Young fans of light sabers and space adventures will enjoy this show.
Adult fans of Firefly or Star Wars will recognize our smuggler hero, Oz, as he battles alongside or against a futuristic space pirate, witch, and android bounty hunters. The actors flavour these characters with an amusing array of accents with which they energetically engage the young audience.
The strength of this production is that there are plenty of opportunities for the children to join in a little bit of the action on-stage, or participate from their seats. I saw smiles all around for those lucky enough to be picked once or even twice.
There was some confusion from my 5-year-old and 6-year-old companions as to what exactly was happening with the plot, and the dialogue about pseudo spaceship technology flew by them. This didn't seem to matter when they got to participate, and they came away happy with the overall experience.
The actors do enthusiastic double duty in their dual roles, and the lighting, sound, and smoke machine create a mysterious space-like atmosphere, though the spaceship sequences stretched long at certain points for the littler ones. The play gains momentum, however, with increasing crowd participation and ends with a bang.
Come prepared to buy your child a light saber from the merchandise table as you go in or explain to them why they can't have one like all the other kids.
Show times
Til 24 Aug (not 18-21), 1.30pm.
£7 (£6 Conc.) (£24 family of 4)
Ages 5 - 12