Amazonia ** TNT
The Young Vic’s seasonal offerings are usually a treat for adults and children alike, but this year’s Christmas production, despite — or perhaps partly because of — its laudable intentions and long gestation period, fails to live up to expectations. An uncomfortable mixture of folklore and fact, it ends up muddled and preachy and takes far too long for the main thrust of the story to become clear.
Credit to writers Paul Heritage and Colin Teevan for wanting to warn youngsters about the repercussions of destroying the Amazon rain forest and of the plight of the people who live there.
And why not incorporate the ghost of assassinated rubber-tapper turned environmentalist, Chico Mendes? But for it to work, this show needs a lot more fun, laughs and narrative coherence than they’ve managed to provide.
The cast (including Daisy Wilson’s marriageable Rosamaria) works hard to create an exuberant carnival atmosphere and a meagre handful of unexpected laughs is generated by the heroic efforts of Simon Trinder’s Francisco as he desperately attempts to persuade his boss’s bull to dance (and so secure the future prosperity of the village) whilst simultaneously catering to the increasingly bizarre cravings of his pregnant wife.
But this is a disappointing culmination of so much worthy effort, with the upbeat optimism of the final dance at odds with the show’s basic message that progress, at the expense of the trees, can only be of a transient nature.
Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 (020-7922 2922). Until January 24. £22.50
The Young Vic’s seasonal offerings are usually a treat for adults and children alike, but this year’s Christmas production, despite — or perhaps partly because of — its laudable intentions and long gestation period, fails to live up to expectations. An uncomfortable mixture of folklore and fact, it ends up muddled and preachy and takes far too long for the main thrust of the story to become clear.
Credit to writers Paul Heritage and Colin Teevan for wanting to warn youngsters about the repercussions of destroying the Amazon rain forest and of the plight of the people who live there.
And why not incorporate the ghost of assassinated rubber-tapper turned environmentalist, Chico Mendes? But for it to work, this show needs a lot more fun, laughs and narrative coherence than they’ve managed to provide.
The cast (including Daisy Wilson’s marriageable Rosamaria) works hard to create an exuberant carnival atmosphere and a meagre handful of unexpected laughs is generated by the heroic efforts of Simon Trinder’s Francisco as he desperately attempts to persuade his boss’s bull to dance (and so secure the future prosperity of the village) whilst simultaneously catering to the increasingly bizarre cravings of his pregnant wife.
But this is a disappointing culmination of so much worthy effort, with the upbeat optimism of the final dance at odds with the show’s basic message that progress, at the expense of the trees, can only be of a transient nature.
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