Having never been to the Lakeside theatre before, this was a pleasant experience in itself. We arrived a little early for the play so wandered around the lake and even had time for a quick spin in the children’s playground where there are some truly monstrous climbing frames to conquer. The staff were very friendly and inviting and some true effort had been made on the themed interval mocktail’s. Overall, I would highly recommend coming here to watch anything, or even just going out for a walk or a little rowing.
Now time to discuss the actual play. This variation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale of love, family, belonging and betrayal is lovingly and thoughtfully transported into the 21st century through BB Cooper’s musical retelling. The script was written by Toby Hulse but it is really brought to life by the fantastic performances from the universally young, talented and beautiful cast.
The set design was inspired, freaky and very functional, the cast made great use of it with some nifty lighting tricks. The cast made good use of the theatre space, coming up and performing on the stairs to increase the feeling of participation. A big shout out must go to the two main naughty monkeys whose silliness was both infectious and believable. Although I was on a date, I only had eyes for the beautiful, though slightly over-sexualised python, Kaa. Played by 4 young ladies, make sure you remember the number one rule, ‘Don’t look at her!!”
Long story short, get yourself down to the lakeside theatre, I have never seen amateur theatre look so decidedly unamateurish, a true gem.
The Jungle Book runs for approximately two hours including the interval, it is suitable for children over the age of 6 though it is perhaps designed for older children/adults.
The Jungle Book is showing until 23 July, for more information and tickets go to www.lakesidearts.org.uk
Review by Abdul Khan
