Teddy in his Rucksack

Published Thursday 12 May 2005 at 10:55 by Lesley Bates

With more than 27 years experience of producing children’s theatre, Quicksilver knows what it is doing and collaborators Carey English and Guy Holland use their twin imagination and trust to produce a gem of show.

It starts as a simple storytelling exercise as Holland recounted the tale of how young Ivenko and his teddy got lost in the woods, was rescued by a bear and restored it to human form by an act of unsolicited kindness.

Clad in faux Russian garb, Holland engages his young audience as he strides around a colourful and effective set with its prettily beribboned cave, acting out the story to Rob Lee’s beautifully atmospheric music.

But the true enchantment of this production is yet to come as one small child bought the story of loss, loneliness, trust, kindness and resourcefulness to life. Involving a child was high-risk and minutes went by and bottoms started to shuffle before Holland persuaded one to take part. Finally, six-year-old Evie Rawlings stepped forward to wear Ivenko’s white embroidered shirt and clutch his teddy - and that was it.

Adults and children sat mesmerised as Evie followed gentle instructions from Holland, now in the guise of the bear under a spell, and teddy himself, voiced by Tony Gleave. Then came the moment when the company trusted the child to perform that act of kindness unprompted.

Evie’s hesitation was heart-stopping and I can’t think of a more moving moment in theatre than when she walked forward to offered her bear to Holland to break the spell. Absolute magic.