I found the Purves Puppets’ arrangement and production of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird (Manoel Theatre) quite delightful, and so did the children and their parents – not as many as there ought to have been.
The storyline has been extensively adapted by Jill and Ian Purves, Stravinsky’s memorable musical themes associated with the main characters have been preserved, but the emphasis in the show is on comic dialogue, not on music, and in any case music by other composers is also used.
The main impact, of course, is visual. Colourful scenery coupled with carefully designed lighting, a set of amusing and beautifully painted puppets, and a series of comic scenes, some of them of a magical nature keep the action continuously interesting and funny.
An example of this is when the roots of the tree on which the golden apples grow produce a violin and bow which in turn play a soporific music.
The plot is a typical fairy tale plot with a valiant prince, a beautiful princess, a villainous wizard and magical animals.
Koschei, the wizard, owns the tree on which five golden apples grow, and is incensed when one of the apples disappears one night.
The tsar, who is Koschei’s friend, sends him his three sons in succession to catch the thief, but both Boris and Vassily, stupid and unpleasant, fail miserably, and it is only the third son, Ivan, who succeeds in catching the thief, a beautiful Firebird, but Ivan pities her and allows her to go free, receiving in return a magic feather from the bird.
Koschei, now satisfied sends Ivan on another quest: that of finding the Princess Zerena whom he wants to marry. In this perilous quest he luckily frees a magic Grey Wolf from a trap and is rewarded when the wolf changes into a white horse that gallops away with him to Zerena whom he begins to take back to Koschei, while the Firebird protects them.
Things now go wrong, Zerena and the Firebird end up captives of Koschei who insists on marrying the very reluctant princess, but Ivan, aided by Grey Wolf, defeats the wizard by finding and destroying the magic egg on which Koschei’s life depends, and everyone lives happily ever after.
I was particularly amused by the scene in which the Grey Wolf transforms itself into a double of Zerena and goes through a wedding ceremony with Koschei.
Despite the transformation, the wolf’s bushy tail has not disappeared and has to be kept hidden from Koschei – but not from the audience - during the ceremony.
Moreover, the ceremony is conducted by a priest who wears Russian Orthodox vestments but speaks hilariously in the tone and accent of an affected High Church Anglican minister.
The show is aimed mostly at five- and six-year olds, this being why Koschei is not the villain of fairy tales but a panto baddy. In fact, the audience is invited to hiss whenever he is on stage, and to clap in time when certain pieces of music are played.