Carnival of the Animals – Riverside Studios

Anita Dobson and the cast of Carnival of the Animals at Riverside Studios, London. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Carnival of the Animals was performed at the Riverside Studios, London.

Thom Southerland, director of A Carnival of the Animals, told me that this production was still very much a work in progress. He wanted to get it in front of an audience to gauge their reaction and see how to further develop the piece. So I went in expecting to see a workshop presentation with no set, minimal costumes and lighting, and a pianist tucked in the corner. How wrong I was. What I got was a fully staged, fully costumed show with lighting, sound and a band.

The show opens on a Parisienne boulevard outside the dress shop of one Mademoiselle Parfait who is our narrator for the evening. She explains that though it is generally known that there are 20 districts of Paris, there are in fact 21. This last district being a magical place where humans and animals live and communicate with each other.

The story starts with a failed bank robbery, committed by Shake, a chimpanzee; Mono; a zebra; Astra, a lioness and Hot, a parrot. Shake is the leader of the gang, Astra the safe cracker, Hot the voice activator mimic and Mono the brawn who uses his hind legs to kick the doors in. Only this time Mono had lost his mojo and cannot complete the job. They make their getaway and decide to hide out in a run-down theatre. The theatre troupe consists of a lion, a tortoise, a mynah bird, an elephant (who is losing her memory) and two dancing asses who are stage managed by Odette ,a shy cygnet.

Shake (Liam Doyle) takes over the artistic side of things to the annoyance of Odette (Bronte Barbe), until an improbable romance blossoms between them. Astra (Allyson Ava-Brown) is told by Shake to flirt with Henri the lion (Jacob Chapman) to keep him distracted.

The design of the animals was so clever and subtle, the two birds were complete hand puppets, the tortoise was dressed like an American soldier with a tin helmet and a backpack as its shell, the asses and the zebra had wire heads, the cygnet’s head was also a hand puppet, but the actress’s arm became the neck and the elephant’s trunk was also an arm.

Anita Dobson was an absolute delight as Mademoiselle Parfait, even when her character turned into a kind of Cruella de Vil at the end of Act I. She is such an underrated actress and gave a fully committed, warm and rounded performance.

My favourite character, however, was dotty Emilie, the forgetful elephant, beautifully played by Claire Machin. Her comedy patter song to the music of the can-can, with Plato the tortoise (Paul Grunert) was a highlight.

The score is based on the music of Camille Saint-Saens, the composer who in 1886 wrote The Carnival of the Animals, a suite in 14 movements. Composer Gavin Greenaway has brought these themes together with lyricist Roger Hyams, who also wrote the original book. The libretto has now been revised by Andrew Marshall. The director and production team also had the help of a dramaturg, Brian Eastman.

The choreography of Richard Jones was perfect for the show. It was at times simple enough for the whole cast to cope with, fun when Hot the parrot (Matthew Gent) and Caruso the mynah bird (Alastair Brookshaw) did a tap number together, exciting when Pepe the jealous ass competed with his assumed rival Mono (Jonny Fines) for the attention of Carmen (Cassandra Compton) the female ass, and inspired when Odette turned from an ‘ugly duckling’ cygnet into a beautiful flying swan. Stephen Webb was particularly impressive as the Spanish dancing Pepe and also when he was lifting Barbe in her transformation number.

John Risebero’s beautiful and clever set and costume design were complemented by Howard Hudson’s lighting, and musical director David Randall and his band did a great job with the music, enhanced by the sound design of George Dennis.

This is very much a family show as children and adults will enjoy it together, but on a different level to each other. I look forward to seeing how the piece develops. Whether it could be a West End production is debatable, but it has the potential to be another show, like Stiles and Drewe’s Honk! and Just So, that smaller-scale companies and amateurs could take on in the future.

 Peter St James