Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Matt Neubauer, Charlotte Holtum, Bella Driessen, Louise Farnall, Matt Aldridge, Lia Lee, Vincenzo Monachello, Polly Cohen, Ally Rooms.
There are no monsters under the bed, there are none hiding in the closets, but as the University College London Union Runaground Theatre Company are wonderfully adept at showing, Monsters are still very real and are able to take root in the very heart of all if allowed.
The Jabberwock is arguably up there with Grendel as one of the finest monster creations in the last 1000 years of literature in the English verse and it is one, like Grendel, that doesn’t get enough exposure amongst the young and the family alike in the modern, almost repressive society that has taken root in the 21st Century. To expose such pain and cruelty is not the fashionable thing and yet with great spirit the tale of valour and courage against overwhelming odds is one that can inspire and give hope in a world sometimes too dependent on other means in which to show true courage.
Runaground Theatre Company’s The Jabberwocky is a tale that captures the heart and still finds room in which to present the heroic taking on the cynical and the doom merchants who peddle such inadequate responses to danger. It is a tale that holds the hand in comfort but is no stranger to allowing the goose bumps of reality to show and in beautifully presented show, the audience is given that rare change to introduce their children, and perhaps themselves, to the sanctity of life without it being sanitised and looked upon as maudlin.
The cast of The Jabberwocky were spirited, enthused with idea of the craft of storytelling and the demands in which the physical theatre can bestow upon them. With the use of shadows and puppets, the tale of the boy whose mum is taken ill by the monsters in her chest is one in which is impossible to ignore and find anything in which the family can do together as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. A wonderful show delivered with great charm by Runaground Theatre.
Ian D. Hall