A Minack Theatre production
All is not well in the small town of Marazion. The village is in turmoil as they prepare to celebrate the mayor’s 50th anniversary and to make matters worse two huge giants have decided to move into the neighbourhood to improve their social status.
What they need is a hero. Look no further than young Jack.
A riotous reimagining of the legend of Cormoran, the terrible giant of St Michael’s Mount, packed full of songs and fun.
Featuring Craig Johnson and Jenny Beare as the two gargantuan giants, with members of our youth company as the Mayor and corporation of Marazion.
Review by Jenni Balow
GIANTS
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JOHN BROLLY
Meet two giants from St Michael's Mount, who are short on self-esteem, and feel the need to be looked-up to, and there you have a cracker of a tall story in the making.
When they take a stride across the ocean in their seven league boots to visit Marazion, the giants, Cormoran and Cormelia, cause a bit of a stir among the locals, until tiny hero Jack steps up to try to save them all.
This is the stuff of legend in Cornwall and John Brolly, the Minack's very own childrens entertainer for many years, has come up with an idea that is big on every ingredient for a monumental Easter Holiday show.
He has written and directed Giants, with afternoon performances until Thursday April 13, and tickets are selling fast for this fun production.
Craig Johnson, another Minack favourite with his stories for youngsters, plays the 18-foot tall Cormoran, variously described by his adoring wife Cormelia, Jenny Beare, as a dribbly, warty oaf, among other endearments.
He's a Harry Enfield look-alike with a Cornish accent, fetchingly dressed in tartan, who chest-bumps his wife, and likens her to a "radiant towering giraffe", if ugly.
The two squabble over the building blocks they will use to make a home that will even make the Giant of Trencrom Hill look small. Will they be white granite or greenstone?
Their enormous impact is matched by a young cast of actors who give it their all, with super shouty projection.
Bouncy choruses, bursting with energy as they sing to the ever-expressive songs composed by musical director Ben Sutcliffe, who plays live on stage with Zaid Alrikabi of the People's String Foundation. By the way, they will perform as a duo at their concert on Good Friday evening.
The heroic Jack, Isabella Brooks, stars alongside the Mayor of Marazion, Poppy Livingstone, who is due to celebrate a town jubilee, but with the giants big boots stomping around and smashing Easter eggs among other things, something has to be done.
They are given a leg up from Tabitha and Poppy Ashbee, Iris Kirwin, Jess Postlethwaite, Alexandra McNaughton, Astrid Shadrick, Isla Rennie, Jasmine and William Bell, Levan Dove, Molly Maddern and Theo Thorgood.
The show is produced by the Minack's executive director Zoe Curnow with a tried and trusted team and includes a set bursting with colour and stripey costumes by Marion Harrison, assisted by Yasmin Baird, sound and production managed by Simon Hutchings, and the Mayor's 'bronze' statue by Jasmine Fassenfelt.
All in all, this is a giant-killer of a hit show.
