Review: Exhilarating, magical and mind-bending, Ocean at the End of the Lane is a must see
Neil Gaiman’s much loved fantasy tale is breath-taking entertainment and a theatrical masterpiece
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh and then on UK tour
With astonishing action, slick storytelling and magical, mesmerising transformations, the National Theatre production of Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane, at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre all this week, is an exhilarating and occasionally terrifying piece of top class family theatre.
Opening with a funeral quickly followed by a suicide that unleashes ancient evil forces, Boy, a standout performance from Kier Ogilvy, is introduced to the ‘rip in forever, where everything is possible’, and immediately thrown into a dark and dangerous ‘other-world’.
With the fleas, powerful forces from another dimension battling to pass over from ‘The Edges’ to our own reality, only Lettie Hempstock, he mother Ginnie and grandmother Old Mrs Hempstock have the supernatural powers to keep them at bay.
In these roles, Millie Hikasa, Keri-Bo Jacob’s and Finty Williams prove a formidable triumvirate.
A tale of friendship, bereavement and the crossing from childhood to adulthood, Ocean at the End of the Lane is a feast for the senses. From Fly Davis’ exquisite set design to Ian Dickinson’s pulsating, unnerving soundscape and Paul Constable’s gloriously effective lighting, you won’t want to blink or miss a second.
Throw in the mind-bending illusions of Jamie Harrison and Samuel Wyer’s sinister puppetry, all executed by a phenomenal ensemble choreographed with chilling panache by movement director Steven Hoggett, and you have magical spectacle of epic proportions.
Talking of the ensemble, director Katy Rudd uses them with skill and style in a way that anchors the action through an innate understanding the intricacies of great stagecraft.
With Charlie Brooks once again channeling the dark essence of her EastEnders’ character, Janine, as the evil ‘Ursula’, a very real threat is created and yet, she brings an unexpected empathy to her role too.
Exceptional productions are always a collaboration and when those relationships work as well as they do here, you quite simply have an evening of breath-taking entertainment.
Run ends Saturday 22 April and then on tour, details here https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane/