In a follow-up collaboration to their acclaimed Chronicles of Atom & Luna, Funnelwick Limb with Theatre Porto and Eastern Angles have created a new piece which is currently touring a wide selection of small venues, including Ellesmere Port’s Theatre Porto, home of the show’s director Nina Hajiyianni.
12 Yuletide Yarns, written by Murray Lachlan Young, is designed as a show to be taken into schools and libraries, which make up the majority of the performances in its tour, but it is a cosy fit into Theatre Porto’s auditorium, when reconfigured into an intimate space with seats wrapped around three sides of the playing area.
We are first met by ‘Egg’ (played by Semay Wu) who sits with a cello, surrounded by an array of assorted percussion and other instruments. She is providing an atmospheric and playful soundtrack as we enter the auditorium.
A rickety finger-post stands to the rear, and in comes ‘Nog’ (Beccy Hillam) who begins to hang a series of numbered boards from it. As the piece continues, these will eventually be filled with the titles of the twelve yarns that are to come. Finally we are joined by the weaver of yarns himself (Rew Lowe) who tells us that he belongs nowhere and everywhere, but who knows a thing or two about storytelling.
The show, in fact, is less about the individual stories than it is about the practice of storytelling itself. Some of the stories last barely any longer than their titles, but it is how they came to be and why they are being told that is important.
What binds all these seemingly disparate threads together is the tale of a runaway carrot, who becomes the subject of two parts of the numbered yarns on offer, but quite literally gives the storyteller the runaround from start to finish. A series of exquisite miniature puppets, mostly operated by ‘Nog’, show the intrepid vegetable on his epic journey, from being pulled out of the vegetable patch to becoming a snowman’s nose, but he has a great many hilarious exploits along the way.
This is traditional storytelling of the ‘gather round me children’ variety, and it is clear from the transfixed faces that the combination of a story that appears to be being made up before them, along with enchanting puppetry and direct interaction has them hooked.
The 50 minute show is pitched just right to hold the attention of the target audience (age 6+) and there is plenty in it to spark off thoughts and conversations around ideas of making friends, making choices, facing fears and following dreams.
12 Yuletide Yarns continues to delight on its tour over the coming fortnight, and it returns for five further performances at Theatre Porto in Whitby Park on the 19th to 21st December with tickets available here.
Star rating: 4 stars
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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