[caption id="attachment_40268" align="alignright" width="405"] WATER BABIES: Jaques De Silva, left, and Ryan Dittman clown their way through the family show 'Lake'. Picture: GILLIAN McAINSH[/caption]
LAKE by Daniel Buckland, with Jaques De Silva and Ryan Dittman, Memory Hall until Saturday. Review by Gillian McAinsh.
"ONCE upon a time" are words full of promise, and this beautiful piece of family theatre certainly makes good on its evergreen opening phrase.
Written by Daniel Buckland – one of this year's festival stars – the 50-minute play tells the story of twin babies escaping with their mother just after their birth into exile from their royal home.
They grow up on the side of a mysterious lake, bickering and squabbling like typical brothers, loving and hating each other on opposite sides of the water until one day their home is under threat.
One brother has a bucket, the other a stick and each – of course! – wants what the other has.
But, who is the naughty person stealing their water? To work this out, and to survive the evil onslaught, the brothers will now have to work with and not against each other.
Jaques De Silva and Ryan Dittman throw themselves into the action, playing the fool with energy and verve. Buckland directs imaginatively and uses puppetry and shadow projection to fill in the action as the brothers clown their way to save the day from the wicked water guzzling queen.
Papier mâché masks mark out the villains, and the brothers bucket and stick prove to be pretty useful in their quest.
Lake is suitable even for very small children.