Monday 8 April 2013

The Sky Is Falling - Review


By Rachel Taylor

Scottish Youth Theatre’s production of “The Sky is Falling” is easily one of the best productions for families and children that Glasgow will see all year. Entertainment, songs, rhymes and inclusive and entertaining for big and little chickens alike.

This bright and musical telling of the story of Chicken Little is set in a truly beautiful space as the Brian Cox Theatre Studio was totally done over with an incredible farmyard set, including a pond with real (and glittery) water and a life-size cow.

The audience are drawn into the story as the new chickens on the farm, and follow Chicken Licken and Henny Penny as they try and deal with a potentially falling sky! This includes coming across a colourful cast of characters – Ducky Daddles, the adorable duck with a passion for pine cones, a rooster with some great tunes and some ideas about the hierarchy of a farm, and the lying Foxy Loxy.

Various songs that teach the big and little chickens about why a fallen sky is a bad thing – how water, nature and time move in cycles and the songs slowly come together to teach the chickens some important lessons!
Rather than this being a play for children that the adults wait through, this is a play which genuinely entertains young and old alike with the quality of both acting and music extremely high. This is one of the best plays ever to come out of Scottish Youth Theatre which could easily run for three times as long.