A Small Mind At The Theatre

It was back to the basement of the Northampton Shoe Museum for my third Flash and another storytelling performance, with added bubbles and paper bags. This was a slightly tougher deal to review as it is predominantly a childrens show and in the absence of any children at the performance I saw, it was difficult to tell how it would play out to them. Therefore for the duration of the show, us responsible adults (and quite a lot of students) regressed to our childhood and happily had paper butterflies on string wafting round our ears and shredded paper as a blizzard of snow. Our performer was Tara Lawrence, who is quite frankly the most perfect person to present a children's show. Softly spoken and playful in style, the choice to do such a show is now rather obvious in the extreme. We all happily were transported into the wonderful world of paper bags, dragons (called Kevin) and Prince Ronald, and our lead character Lizzie's trek to rescue him. The tale based on a book by Robe...

So the Flash Festival had begun for 2015 and this year there were to be sixteen shows across the six days and I was to see them all (and *gulp* try to review them all). My first one of the week was The Little Prince by (Jenny) Styles Theatre Company. This was a show I had had a little preview of earlier in the year as a work in progress at a R&D Open Mic Night ( here ). It tells the tale of a little Prince (you don't say) and his adventures across a collection of random planets. Based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Jenny translated the tale into a storytelling style. This is quite a departure from any Flash I have seen previously, but after the general trauma of many subjects in 2014, a blessed relief for the lighthearted nature of it. Having seen a few storytellers this year, I have to say that Jenny presents one of the most acted ones I have seen. The tale is full of dynamic movement, and gesturing of hands and a box of many talents to vividly transport us acros...