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Superb, skilfully choreographed storytelling: an epic fantasy that dovetails anime and shadow puppetry.Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Shadow puppetry geniuses Mochinosha Puppet Company return to the Edinburgh Fringe with yet another of their outstanding productions, Shadow Necropolis. Once again, the adventure features a young girl called Minerva who visits a shadow world in her sleep, becoming the hero she is unable to be in her everyday life because she finds life overwhelming. This time she visits a spooky necropolis, run by skeletons who no longer care about anything, and takes on a quest to help a refugee from her real world school who has been kidnapped by the goddess of anxiety.
Created and performed by Daniel Wishes and Seri Yanai this is an exceptional, visually stunning production. The pair utilise in the region of 400 separate puppet pieces to create a movie before your very eyes in an astonishing, skilfully choreographed piece of shadow puppetry. Passing between performers with amazing dexterity, each of the pieces is beautifully crafted, often with jointed articulation or transparent fills to add colour. The movement, scale and variety of the puppets is truly astonishing, and at points the images are even projected onto a handheld screen moving across the stage space.
The storytelling is just captivating, drawing the audience effortlessly along on an epic adventure with excellent comedy, and supported by both a comic book styling and an almost gameplay structure to Minerva’s quest. It feels very much like anime. Throughout, the pair voice all the different characters, of which there are many, all very different. My particular favourite is the cameo from the cool DJ Slug, clearly a hero in the Shadow Kingdom and also here in Edinburgh (I would have bought the tshirt!). The complex soundtrack too is interesting and fun, giving extra levels to the already great story.
Yet masked by the brilliant humour and fantastical weirdness in this show there are some really deep topics under discussion. Minerva’s schoolfriend is a traumatised refugee. Despite a schoolfriend’s assessment that “refugees can be quite suss” Minerva chooses to be kind to her, approaches her with friendship when no one else does. She changes her own way of thinking and learns to respond to the girl’s needs over her own assumptions of what is needed. The story offers a real confrontation of ideas of anxiety, giving support, coping mechanisms and wise words on self-care, with a positive resolution. This truly is a therapeutic show that all teenagers should see.
Brilliant for children and adults alike, Shadow Necropolis is an absolutely top choice at Edinburgh this year. Don’t hesitate to go. In the meantime, you can download Mochinosha’s free comic book for the show here.
Create and performed by Daniel Wishes and Seri Yanai
Produced by Mochinosha Theatre Company
Shadow Necropolis runs at Assembly Roxy Upstairs as part of Edfringe until 25 August. Further details and how to book can be found here.
