Berkshire

<div id="attachment_12418" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12418" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-12418 size-full" src="https://berkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/11/Miki-Production-end-e1511787486360.jpg" alt="Toy polar bear, puppet penguin and inuit girl Miki star in the stage show Miki" width="1000" height="687" /><p id="caption-attachment-12418" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Luminous Photography</p></div>
<p>More theatrical escapades from your Muddy festive fairy and her pint-sized theatre critic. The youngest Mudlet joined me for another Christmas Show, this time <em>Miki</em> at Norden Farm in Maidenhead. Based on a little-known picture book by Stephen Mackey, but much-loved by my youngest, so we were eager to see how this magical midwinter adventure translates on stage.</p>
<div id="attachment_12420" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12420" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-12420 size-full" src="https://berkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/11/Miki-Production-jelly-fish-e1511784724926.jpg" alt="Actress playing Inuit girl Miki dances with the jelly fish puppet" width="1000" height="667" /><p id="caption-attachment-12420" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Luminous Photography</p></div>
<p>Want the lowdown? Here it is… Inuit girl Miki, and her polar pals Penguin and Bear set out to brighten their bleak, icy world with a tree and some fairy lights. Miki&#8217;s nailing the Scandi trend this season, but in her quest to create the twinkle, Miki falls through the ice, into the sea. All is not lost as the magic of Midwinter Eve takes her to the bottom of the ocean, where a new world reveals itself.</p>
<p>The stars of the show are three soft toys propped up on Amelia Pimlott’s simple but clever set, but with the help of the talented puppeteers Peyvand Sadeghian, Ian Harris and Jack Kelly (brilliant as Penguin), they quickly come to life much to the giggling delight of the young audience who were totally transfixed judging by the saucer-sized eyes staring at the action. Miki is fun-loving. Penguin is a comic who talks in truncated sentences and is easily frightened while Polar Bear is slow and lovable.</p>
<p>When Miki falls through the ice, Matt Biss&#8217;s beautiful lighting and stunning sound effects by Dafydc Owens create a magical underwater world inhabited with funny fish, and friendly creatures who help Miki to get home. It&#8217;s also where Peyvand Sadeghian comes into her own as a life-size Miki, ‘swimming’ her way around the stage.</p>
<div id="attachment_12419" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12419" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-12419 size-full" src="https://berkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/11/Miki-Production-Crab-e1511787606465.jpg" alt="Christmas show Miki ≠ puppet penguin's close encounter with a dancing crab wearing gold boots" width="1000" height="632" /><p id="caption-attachment-12419" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Luminous Photography</p></div>
<p>I loved the fact that it&#8217;s an honest representation of the original story book. So often with picture book adaptations there&#8217;s a lot of filler that just leaves everyone (big and small) bored to tears. Not here. <em>Miki </em>added a few songs, some funky dance routines and the 50 minutes flew by. The cast of critters is many, with cameos from Jelly Fish (loved the old lampshade frame to make the head), a Narwhal and a Crab, snapping and dancing around the stage wearing a foxy pair of gold boots. I wouldn&#8217;t mind a pair them myself.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s got all the warm and fuzzy feels making it the perfect Christmas show for young children, or slightly older kids who are not keen on the craziness of traditional panto.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://norden.farm/events/miki" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Miki</a> is on at Norden Farm, Maidenhead, until Sat 30 Dec. Book up.</em></p>


Miki’s a magical Xmas icecapade

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