Little Cauliflower’s The Night of the Big Wind is a charming puppet show about a small boy who lives with his father, a fisherman in a small village, and the night that their little community is beset by a great storm.
The puppeteers sing and play their way through this simple tale, told with tabletop puppets, plenty of music and some incredible sound effect machines at the back of the stage.
The craft on display on stage is excellent, and the quality of the music and the skill in the manipulation of the puppets reveal this young company to be rising stars in the resurgent genre of folk storytelling and puppetry. Their technical ability in the construction of the set and puppets is also remarkable – I found a mechanically operated bird puppet the most impressive construction, even if it did feel a little out of place next to the more simply constructed main puppet character.
There are a few areas for improvement with this show however. The company spend a little too much time with the puppeteers as the focus, clowning around at the beginning or during the long scene changes, and not enough time with the focus on the puppets. Consequently we don’t really get to know the main character very well and I found it difficult to connect with him.
The story also receives too little emphasis, exacerbated by the decision to tell it without words, just with music and puppetry. In return we do receive music of a very high quality, but because we have not connected enough to the puppets the elements don’t come together and the story falls behind.
Credit is due for the design and construction of the set, specifically the great wind and thunder machines that dominate the stage. They are very innovative and provide a wonderfully authentic sound effect, but their strength is also their weakness: they are so interesting that it is difficult to focus on the performers when they are being used, which again detracts from the story.
Although these small problems do detract from the efficacy of the production, it is important to emphasise the promise of the company. They are doing very good work, and it is only a matter of time before they produce something incredible.