★★★★
Helping children understand what anxiety is and how to overcome it is rife with challenges. It is a test that Shadow Necropolis, a shadow puppet extravaganza from the Mochinosha Puppet Company, passes with flying colours. Their approachable, funny, and dazzlingly creative show visualises the fears and uncertainties that words alone cannot surmise, resulting in a nourishing performance fit for all ages.
It might seem strange for a show with a title like Shadow Necropolis, complete with its foreboding settings, skeleton characters and a variety of malevolent creatures, to be as upbeat as it is. The show alludes to heavy topics, but in line with its child-friendly focus never becomes too bogged down in them. This is instead more of a whimsical tale, focused on one unassuming young girl’s quest to find her friend and conquer her own anxiety. It is a heartfelt tale, crafted with evident love, and that uses a roster of entertaining supporting characters to delightfully silly effect. One recurring gag about gifts is as repeatedly funny as it is clever, revealing an increasingly benevolent side to an initially ambiguous character.
The puppetry and artistry is often stunning in its variety and detail. The colours, design, and personalities of the characters are all sensational, no matter how minor their role might be. The performers get through an endless stream of frames and puppets, all of which are handmade, and evoke such compelling atmospheres with relatively little. A flying sequence in particular makes striking, intelligent use of depth perception to give the uncanny impression of movement. Is is a technically and creatively stunning production that deepens your respect for the craft with every passing scene.
A touching and very entertaining hour of family theatre, Shadow Necropolis is unlike any other theatre production you are likely to see at the Fringe. The handcrafted majesty that goes into bringing a show like this to life cannot be underestimated, nor can its ability to bring a smile to the face of everybody in the spellbound crowd.
Shadow Necropolis is being performed at Assembly Roxy – Upstairs until 26 August 2024 as part of Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
Words by James Hanton
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