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A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

This event has now finished Until Sun Jan 29 Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, Cross St, London, N1 2DN Full details & map

Theatre: Fringe

Family friendly
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

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Posted: Mon Nov 28 2011

The creators of this artful 90-minute puppet show have spent years defying artistic laws of gravity. Now Cornish adventurers Kneehigh have teamed up with Islington's puppet theatre to bring a magical realist fable by Gabriel GarcÌa Márquez to life.

The artistry and care which has gone into it is wonderful, though it falls on slightly inattentive ears: this fishy tale about villagers who catch an angel and cage him up to do miracles for tourists is too slow and delicate to keep fidgeters rapt. But Mike Shepherd's show is dark and dreamy, with a crafty supporting cast of nosey villagers, visionary angels and 45 plaguey crabs.

Designer Lyndie Wright has surpassed herself: her central creation, suffering gauntly in a loincloth, would grace a medieval church. His struggle to get back into the sky is powerfully described by skilful puppeteers (Rachel Leonard, Ruth Calkin, Roger Lade and Sarah Wright) and by Benji Bower's windswept soundtrack.

Marquez's village looks great in Kneehigh's folky Cornish setting, where miracles come with a large pinch of salt. Beg, borrow or steal a child - and enjoy it for yourself.

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Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, Cross St, London N1 2DN

Little Angel Theatre

Tucked away in the back streets of Islington, Little Angel Theatre is a hub of passionate puppeteering activity. Established by South African John...

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Transport Angel/Highbury & Islington 

Telephone

020 7226 1787

http://www.littleangeltheatre.com

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Comments & ratings

By michele ricketts - May 23 2012

Sounds like an allegory. If the old man with enormous wings is the reclusive unknown who yet set his son Joe on a path to Hollywood. This idea of an angel ( little angel theatre pun intended) trapped in cage to perform for tourists seems too like an allegory for Joe the director. Seems a terrible affectation on part of his mother since rather than being a caged angel his films are immature highly commercial ventures with none of his father's great taste sensability or maturity. Wellnhe seems to have inheirited affectation from his mother and the theme of this show and title no co-incidence more a homage. Yet Atonement Hanna and Pride and Prejuidice are forgettable Hollywood marketing

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