Theatre / fly in a pie puppet theatre
Review: Mice on Skates, Brewery Theatre
Fly in a Pie Puppet Theatre’s largely beguiling show follows the adventures of a pair of enterprising rodents who, in their quest to outwit the house cat and reach the coveted reserves of stale cheese in the larder, come up with a seriously clever invention.
After working their way through a series of ideas, the cheerful, boisterous Brawny (Ruth Stokes) and geekier accomplice Brainy (Sylvia Hunt) happen upon the ultimate invention: miniature, mouse-sized roller skates. Their new-found speed and freedom allows the dynamic duo to feast happily on fromage – before wide-eyed Brainy gets the wanderlust, and our titchy twosome are off around Europe on their skates, sampling the best cheeses the continent has to offer.
We get whistle-stop visits to Paris, where a bright blue mouse called Marcel takes breaks from his arduous day job cleaning Le Tour Eiffel to bury his nose in a fresh Camembert; to Germany, where the local rodents get off on loud techno and Limburger (which contains the bacterium also responsible for smelly feet, fact fans – unmined humour potential here…?); and to Italy, where Brawny and Brainy discover that mozzarella is, frankly, a bit bland unless slapped onto a pizza.
All this is nice enough, and Stokes and particuarly Hunt are fairly engaging as our two adventurous heroes (they make effective use of a range of mouse puppets along the way, too). There’s a slight sense, though, that this show could have filled out more, could have been a little more entertaining, expressive and adventurous.
Brawny and Brainy come across as amiable creatures – but, even in a show aimed at ages 2 and above (that ‘and above’ is always worth bearing in mind), could they not have been given a shade extra personality? There was a nice song, albeit not sung clearly enough for young audience members to hear, memorise and take away. And there were a few visual gags throughout, but the hit rate could have been higher (and the laughter louder). Hunt’s Teutonic techno dancing is, though, very nearly worth the ticket price alone.
A great idea for a family show – who doesn’t love little creatures with big ideas? – that could perhaps benefit from a fifth gear.
Mice on Skates continues at the Brewery Theatre until Sunday, August 9. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/mice_on_skates
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