Sky in the Pie
Children’s theatre can fail in two main ways – it can be saccharine sweet, or frantically stupid. We adults know it, but don’t fool yourself – children can tell as well. The delightful Sky in the Pie is neither of those things, and will give your little ones a fun and smart hour of wonder.
This fantastical little show takes the beloved poems of Roger McGough, OBE, and (with the help of the circus artists Feathers of Daedalus) reimagines them as one child’s schoolday dream. A likeable cast of five – Joshua Frazer, Rosie Rowlands, Max Young, Rebecca Solomon and Ludovic Helin – perform not only the poems and songs, but also acrobatics and a bit of very sweet puppetry, imagining everything from flying pigs and living books to skies inside of pies.
Sky in the Pie is a celebration of the patron saint of UK poetry’s 30 year body of work, plus McGough has written some new material for this show, including an uplifting closing song.
Sky in the Pie is a treat for kids and parents
The rhymes are clever enough for the adults but really made the children smile. The memserised crowd at the OSO Arts Centre were kept on the edge of their seats by the energeticly performed (but not overly so) set of “day-in-the-life” vignettes.
Laughs were had when the popular subjects of pets, noses, bums or anything disgusting (such as the very suggestion of eating a runaway meatball that has fallen on the floor) are tossed out to the children. The seven year olds behind me were later heard in the ladies room discussing who’d been able to better guess all of the couplets that were asked of the audience, and when queried by the cast about their reading habits, one adorable three year old boy demanded to be heard about his love of The Gruffalo.
Not soppy, certainly not stupid, Sky in the Pie is a heartfelt, intelligent hour celebrating the beauty of poetry, “whether it rhymes or not”.
Twitter: Feathers of Daedalus @feathers_circus or @McgoughRoger
OSO Arts Centre – through Saturday 22nd February 2020, 2pm
VAULT Festival – Friday 6th – Sunday 8th March 2020, 6.15pm
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A former ABC National, Dallas and Atlanta radio personality, Martina O'Boyle is now making movies and covering culture in London, Dublin, and as far in Europe as the cheapie flights will take her, for Pop Culture Beast.