Opening a double bill with a less familiar work for cast and audience didn’t exactly pay dividends last Friday for the Pump House Children and Youth Theatre. Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods may be a delightfully clever musical weaving together some of the most exciting and macabre tales from The Brothers Grimm’s storybook, but having had limited rehearsal time, the young players were not all that at ease with the piece. One of the greatest problems on the night was that members of the group were facing sideways away from the auditorium and tucked into a corner so their voices were barely discernable above the catchy, but too loud, soundtrack and their actions were lost amidst the gloomy lighting. Stage, light and sound direction aside, those taking part did their best to keep the proceedings entertaining and it was great to see so many children getting the chance to shine.

Max Hiley as the Wolf and Alice Houbart as Red Riding Hood were particularly noteworthy for their depth of characterisation. Max also sported some very fine face painting and gave a decent howl, while Alice’s scream was like something out of a Hollywood thriller - very convincing. Maria Rodami-Lyster as the Witch and Jadwiga Slomka as the Baker’s Wife and Kirsty Henley-Washford also deserve praise for their singing and for jollying along the proceedings at moments when the script didn’t go exactly to plan.

The second half was far livelier with Disney’s The Jungle Book infusing the evening with a much needed riot of movement, colour and humour. Lucy Houbart’s set was brilliantly tropical, the costumes were simply stated but effective and most, importantly of all, the cast were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

More tightly choreographed than Into The Woods, the popular tale of Mowgli and his jungle pals zipped along nicely with the audience tapping their toes and clapping their hands all the way through. Even a stray coconut bouncing off Mowgli’s head didn’t faze the cast and it brought shrieks of delight from the audience. The boy playing the palm tree on the night (sorry, the palm tree wasn’t named) - was particularly excellent when faced with a front row of excitable boys as were Thomas Maloney as Baloo and Paloma Miles as Baghera who did some nice off stage interaction.

Overall, however, what won the day was commitment and teamwork, which the Pump House Children and Youth has in spades.

Melanie Dakin