Theatre / Reviews
Review: Beasty Baby, Spielman Theatre (Tobacco Factory)
“Where’s the baby?” asks a young audience member at the Spielman Theatre a few minutes into the start of Beasty Baby.
When we first meet the titular character, it is indeed not there, with the three actors on stage cuddling thin air. But as this delightful show progresses, so does the baby, from a bundle of clothes to a headstrong toddler who has learned how to say ‘no’.
For the young audience members, Beasty Baby is a show that they can instantly relate to, with a group of primary school children at the show I was at laughing out loud throughout the performance at the Tobacco Factory’s Spielman Theatre, which has been transformed into a small wooden shack in the middle of a forest.
is needed now More than ever
Beasty Baby, aimed at children aged three and over and their families, has the feel of a silent movie at times, with the actors barely speaking throughout large segments of this 50-minute production.
There is not much of a storyline either at this show from Theatre-Rites, directed by the London company’s artistic director Sue Buckmaster.
Instead, we watch as the baby grows up and is looked after by three adults played by Scott Brooks, Elliot Liburd and Teele Uustani. Mum, dad and friend? A ‘throuple’? It’s never explained.
Accompanied by music composed by Jessica Dannheisser that at times draws parallels with Peter & The Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, Verity Quinn’s ingenious set design sees a high chair becoming a sledge, a cot becoming a cave and sheets becoming a snowy landscape.
Every so often Brooks plucks strings hidden behind a clock. Liburd contorting his body in an attempt to put the baby to sleep are a comical highlight. And Estonian-born Uustani’s uncanny ability to replicate a baby’s cry and speak like a one-year-old really brings it to life, as does the mischievous but loveable puppet co-designed by Naomi Oppenheim and Sue Buckmaster.
Charming and whimsical, Beasty Baby will warm hearts young and old this Christmas.
Beasty Baby is at the Spielman Theatre at Tobacco Factory Theatres until January 6 2019. For tickets and more information, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/beasty-baby
Main photo by Robert Workman
Read more: Review: Chloe & The Colour Catcher, Weston Studio (Bristol Old Vic)
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
