The Stage

Milly and the Minotaur

Published Monday 8 February 2010 at 16:15 by Jon Holliday

Courageous - that is a fitting description of the Philip Michell play commissioned by the ever-enterprising Gwent Theatre for its tour of primary schools. The reason for such a verdict? Put simply, the subject tackled head-on is a child with leukaemia and the chemotherapy employed to fight this much-dreaded disease.

A scene from Milly and the Minotaur at Llanover Hall, Cardiff Photo: Jenny Barnes

However, make no mistake it is an upbeat story that young children can appreciate, full of compassion, understanding and humour, both moving and laugh out loud funny. Gary Meredith’s imaginative production eschews cosy sentimentality as it interweaves the predicament of nine-year-old Milly (a memorable portrayal of childish moods by Hannah O’Leary, alternating anxiety and optimism) with the Greek myth of the frightening Minotaur who eats children alive. In her drugged fantasies, Milly befriends the half-bull, half-man monster (Alastair Sill) as her desperately cheerful Gran (Jain Boon) fights her way through the labyrinth of hospital corridors to visit her.

The bursts of popular song, the dainty dances, the flirtations between Gran and the young doctor, the projected images on the cyclorama, all help to lighten the atmosphere. What could be a harrowing theatrical experience, most emphatically is not, for the positive message that shines through is one of hope.

The versatile hospital setting is designed by Georgina Miles. Gwen Theatre, part of a Wales-wide network of eight Theatre in Education companies funded by the Arts Council of Wales and local authorities, is taking this admirable play on a 14-week tour of primary schools. A dozen performances had to be postponed to a later date because of school closures due to snow.