"Lose The Path, Find Your Way" by Cracking Slate.

Nottingham Playhouse

Neville Studios.

There's something really nice about children's theatre that aims to get children to think for themselves as well as educating them in such a way that, to them, feels more like playing and enjoying themselves than being educated. This piece of theatre does exactly that.

Sam (Adi Roy Bhattacharya) is lost in a forest after losing his football and is searching for the right path when he stumbles across Akir (Lily Bailes) and Malaya (Rose Charmaine Camacho), who offer to show him the way back. But as the shadowy shape shifting, spiny backed creature chasing them closes in, Sam will have to make a choice, escape the forest and go home or save his friends and risk being trapped forever. It's at this stage that the script ends and the actors don’t know what to do next. It is then the job of the audience to come up with the next parts of the story and help Sam escape the shape shifter and find their way home and to safety.

Created and produced by Josh Lewis, himself a local actor and writer, who set up Cracking Slate in London, which specialises in touring participatory theatrical experiences for young people. They put adventure, play and creativity at the heart of everything they do. They want to empower young people to become the directors of their own story, supporting them to dive into their imagination and work together to express themselves and their own ideas. 

The show is aimed at 9 - 11 year olds and their families but there's no real age limit, as this evening proved because the adults became just as involved in the show as the young ones. 

It's a credit to the skills of all three actors in their storytelling and their confidence boosts that make the children in the audience readily volunteer vocally as well as physically.

The puppetry is wonderful to see and you can see the quality of these puppets; from the intricate smaller mannequin style puppets to the large puppets that quite rightly send shivers down the spine, especially the wolf like creature with the blazing eyes. These puppets were made by Yunshu Jiang, Izzy Jiang and Edd Berrdidge.

The set design by Mikayla Teodoro gave the feel of a fantasy forest, especially with the movable pieces which created the shape shifting forest design, and which in the end scene all fitted together to make the escape scene section of mountains and rivers, painted by Tessa Bentley to give an animated effect, visually, and the larger mobile wooden pieces of scenery credited to Josh Hill.

Directed by Emily Catherine Haldane, and like Josh, has a grasp on what makes a brilliant and enchanting piece of theatre for young children, therefore keeping everything tight and fast moving, making sure that the attention is held throughout, giving the children something to concentrate on and take part in all the way through.

Music also plays a big part, especially in theatre for the young, and the execution of the music and the sound bites worked very well, especially the sounds from the shape shifters, which also worked well as a timing mechanism, for those who spotted that. Music Supervisor Innes Yellowlees helped to keep the timing just right with the sound cues.

There's an element of choreography in this theatre piece which, in the flyer/programme sheet is listed as Movement Direction. This area is thanks to Ching Chen (Jing), which also gives that feel of movement and fluidity throughout the show.

The whole show is smoothly stage managed by Rebekah Wild, keeping the show flowing at a fair old pace.

When it comes down to it, all of the above names are like cogs in a well run piece of machinery, but when you see the faces of the kids who were in the audience, you could see the enjoyment that they received from this show. What they may not have realised though were the subtle messages that they have also ingested by way of this lovely, clever and fun piece of theatre that they will probably use from today onwards and when growing up.

"Lose The Path, Find Your Way" is a one off performance at the Nottingham Playhouse, but the show is touring several one off performances of this show, so please visit the website or Facebook page for Cracking Slate for details of where you can catch this show, as well as other future productions that you may want to catch at some time in the future.

 "Jekyll & Hyde" by H Leonard Caddy.

Ravenshead Theatre Group.

Ravenshead Village Hall.

In Caddy's retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story, Dr Jekyll is introduced just as he is on the brink of discovering the key to man's inner reality. One evening he experiments on himself and finds that his formula works. Unfortunately, his "real" self turns out to be the monster, Edward Hyde.

Jekyll continues his researches, spending more and more time as Hyde until this horrifying character takes over. When Hyde brutally murders one of the young maids, he realizes his experiment has gone too far, and he takes the only possible course of action left to him......

I've seen several adaptations of this story, but this was different again, and possibly one of the best plays that I've seen at Ravenshead Village Hall, and I've seen some crackers!

Dr Henry Jekyll/ Mr Edward Hyde are played by Eddie Gray. There's a very clever visual transformation from one to the other character and the longer Jekyll is taking his potions, the more erratic his behaviour and temper become with those around him.  The voice also changes from quite well spoken with Jekyll to broad Derbyshire with Hyde. Jekyll's violence spills over in a way that actually had me shocked. I was not the only one as I heard the audible reactions to his violence throughout the audience. This is Eddie's first leading role with Ravenshead Theatre Group; I've a feeling after this performance that it won't be long before he steps into another lead.

Celestine, Jekyll's betrothed, is played by Catherine Petrova. I've seen Catherine in several roles of late, including playing Elvira in one of my favourite plays, "Blithe Spirit". They say opposites attract, and that is the case here with Jekyll and Celestine. This shows in Jekyll's facial responses to many of Celestine's suggestions, and adds a lovely touch of comedy to this gothic horror.

