Sometimes, when a show adopts several different methods to tell its story, one or more medium ends up suffering. Breathe – the story of ‘Seedling’ who hatches from an acorn and must navigate their way round a shifting seasonal woodland – does not have this problem. The show employs puppetry, highly detailed and intricate sets, and live-action camera work to draw the audience into a sumptuous, lived-in world.
The landscapes that Seedling ventures through are superbly displayed by this camera work, as we swoop through tree tops and down beneath the frozen earth with a piercing birds-eye view – the footage is projected onto a screen behind the stage, making the spectacle as compelling for those at the back as those at the front of the audience. The sets are also multi-purpose, with different layers lifting up and away to reveal hidden worlds within worlds, like a series of doll’s houses built entirely from nature
The artistry of puppeteers, Peter Morton and Emily Essery, is spellbinding. They bring to life a series of woodland characters – in addition to Seedling, there is a perpetually peckish and talkative bug (shades of the Very Hungry Caterpillar here), a menacing seagull, and a slow, sentient tree root. The sound effects created – almost entirely by the performers themselves – are joyful, and responsible for many of the show’s biggest laughs.
Particular mention should go to the folk songs in the performance, all written by Avi Simmons. The quality of the songs and the powerful, haunting delivery by Darcey O’Rourke really elevate each of the sections where they are used, and the tone of each song matches the season being depicted. When these songs are absent, a throbbing drum and base soundtrack takes over – it shouldn’t really work within the gentle context of the imagined world and yet it really really does, highlighting the more energetic and violent parts of nature.
There are a few moments where engagement drops a little and where the story can seem slightly repetitive – but Breathe ends on a high note, as Seedling learns they must stop existing in order to be reborn as their future tree-self. The final tableau is that of a baby oak sapling, bathed in watery spring sunshine – an image of acceptance of the cyclical nature of life that brings a small lump to the throat.
Breathe has finished its run
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