Fringe review: Dream Space
In this wholesome performance, a menagerie of puppets impart positive life lessons to their young audience. ★★★
Immersive from the get-go, Dream Space is a wonderful and welcome reprieve from the over-stimulation of some children’s entertainment. The combination of puppetry and silliness makes for a stellar show for younger, older, and fully grown children alike.
As you enter, five performers greet you with goofy faces and a cloud of bubbles (and who doesn’t love bubbles?), setting the mood for the fun ahead. They make great use of physical comedy, with huge levels of vigour and commitment. Together, we travel through imaginative scenes (including a medieval village, a deserted island, and an underwater seascape), learning lessons of perseverance and the true value of the gold standard along the way.
The puppeteers are skilful, and the puppets themselves are beautifully designed, particularly the majestic whales in the final scene (on the posters for good reasons), who deliver good, simple lessons about accepting help and vulnerability. Occasionally, the children’s attention spans get the better of them, and some of the stories may have been lost on some of the younger audience members, but the deserted island sketch was a clear stand-out, expertly executed by the puppeteers who are silly and expressive in all the right ways. Dream Space delivers a delightfully wholesome performance with everything gained and nothing lost, guaranteed to instil a sense of childlike wonder often lacking in this day and age.
Dream Space is playing at The Lark at Gluttony February 21 – March 1
