The Fir Tree, artsdepot Review
Written by Cathie for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
It is not quite Christmas without Hans Christian Anderson’s bittersweet tale of The Fir Tree. This year How It Ended and artsdepot have worked together to fulfil this lack in life through a truly brilliant Yuletide adaptation of this traditional fable.
The core of the traditional tale remains the same, however, Teresa Burns’ adaptation has cleverly upscaled this retelling to 2002 and has rewritten this for the more environmentally aware families of 2024. The story retains the key moral message of enjoying what you have and not rushing away your youth and unlimited potential but is rather more upbeat and less petulant than Anderson’s original. The ending is still bittersweet but far less traumatic than the original tale and more fun for children to watch. There are plenty of silly jokes for children and subtle references for adults to giggle at equally and throughout the entire production there was at least half of the audience laughing at any given moment. Ellie Isherwood’s songs and use of sound in this production are definitely its strongest points at keeping the children engaged and bringing educational content and moral messages in a spritely joyful way. Eva Sampson’s direction is light and nuanced to bring this story to life in such a way that it is incredibly enjoyable and entertaining for both children and adults to watch.
Ryan Lawson’s set design is as simple and stripped back as possible to focus on making the best foley sound effects for the audience. It was fascinating to watch how the different sounds were created, with my personal favourite being the stork splashing along the water. The props and beautiful puppets (Annie Brooks) are all made from fully recycled materials and bring the characters to life in a striking geometric shape that fascinates people in how they move. This show has worked hard to be accessible to all and mostly succeeds but needs some fine tuning in its approach to audience interaction and communicating its change in lighting.
The trio of actors have fabulous chemistry together and seamless chemistry in bringing the many different characters to life in such an engaging way. Samuel Heron and Loren O’Dair act out the majority of the characters and play several instruments at the same time with a huge amount of skill. Their variety is contrasted with Denzel Baidoo as the little fir tree. He uses every opportunity to make the character seem as realistic and layered as possible and with a great positive effect on the audience.
At a running time of 1 hour, this is the perfect experience to introduce your young child to the world of theatre in a relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable way. It is a vibrant and wonderfully festive way to experience this tale and you will leave feeling refreshed and uplifted. If you wholesome festive entertainment with clear uplifting messages and beautiful singing puppetry then this is the festive show for you.
At artsdepot until 31 December 2024
★ ★ ★ ★
