The butterfly lion

                                       http://www.trch.co.uk/index.aspx?articleid=22929

At first from looking at the design as I entered I was aware that it was going to have multiple uses because of the simplicity and the basic (by which I mean the fact that there was not a definite time place or theme to the pieces of set) design of the props and set. I did not know the story before so was looking forward to what the set was going to be and how the characters would interact in the space.

The design was a small area of floor within a green landscape that contained a few kitchen set items, they were adapted to portray many different areas and landscapes to tell the story. We saw the plains of Africa and the barricades of WW1, with the small change of positions of the set this was achieved very well.
I really enjoyed the use of the set and the use of costume to portray several characters as I was multi-rolled, the simple addition of a piece of clothing to an actor to show a character change or age change was very clever and this was useful to see as it as clever that this was all that was needed for a child or adult to get a sense of character change.
The story was very captivating and the actors very good at telling the story and allowing us to go along with Michael the main character as he learnt of Millie and Bertie's white lion. I thought the use of puppetry was very well integrated and clever within this type of story, the actor that portrayed the lion was dressed in white and sometimes became the narrator and did not have the lion puppet, this allowed him to remain on stage and to 'represent' the lions spirit in a way. It allowed the children to trust the actor and identify with the character of the lion. The character interacted very well with the set and each other overall a very well put together production and a piece to enjoy by all ages.