A Little Masterpiece from a Hungarian Company

A review of Girl in a blue dress, by Clive Chandler
Saturday 6 June 2009
Spark Festival, The Curve, Leicester


This is the first time I had been to The Curve in Leicester but not the first time I had seen Girl in a Blue Dress. The venue is a splendid and recently new creation. I would describe the place as impressive but a little bit intimidating and somehow slightly unfriendly. It has a large and a small auditorium and the show I went to see was in the smaller ‘black box’ studio space, presented as part of the Spark festival of children’s theatre. Strangely the auditorium was a little chilly, but the performance was bright, colourful and warm.

I have a real soft spot for this piece, which I first saw a couple of years ago at the company’s own theatre space in Kecskemet (about an hour from Budapest). It is a non-verbal and highly visual work inspired by the paintings of Picasso. It is delightfully playful and reflects the spirit of the famous painter perfectly. We are led through a series of encounters with various paintings by a character from one of them - the Girl in a blue dress. An excellent and equally playful ‘a cappella’ soundtrack underpins the whole piece, augmented at one point by a splash of live violin playing.

In recent times I have had many a chat with some of the top performers in the UK about whether it is possible to produce a piece of children’s theatre entirely without words. I have always thought that it should be possible. This show proves the point par excellence. It is entirely captivating – and just like all good “Childrens’ Theatre” it is really just very good ‘theatre’, and as such was just as much enjoyed by the many adults in the audience.

It is also takes my personal prize for the most productive and clever use of digital projection. I am more than a bit fed up of seeing such projection used badly as a cheap substitute for theatrical imagination in so many shows that I have seen recently - but in this production its use is entirely justified.

The whole piece is imaginatively conceived, beautifully directed by Rita Bhartel Kiss, and expertly performed by the three company members.
This is the work of a very well-resourced theatre company specialising in puppetry for children who are able to deliver real quality. They have now returned to Hungary but they are rapidly establishing a wide reputation so I have every hope that they will return one day.

I have to confess that I have some connection with the company and on this occasion they were in the UK also at the invitation of the Dynamics ‘09 Festival (of which I am the director). For Dynamics they were performing a different show which I also much enjoyed (- but I will resist attempting a review of my own festival).

Well done to Spark for booking this show (for five performances) and if there are any festival programmers out there reading this, I urge you to seriously consider booking this wonderful show. It is witty, intelligent and charmingly delivered.

For once the publicity copy is entirely accurate so I will finish with its words

“Inspired by Picassos most playful paintings, Girl in a Blue Dress is a wordless cavalcade of theatrical surprises, moved along by a lively and light-hearted musical score. Mysterious characters step in and out of their frames, led by the girl in blue herself, who threads her way through the story to its
beautiful final picture”

Clive Chandler is a professional puppeteer and experienced festival director.