Showing @ Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh until Mon 26 August (not 13) @ 13:00
Pants On Fire’s show is advertised as giving Carlo Collodi’s wooden morality tale a 50’s Sci-Fi twist. In truth the 50s theme fades out after the first ten minutes, raising its head feebly a few times throughout the show. However this inconsistency in timeframe is fairly unimportant, with the show’s real strengths lying in the staging, puppetry and the energetic performances by the young cast.
The puppets, particularly the little wooden boy and the enormous and startling cricket, are beautiful creations and they’re joined by a host of other manipulated characters. There is a question of who this show is aimed at. At times it’s too dark for young children and at other it’s too whimsical for older children or adults. The show could also benefit from a little abridgement. With an extra quarter of an hour on most shows they still manage to make it feel as if they are squeezing everything in. Far from a perfect creation there’s still much to admire here. There’s a great deal of wit on display and plenty of moments to bring on laughter and tears and anything that de-Disneyfies the tale is always a plus.
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