Comic children’s show nods towards the songs, dances and routines of a century ago
Nest
at the North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford
on Saturday, October 28
By JON LEWIS
The family audience seemed entranced by this comic show with its nods towards the songs, dances and routines of a century ago.
The background to the story is displayed in the first scene with an entrancing tableau of shadow puppet birds flying around the countryside filled with trees. Then, to the sound of chainsaws and chopping wood, all but one of the trees is cut down with the remaining tree surrounded by houses, multi-storey flats and factories belching smoke.
As the spotlight focuses on the one tree, the backcloth falls away and a stockade-style set (designer, Sharon McWilliams) is revealed.
This is the nest the two crows, Birtle (Cynthia Emeagi) and Piper (Emily Spowage), have found, well above the beeps of the traffic in the centre of the town.
Dressed like music hall dancers in black, waving black fans for their wings, the crows are a double act in the shadow of double acts like Morecambe and Wise. They caw and cackle whilst singing songs about nesting, an anthropomorphic duo with impeccable timing.
Birtle is the dynamic mover and shaker, disappearing from the nest to bring back outsized objects from the human world which they repurpose as decorations or utilities. A giant safety pin serves as a flower holder, a bank note becomes a tablecloth, a pencil can be used for defending themselves, and a die and a cork are turned into stools.
As each new item is brought into the nest the sound effects and music become edgier (composer Mark Melville) as Birtle doesn’t notice the danger from the excess weight having collected these heavy loads.
Their two eggs, dropped into a crib from above as shadow puppets behind the screen, are in a precarious position. However, Baskeyfield doesn’t want to scare the audience as this is a feelgood show for younger children.
The crows resolve things neatly with a bit of common sense and a cute joke from Birtle who says sweetly about the collection: ‘I got into a flap.’
Lovely.
