Wednesday 25 January 2012

The Scarecrow at the Unicorn Theatre

The Scarecrow - The Unicorn Theatre

A story about a scarecrow who is often rained on and blown about by the wind is the latest offering for children at the brilliant Unicorn Theatre in Tooley Street.
Two men plough a field in winter and plant plenty of seed. Then along comes a family of crows who have no respect for the hard work the men have done, and set about destroying the crop.
To try and scare off the feisty and persistent crows the two men fashion a scarecrow out of two branches, an old suit jacket, a balaclava, a scarf and a hat. And so the scarecrow is born.
Over the course of a year the two men look after their scarecrow occasionally bringing him new clothes to wear, and in turn the scarecrow looks after the field and the crop and strikes up an unlikely relationship with the crows who just won’t leave him alone.
The story follows this relationship through the seasons from their beginnings as enemies where the crows land on the scarecrow and peck him and steal his straw, to their conclusion as friends and the birth of the baby crows in his hands.
It is a story which is in turn beautiful, charming and rather dark at times and told with affection, humour, music, song, dance, movement, puppetry, and fun.
Iain Armstrong and Mick Jasper are the two men, the scarecrow and the crows and music is provided by Sharon Lindo and her violin.
Both my kids loved the show and it was a real treat to meet Iain and Mick afterwards to see how they made the puppets and chat about the story.
At three and a half, Tom was a bit young for it to hold his attention for the full 50 minutes so I would recommend it's more appropriate for children aged five and above. It is another gem of a show at this lovely theatre.

Unicorn Theatre, Tooley Street
Tue 17 – Sun 29 January 
11am, 1.45pm, 2pm, 4.30pm
Tickets £9 £11
http://www.unicorntheatre.com/
Box Office: 020 7645 0560

Twitter: @unicorn_theatre

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