Remember the blue fairy that toy-maker Geppetto wishes on? Here, it’s plastered in feathers and frills and speaks in a spectacularly uneven American accent. Pinocchio wears blue dungarees and is played by a woman (with excellent movement work from a floppy-limbed Peyvand Sadeghian). The young boy’s conscience is reimagined as a buzzing mosquito and the whole thing is compered by Marmalade the Cat (a perfectly preening Susan Harrison).
Eve Leigh’s confident and eccentric adaptation has been given a bold and mature production. Most striking of all are Jean Chan’s design and costumes, which practically glow with life and character and purpose. Book pages have been plastered across the edges of the floor and the colourful frames that line the stage. The striking motif imbues the set with a humming feeling of spontaneity, but is also a clever nod to Carlo Collodi’s original novel and a reminder that his pages have been ripped up and drawn anew.
Geppetto’s workshop stands atop a floating platform and is a thing of beauty; a shabby-chic haven of sketches, materials, tools and toys. The excellent costumes have a bit of panto, with bright colours and a general air of silliness, but also streaks of Tim Burton’s gothic expressionism and Roald Dahl’s sinister feeling of excess. Pinocchio’s clingy friend Polpetta is dressed in pink tights, pink skirt, pink shoes, pink everything – and constantly licks on a giant pink lollipop. The evil Duchess who tries to buy Pinocchio sits atop an impossibly tall throne and wears a red velvet robe that swoops down for seemingly miles.
Director Justin Audibert does really well to balance a tonally tricky piece which has flashes of panto, dance and bursts of song but also flashes of something much more nuanced and dramatic. The scenes between Pinocchio and Geppetto (Tom Kanji) are intense and sometimes quite ugly, yet still have their place in this unusual show. Complex ideas emerge amid the whirlwind of activity and colour, particularly around lying, which is described as an urge to treat other people like playthings or toys. Best of all, there are lessons for the adults as well as the kids. Tell your children the truth. Treat them like adults. Only then will they grow.
At Unicorn theatre, London, until 31 December.
