Before the show has begun, you see a row of shoes waiting patiently on stage. The cast files in, the shoes are put on and we step into Chasing Hares, an exuberant, warm-hearted, socially motivated new play by Sonali Bhattacharyya, directed with vim by Milli Bhatia. Most of the action takes place in West Bengal but the frame is pointedly British – a link made between factory workers in West Bengal and the gig economy in the UK. The shoes could be seen as a symbol: Bhattacharyya’s writing is driven by the uncynical hope that we can put ourselves in each other’s shoes and make the world a fairer place.
As Prab, an idealistic writer and father, Irfan Shamji is a wonderfully relaxed presence on stage. We watch him pick up his baby daughter and a story at the same time – a tale about ogres in a drought – one of several of his unlikely narrative lullabies. Video designer Akhila Krishnan supports all stories with elegant shadow play and one of Bhattacharyya’s strengths turns out to be her emphasis on the importance of finding the right story at the right time. This comes into keenest focus when Prab and his wife meet two actors with a jatra, a folk theatre company, who seek a new story to replace traditional scenes from the Mahabharata.
Devesh is invigoratingly played by Scott Karim as a sarcastic factory owner and actor whose nastiness deepens as the show progresses. Ayesha Dharker is electric as Chellam, his professional other half, in a shocking pink sari, showing sharp intelligence as a form of glamour. Prab gets hired, a little unconvincingly, to write this daunting couple a new play. Zainab Hasan is excellent as Prab’s pragmatic wife, Kajol, urging her husband to put family before social conscience. Prab’s reformist instincts are crushed when Devesh insists on a rewrite of his play and, in compensation, makes him floor manager in his factory where the use of child labour becomes the scandal around which the subsequent action revolves.
It is a play that is unkempt in parts and would benefit from a little extra grooming. The subject matter is not new, yet comes across as pleasingly fresh. And the urgent speech at the end, in which Prab’s daughter Amba, boldly played by Saroja-Lily Ratnavel, speaks up for British workers, is spot on.
101 Dalmatians is spot on, too – in every sense. This new musical by Douglas Hodge – based on Zinnie Harris’s play – with book by Johnny McKnight, is a perfect post-lockdown choice for London’s ever-swelling, dog-doting crowd (of whom I am one). Dog-owning families will be lenient about every detail of this off-leash free-for-all in Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, with lifesize dalmatian puppets whose body language (bum-sniffing included) has been meticulously observed by puppetry designer and director Toby Olié (Ben Thompson, Danny Collins, Yana Penrose and Emma Lucia prove nifty dog handlers/spokespersons).
Kate Fleetwood’s Cruella De Vil is cruel and vile to the max, vaping in an ominous grey fur cape, boasting that she is a social influencer. “Sit! I am not a woman who takes no for an answer!” she shrieks at the dogs. The music is tunefully poppy and in the splendid Für Fur, Cruella confesses what makes her tick. The song is performed in a non-tongue-in-cheek way – and brilliantly confirms that Cruella needs a shrink. All readers of Dodie Smith’s classic and devotees of the film and stage versions will, by this stage, also realise that a pre-emptive call to the RSPCA would not have gone amiss.
There is so much else to like: Bury That Bone by a homeless cur named Captain (Tom Peters) is a shaggy-dog song in which to wallow; there is a particularly charming cameo by a dancing pink poodle (Courtney George); and all of the children in the show perform beautifully. Even if the tale that wags this dog is slight, it cannot spoil this dottily enjoyable show, directed by Timothy Sheader.
CS Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, promised a Narnia for every generation and Sally Cookson’s splendid 2017 Leeds Playhouse production, with set by Rae Smith, is repurposed for new audiences by director Michael Fentiman and proves itself glossily good (almost to a fault). It boasts breathtaking ensemble work, in particular the transitions between the art deco wardrobe and the snowy world beyond, filled with billowing parachute silk. The production respects the book’s “deep magic”.
Samantha Womack is terrific as the witch (a more subtle despot than Cruella) and I noted with interest the stonily depressed look on her face – tyranny as mental affliction. Jez Unwin’s Mr Tumnus is perfect as the lovable faun with low self-esteem who issues the most tempting invitation to tea and marmalade cake. The children (Ammar Duffus, Robyn Sinclair, Shaka Kalokoh and Delainey Hayles) are played with attractive naturalness. It is marvellously unsettling to watch Edmund swig the witch’s foaming brew and sate himself on pink, sugary cubes. The show’s moral could hardly be clearer: never accept marmalade cake from strangers – let alone turkish delight.
Star ratings (out of five)
Chasing Hares ★★★
101 Dalmatians ★★★★
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ★★★★
Chasing Hares is at the Young Vic, London, until 13 August
101 Dalmatians is at the Open Air theatre, London, until 28 August
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is at the Gillian Lynne theatre, London, until 8 January
