The Stage

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Published Thursday 15 September 2011 at 10:35 by Susan Elkin

The very hungry caterpillar, who famously eats his way through the days of the week and - literally - through the book which created him in 1969, before he turns into a beautiful butterfly, is now beloved of two - or maybe three, in some families - generations. So anyone who takes on the challenge of moving him into theatre is faced with all the practical problems of keeping the story totally recognisable.

A scene from The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford

Jim Morrow and his team deserve ten out ten for the authenticity of a show which uses ultraviolet light and stick or rod handle puppets to capture Eric Carle’s bright colours and simplicity. We see the caterpillar munching his fruit as the week progresses and getting fatter before he pupates. In other parts of the show - because this is really a three-parter with Carle’s Little Cloud and The Mixed Up Chameleon - we see the stick puppet clouds turning into different shapes. And the waddling, fly-eating chameleon is fun in his different coloured incarnations and fantasies.

Carle’s engaging stories are impeccably narrated - recorded - by the warm-voiced Gordon Pinsent and all the movement is accompanied by music with sparky little references to folk tune, JS Bach, Beethoven, steel pan, jazz, samba and much more. Every visual movement sits in the music as precisely as it would in a classical ballet.

The charm-filled piece is, children and adults are told at the beginning, ‘a non shushing show’. In other words the people on stage are happy to hear their audience - a nice touch. It ends with a short question and answer session. Performers Mary Rebecca Russell and John Allen Maclean, together with stage manager Shawn Sorensen, use it to show the children - for example, how the foam rubber puppets look without the ‘black’ light.