'The House With Chicken Legs' is a rather strange, curious, perhaps even off-putting title, if one wasn't already to know that it is the theatrical adaptation by Sophie Anderson, of the book by the same name and author, which is, in turn, an adapatation for children of the great Russian legend of Baba Yaga.
The story tells of a 12-year-old girl who lives with her grandmother (Baba), in an old wooden house which has chicken legs. Baba is a Yaga, a person who guides the newly dead through the gates and off into the stars to complete the circle of eternal life. After the death of both of her parents, Marinka, the granddaughter, is now being 'trained' in this art as one day she will, as is her desitiny, take on that responsibility herself. Once the newly dead in a certain place have been guided through and start their journey to the stars, the house simply gets up on it's chicken legs and takes them to a new place!
Marinka though has other ideas about her destiny. What if she wanted to choose her own path in life? What happens when she makes friends with living mortals? And what happens when she watches her grandmother travel into the spirit world herself just after learning that her life up until that point had all been a lie and she isn't what she thought at all...?!
The production currently at Manchester's HOME Theatre comes from 'Les Enfants Terribles', and is advertised as being suitable for children from 9 years upwards. I would say that's a fair assessment; the content is handled excellently, with a brash mix of live songs / music, good old-fashioned storytelling, special effetcs, and puppetry. And the question on everyone's lips being, 'does the house actually get up and walk on chicken legs?', is easily answered.. yes it does!
The story is sympathetically told, and the acting in general is of a high standard. No corners are cut as the production values are extremely high. I did find it more than long-winded though, and with a running time of close to three hours (with interval), it was certainly too long for the target audience. Scene changes, especially those where the house needed to move position took too long to effect, and some of the sequences simply went on for far too long. It could have benefitted from a dramaturge also perhaps in order to highlight the more poignant moments, and cut away some of the less important dialogue. Not knowing the children's book, but being somewhat familiar with the original Baba Yaga tale, I enjoyed watching this adaptation, as it cleverly managed to negotiate some rather tricky and unsavoury elements of the story with ease, making them age appropriate; with the company creating a great ensemble feel which complemented the clever stage design.
Eve De Lion Allen played Marinka, the 12-year-old girl, and is immensely likeable as we enjoy following her trying to control and make sense of the things around her. Lisa Howard brought both comedy and sincerity to her role as Baba Yaga, and David Fallon was engaging as awkward teenager Ben. It was Keshini Misha's role as Nina however which was for me the most realistic and easy to watch. Without a programme I have had to take cast information from the website.
'The House With Chicken Legs' continues its run at HOME until 23rd April.
'The House With Chicken Legs' continues its run at HOME until 23rd April.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 5.4.22
on - 5.4.22
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