If I had to sum up the Sherman Theatre’s “The Hunting of the Snark” in five words I would choose colourful, funny, musical, loud and energetic.
I had never read the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem on which the production is based so I didn’t really know what to expect. The poem was originally published in 1876 which was a little before my time! The program promised “adventure, bravery, puppetry …. and a little bit of silliness”
In the story a boy, a banker and a man called Mr Bellman go to search for the mythical Snark. There are lots of adventures along the way. In the end they don’t find the Snark but the boy builds up a better relationship with his dad so there was a happy ending!
The scenery was very cool as there was a bed which started off like a normal bed but could turn into a door as well! In some scenes the background was dark and miserable but in other scenes it was bright and colourful. There were a couple of wooden crates which were used as different props. Although the scenery was fairly simple it managed to depict lots of different scenes effectively.
My favourite character was a horrible butcher who wanted to catch the Snark in order to cook a revolting meal.The butcher was very funny and over the top and I thought that the actress Polly Smith played her brilliantly. The other characters – the boy, the butcher, the banker, the baker and Steve – were all very funny too.
There were some great puppet characters such as the knitting beaver and the colourful bird who liked the banker’s stripy socks and tie. This was one of the highlights of the show for me.
The music was provided by Jonathan Glew’s one man band. He sat at the side of the stage but was drawn in to lots of the jokes by adopting the character of “Steve”. He mainly played acoustic guitar but added sound effects with a triangle, a kazoo and a cymbal and I thought the music really added to the show. The songs were very energetic and were sung by the actors awesomely. One in particular, “Not Good Enough” stuck in my head and the next morning I was singing the song in the kitchen which shows that it had stuck in my mind!
Overall I think this was a great production. I would give it ten marks out of ten and would recommend it to all children. My grandma didn’t really like the production so maybe you should avoid taking your grandparents with you in case there’s too much silliness in it for them!
Sherman Theatre until July 30