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| Props and costumes are also a challenge for Pinocchio. Still in rehearsal, Tuckett's new production - a combination of dance, song and theatre - goes beyond the 1940 Disney cartoon to the original fairytale. While Pinocchio's expanding nose awaits completion, the giant arms of the evil puppeteer Stromboli stretch across the entire length of the studio floor. "For children, the bigger something is, the scarier it is," says Tuckett. "So Stromboli has an inflatable costume, he's pumped up with bravado." The scene being rehearsed, "The land of the toys", is set to what sounds like an out-of-tune Wurlitzer at a fairground. But even among a crowd of dancers and without a costume, Pinocchio's woodenness instantly comes through, in a forward-thrust jaw and stiff shoulders. "A puppet without strings moves very differently," says Tuckett. "Visually, it makes the fact that he's an outsider stand out even more strongly. And the more emotional or upset Pinocchio becomes, the more puppet-like his movements." The parallels between Pinocchio and Edward Scissorhands are self-evident, with both stories offering dark commentaries on what it means to be different. For Tuckett, as for Bourne, this helps to make the piece a family show, not just something for children: "There are some serious issues here for adults: the idea of being ostracised, the idea of badly wanting a child but not being able to cope with the reality, as well as the idea of being a single parent." After his 2002 Linbury staging of The Wind in the Willows, Tuckett was keen to do "something less fluffy". "Pinocchio is a tricky character," he says. "It's important not to let him get cute. He's irritating, anarchic, you'd slap an Asbo on him if he was around now." The moral - if you do bad things, bad things are going to happen - also has its positive: good things come to those who do good. And, he says, the message that love conquers all makes it very appropriate at Christmas. |
| Excerpt from The Telegraph - 26/11/2005 by Elena Seymenliyska |
| The sinister Stromboli comes to life |