Review: Ruby’s Worry, Polka Theatre

Mish Mash Productions bring Ruby’s Worry to the stage, a simple, musically infused adaptation of writer and illustrator Tom Percival’s charming book of the same title. We meet Ruby (Adrien Spencer), initially content, skipping around her pastel-coloured home and garden with a beaming smile. She flies a kite, waters plants that shimmer and flutter, greets a ladybird, and taps out a tune on the fence and bench railings. All seems OK. But something shifts. Her ‘worries’ first appear as tiny strands of yellow string, which grow and grow in length, and then become a series of bigger and bigger balloons, and finally into googly-eyed yellow creatures that hover and loom.

At school, overseen by her grumpy teacher, Ms Percival, while other children throw themselves into an art class, drawing chalk flowers and even a steaming poo, Ruby is paralysed. She cannot join in and instead retreats, making herself small – now represented by a puppet version of herself. Sitting alone in the park, she meets a boy with his own worry balloon floating overhead. They discover that talking helps; their burdens ease once shared, and their worries float away.

There’s something decidedly very old-fashioned and charming about the simplicity of the message of this piece. But dramatically, there’s little jeopardy, tension or even specificity about what the ‘worries’ might be. Perhaps that’s the point – worries are universal, and sharing makes things better. Still, it all feels a little too easy and woolly, and a bit of well-being breathing and chatter may not really be enough.

The company want to introduce classical and other traditional music to young audiences, and this is where the production is strongest. The cast (Sophie Rivlin, Charlotte Fairburn, Sagnick Mukherjee) play cello, violin and viola beautifully, occasionally singing with real skill. You can really enjoy the arrangements, and we feel safe in their resonance. Seeing these instruments up close is genuinely inspiring for young children and provides the production’s highlight moments. Yet there remains a sense of narrative drift; the music and the action don’t quite connect, and it’s not always clear what is driving the story forward, with the music, gorgeous as it is, floating around the world of the play.

Originally developed with libraries in Nottinghamshire and now touring theatre venues, the move into larger or more traditional performance spaces demands greater energy, variety in pace, directorial rigour and theatrical focus. Much here feels underdeveloped, and the result is a noticeable restlessness in the audience. At 40 minutes, it all starts to drag.

Tagged for ages 3–7, the piece firmly lands at the younger end. For older children, the aesthetic – stripes, patches on play clothes, polka dots, mismatched socks and frills – feels a little obvious, dated, and pedestrian. Gentle and well-intentioned, yes, but theatrically, it never quite stretches beyond its starting point, meandering with limited purpose – much like the puppetry throughout – through Ruby’s day: although you do walk away having felt enveloped by the music throughout, like having taken a stroll on a warm summer’s day with your headphones in.

Director: Hannah Stone
Associate Director: Ria Ashcroft
Puppetry Director: Kitty Winter
Musical Director: Sophie Rivlin
Designer: Erin Fleming

Ruby’s Worry runs at Polka Theatre until Sunday 22 February