Lilly Through the Dark

At the suggestion of Dr Bones, I went last week to see Lilly Through the Dark at the Farnham Maltings. To my surprise the performance was not in the Maltings itself but in a tent in the grounds: I'm not sure quite why, but it was part of Something Bigger, and I spotted not only a Mayoral-type person but also an unshaven cove with no tie who I have my strong suspicions was Jeremy Hunt MP, having a quick visit to a local arts event before, I presume, abolishing the quango that promoted it.

The show is one of the works of The River People, a company of young actors and puppetteers which has been going for about three years, and tells the story of a young girl coming to terms with the death of her father by searching for him through the land of the dead, and the mysterious and sometimes threatening characters she meets there. The set, if you can call it that, is a pile of tattered books from which the players emerge via a variety of apertures, and the conceit of being just what they are - a group of travelling storytellers - allows them to develop the narrative through whatever lies at hand: piles of more books, an umbrella that becomes a tree, a paper lantern moon. I thought at first the show would turn out darker than it did, but although it is essentially a charming fairytale there are enough touches of humour and macabre menace to spice the whimsy. And fairytales can be pretty Gothic when they try. This is inventive, enjoyable, and has a gentle heart.