Jungle Book @ Little Angel Theatre Review

It didn’t take long for me to be completely immersed in this creative storytelling production of the familiar tale of the Jungle Book. It is a puppetry and shadow theatre show by Indigo Moon Theatre aimed at children and families and indeed whilst I was watching, I shamelessly went back to being a child, giggling and in awe of the tricks, the puppets and the colours.

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It is simultaneously an easy and difficult task to create good theatre for children. Children are enormously generous and will love and accept you instantly, yet their concentration span is reduced as well as their ability to sit still for long. However, Anna Ingleby – the versatile and talented performer of this show – succeeded in keeping the small children interested by adding valuable moments of interaction. It was endearing to see all the kids howling along with Mowgli (I didn’t go that far in my new-found childlike manners). Through different ingenious tactics, Ingleby creates this visually magical world with the help of Haviel Perdana, who is also the composer of the wonderfully engaging music.

Ingleby is also the one who voices all the characters, and though I admire the ability to take on so many roles, I wondered whether the show would benefit from collaboration with another actor in order to make it sharper and more fluid.

The imagery and visual effects created are outstanding and we get a sneak peak of how it’s done at the end of the show. The beauty of theatre is that it pulls strings on our imagination and leads us in an illusion. It is easy to believe the puppets of the characters are alive and real. These were cleverly designed by Susanna Samanek. Digital projection was also used and when the different techniques were juxtaposed the effect was a colourful splash of beautiful and appealing shapes and images.

This is the kind of theatre I would take my children to see, as it clearly tells a story through engaging poetic words filled with important messages about life – the invaluable knowledge that is not taught at school and that children and adults mustn’t forget. I will definitely be on the look out for their future performances. 4/5

Review written by Sofia Moura.

Jungle Book is currently showing at the Little Angel Theatre until Sunday 22nd June. For more information on the production, visit here…

Written by Theatrefullstop