Review: 3 Little Pig Tails at Cast Doncaster

“…Iklooshar Malara is fantastic…a multi-skilled performer with the most perfect voice for storytelling…”

3 Little Pig Tails by the Garlic Theatre, Cast Doncaster

By Sophie Dodworth

The ‘small space’ at Doncaster Cast is buzzing with excitement and full of small people and their adults ready for this reimagined version of The Three Little Pigs. We all have this popular children’s tale etched into our memories and, for the most part, you will recognise the majority but there are some interesting touches and changes to the story here to keep you on your toes.

The familiar story tells the coming-of-age of the three little pigs – Charlie, Claude and Florence – residing in France. They are all (almost) ready to leave home and start building their own houses out of the best materials – straw, sticks and bricks. Little do they know that there is a big bad wolf on the loose, looking for some curly tails to chop off and add to a French homemade soup that he simply cannot wait to try. He is on the prowl and his mission to blow down their houses before chopping off their tiny pink tails has begun… Will he succeed? Will any of the houses survive his beastly breaths?

When the show starts it is apparent that this is a one-woman show. As a parent, that is a rather tense moment. Will there be enough here to keep my child seated and happy for forty-five minutes? Well fear not, Iklooshar Malara is fantastic. She is a multi-skilled performer with the most perfect voice for storytelling. She holds the auditorium so well with every turn she makes – from puppetry to singing and playing the accordion. She makes her performance seem easy, but it does not go unnoticed that surely it is not. She is sometimes using a puppet in each hand, while switching characters using her voice alongside the appropriate puppet and not once does there seem to be any errors. What a magnificent performer. My child has never been so engaged.

The set is simple and, as the show unfolds, so does some of the set. With all the props tightly fitting behind a small screen, it does make you wonder how they all squeeze behind there. The puppets are plentiful and detailed. Some (the snail especially) move so realistically. There are varying sizes of puppet depending on the scene and where the character has to physically fit, so the juggling of the many puppets and locations is really quite brilliant.

Garlic Theatre Company are the ones delivering this production, they are an award-winning, international visual theatre company. They are well-known on the theatre scene as one of the main puppetry companies in the UK producing original work. They are often on tour in theatres, festivals, schools, village halls and art centres – so if you would like to see one of their wonderful pieces, you should be able to find that opportunity coming to somewhere near you soon enough.

A solid piece of theatre with enough packed in to its forty-five minutes to keep the whole family entertained. Puppetry, laughs, song and live music, what more could you want!

3 Little Pig Tails plays at Cast Doncaster on Thursday 29 May.

Sophie Dodworth is an experienced theatre reviewer. Prior to joining NAR she has written reviews for multiple review sites including The Reviews Hub, and sees reviewing as a lovely break from being a busy mum. Sophie has herself tread the boards, working full time as a professional singer many years ago and more recently in amateur productions.