The Way Back Home, ENO at the Young Vic review

4 / 5 stars
The Way Back Home

TAKE four singing Gizmos, a flatulent penguin and a story by Oliver Jeffers, add seven instrumentalists, some imaginative percussion and a conductor wearing a Harpo Marx wig and what do you get?

The penguin from The Way Back HomeSTEPHEN CUMMISKEY

This flatulent penguin stole the show

The answer is The Way Back Home, which is the ENO's latest venture, in the form of an opera for young children aged 5-8 staged at the Young Vic. 

The music, composed by Joanna Lee, is disappointingly un-hummy, but makes up for it in liveliness and vigorous noises that capture the action perfectly. Katie Mitchell's direction also keeps up the momentum and mostly holds the attention of the young audience (thought I did feel that some were flagging towards the end of the opera, which lasted 50 minutes without an interval. 

Interestingly, the real comic star of the show was the Penguin, who remains silent throughout. But so did Harpo Marx, so perhaps that went well with the conductor's wig. 

In the intimate setting of the small theatre of the Young Vic, it all went down very well, though I could tell from some of the comments by children at the end, that they were a little perplexed by the abrupt ending. So was I, but I think the Penguin was happy, and that is all that mattered. 

Whether this is the best way to introduce children to opera is an open question but one aspect that can hardly be improved upon is the programme. 

Delightfully designed and illustrated, this is almost a children's book in itself with the usual dull biographical notes about the cast replaced by pictures of them as children and a first person narrative from each addressed directly to the young audience, telling far more about their likes and dislikes than we usually see in a programme.

  • Verdict: 4 stars (but 5 for the programme) 
  • Box Office: 020 7922 2922 or youngvic.org (showing until December 23)

BBC News The ENO first opera made for, and with, children

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