Abigail Faponle 10U

Review on an Arts Event

This review is based on the play “Pied Piper”, having been awarded an Olivier in 2006 on its first

performance out in Theatre Royal Stratford East. The show was transferred to The Barbican

Theatre and performed on the 11th March 2009 where I witnessed it. I was attracted to the event

because a good friend gave a short, positive review of the event; it was also in celebration of a

birthday.

The play was modern day’s re-write of Pied piper. In the original well known tale, Pied Piper was

a boy who was told to charm away the “vermin” of the street with his instrument in order to be

rewarded by the townsmen. In this version the “vermin” were young teenagers with anti-social

behaviour orders this was shown to the audience on the clothing that they wore. They wore all

blacked out clothing including black hoods with “ASBO” printed on the back. Sam Kenrick

(Choreographer and Performer) played the role of Pied Piper as he attempted to charm away the

young kids off the street.

Music Producer, Michael Asante used sound effects and a range of sounds for humour and to

build tension in scenes. The actors and actresses mimed through out the play using body

language and facial expressions and dance moves to portray emotions, feelings and domination.

Not expected, there was a mixed, diverse audience which from my point of view enjoyed the

performance and gave a standing ovation.

The 90-minute rush of passion and energy is now said to be embarking on a major national tour.

In my opinion Barbican Theatre was the perfect place to show the remake of Pied piper. The

venue was a clean, designed, big building with staff who escorted me to my seat without

confusion, havoc or chaos.

Through-out the play, the atmosphere was lifted and I was to lead to have much interest in the

ending of the play. Street and break dancing were to the two main genres of dance used in the

performance. Communication with the audience was a seen as a specific target for the

performance. Although they did not interact with us much, they gave us cues to laugh with eye

contact.

Overall the play was a highly engaging show that showed humour, action and passion. The

amount of rehearsal, thought, effort and dedication was shown on stage. All the performers

were very incredibly talented, from the grown professionals to the cute, young children; they all

showed professional attitudes through-out the whole play. I especially enjoyed the way the

producer or writer twisted the original story of ‘Pied Piper’ into a modern day situation and local

communal problem. I would definitely recommend it to a friend and would love to see it again.

My rating is 4 stars. I would say the only bad thing about the performance was the pauses which

were inserted in breaks for the performers to change clothing and get into character for the next

scene. The breaks were filled with short animations projects onto a screen on stage filled with

messages and notifications.