Malina's Dream

Today we took some time out as a family and went to see a delightful children's play, Malina's Dream, at the arts depot in North Finchley. We've been here before for other plays and most recently when Joshua took part in the Finchley Children's Music Group's production of their own specially written opera: The Jailer's Tale. That was great fun and Lenore had spotted that this essentially one-off production was playing and so the tickets were booked; sometimes there's just no point arguing!

 

Anyhow we got to our seats in the nick of time and what great seats - one row from the front and slap bang in the centre. The lights dimmed and the Angel Heart Theatre group took us on a magical journey to the Arctic; land of ice, mystery and (it turns out) penguins! Joshua absolutely loved this beginning as it was just so Pingu and really very charming! Then, though, the story took a different tack as Malina dreamt of a whaling vessel being crushed by the ice and a sailer being lost to the world of man - all done with shadow puppets and music. From here Malina and her grandfather had to rescue this poor lost soul and, well, to say any more would be to give this lovely tale away.

 

Needless to say Joshua and Christina were thoroughly absorbed by the puppets and their adventure (which is more than I can say for the heathens snacking continually behind us). After the show the performers came out with some of their puppets and you could barely see the children for the blur they made! It really was fetching to see them so engaged and interested; Joshua even mustered up the courage to ask if they would bring out the polar bear puppet for him to touch and they duely obliged. Well done Joshua!

After that we were more than happy to settle down for a cup of tea while both of them went a bit wild in the soft play area. To be honest I was sure someone was going to get hurt what with the number of kids bouncing around and the way they were flinging things around - a bit like cage-fighting for toddlers it was. Luckily though the time passed without incident as Joshua attracted a group of small boys, who chased him incessently, while Christina hooked up with some girls of a similar age and played more, shall we say, co-operatively! All in all a fabulous afternoon out on a wet winter's day.