Despite only having started three years ago The Human Zoo Theatre Company a young ensemble with lots of experience. This is the third year that the company has performed together at the Edinburgh Fringe. They like to produce visual stories that make use of puppetry and poetry to bring the characters of their plays to life. Giant follows this formula, but fixes its focus on comedy and clowning.
Giant tells the story of a man called Tommy (Freddie Crossley) and his struggles in life. The journey from birth to adulthood is told in a long montage sequence that slows the pace of the story right down and leaves the viewer feeling a little frustrated. This quirky storytelling method is returned to throughout the performance, but the comedy is eventually lost in the monotony of the sequences and the overbearing music.
The strength in Giant comes from the ensemble cast and their dynamic and distinctive relationship with one another. The cast perform with enthusiasm and vigour and embody their characters with gusto and passion. They bounce comedic lines of one another and the dialogue feels natural and the comedy flows with ease. This makes even the dullest onstage situation appear dramatic and exciting. We see a variety of domestic and work situations during the performance. In lesser hands this could have made Giant feel stale and boring, but there is enough variety in the performance to keep the audience entertained.
The conclusion of the show is visually stunning, as we finally get to witness the reason the play is called Giant. A puppet of awesome proportions is unveiled onstage and the imagery is fantastic and epic. This massive puppet torments Tommy and gives us the touching and heartfelt ending that the audience had been waiting for. The themes of Giant include family and memory and we see Tommy appreciate both these things with a touching and heart warming conclusion.