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Only three words feature in this smart, surreal and delightfully sensual comedy for young children. Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore are at the beach. They have a towel, an inflatable ball, a picnic and three contrasting temperaments. But they don’t have any language beyond their own curious names, which are reminiscent of childish misarticulations and the vintage nonsense of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.
A bold half-term commission from the Unicorn, this 50-minute piece pairs rising star playwright Gary Owen (‘Violence and Son’, ‘Iphigenia in Splott’) with groundbreaking experimental theatremaker Tim Crouch, whose own work for children includes a brilliant series about Shakespeare’s lesser characters. So while the beach setting may be cliché, there is treasure just below the surface. ‘Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore’ is both a colourful prat-about and a careful study of what language, and theatre, can do.
Hartleby (Amalia Vitale) is bright and puppyish but not beyond a tantrum. Ooglemore (Fionn Gill) is tall, vacant and endearingly knock-kneed in a towelling onesie and jelly sandals. Jeramee parents their squabbles with benevolent calm. His name seems to have been permanently stretched through being whined by the other two.
The physical comedy is finely tuned to the deep-remembered sensations of childhood. A battle to undo the toggles of a duffle coat. A balloon drifting out of your hands. A wee in the sea. The performers conjour depth, gradient and a horizon out of the small studio space, while their three names are all they need to convey annoyance, reassurance, joy, frustration, fear, relief.
With Jeramee’s encouragement, Hartleby and Ooglemore get stuck into a satisfying game of invisible pancake-tennis. This is a show about how it feels to shape a word on your lips, and a world with your imagination.