Viva Brighton Issue #83 January 2020

THEATRE
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imagination.” While the stories were collected at
the turn of the 20th century there is a timeless
quality to them, Barritt goes on. “These sorts of
tales have always been a means of understanding
the world and of making sense of the challenges
humans face. Some of them are undoubtedly a
product of their time but there is a lot that still
rings true today.”
While it’s a more pared-back show than their previous
appearances in Brighton, it still bears all the
1927 hallmarks, Barritt says, from the breathtaking
melding of animation, performance and film,
to a live musical score performed on instruments
from a berimbau – a Brazilian, single-string musical
bow made from a gourd – to a donkey’s jaw.
Well, actually, the donkey’s jaw has been dropped
since, Barritt explains. “It doesn’t really work in
a touring show. Places like Australia just won’t
let you in with something like that.” The pitfalls
of navigating customs with a few bones in your
holdall; it’s not a typical workplace problem, but
perhaps not so unusual in the rabbit-hole world of
1927. Nione Meakin
The Old Market, Jan 3rd–18th.
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