Review: Club Origami, Little Angel Theatre

As part of Little Angel Theatre’s summer puppetry festival, Ichi Ni San bring a revival of their 2021 production Club Origami, for audiences aged 2–5. This is a stylish and joyful 50-minute paper-based, non-verbal dance piece, which is beautifully structured and intricately choreographed, but which is also so deceptively simple.

Taking its young audience on a subtly interactive exploration of paper folding, ripping and crunching, it encourages us to be playful and imaginative as we follow the energised encounters and games of our two dancers (Makiko Aoyama and Takeshi Matsumoto), while also creating our own paper creations along the way. This is a subtle masterclass in balanced and genuinely child-centred audience interaction, culminating in a paper frenzy – like a huge paper snowstorm – where our dancers spin, lift and dance with abandon, dressed in paper suits speckled with colourful flecks. The young audience can join in with equal playful abandon before the action segues into a play-and-stay session.

Framed throughout by Robert Howat’s onstage looped and live musical score on a xylophone synthesiser, at first we only hear a rhythmic, mechanistic ‘scrunch’ as the two dancers appear in loose-fitting white suits, each holding a large, flat, empty tray. They sit and gently take a piece of flat white paper, beginning to make their own creations: a simple bird, a flower, a cup to drink from. But gradually their eyes look outward towards the audience, their warm smiles becoming increasingly cheeky and subversive, and they stand and move among the children to hand out paper.

The children, seated on two sides of the stage, barefoot on thick strips of white paper, are encouraged to make their own creations. When collected, each piece is lovingly placed along the stage edge. The music shifts, a single bell is heard, and our two dancers move into a series of dance sequences, picking up each creation and responding with movements and shapes directly inspired by – or mimicking – the various circles, birds and folded abstract formations. The delight on the children’s faces as they see their own work coming alive is infectious.

As the music shifts again, moving from gentle melodies through abstract fractured sounds to full-scale rave-style moments, the dancers move five pastel-coloured boxes piled in the centre of the stage. Their lids open to reveal beautiful origami figures and creations: hats, penguins and their babies, aeroplanes and bunting that hangs and frames the stage, which now becomes the centre of a series of dance duets and object-puppetry sequences.

A highlight is an energised fan dance and a simply charming peek-a-boo sequence, eliciting delighted screams, alongside a slightly sinister, large paper-spider-web-style robotic section. There is a lovely sense throughout that the possibilities of the paper are constantly expanding, with each new discovery leading somewhere unexpected.

Light plays a subtle role throughout, with the stage dimming and brightening to match the mood. Light boxes become almost museum-esque plinths for the origami pieces, while two light balls on sticks bring unexpected mystery and further texture to this constantly changing world.

This is a high-quality piece of work for very young people, where creativity literally grows from a plain white sheet of paper and the potential of a single piece of paper seems to have no limits. Celebrating the ancient Japanese art of origami while making it feel immediate, playful and completely accessible, Club Origami is a gentle reminder that sometimes the simplest things can create the biggest worlds. With its gorgeous visual detail, playful interaction and infectious energy, this is a must-see treat for the youngest of audiences.

Concept: Takeshi Matsumoto
Created and performed by: Makiko Aoyama, Robert Howat and Takeshi Matsumoto
Music: Robert Howat
Dramaturg: Lou Cope
Set & Lighting designer: Ben Pacey
Costume Designer: Giulia Scrimieri
Costume Maker: Hania Kosewicz

Club Origami is at Little Angel Theatre until Sunday 9 August as part of the Children’s Puppet Festival