Miss Ophelia

http://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=13645
The production Miss Ophelia is based on a book by Michael Ende called Ophelia' shadow theatre. The company that performed and produced this performance are called Hel Filiaal who are originally from the Netherlands.
The performers were Ramses Graus and Mirthe Klieverik.
I had not heard anything about this production before entering the performance other than it was designed for children, as i had only seen one other children’s production before this I didn’t want to form ideas as to what to expect. I noticed that the set was quite simple in its construction and that majority of it was constructed from simple materials, so I thought maybe it was designed simply for the children’s benefit and also a practical reason for touring. The set itself was constructed of tables around the outside of the space and a central piece.
The performance began with the two actors sitting at the tables one was drawing and the other reading, as it started it became apparent that these were the parents of Ophelia.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the set construction and the development of the objects within the set, parts of the set were only used once whereas some of them may have multiple uses. This was emphasised by the fact that there were only two actors having to develop to different characters, usually I would have felt that this might be hard for the children to grasp but within this production it was achieved very well because the characters were very different and the props they used allowed them to portray the different characters and allow for that definition between them.
The use of space as a piece of theatre was very good because all parts of the performance could be seen at all times so the interaction of the audience is kept up all the time. i liked that all parts of transition could be seen as well so when a piece of set was moved or a prop was changed the process could be witnessed and felt this allowed the audience to connect with the performance.
I thought that use of lighting within the production was very clever, this essentially was used as a method of interaction to the audience and pulled focus to the parts required to be seen in scenes that had a focused point. i also liked how some of the props were used for multiple things and sometimes not even for their intended purpose for example at one a poised lamp was used as a phone and a teacup.

I really liked how they demonstrated the passing of time with the use of speeding up of the actions or a montage of events. The story itself was told in spurts throughout the performance so one of the actors would say a part of the story then they would carry on with the action, this kept the audience engaged because it meant the next part of the story had been explained.
Overall i really enjoyed the performance I think the way they engaged to audience and kept the story going was well portrayed, the pace was good because it meant you kept up with the story but it wasn’t rushed and it allowed you to take in all the events that were going on. This was a good performance for all ages to enjoy and participate in.