A dazzling way to save the planet
ONCE in a while, the set steals the show. That’s the case in the return of the Old Vic’s primary-coloured cartoon staging of Dr Seuss’s green manifesto from 1971.
First seen here two years ago, Rob Howell’s design remains the star of the show, which tells the rags to riches tale of a human Once-ler who hits the jackpot with his useless woollen ‘thneeds’.
The thread comes from a forest of truffula trees, looked after by an orange beaver-like creature, with a fabulous yellow moustache, called The Lorax.
Howell’s design draws sighs of wonder: the exotic trees a furry cross between disco sunflowers and gaudy palms. They exist in a kind of Seventies paradise, enclosed by a spangly strip curtain, and are home to yellow swans that look like plucked turkeys, red bears that look like they’ve gone off-piste from a Morris dance, and singing fish that go about in buckets.
It’s enchantment amplified by Charlie Fink’s folksy, soul and rock music climaxing in a punk anthem as the truffula trees are destroyed in the name of industrialisation.
The runner bean-esque Once-ler, (Simon Paisley Day), is not so much wicked as misguided; and is never
less than ebullient as he poisons the planet for personal gain. His performance brilliantly bridges the gap between rapacious capitalist and rueful environmentalist, and so tests the childlike friendship with his innocent friend The Lorax.
With David Ricardo-Pearce providing the voice, and puppeteers Laura Caldow and Ben Thompson operating the orange creature and his snuffling tash, the Lorax establishes an instant bond with the audience.
David Greig’s rhyming script updates the ingenious text for the internet age. And Max Webster’s production is both thoroughly original and dutifully reverential.