Charlotte is played by Aayla Boughton, who has moved up from the Ravenshead Youth Group to make her debut in this show. Charlotte is an orphan that has been taken in by Jekyll as the junior housemaid, but also seems to be part of one of Jekyll's scientific experiments into brain masses. Jekyll straight away makes a comparison between Charlotte and Celestine's educational and cerebral capacities and the connection between breeding and class. 

Charlotte's character is also  different to any other production as she is the one who experiences seeing the initial change from Jekyll to Hyde. Her character change is also very visual, and is akin to the transformation of Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady", but the ending could not be more different.

Poole, played by Adam Nayar, is Jekyll's loyal butler who becomes concerned about his master's personality changes and seeks Utterson's help. Poole comes across as a bit of a bully, especially in the way that he treats Charlotte, but that shows the difference between the classes and job position. When it comes to Jekyll though, he shows a caring and protective side of Poole's character. Adam, I've seen in several productions for Ravenshead, and all very different, and this shows what a flexible actor he is.

Gabriel Utterson, Jekyll's best friend and lawyer, is played by Duncan Dearman. Unlike some productions, Utterson here provides some lighter moments with his comments, and when it comes down to it, he is the one that starts to unravel the Jekyll and Hyde mystery. Again, another very versatile actor, who shows even more versatility in his next role in Ravenshead's 2026 pantomime.

Dr Hastie Lanyon, Jekyll's friend whose medical knowledge proves crucial evidence to the case, is played by James Disney. Previously James has played lesser roles, but here is a nice meaty role, which also provided a surprise to me near the end of the production - more than that I will not give any spoilers! There's a nice natural feel about James' acting, as if he doesn't need to try to hard to get the feel of the role and the character just right.

Hilda is played by a newcomer to Ravenshead Theatre Group, Karen Swallow. Hilda is the senior housemaid at the Jekyll residence who takes Charlotte under her wing, and is responsible in no small way for advancing Charlotte's confidence and character change while in service. Karen is another one making her Ravenshead debut, but you can tell that she has a history of stage work behind her because of the confidence she shows as this character.

Penny, who has fallen for Edward Hyde in a big way, is played by Helen Berry. Penny only enters the story part way through, but with the costume and instant story telling, you very quickly bring yourself up to speed, thanks to Helen's ability to bring the character to life. A brilliantly feisty character with what we envisage as having an interesting past.

If you can get your seat early enough, you'll discover that you don't have to wait for the curtains to open before the story starts onstage with Dennis Baggarley, who plays a mysterious elderly man who now and again brings colour to something on stage that is under the spotlight. Plus we first spot Freya O'Connell in her role as a young girl. Freya also turns up on stage later in the show.

Directed by Rob Hurst, assisted by Daniel Andrews and Phillippa Adamson. This trio really ramp up the suspense in the show and create that unease, especially in the two sections that made me sit up, which I won't divulge because I don't want to spoil but has that shock element that I wasn't expecting from this story. Another success from Rob and Co.

Set design is also by Rob Hurst, and when the curtains are pulled back, you get the full view of this wonderful set design. The majority of the set is taken up by the parlour with a smaller section showing Jekyll's lab with two doors that adjoin both rooms. I was fascinated with these doors and I don't know why I was transfixed on them, As Jekyll went through one door, the second door would open and as soon as Jekyll walked through the second door, the first silently closed. I looked as hard as I could to see the person doing the opening and closing but they must have been really well hidden from view.  A wonderful set, constructed by Ken Cumberpatch, with so many props, sourced by Anne-Marie Hurst. A lot of investigative work has obviously gone into making this set look as if it has been transported from the year 1851 by time machine.

The costumes are also thanks to Rob Hurst and, as with every field in this production, really create the required visual pop. Take a look at the photos to see what I mean.

Sound is by Daniel Andrews and Rob Hurst. This is another reason I love getting to a theatre early for; to hear what music is played before the show and during the interval, which ties everything on stage together. Loved the selections from Mike Oldfield and Jean-Michel Jarre, which created the instrumental atmosphere, plus a few pieces that sounded like they had been lifted from a programme like "Peaky Blinders". Really atmospheric feel that got you in the mood for the main attraction.

Lighting is by Iain Walton, and this is another area that automatically centres your attention on specific action at a specific part of the set. This is especially prominent with a red wash of light at certain times in the play.

Stage managed by Ann-Marie Butler with her Stage Crew, Andy Cook and Philippa Adamson, they swiftly changed the scenes resulting in minimal time for the curtains being closed.

"Jekyll & Hyde" is at Ravenshead Village Hall until Saturday 4 October. As I said earlier in the review, this is possibly one of the best shows that I've seen at Ravenshead Village Hall, so make sure that you don't Hyde away this weekend, go out and get your Gothic fix, even before Halloween!