From Young Artists to Young Audiences—Once Upon a Time: A Play with Music
As part of Theatre Kingston’s Fringe Festival, Bottle Tree Production‘s Once Upon a Time: A Play with Music is a short and sweet jaunt back into the brightly painted world of fairy tales. Audiences of all ages will enjoy following siblings Neil (Kian Watters) and Nell (Emery Liebeck) as they try to save the Goddess of Music, Calliope (Amara Nanji), from a seemingly evil Queen (Willow Hart).
Having kidnapped the Goddess of Music, the Evil Queen has eliminated all rhyming words from the vocabularies of her subjects, ending all song writing. This is a huge problem for songwriter Neil and his sister Nell. Nell compels her brother to join her to go on a hijinks-filled adventure across the kingdom to find Calliope and rescue her from the Queen. Using funny disguises, animal friends, and their artisanal crafts, they try to convince the Queen to free Calliope and restore rhyming words in the kingdom.
You would be half right to say this sounds like something more geared towards children. While the show is clearly intended for a younger audience, there is an undeniable charm in Anne Marie Mortensen’s writing and the performances from the teenage actors.
Knowing that the show was put together in under three weeks made the performances all the more impressive. With a cast on the edge of adolescence, it’s heartwarming to see them put on such earnest performances intentionally meant for young audiences. Watters and Liebeck get special mention for their comedic chemistry as the quarrelling siblings, and Nanji and Hart were major highlights during their solo songs as well.
Speaking with the cast after their opening night, it was clear that they were both pleased with the show, and eager to perform for another audience of their intended demographic. The actors were looking forward to reaching more kids with this funny, bright, and sweet show that is all neatly wrapped with a message about treating others with kindness.So many of us are bitten by the theatre bug when we are young, and stick with the practice throughout our whole lives. To see the Kingston community rally around these young artists who are actively participating in that cycle gives this author hope for the future of Kingston theatre.
Lucy D’Elia’s direction and staging was more than appropriate, using the small space to their advantage, winking at the audience. She makes the lack of space a part of the comedic beats, her grasp of the writing shows in the actor’s well rehearsed comedic timing, and she doesn’t shy away from breaking the fourth wall to entangle the audience in the story. Her awareness as a director often extends to the audience, bringing a levity and awareness for the adults in the crowd, expertly making a “but parents can enjoy it too” show.
So if you’re looking for something the whole family can enjoy, this is it!
Once Upon a Time: A Play with Music was apart of Theatre Kingston’s Fringe, produced by The Kick & Push Festival. Click here for more information.
