The Stage

The Ugly Duckling

Published Friday 18 November 2011 at 13:02 by Susan Elkin

This charming concoction for early years audiences includes stick puppetry, shadow puppetry, Martin Ward’s evocative music, elegant ballet-style movement work and a single rather good song. Apart from the song and a few quacks and grunts the show is almost language-free and that careful focus on other sound and visual effects works well for very young children.

A scene from The Ugly Duckling at Polka Theatre, London Photo: Robert Workman

Lowri James is lovely to watch as the mother duck who hatches one extra large, grey ‘duckling’ and is bemused by it. James acts with her very expressive eyes as well as with her body. She sings beautifully too with clarity and immediacy - as cat who was once a cast out kitten who has made friends with a similarly unloved hen.

Leigh Kelly’s hatching as the cygnet, who will one day be a beautiful white swan dancing slowly away through the audience, is powerful and he gets the right blend of humour and pathos in his reactions to being ostracised by other animals.

Of course The Ugly Duckling is really a story about being different, not fitting in and becoming a target for bullies - until everything comes right. So there’s something in it for every child, whether he or she is an integrated team player or one who is, in some way, different. This nice little play focuses gently on the issues.