Although the National Theatre will be running shows in all three theatres over the Christmas hols, The Jungle Book is emphatically its Big Christmas Show. A lavish family friendly adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s India-set story cycle, it’s adapted by Indian playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar (of the excellent The Father and the Assassin fame), and emphatically not a stage version of the beloved Disney film. Specifically, we know that the action is being relocated to the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in the country’s east. But one would imagine Chandrasekhar’s spin will be distinctly postcolonial, and while Disney’s plot was cobbled together from selected bits of Kipling’s collection of stories, the playwright may opt for others.
Still, don’t imagine it’ll be radically different: it’ll focus on Mowgli the Man-Cub – played by NT stalwart Hiran Abeysekera – and feature spectacular puppet renderings of his various animal friends and enemies. NT boss Indhu Rubasingham will direct, with puppets by Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes.
