Follow the yellow brick road to Southville this Christmas

Theatre is back with a bang in Bristol this Christmas, and this year has an added layer of excitement in that three of the big festive shows are from homegrown companies.

With Insane Root taking over Arnos Vale and the Wardrobe Ensemble coming home to Bristol Old Vic, the predominant indoor venue south of the river is also stealing headlines, with an extended run for the Christmas production of OZ. Co-produced by Tobacco Factory Theatres and the award-winning female-led company Pins and Needles, OZ will begin previewing on December 10, and run until January 16, 2022.

Though they make shows for all ages, Pins and Needles are best known for their adaptations of children’s books, using an enchanting mix of acting, puppetry and magical design to bring much-loved tales to life on stage for the whole family to enjoy.

Their previous productions include the 2018 UK Theatre award-winning Little Mermaid, Father Christmas and The Bear – based on the celebrated Raymond Briggs books – and the 2020 Olivier-nominated Oi Frog & Friends! – based on the best-selling picture books by Kes Gray & Jim Field.

Artwork for OZ – image: Pins and Needles and Tobacco Factory

Artistic directors Emma Earle (director) and Zoe Squire (designer) are dedicated to instilling a collaborative approach through all Pins and Needles projects: “from actors and animators, composers and lyricists, lighting and sound designers, to movement directors and projection mappers, we are endlessly amazed by the talent out there,” they say.

So what can audiences expect from OZ? “We have an extraordinarily talented cast for OZ,”enthuses Earle. “Audiences can expect to see our dynamic company of five performers switching seamlessly between characters and locations as they tell a huge story in a magical, creative way.”

The adaptation was written by Earle and Squire along with Sarah Henley, and promises to be a bold reimagining of the fantastical world of L Frank Baum’s novels, with all of its wonder and eccentricity, and the moral corruptors and saviours that Dorothy discovers along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.

“The story of a young girl being transported to an unfamiliar, surreal world and grappling with the idea of home, feels relatable in so many ways,” Earle reflects.

Adiza Shardow in rehearsals as Dorothy – photo: Mark Dawson

With rehearsals well underway before the show begins previewing on Friday, December 10, Pins and Needles director Emma Earle and designer Zoe Squire take time out to share some insights with Bristol 24/7:

How are rehearsals progressing?

Earle: “Rehearsals are thrilling. The cast and company are insanely talented and it’s a total joy to be back in a rehearsal room after such a long time away. The pandemic has ripped mercilessly through the theatre industry so we feel hugely privileged to be making a new show.

“It’s a huge risk for any venue producing new work at this time, and we’re enormously grateful to the Tobacco Factory for having the bravery to commit to a Christmas show. Everyone involved feels a sense of responsibility to make the process as supportive and positive as possible, and the desire to make something meaningful and enriching for our audiences is palpable. We want to reward those who’ve stayed away from theatres for so long with a truly special festive outing – one that will go some of the way to healing the anti-climax of last year’s Christmas.

“We got seriously lucky with our cast. They’ve approached everything we’ve thrown at them – from harmony singing to different forms of puppetry, from rapid fire quick changes to high energy movement sequences – with an openness and a playfulness that has been wonderful to be part of. The volume of ideas generated daily in rehearsals is staggering. Perhaps it’s all the creativity that’s bubbled up over the past 20 months, finally having an outlet. The hardest thing has been narrowing down staging options as the ideas are so strong it’s often hard to know which horse to back.”

The cast at Tobacco Factory Theatres – photo: Mark Dawson

What does the story of The Wizard of Oz mean to you personally? Has it long been a show you wanted to make?

Earle: “It’s fair to say I’ve been dreaming of adapting L Frank Baum’s story for most of my life. I’m such a huge fan of the iconic film that I wore ruby slippers on my wedding day and named my daughter Dorothy! I’ve found the process of adapting a story so important to me to be absolutely fascinating. Where do you honour the original and where do you depart? How do you deal with the fact that the MGM classic is one of the most influential films ever made? Is it possible to look at blue gingham without instantly picturing Judy Garland?

“But there were plot points, characters and themes in the original book that were left unexplored by the film. Each time Dorothy encounters a new territory, she finds people being controlled, subjugated or manipulated in some way. This orphan child driven by empathy and humanity goes up against the adult establishment, spearheaded by rogue rulers abusing their power.

“The biggest image for us was the green goggles you can see on the show’s poster. In the book, every person visiting Emerald City is locked into a pair of glasses and must wear them day and night, by order of the Wizard. Dorothy has this revelatory moment where she manages to remove her glasses within the city walls, and discovers that it isn’t actually green or indeed made of emeralds, it’s just the effect of the mandatory eye wear. When you start to think about the control involved in this grand illusion, the Wizard starts to feel less like a doddery old man behind a curtain, and more like an Orwellian dictator.

“It’s not true to say we’ve taken all the magic out of OZ and turned it into a political drama. Our other major driver was to explore the idea of home and find the truth and heart of that. Home can be a place, a sense of family, a community, a state of mind… And it is particularly resonant post pandemic with all the physical and emotional isolation people have experienced. Dorothy’s relationship with home is multi-faceted, just like ours. She’s sucked out of everything she knows through a violent storm, and thrown into a world that’s totally alien. Both inside and outside of the land of OZ, she makes connections, create communities, and sparks change, enabling her to grow into herself and live her own truth.”

The cast of OZ in rehearsal – photo: Mark Dawson

Can you sum up the ethos of Pins and Needles? In what ways might this be self-evident in the aesthetic and overall tone of the show?

Squire: “As a theatre company that at its core is a director/designer creative partnership, we enjoy being playful and unexpected in how we use design and staging when adapting work for the stage. The challenge with adapting such an iconic story like the Wizard of Oz is how you retain enough of the original story and imagery which made people fall in love with it in the first place, whilst also taking them somewhere different and introducing them to exciting new characters.

“With the Tobacco Factory’s audience being in the round, costume plays a large role in helping us to create a feel for a world and set the tone for OZ being a weird and wonderful place like no other. We have had a lot of fun designing bizarre, colourful characters conjured up by Dorothy’s imagination, from scatterbrained scarecrows to china clowns. We don’t like to limit ourselves to how we tell stories and use everything from puppetry and inventive visuals to lighting and sound to create memorable experience for our audiences.”

From cast to crew, Oz is a Bristol show through and through. What does it mean to you to be putting on the Christmas show in one of Bristol’s most important cultural venues?

Squire: “Being a Bristol-based company, there is no greater satisfaction than creating work for audiences in our home town. The city has a wealth of talented actors and creative and this show has been a great opportunity to showcase their work and meet so many new faces.

“Having both studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, the Tobacco Factory has played a part in both our lives for many years. We’re really excited to have the opportunity to co-produce a Christmas show with them for the first time and feel privileged, especially after everything that has happened over the last 19 months, to be here now, making new work and bringing theatre back to Bristol audiences.”

OZ (recommended for 6+) is at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Raleigh Rd, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1TF from December 10 and runs through to January 16, 2022. There are a number of matinees, socially distanced shows, schools shows, as well as some BSL interpreted performances and some relaxed performances. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.

Main photo: Mark Dawson

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