show.

It isn’t until the animal puppets wriggle their way into the story that the magic of Marleen Vermeulen’s production really begins to take a hold on Blue. First up is a spindly string-puppet monkey, whom the kids instantly adore. The combination of Peter O’Rourke’s cheeky puppet and Michael Keyamo’s spluttering sound effects is comic gold. Some of the kids are bent over with laughter, as this odd little creature scampers among them.

As Handa continues her journey (adapted from Eileen Browne’s book), a safari’s worth of animals cheekily swipe fruit from her bag. O’Rourke’s puppets grow in scale, imagination and impact. A sweetcorn is peeled open, and the colourful leaves transform into the wings of a squawking parrot. A stripy black sack is turned inside out, and a zebra emerges. An antelope is conjured into life with two jagged antlers, and a giraffe, made from a few wooden sticks, stalks majestically about the stage.

There’s a comfortingly repetitious nature to the show that allows the children to relax and sink into the story. A new animal is introduced, another fruit revealed – a “sweet-smelling guava” or “ripe red mango” – and the chorus is repeated at every turn. It doesn’t take long before the whole group is belting out these rich tunes in unison, and even Blue manages a few tentative notes. At the end, the kids are invited to dance on stage. That’s just a step too far for Blue, but she wriggles happily in my lap, swaying to the sweet Swahili beats.