The Stage

Faeries

Published Monday 13 December 2010 at 16:38 by Nuala Calvi

Will Tuckett’s mesmerising blend of dance, puppetry and storytelling returns to the Royal Opera House two years after its first incarnation - only this time the fairies seem to have switched our heroine, Edie, for a changeling called Johnny.

Perhaps in an attempt to attract more boys to what must, understandably, be a hard sell for families short on daughters with a penchant for dressing up in pink tutus and fairy wings, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s story now has the male half of a brother-sister team finding himself separated from his fellow evacuees at Paddington station during the Blitz and forced to spend a night alone in Kensington Gardens.

Unfortunately the swap makes an already male-dominated cast of characters feel almost overwhelmingly so, particularly when the only main female role is that of a Tinkerbell-esque fairy, obsessed with such stereotypical concerns as “prettying up”, being rescued, playing nurse and getting married.

That aside, all the elements that made the collaboration with puppet company Blind Summit a delight in 2008 are still here. Lenkiewicz’s narrative playfully draws on classics such as Peter Pan, but the magical bubble of this fairy kingdom is pricked with subtle reminders of the war beyond the park gates, making it more than mere frivolity.

Blind Summit pull no punches in creating knee-knockingly scary puppets for the baddies that have the adults as well as the children recoiling in horror when they come to sniff the front row, while exquisite turns such as Johnny’s dance amid the moonbeams with a cloud of darting fireflies are breathtaking.

Michael Vale’s design and Katharine Williams’ lighting together weave pure magic, creating an intricate little world encased in winding tree trunks that seems infused with a mysterious mist, occasionally peppered with extra twinkles and prudent dashes of glitter.