pinocchio

Pinocchio

By the Jasmin Vardimon Company

At Sadlers Wells Theatre

We are told on arrival that this is not the Disney version. It is taken directly from the Italian fairy story. This one is much darker. The puppet must learn to experience all human emotions, greed, terror, love, happiness, sorrow etc. and this dance experience shows him going through all these things

It begins a little slow with a shadowy Gepetto making the boy out of a piece of wood. It takes him just a little too long and we are eager to see the result. He is a wobbly puppet, hardly able to stand upright and walking as if he is still on strings. He is the only thing that is not on strings. All the furniture and settings come  swinging in on strings. Appearing and disappearing, when necessary. Even Gepetto’s house is a tent held up with string so it can turn into all different objects – at one time it is a boat. All the visuals are clever and witty and are made by Guy Bar-Amotz and Jasmin Vardimon.

Gepetto loves his wooden child and sells his coat to buy him a book so he can be educated. The naughty puppet sells the book so he can join the marionettes

 He meets all the villainous people on his journey. Pinocchio meets up with the cat and the fox and some assassins who hang up on a tree. He is also thrust into the lake and is eaten by a whale.

The music is taken from all genres and are always appropriate to the action. The dancing by the cast of international dancers is of course quite brilliant – but my problem is that it was sometimes quite difficult to follow the story. Even though we have a quick précis in the programme.

Jasmin Vardimon  started her ballet company in 1997 with her unique choreographic style and visualizations

Their motto is “To be human – To dream to strive, to love”. And this is exactly the theme that is explored in The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi who wrote the book in 1883 Italy.  He believed that children could be ‘real boys’ with the help of education instead of simply work force or Donkeys. Pinocchio comes very near to that fate and for a while becomes a member of a donkey community.

Good fun if you can keep up with it. Dangerous and a bit frightening towards the end. Children are very happy with it.