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Manual Cinema Presents: Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster

Underbelly and Manual Cinema

by Flora Gosling

Who is children’s theatre for, really? Children, or adults with a deep fascination with puppetry and visual storytelling? Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster is the latest project from Manual Cinema, who use puppetry to create a live cinematic experience. Adapted from the children’s books by Mo Willems, it tells the story of a “terrible” monster who can’t scare anybody and chooses instead to become a monster who befriends children rather than frighten them.

During the performance, you have the option of watching either the performers manipulating the puppets, performing in front of the camera, playing the guitar, and voice acting, or you can watch the film they are creating in real time projected onto a screen. Both are equally engrossing; they make cinema theatrical but avoid being so clever that you lose track of the story. The human performances from Leah Casey and Sarah Fornace as scaredy-cat kids Kerry and Sam are not quite as visually interesting as the puppetry, but that is easily made up for by the paper puppets. As Manual Cinema turn the pages of Willems’ book, his illustrations come to life in inventive and hilarious ways.

Creative and captivating storytelling like this is about as far from the typically sugary affair that usually passes for children’s entertainment. The target audience for this show is quiet children who are full of wonder. Kids like that will drink up every moment of this show, but realistically, children’s theatre has to appeal to a wider demographic than that. Because the storytelling is so tightly constructed, any noise or disturbance from the audience comes as an interruption. If the etiquette of a show forbids crying, talking, or shouting, then it hasn’t created a child-friendly space. Manual Cinema make enchanting productions and Leonardo! is no exception, but it is a shame that the little monsters in the audience haven’t been given as much thought as the little monsters on stage.

4 stars.