[title]
Adaptations of the works of rhyming picture-book maestro Julia Donaldson feel like they account for about 50 percent of kids’ theatre these days. And once you’ve seen a couple, the big question that springs to mind is: how are they going to stretch out a five-minute-story this time?
But Freckle Productions’ adaptation of the beloved story of Tabby McTat (the busker’s cat) is a real delight, and its padding (an unfair term) is of the highest order.
In mildly Brechtian fashion, the show is presented as a performance by Tabby’s noisy son Samuel Spratt, who wishes to share his father’s epic tale but needs some help; which he fortunately receives from a trio of handy ‘audience members’ (don’t panic, they’re plants), who agree to stage the story with him. Fun ensues: rather than using puppets, the four cast members change hats as they take on various human and feline personas, with two actors sometimes sharing a single role (a fine introduction to the concept of gender-blind casting).
There are the expected songs, which are a hoot (when Tabby’s busker companion Fred is hospitalised there is a cheeky shout-out to the NHS) and even, at one point, a magic show interlude. However, with the longish preamble section in which Samuel gets the team together, Lane and co can afford to not dilute the actual story too much, and it’s the zippiest and least fillery Donaldson adaptation I’ve seen, with her ratatatat rhymes put front and centre – exactly where they should be.