Heelie-go-Leerie

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JOYCE MCMILLAN on HEELIE-GO-LEERIE (Licketyspit at the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh) for The Scotsman 27.2.08
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4 stars ****

THERE ARE difficult moments galore, in this latest show by Licketyspit for children aged between 3 and 6; but in the end, it offers a truly rich and original children’s theatre experience.  Inspired by a series of workshops with children, Heelie-Go-Leerie is set in some dystopian future where the sky is hidden behind a Big Roof, and three stressed-out children gather in a derelict place full of domestic junk, to try to imagine themselves back to a better world.  It takes a while for the outlines of the story to emerge, from a  performance so full of movement and gesture that it sometimes seems like a protracted guessing-game; and even after the situation becomes clear, there’s a lot of Godot-like sitting around and waiting.

But there’s also something tremendously courageous and important here, in writer/director Virginia Radcliffe’s determination to create a show truly based on the rhythm of children’s imaginations at work, on sudden random flashes of inspiration, fragments of rhyme, and brief rushes of narrative invention.  The three-strong cast – with choreographer Christine Devaney making a powerful late substitute for an injured Annie Grace – work their way through this challenging material with terrific commitment and understanding; and in the end, the whole audience is charmed, touched, and just slightly changed.

ENDS ENDS

~ by joycemcmillan on February 27, 2008.