Pinocchio

Opera North have turned Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio in to a family friendly opera that holds the attention of a very young audience for  three hours.

We are first introduced to Geppetto who magically carves a little boy (he calls Pinocchio) from a piece of wood before our very eyes. But soon the Pinocchio sets off on his own adventures, getting in to all kinds of trouble, but never far away is a blue fairy (a very delicate looking Mary Plazas) to keep him out of too much trouble.

Jonathan Doves opera stays true to the original story, with Pinocchio encountering, the cricket (who Pinocchio squashes to the childrens delight), fox , pigeon, giant green fisherman, funland and of course the inside of the fish that swallows Geppetto. The story moves at a cracking pace and the costumes are bright and colourful in an almost pantomime fashion

Victoria Simmonds as the short-trousered hero Pinocchio is a revelation . She moves as if her joints are hinged like a puppet and projects the impish naughtiness of Pinocchio, while hardly leaving the stage during the show.

At first I did wonder how the drab looking set, which on first inspection appeared to look like a series of floor boards would captivate a young audience. But Francis O’Connor design holds a lot of surprises, it can open as a series of doors and windows. Sections fold down to makes bridges and at several points in the show the cast are lowered in to view, this works extremely well with the pigeon on her own aeroplane.

But it is when Pinocchio is at sea that his design is at its best, as the set reveals its last big secret (which I will not give away) and then magically the sea turns in to the inside of the fish where Pinocchio finds Geppetto. At the end of the scene, as quickly as it appears, the set disappears from where it came, leaving the pair safe on the beach, pure theatrical magic, simple and cleaver.

The true test of this show is to get a childs reaction and I cannot sum it up better than this: due to a technical problem (never explained) the performance was over fifteen minutes late in starting and my eight year old daughter made no secret of the fact she was bored with waiting. (Being impressed with the massive orchestra and counting the number of musicians could only entertain her for so long). But once the show started she was hooked from the first scene and sat mesmerised for the next three hours.

I hope that Opera North keep up this connection with young people as it is a great introduction to the world of theatre and opera,  that should be greatly appreciated. 

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