JUNGLE BOOK - REVIEW - FACTORY INTERNATIONAL

Re-imagining a classic children’s story as experimental theatre would always be a tall order, but Factory International’s Jungle Book manages to miss the mark for all of its intended audience.

©_LUCIE JANSCH-THEATRE DE LA VILLE-PARIS

Running over Easter weekend, Théâtres de la Ville-Paris’ production of Jungle Book is directed by Robert Wilson, who also provides set and lighting design. The music and lyrics are by CocoRosie, made up of sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady.

The show opens with Aurore Déon’s Hathi The Elephant introducing each animal one by one: a recognisable staple of children’s media. Each actor emerges, sings a short introduction for themselves, and dances in place until the scene ends. It is lighthearted and childlike – exactly what I expected from an adaptation of The Jungle Book. Jarringly, the following scene opens with several loud gunshots, after which I could see at least two children near me being comforted by their parents. This served as a great introduction to the play itself: one desperately confused as to who its audience actually is, and how to cater to them.

Aside from Déon’s Elephant, by far the strongest performance is from Aline Belibi as Bagheera The Black Panther, whose vocal ability and physicality shine through. Another standout is Jo Moss as The Monkey, who provided some of the only child-friendly laughs of the night and is particularly impressive during his aerial hoop routine. Despite this, many of their castmates struggle to keep up with what is a decently movement-heavy show, and I really struggled to understand much of the dialogue and lyrics. Much of the blame for this lies with the sound design, but the actors’ diction was very poor throughout.

My biggest problem with the show is its lack of intended audience. The show is advertised as being ‘for all ages’, for ages ‘6+’, and for ‘children’. As it is an adaptation of a children’s story, you’d expect as much. The night I saw it, the audience mainly consisted of young children with their parents, and school groups of young people: again, if I was a parent of a child aged 6+ or a primary school teacher I’d have no reservations about booking this show. The programme had an activity pack at the back: complete with an ‘Are you a human or animal?!’ quiz and Top Trumps cards that can be cut out and played with at home. Everything points to this being a show suitable for children but I just can’t imagine children ever being prioritised during the development of this play. An effort seemed to have been made to focus on atmosphere over plot, which resonated with adults but would have been boring for younger people with shorter attention spans. Around ten minutes could have been shaved off the run time if the overture had been cut and the scene transitions had been tightened, which would have drastically helped, but still wouldn’t have been enough to save it.

I was severely disappointed by Jungle Book. The impressive stage design inside a very impressive building led me to think I’d be watching an impressive play. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I heard similar responses from other audience members both inside and outside the theatre – a lot of delayed and half-hearted applause and hushed conversations at the bar after the show. I also saw a lot of watch-checking throughout the performance, which is never a good sign. Maybe some children who are very used to going to the theatre would enjoy Jungle Book, but as an introduction to the medium, I don’t think the play is very accessible to its own intended audience.

{🎟 AD: PR Invite – Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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