946, Kneehigh’s latest production, is an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s book The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips.
While effervescently entertaining throughout, the show highlights the “forgotten” tragedy of 946 American servicemen killed during rehearsals for the D-Day landings at Slapton Sands, Devon.
Opening in the present day with a bereaved but ebullient gran, Lily Tregenza, the story then casts back to 1944, to Lily’s wartime childhood. There, we meet the black soldiers who helped find her ubiquitous cat, evacuees and errant class-mates and, of course, her stoic farmer granddad.
Both Lily’s are ‘supreme’ (as gran Lily’s catchphrase goes). Lily junior (Katy Owen) is a sort of West Country Pippi Longstocking, who captures the charm and peculiarities of childhood communication in her absurd expressions and hilarious put-downs.
Lily senior is no less captivating. Played by Mike Shepherd, she is a powerful octogenarian possessed by the need for speed, played out on her imaginary motorbike.
Set to a live soundtrack of blues, jazz and swing, the show features fabulous dancing, inventive war scenes and compelling historical insights. But, as ever, if the audience becomes too rapt, Kneehigh disrupt with something unexpected, which prompts important questions: How can this tragedy have been forgotten? What is to be done with the aged in society and how can we treat them better?
As ever, Kneehigh toy with life’s big themes in ways that everyone can relate to. But for those with an interest, the performances are underpinned by big ideas and robust intellectual references, from Shakespeare to Brecht.
Lily shows us why we must live in the now – because tomorrow is not a given but a gift. Kneehigh’s gift is to hold a cracked mirror up to the absurdity, possibility and pure joy of life. Which is perhaps why they have such a steadfast following in Cornwall, even on the rainiest of summer nights.
Written by Anna Kiernan
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