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Jason and the Argonauts

Published Wednesday 11 October 2006 at 15:40 by Thom Dibdin

Bouncing out from the shadows, Josh and Andy bring this mythical tale from Ancient Greece to life for Visible Fictions. Under astute direction from Douglas Irvine, this is a playful and inventive telling of the story of Jason’s bid to regain his rightful crown from his fratricidal uncle by capturing the Golden Fleece.

Simon Donaldson as the stern but friendly Josh ensures that it all goes according to the ancient script. Tim Settle’s wilful Andy tries to add modern twists to the tale. Which, while mildly irritating for grown-ups who know the basics, is hilarious for the nine-year-old and over audience and serves give the whole a relevance to modern adventurers such as Spiderman.

While there is much use of the likes of Action Men to represent the Argonauts and a paper boat for the Argo herself, it is Settle and Donaldson’s handling of the characters on which the success of this relies.

They pass them back and forth, often within a scene, while retaining a coherence to both characters and the plot. Although not with enough conviction to finesse Jason’s relationship to Medea without a few catcalls.

Robin Peoples’ design is superb. A full-size wooden hand-cart on the bare stage serves as both simple dwelling and palace, before evolving, Transformer-like, into a super-size version of the paper boat and then the cave in which the Golden Fleece is hidden. While it would work perfectly in a total black-out, Paul Ancell’s lighting is too crepuscular for theatres, where the emergency exits are near the stage.

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