Globe and Splendid's 'A World Elsewhere' wins over families with playful chaos, though second half stumbles
The Globe Theatre and Splendid Productions' new family show 'A World Elsewhere' charms audiences with its imaginative characters and interactive playfulness, according to a review. The production loses some momentum in the second half, but ultimately regains its fun with audience participation.
The Globe Theatre and Splendid Productions have brought a new family co-production, 'A World Elsewhere,' to the stage. According to a review, the show is all the more enjoyable the more children are in attendance, as their energy and reactions bring the performance to life.
The story follows 12-year-old Cass, a schoolboy grappling with doubts and fears, who considers abandoning his imagination altogether. What makes the production stand out, however, is the sheer joy and sense of play it ignites in both young viewers and the adults accompanying them.
Set inside Cass's imagination, the narrative features a host of colourful characters. Kerry Frampton plays Sarah, a classical Shakespearean actor with a touch of pomposity, while Tanvi Virmani portrays the plucky Cobweb, a minor fairy-tale figure who has lingered in Cass's mind after a memorable staging of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' Zachary Willis appears as Big Guy, one of Cass's favourite TV characters, often engaged in silly staged fights. Cass himself, played by Kyle Ndukuba, tends to sulk at the edge of the action.
The audience joins the group on sea voyages, conjures swaying forests and battles monsters, all directed with a light touch by Lucy Cuthbertson. As Cass's anxiety intensifies, Rose Revitt's design becomes more dramatic: actors sink through trap doors, smoke fills the auditorium, and a huge shadow puppet looms threateningly over the audience.
The review notes that the first half is effortlessly captivating, but the second half becomes overly meta-theatrical and confusing. A strand about the importance of messiness and fear, and the buried idea that life, stories and Shakespeare's plays would be boring without chaos, feels like too much for the loose structure. Younger children's attention begins to waver. Yet the show soon returns to its playful strengths, with characters revived using magic dust, singing and tickling, driven by suggestions shouted out from the audience.
