Luca Silvestrini’s PROTEIN are back at The Place with a dance-theatre interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Don’t worry, though, some of the opera has survived!
A four-person cast (Nathan Bartman, Jacob Lang, Donna Lennard, and Faith Prendergast) bring this magic story of love, truth and wisdom to the stage.
Aimed at family audiences, The Magic Flute is a very accessible show given some bits of audience chat and participation here and there. Bartman and Lennard are very good at this sort of connection.
Dick Bird’s set and costumes are fun and functional, enhanced by Douglas Baker’s video design and Rachel Shipp’s lighting, which offer moments of magic in shadows and silhouette.
Papageno (Bartman) is a birdcatcher seeking his own soul mate, Papagena. He runs errands for the Queen of the Night (Lennard), and is set out to help Prince Tamino (Lang) find the missing Pamina (Prendergast).
Although she is the daughter of the Queen, Pamina is under the guardianship of Sarastro (also Lennard). Other characters are suggested by puppetry and vocal distortion.
A brilliantly inventive way to close the pre-Christmas season, The Magic Flute is just as enjoyable as PROTEIN’s The Little Prince was a few years back.
The dancing is clever, the acting makes the plot easy to follow even for the smallest of guests. The children at today’s matinee were engrossed, joining in and keeping quiet as needed.
The Magic Flute with its music, big personalities, and room for jokes. With creative captioning for both arias and speech, with icons for each character, it is very accessible.
I’m assuming the singing was live – if not, I’m sure someone will tell me – and it was good to hear those Mozart melodies in all their vibrancy.
If you are looking for something different from panto to amuse your little ones (or even yourself) this festive season, may I recommend this show?
4 stars.
The Magic Flute is at The Place until 24 Dec – tickets here.