Created by Hazel Darwin-Clements
Performed by Hazel Darwin-Clements, Fay Guiffo & Mamoru Iriguchi
Directed by Andy Cannon
Review by Dominic Corr
The thing with imagination; is all it needs is a single little spark. Or a laugh. Or a shoestring of a budget and an idea. Something which every element involved in the creation of Ideas Jukebox exudes. It’s a core ethos from Independent Arts Projects, and their trio of touring shows in Scotland right now (Maya and The Whale and Jack Hunter’s One of Two), who aid in Hazel Darwin-Clements’ production which draws together some of our most imaginative minds in music, puppetry, and performance to craft a forward thinking showcase, with boundless potential.
Narratively, Ideas Jukebox is (potentially) endless in its conception; the story of a Jukebox which, when fed a coin, can spit out enormous tales for the smallest of audiences – each tale manifested to life by Darwin-Clements and Mamoru Iriguchi’s live performance, and Fay Guiffo’s exquisite violin work to provide plenty of humour and touching elements. It’s a soft show, designed principally for wee audiences, but is fully accessible to those who place creativity and storytelling to the forefront of their experience: older audiences getting just as much from some of the contemporary take on classically told tales.
For the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s audience, we’re treated to fantastical tales of ‘advert dragons’ and ‘doughnut economics’. Each unique; but threaded by a common goal of utilising clean storytelling mechanics to offer contemporary told fairy tales (of such) surrounding more complex elements of ecosystems and protection, economics, and the influence of advertising. They sound like heavy topics; and they are – indeed, a couple of the aspects of the initial story surrounding fatbergs, pollution, and beavers’ losses a couple of even the larger audiences’ members – but the ingenuity of the ‘costuming’ of the Beaver’s, and the performances from Darwin-Clements and Iriguchi sells every element of the show.
Sound plays as equal a role as the physical nature; largely constructed with cardboard and colour. Alongside Guiffo’s live instrumentals, Nik Paget-Tomlinson offers additional sound design and composition (along with Guiffo). Both manipulate the stories and ease the narrative weaving, lending weight to much of the storytelling and offers dimension to the paper crafter and puppetry – which is its own brand of magic. From dinosaurs with segmented necks, to gorgeously created parliament of owls, the show is pitched perfectly throughout: often thanks to Andy Cannon’s direction and holding of pacing.
As equally wacky as it is inventively wonderful; Ideas Jukebox achieves a finale which does the impossible; it draws audiences willingly into the participation. A lot of this is down to Darwin-Clements control of the room, and read for which audience members are comfortable and who needs that extra bit of support. An open invitation to add their own big ideas into the mix, a snipping, sellotaping, stitching, and shredding flurry unfolds as the audiences conjure their own ways to take their ideas to the next level; keeping stories alive for generations to come.
An Open Invitation to Keep Stories Alive
Ideas Jukebox ran at The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, March 14th
Running time: One hour without interval
Photo credit: Mihaela Bodlovic
Review by Dominic Corr (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Editor for Corr Blimey, and a freelance critic for Scottish publications, Dominic has been writing freelance for several established and respected publications such as BBC Radio Scotland, The List, The Scotsman, Edinburgh Festival Magazine, The Reviews Hub, In Their Own League, The Wee Review and Edinburgh Guide. As of 2023, he is a member of the Critic’s Award for Theatre Scotland (CATS) and a member of the UK Film Critics.
