Review: JACK V GIANT, Polka Theatre

Opening the Spring season at Polka Theatre is a new musical adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk from the team behind We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Co-written by Polka's outgoing Artistic Director, Peter Glanville, with music by Barb Jungr and directed by Roman Stefanski, Jack v Giant offers a gender-swapped take on the fairy tale for ages 4 to 8.

Jack (Hannah Akhalu) lives on the family farm with Father (Henry Regan) but times are tough and the once fertile farmland is barren. Father now earns a meagre living mining for gold, lining the pockets of the mysterious "Big Man". But one day even the mine comes up short, and Father comes home with a P45 in his pocket. There's nothing left to do but sell the family cow (of course), so Jack dutifully agrees to take her bovine buddy to market.

As you might expect, Jack somehow returns with a handful of beans but no cow, much to the anger of her father who hurls the apparently useless legumes on the fire. In a further predictable turn of events, the next morning sees Jack climbing up a beanstalk to a mysterious castle in the sky where she comes face to face with the gold-hoarding Big Man. Can she persuade him to give up some of his riches or will she have to take them by force?

It's an interesting idea, and there's some nice humour in it for the adults, but an anti-capitalist satire is a hard sell for primary school children who are expecting something quite specific. The story is a little slow to get started, and the giant (of sorts) remains unseen until almost the end. While this creates an air of suspense, his eventual arrival is a little underwhelming. The little boy next to me spent well over half an hour (of the 50-minute show) asking his mum "when is the giant coming?" and continued to do so even after his big entrance.

The difficulty here is that the Big Man is played as a Donald Trump character with a giant puppet-style head. He's not especially menacing, nor is he obviously much larger than Jack (who puppeteers a miniature version of herself in this scene, but the sense of scale doesn't quite come across).

In an attempt to put a fresh stamp on the story, the narrative also seems to have been lost a little. It's unclear what happens to the cow in the first place (she vanishes rather than being traded for the beans), how she miraculously reappears at the end, or how the farmland suddenly becomes capable of bearing crops again. It's also questionable whether a business tycoon, however corrupt, is deserving of quite the same fate as a child-eating ogre.

Aside from the issues with the book, there is still a lot to like about this ambitious production. It's very much a (mini) musical, rather than a play with token songs, making it a nice introduction to musical theatre for young audiences. It works well as a two-hander, with Akhalu and Regan both bringing an infectious energy to the stage and connecting strongly with the audience.

Keith Frederick's puppet design is fun and clever, integrating brilliantly with Laura McEwen's costume and set design. The latter is a particular highlight of the production, along with Aaron J Dootson's lighting. The scenes set in the mine are executed beautifully, while the route up the beanstalk is innovatively created without the need for scaling great heights. Showering the audience with golden confetti also serves to create a wow factor for the finale and ensures that all the little ones head home with a fistful of souvenirs.

Overall, Jack v Giant may not quite hit the heights of previous Polka productions but it's still a fun show with a valuable message and an interesting take on a classic. It just may be worth preparing youngsters to expect something a bit different beforehand, to avoid disappointment from those eagerly awaiting a giant.

Jack v Giant is at Polka Theatre until 26 March

Photo Credit: Steve Gregson

To post a comment, you must register and login.