Review of School Shorts: Daffodil Scissors & ITTULLKYLLYOOIFFYOODOO at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

Act One of the Royal & Derngate Youth Theatre School Shorts were a great deal less stressful than Act Two with its subject matter (although to be fair one included the subject of bullying, albeit quite lightly). It was also a group of younger children and this dropped the level of seriousness considerable (for the better). So we had a little bit of pausing for lines (they carried scripts, but didn't always want to use them), we had obstinate hats, we had glances to parents and we had fiddling with ties. It was all much more relaxed, and therefore much more enjoyable to watch.

Daffodil Scissors by Philip Ridley is a fun little story of Daffodil (Jack Brennan) and his problems and indeed woes, mostly at the hands of his highly needy mother (Mia Heslop). Through her bizarre needs, she not only requires Daffodil to wear frankly ridiculous hats, which end in his being bullied, but she also requires to sit and watch "boring, boring, boring" television with her, keeping him away from his potential friends.

Its a great little play which has a few truly magical moments, including the hat antics and that lovely "Daffodil Scissors" meeting moment that truly got the AWW's going in the audience. Lovely stuff and playfully performed as it should.

ITTULLKYLLYOOIFFYOODOO performed by the same cast is even better, and gloriously more silly. Written by Christopher William Hill, it reminded me much of the tales of Roald Dahl that I grew up with. It also included an exploding child (well sort of) that when they went bang, the lad in front of me sure jumped. Much like the first, there is no over reliance on a few cast members, as nearly all of the cast get a fair crack of the script. I am sure at this age this helps build no silly pressure on individuals. So with all the key requirements of snot and bogey included, this play completed an interesting four plays, and I for one am happy to have seen Act One second as it was a much more relaxed affair to end on. School Shorts provided an interesting couple of hours.

Performance reviewed: Sunday 22nd, 2015 (matinee) at the Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton.

Daffodil Scissors and ITTULLKYLLYOOIFFYOODOO were performed for School Shorts by the R&D Youth Theatre at the Royal & Derngate on Thurdsay 19th March and Sunday 22nd March, 2015. Details here: http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/whatson/2015-2016/Underground/SchoolShorts/?view=Standard

For further details about the Royal & Derngate visit their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/

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