Review: The Road That Wasn’t There, Laughing Horse @ the Free Sisters (Venue 272)

Created by New Zealand company Trick of the Light, this kid’s theatre show agreeably mixes fantasy, fun and a resonant slice of darkness with some puppetry and shadowplay, creating a kind of indie fairy tale that can be enjoyed by all ages. If it’s occasionally a little frayed around the joins, then at least the performers and designers involved haven’t shied away from trying to make something truly memorable.

* * *

It tells the story of a young woman searching in vain for the Woodrot Estate and hope of work, whose quest becomes so derailed that she has to draw her own map and follow it. This sets supernatural powers in motion, changing the carnival folk she’s befriended into dark mirror images of themselves.

The plot fairly skips about, but there are lots of nice touches, including an amusing shadow recreation of Captain Cook’s journey to New Zealand and a nice resonance established with the connection between Dunedin and Edinburgh.

Until tomorrow. Today noon.