The cast conjure up a rich world of curiosity with little more than a hypnotic piano-and-cello score.
Douglas Irvine's adaptation is brisk and beautiful, but sometimes over-elaborate in visual detail, as it juggles sets and terrific puppets and strong woodcut-style visual images. The music, though, is never less than entertaining, delivered by a fine cast of three with two on-stage musicians.
Ironically for a show that uses the heart as its central image, Clockwork is short of a heart of its own, making it a cerebral pleasure but not an emotional one.
As cleverly contrived as an intricate mechanism of meshing cogs – and about as cuddly.
Philip Pullman's Clockwork to be brought to life by Visible Fictions and Scottish Opera
Creating a kids' opera is a devilishly tricky task
Preview: Clockwork
It ain't child's play!
On Tour, from Wednesday April 13, 2011, until Saturday June 11, 2011.
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