Adapting a children’s television programme for the stage can be tricky at the best of times. When that programme is beloved, the risk is even higher.
Jonathan Lloyd’s script for Bagpuss, based on three episodes of Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate’s Smallfilms series, is a heartfelt paean to the redemptive qualities of imaginative childhood play. In place of the charming stop motion animation, here the baggy old cloth cat and his friends are brought to life with puppetry or just playacting.
And in this regard, Susan Harrison as the young Emily excels in both the vocal mimicry of the junk shop residents, and expressing Bagpuss and Professor Yaffle’s unique movement styles. Georgina Sowerby, as the adult who finds herself drawn back into her old childhood games, adds a poignant air of melancholy that fits in well with the original films’ style, although her personal story seems unfinished.
By sticking with the rigid, episodic nature of the original programme, there does seem to be some of the series’ original charm that does not transfer to the stage. The nostalgia element may be enough to sweep along the grown-ups in the audience, but the young children at whom the show is nominally targeted seemed less enthralled.
This adaptation of Bagpuss is a bit saggy and loose at the seams. But parents will love him.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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