High Muck-a-Muck

Published Monday 5 October 2009 at 10:35 by Jeremy Brien

Puppetry for young children is improving, quite literally, by leaps and bounds. Indeed, in this delightful touring offering from Exeter-based Theatre Alibi, the wooden doll at the centre of the story receives such acclaim that success goes to her already swollen head - setting off both her adventures and her troubles.

So, as with most of this company’s work for five to ten-year-olds, there are lesson to be learned by the youngsters out front about the mysteries of growing up, the need for loyalty and how to meet unexpected challenges. They are wrapped in such ingenious story-telling, though, with the puppet coming to life, fleeing her travelling circus home and linking up with a young boy with something of a way with animals, that there is never the slightest hint of a lecture.

The sheer energy of the entertainment owes much to the effervescent approach of performers Jordan Whyte, Derek Frood and Stephen Cavanagh, alongside the inventive and often very funny use of props.

On this occasion, too, there is something rather special about the music. It is played on the cimbalom, a Central European instrument derived from the dulcimer, and sensitively strummed with a small wooden hammer by Rozsa Farkas, brought specially over from Hungary for the occasion.

A High Muck-a-Muck is someone who is too big for their boots - an accusation that certainly can’t be levelled at Theatre Alibi.