Tattercoats
November 25, 2007
Tattercoats : 16th 2007 November to Jan 5th 2008
The Christmas show for six years and under is already in full swing at Northern Stage, with the show for over sevens A Christmas Carol about to open.
Tattercoats (by Susan Mulholland) tells the tale of a girl (Lisa McGrillis ) who lives with her grandfather (Alex Elliott ) and to pass the time makes herself a coat from pieces of material she is given. But the grandfather is to sad, following the death of his daughter to take any notice of the girl and he literally cries buckets full of tears. Being a tailor himself he can only find fault with the coat and as she walks around the town the villagers nickname the girl “tattercoats” as they laugh at her coat.
One day she hears music and follows the sound in to the hills where she meets a gooseherder (Tom Walton ) with magical powers. While she is with him, the prince (Karen Traynor) arrives and invites her, as his guest of honour, to a ball. Against the man’s wishes, he changes her coat into a ball gown and the girl goes to the party. But she finds herself invisible and no matter how hard she tries to meet the prince he cannot see her. It is only when the spell is reversed and she changes back in to her own coat that the prince can see tattercoats, the girl he wants to marry.
The story is very reminiscent of Cinderella, so although the tale may not be instantly familiar, the young audience can easily follow the story and their attention is held throughout the hour long production, which is told in a mixture of live action, puppets, songs and comedy.The cast of four work extremely hard, with a simple but effect start that ensures the children know audience participation is acceptable. Designer Andrew Stephenson has produced a range of sets that maintain the patchwork effect shown in “tattercoats” actual coat, which is especially effective when she goes to the hills.
This is a charming production that will acts as an alternative to the in your face pantomimes and serves as an ideal introduction to the theatre.
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