The Ugly Eagle
Lyn Gardner. The Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2003

This is a great show for the under-sevens and their families and a great little piece of theatre. It is interesting that, at a time when experimental theatre companies are looking at cutting-edge ways of using film and animation in their shows, it takes a children's puppet company to show them how it can be done. Here, it compliments the live action and makes it an integral part of the performance, not just a trendy add-on.

A simple piece of story-telling theatre this is the Ugly Duckling African style, set in a park in Birmingham where Larry the duckling is ostracised by the other ducks. He can't even get a place in the synchronised swimming team.

Staring unhappily at his reflection in the pond, he is interrupted by Umhlwethu, a beautiful eagle who has been blown off course by a storm. Umhlwethu tells how as an egg he fell into the hands of the star-catcher and ended up being brought up in Dynamite Lil's chicken shed-not a claw kicking good way for an eagle to spend his childhood. Soon everyone is happy as Larry with the discovery that it is no use thinking you are a duck when you are a swan or a chicken when you are an eagle.

It is very simple stuff, but it is very beautifully done, evoking the sounds and colours of Africa and injecting some cheeky humour into the story - Larry isn't quite sure whether his mum has gone off to get married or marinated.

The puppetry is cleverly handled, there is a wonderful sequence in which the audience gets to feel what it would be like to be an eagle soaring over the African landscape, and the storytelling style is very appealing. It is enough to make you quack with happiness.

A Bird in the Hand
Birmingham Post, Monday 15 December 2003

Spend a little time (under an hour) with this Moving Hands Theatre Company family show and you'll emerge with the answer to that great philosophical conundrum about the chicken and the egg.

The chicken in question is Dynamite Lil, our five-year-old family member's favourite character. Of course. Because she's the heavy, and a very nasty one. And didn't everyone enjoy giving her the bird!

The puppeteers went totally unnoticed by our Jessica and her fellow young audience members. That alone is a great tribute to the skill of puppeteer (and the show's designer) Caroline McDowell, who pulled off the almost impossible task of working in full view for most of the time. But although the mechanics of her animals are there for all to see, her skill is such that a few metres of fabric become living creatures as convincingly as if they'd graduated from any drama academy.

Equally, talented dancer Sandile Mbili actually looks as though his eagle is about to actually soar into the auditorium. He needs effective back projection to actually bring it off.

The story (first seen last Christmas) is an African folk parable folded in like a quick-acting yeast to the familiar ugly duckling tale, in this case he's called Larry and lives in a Brum park.

Alison Carney is the engaging storyteller who provides the throwaway jokes for the adults - particularly sly during the ducks' synchronised swimming routine.

A terrific little show, with one moment (the baby eagle's emergence from his egg) as heart-stopping as anything you'll see in Stratford this winter. Every audience is bound to emerge in the same state as the show's hero - happy as Larry.