For many years I have been a huge advocate of M6 Theatre Company, and of the work they do. I have seen many of the productions, aimed at toddlers and young children, and the vast majority have been absolutely spot on. I was looking forward to seeing 'Nest' this afternoon, since I had never been to M6 Theatre Company's new home, in their purpose-built annex in the grounds of Hamer County Primary School in Rochdale before. The building is well-equipped, and their studio theatre is a lovely black-box affair with raked seating on one side, affording a good view from any seat.
'Nest' is a two-hander, and tells the story of a couple of crows starting out in a new nest in the centre of a city, One lays a couple of eggs, and they set about trying to prepare for them to hatch. The substance of this story was not in any way enough to sustain a performance time of one hour, and keep the interest and focus of the youngsters in today's audience. Most followed it to a point, and were quiet throughout, but their attention spans waned and a few fell asleep on their parents' arms.
From an adult perspective, this production raises far more questions than it answers, and there are so many things within the show which I found confusing or counter-productive, especially when this show is being performed to extremely sponge-like and impressionable youngsters. The set, did not in any way, look like or represent, a nest. Birds of the crow family will happily make their nests anywhere, and from anything, that much is true; however, after a truly lovely start - using shadow puppetry - to give the background to the story and their choice of nest, we were not shown a nest made of twigs in the branches of a tree. This was a 'house' made of planks of wood, including a wheeled table, ornaments, and a trap door...! The actual nest - where the crows put the two eggs - was a wicker basket. Very strange.
Another point of confusion is casting two actresses to perform this show, when one quite clearly is playing the role of a male crow, 'Birtle' (which sounded far too much like Myrtle... a female name), and had a higher-pitched voice than the female of the partnership, Piper. (a male name (??).
The shows started excellently, as I already stated, with a shadow-puppet montage of a field with tress, slowly being taken over by houses, then high-rise flats and factories etc, leaving a single solitary tree for the two crows to utilise. It was a simple but clear message which was sadly, not followed through in the narrative. In fact, the narrative was to give the children the very opposite messages. First, crows like all the things that the humans throw away on the streets etc, because they can pick them up and use them to decorate their own nests. [promoting the dropping of litter] Second, they like all the food that the humans drop on the flor and leave around because they can then come along and eat and enjoy the human food. [promoting the discarding of unwanted food on the streets] Thirdly, the script promotes consumerism and capitalism (albeit subliminally). The ecological and environmental message that the show started with was not mentioned again! Except as an afterthought at the end, saying that they must look after these eggs, it is their job to take care of their future... but what future...?!
The two actresses (Cynthia Emeagi and Emily Spowage) work well together, and complement each other well on stage. The songs are catchy but are not loud enough, and the show itself very slow and long-winded, with not enough to sustain the interest of the youngsters throughout, and no interaction at all, as this was a show that observed the theatrical tradition of the fourth wall.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 23.9.23
on - 23.9.23
I also went to see this show with my children and couldn't disagree with you more! I felt the messages M6 were sending out where extremely positive and left my children questioning why we have so many things and what is truly important in life. The references to rubbish and food waste made our family question just how much we throw away and that it's not ideal for birds to eat dirty old takeaways overflowing from bins. We also had meaningful conversations afterwards as a family about what really makes us happy and how we can protect the environment. I understand what your point about the set design looking more like a house than a nest, but I think that supports their message about our own lives and all the things we buy and fill our homes with; it really made my children think about all the toys they have and how unnecessary a lot of them are and that time together and love makes us happier than things. As for your point about casting two women as confusing with regards to children understanding gender roles, I think it's extremely important for children to see different family structures and I think the fact that they are clearly two women and their genders are never mentioned leaves it to the families to discuss after the show; are they sisters, are they partners, are they friends? My eldest thought they were a couple while my youngest thought they were sisters - both are perfectly acceptable answers as any blend of people can make up a family and I think the company did a wonderful job at opening up that conversation for such young audiences.
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