'Big Book Tall Tales'
TIME OUT LONDON 1 July 17-24 2002
Chidren are left in no doubt that
books lend colour to life when
they take part in the tall tales
sketched out in this latest show from
Booster Cushion Theatre Company .
Devised and performed by Philip
Sherman for five to nine-yeer olds.lt
presses home the companies ethos-
'bringing books to life for children'
and urges young people to get Into
books,quite literally.
Sherman plays Mr Keeper, a
broom-wielding janitor in a rainbow-
covered dust Jacket, who looks after
the neglected tomes inan did library.
He's a manic sort,jabbering and .
singing at breakneck speed,throwlng
out witticisms and tangential
observations to his slightly
bewildered audience, indulging in
occasional high-pitched whoops and
gurning comically as ideas come to
him. Investigating a large object
wrapped in a dust sheet... he uncovers
a six-foot book with five pages
coloured purple, blue, green, yellow
and red. Each colour becomes a
character-they're all played by
Sherman-and an ingredient in a
rainbow-orientated story.
A sole storyteller always has his
work cut out keeping an audience of
children on his side but Sherman's
good-natured, teasihg manner was
received well. It helps that he can dive
enigmatically into his book to re-
emerge as someone else, another
colour to continue with the rainbow
assembling. He is, Of course, two
colours short of a full rainbow, but
such amiable lunacy wins him many
friends in this eccentric 50-minute
performance.
Ronnie Haydon