To feel unloved is crushing. But to be told that you are hated is soul destroying. Utterly so when the castigator is a parent. A fate which befalls Pinocchio, “a little pine nut” carved from a block of wood, whose adopted “papa” Geppetto tells a porky the size of a Brexit bus in order to spare him from a lengthy prison sentence.

A bit dark and heavy for a festive show, you might think. But not half as dark and heavy as the belly of a giant whale into which they are swallowed up before escaping at speed in a tonsil-tickling finale which is as joyous as it is tender.

Adapted for the stage by Lu Kemp and writer Robert Alan Evans whose recent credits include Kes for Perth Theatre, director Dominic Hill has reunited the creative team behind last year’s A Christmas Carol – lighting director Lizzie Powell, composer Nikola Kodjabashia and set, costume and puppet designer Rachael Canning – to great effect. Displaying a boldness of vision and execution which is more than matched by a twelve-strong ensemble who in addition to playing a multitude of roles elevate proceedings with a scintillating live score of piano and percussion.

After a festive sing-a-long about Dario the Donkey complete with fah-lah-lahs and floppy ears, the once upon time adventures of Pinocchio, first published in serial form in the early 1880s, starts off soft and slow as Geppetto, played to perfection by Gary Lilburn, wallows in failure at not having sold a puppet for over a year. Resigned to shutting up shop, he is presented with a block of wood which he proposes to chop into kindling sticks until a eureka moment inspires him to swap axe for chisel and carve a new puppet.

A child is born, so to speak. Or rather a toy who yearns to be a boy; but in order to do so must sacrifice eternal youth and learn how to feel. An emotional and literal roller-coaster ride which leads him into a world of temptation in Playland where he discovers that though it is easy to be naughty and fib, it is better to be honest and good.

There are so many highlights to choose from in what is a theatrical triumph by Hill. Ranging from Pinocchio’s touching self-discovery and his first tentative steps towards Geppetto to a prudish schoolteacher bemoaning a “disgusting array of lexical perversion” and Pinocchio’s freakish dance-off with a twisted marionette which like much of the production contains all the brutal and anarchic elements of both a Freak and Punch & Judy show. Both of which are represented in Canning’s terrific design.

Andy Clark and Stephanie Payne are excellent as the Cockney-voiced cartoon baddies Fox and Cat. As is Irene Allan as the terrifying Florenzina who thinks nothing of sacrificing child slaves in pursuit of gold. Helen Katamba is kindness personified as Cricket. And Liam King supported by associate puppet director Elisa de Grey breathes lungfuls of life into the wooden-hearted Pinocchio which like the show – certainly not for tots, and as dark as a Grimm’s fairy tale – is beautifully crafted.

Peter Callaghan
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