Hen­ry is a reclu­sive writer with a dead­line (and a sad secret). He’s being hound­ed by his boss, his new neigh­bour is dis­tract­ing, and to top it all off, his char­ac­ter, Lumi­na,  is fight­ing for her life.  Will his imag­i­na­tion help him come to terms with his prob­lems in the real world?

Red Leap The­atre’s new pro­duc­tion works very well in the inti­mate space of Down­stage. The paper set and props are inge­nious. Using phys­i­cal the­atre and object manip­u­la­tion (some­times pup­pets, but not always pup­pet­ty-pup­pets), the sto­ry unfolds over an hour.  If you’re in the mid­dle seats then what hap­pens on stage will real­ly look mag­i­cal. (If you’re on the side you’ll see how it’s achieved.) The illu­sions and ensem­ble work are what make this show spe­cial. Pre­cise phys­i­cal work from the cast, espe­cial­ly Veron­i­ca Brady, Ali­son Bruce, and Justin Haiu, mean that much of the sto­ry can be told with­out words. Emmett Skil­ton pro­vides a ground­ed cen­tre for the oth­er char­ac­ters to work around. Julia Croft is charm­ing as Louise, the enthu­si­as­tic new neigh­bour.

A love­ly sweet sto­ry for the whole fam­i­ly. (There are a cou­ple of scary scenes that might freak the younger chil­dren out.)

  • Paper Sky by Red Leap The­atre, on at Down­stage to 17 Novem­ber 2012.