Another production staged live on Appelcart Arts's own theatre for their Dazed New World Fringe Theatre Festival which is being transmitted online for two weeks. This one, a children's story told by Faceplant Theatre Comapny, was called 'One Duck Down' and tackled the contemporary problem of pollution, plastic waste, recycling, global warming and the ecology in general.
The four performers brought a freshness to their story which, had it been live, would have been picked up immediately by the youngsters who would have found it engaging and indeed, there were occasions where a certain amount of 'audience participation' would be required which would have filled the void in a lve performance, which online fell a little flat.
In a one hour long play - with some catchy original songs - they told their story of a simple West Country lad, Billy [why are all simpletons given West Country accents?] in love with a domineering and bossy rich girl Cecelia, and in order to prove his love for her, she sets him the seemingly impossible task of collecting all 7000 rubber ducks which have fallen off a ship in a storm and bring them back to her. With some exceedingly excrutiating silly puns, he travels the seven seas meeting wildlife, seeing the damage mankind is doing to the wildlife and their habitats, and - let's not mention the farting polar bear or the narcissistic Italian seagull - with a little help from a bearded lady, amasses all 7000 and travels home a hero, only to find that neither did Cecilia love him, nor did he really love her, and so marries the bearded lady instead!
It's a little long for the online version - in all fairness it might not be too long live, and again, because of the medium in which it was presented it did drag a little and seem somewhat flat too. But it was a nice story, with lots of silly gags (even if the youngsters wouldn't get them, we adults would... eg: The Moby Dick book), high energy levels, and a serious message to give to the young audience too.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 15/10/20
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