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Culture Theatre

Crocosmia

CROCOSMIA written and performed by Clare Beresford, Dominic Conway and Shamira Turner, directed by Alexander Scott (Little Bulb Theatre/Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson). Runs to April 24, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 pm, matinee Saturday 2:30 pm. Pwyc-$25. 416-504-7529. See listing. Rating: NNNN


Young siblings Finnley, Sophia and Freya Brackenberg work hard to keep their past alive.

They’re all of the performers but only some of the characters in Crocosmia, a compelling production by Britain’s Little Bulb Theatre, playing for too brief a run at the Theatre Passe Muraille.

We first meet twins Finnley and Sophia (Dominic Conway and Shamira Turner), 10 years old, and Freya (Clare Beresford), aged seven-and-three-quarters, in what appears to be an evening of family storytelling.

The twins alternate playing their indulgent parents April and Jeffrey, who cherish the children and take romantic fantasy trips to Paris in a suggestive slide-and-phonograph episode.

But the truth soon surfaces: the parents are no longer alive, and the three children have gone from orphanage to foster home. The little show we’re watching is both self-protective and a way to hold onto good memories, as the trio uses everyday objects to populate their past. A carrot, properly nibbled, becomes a favourite goldfish, while cereal boxes set up a pecking order in the family.

The lightness of Crocosmia’s first part disappears with the revelation it feels like the air is suddenly sucked out of the theatre. But the tonal change gives added poignancy to the rest of the production, with the inventiveness of the kids balanced by their plight.

There’s a brilliant sequence in which the three portray various potential adopting families, using their hands, fingers and various commonplace objects to portray the adults in their lives. Another fine turn has the children enacting their favourite memories using large and small multicoloured Battenberg cakes try as they might, the kids can’t ignore the lure of the sugary cakes, and comic mayhem ensues.

But there’s more than humour in the hour-long show. Freya’s birthday party, which pulls the audience into the sibs’ world, has a beautifully touching moment that avoids sentimentality but still gives me a shiver when I remember it.

A few bits aren’t as successful. The first section could be shorter and still make its point, while the final image is more mysterious than intriguing. But these are quibbles in director Alexander Scott’s fine production, which captures both childhood’s light-hearted impetuosity and adulthood’s weighty responsibilities.

The show may remind you of Atomic Vaudeville’s Legoland, another work about sibs who create their own unique world in a hostile environment. But the humour’s more gentle in Crocosmia, which also has an underside of tenderness that will win your heart.[rssbreak]

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