the times | Friday March 18 2022 11arts
actors. Jacoba Williams’s Empress
becomes a gurning Brummie, and
Gulliver’s attempts to join in an
outdoor disco end in chaos when her
dance steps cause mini earth tremors.It’s Jonathan Swift for the TikTok generation
J
onathan Swift wouldn’t have
been familiar with some of the
ingredients tossed into this
children’s adaptation — the
music of Earth, Wind & Fire
and Lionel Richie, for instance, wasn’t
around in the 18th century. But he
might well have approved of Lulu
Raczka’s desire to take a risk or two.
What you get is a beguiling
combination of technology and
old-fashioned, guess what happened
next storytelling. In a world where
state-of-the-art special effects are
only a TikTok away on our
smartphones, Jaz Woodcock-Stewart’s
production invites a young audience
to use their imagination to fill in the
blanks on the canvas.
In this version of the satire, Lemuel
Gulliver is a modern child (engagingly
played by Mae Munuo) who, tired of
the household chores imposed by heroverworked mother, disappears into
her own world. Alternative reality
in Brobdingnag and beyond is a way
of passing the time. (Parents will be
glad to hear that the moral of the
story is that you can’t shirk real life
for ever.)
Using handheld lights and
cameras on Rosanna Vize’s
ever-evolving set, four actors
play games with perspective,
transforming Munuo into a giant
among the Lilliputians. At times
her image is projected against
the rear wall; occasionally it is
squeezed into a doll’s house. Jack
Phelan’s video design and Owen
Crouch’s sound create no end of
illusions, augmented by Jess Bernberg
and Joshua Gadsby’s lighting.
Knockabout humour holds the
attention of a young audience, who
aren’t averse to chatting back to theThere’s an unabashed dark
streak too. Death casts a
shadow again and again, and it’s
difficult to banish thoughts of
what’s happening in Ukraine
during the scenes of conflict
between the Big-Endians and
Little-Endians.
Could the 90-odd minute piece
be trimmed by a quarter of an
hour? Probably. There’s a
slackening of the pace towards
the close, and I suspect the visit
to the sterile, science-obsessed
realm of Laputa will leave some
children baffled. Still, the
irrepressible Leah Brotherhead and
Sam Swann complete a cast who
become multitudes. If you want an
alternative to the multiplex this Easter,
you know where to go.
Clive Davis
To Apr 16, unicorntheatre.comGulliver’s Travels
Unicorn, SE1
{{{{(theatreMae Munuo plays Lemuel GulliverSix backing singers arrived for the
show’s soul/gospel section, as did a
band, although you had to be
eagle-eyed to spot them hidden
behind a gauze curtain at the back. A
1970s funk-fuelled Crown, performed
beneath a crown-shaped lighting rig
that vanished too quickly, was
mesmerising. A gospel-soaked Lessons
was a spine-tingling singalong, and for
Rainfall the band finally emerged to
follow Stormzy down the walkway.
“I made a promise to fans and to
God that I’m never going to take this
for granted,” said the rapper during a
sweet speech in which he thanked the
crowd for keeping hold of their tickets
through Covid. His pandemic, a video
clip revealed, was spent recording his
third album, due out this year.
The gig’s fun, final third put niggles
to bed. Here was pop star Stormzy
making mischief while delivering his
biggest hits. Big for Your Boots was a
riot. Blinded by Your Grace, Pt 2 was
a tear-jerker. And Vossi Bop turned
the arena into a confetti-filled club.
During Shut Up, sporting silly,
heart-shaped shades and a bucket hat,
Stormzy took a Newcastle United
shirt from a fan then proceeded to
squeeze into it. The night’s best prop
had come free.
Touring to Apr 4high-stepping down a long walkway
into the crowd.
For almost half an hour Britain’s
first rap superstar was alone on stage.
If the reason was to prove that
Stormzy can command arenas solo,
why all the fireworks, which exploded
so often that they were soon more
distraction than attraction?The much-delayed
debut arena tour
by Britain’s grime
superstar doesn’t
disappoint, writes
Lisa Verrico
Rapid-fire rap (and real fireworks)
A
s though the buzz
from expectant
fans wasn’t enough,
Stormzy was
preceded on stage
by an almighty
electrical charge.
For more than a
minute lights blinked and blazed,
bass crackled like static from the
speakers and 11,000 chests vibrated.
Then came the first of frankly too
many fireworks.
Stormzy’s twice-delayed debut
arena tour was a busy, big-budget
spectacular that sometimes made no
sense. Fortunately the rapper was a
presence so magnetic that mostly it
didn’t matter. He descended to the
stage between gigantic sliding-doors
screens that didn’t open far enough
for his arrival to make maximum
impact. Yet from the moment his
feet hit the ground his performance
was explosive.
Split into three sections, the show
started with its fiercest third, a
masterclass of rapid-fire rap that
chanting fans had no chance of keeping
up with. Stormzy barely paused forbreath. Within minutes, his muscular
6ft 5in frame was drenched in sweat.
Standing perilously close to huge
bursts of pyro (thank heavens he
doesn’t have hair), this was grime’s
answer to Liam Gallagher — staring,
unsmiling, oozing cool. Moments
later he was bounding about like a
puppy in the park, then energeticallyStormzy
Utilita Arena Newcastle
{{{{(ANDREW TIMMSStormzy, wearing a football shirt given to him by a fan, put on an explosive performance in Newcastlepop
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