Review: Tiny Planet, Albany Deptford

Half A String is a unique company with huge talent. They routinely bring exceptional design, fabulous music, and superb puppetry to the stage, and their latest touring show Tiny Planet, here seen at the Albany, Deptford, is no exception.

In this story, intergalactic baker Alma rushes around delivering cakes to customers on different planets. She isn’t unduly careful about what happens to them, recklessly rushing to get the job done even when her customers need to speak with her. When her space scooter malfunctions, she finds herself stranded on a tiny planet, where she’s forced to slow down and learn to work with the natural world. And when she finds herself in dire need of help, she is ultimately repaid for having invested care and attention.

This show really takes the audience on an active journey, albeit one of changing pace. Performed by a meticulous team of puppeteer performers, Emily Essery, Sean Garratt, and Darcey O’Rourke, at first ,it’s all action, with fabulous music giving energy and atmosphere. As Alma dashes about, Avi Simmons’ fabulous folky songs combine brilliantly with Suitman Jungle’s distinctive drum and bass touches. The soundtrack throughout is performed magnificently, with live guitar from O’Rourke and additional vocal foley sounds from the team. They bring humour, and delight the audience. 

Scenes are soon punctuated by big ‘meanwhile’ moments, however, that cause us to pause and reflect on events happening in the wider universe, and ultimately to consider other ways of being and behaving. And we’re in it together, reading the sign and speaking the pause out loud in shared time. 

The emotional engagement with Alma is rich and varied: there’s peril as asteroids hurtle through space; we feel sad for our little baker when her cake delivery goes astray – but there’s also excellent comedy in the crisis. And when she becomes stranded and her universe re-centres on a small sphere, we must change pace along with her, our perspectives altering. Initially, this shift might feel unfamiliar, a little slow, but it is key to her – and us – reframing the human connection with nature.

It’s a technically clever, intricate production that encourages the audience to examine the world differently and from new perspectives. The tiny planet itself is an incredible piece of design by Peter Morton, giving a clear nod to Antoine de St Exupéry’s classic book Le Petit Prince. With the performers moving around it in impressively choreographed synchronicity, it slowly revolves, centre stage, gradually revealing secrets to Alma as she awaits rescue. From dramatic, volcanic smoke emissions to clouds, plants, and delightful creatures, there’s much to discover if you spend time with it. And we’re allowed to engage extra close via close-up camera work, made possible through props from the very fabric of the story, which take us right into Alma’s adventure. 

As a show aimed at ages 5-11 years and one hour long, it’s perhaps a little bit of an ask for the younger members of that range, and at the Albany, Deptford, which has quite a large auditorium, it was sometimes difficult to appreciate the fine detail of the production from the rear. That said, there’s still a huge amount to enjoy here, from the beautiful puppetry and characterisation to the vibrant music and thrillingly dynamic performances.

Come the conclusion, we’ve been on an active journey with Alma and through all the emotions. We’ve seen how she learns to love the planet, fighting to protect it, and how it then supports her when she most needs it: and this surely is an important and rather beautiful lesson for us all about the precious value of human co-existence with nature.

Director, Designer & Story: Peter Morton
Writer: Louisa Ashton
Song Writer: Avi Simmons
Music: Suitman Jungle
Dramaturg: Emma Willatts
Puppeteers: Emily Essery, Louisa Ashton, Sean Garratt
Musician/Performer: Darcey O’Rourke
Video Design: Boyd Branch
Lighting Design: Claire Childs
Outside Eye: Chris Elwell 

You can read more about this amazing production in our recent interview with Peter Morton.

Tiny Planet’s run at Albany, Deptford is now over, but the tour continues until Sunday April 26.