Set at Christmas in East Yorkshire during the 1940s Blitz, The Borrowers is a family-friendly musical following the Clock family, who live under the floorboards in a rural house in East Yorkshire. Arrietty Clock is adventurous spirit and can’t wait to go out borrowing and find freedom and fresh air away from the floorboards she’s always known. Her Dad, Pod, borrows from the humans above, using their findings to furnish their home and to get food for the family. When Arrietty hits her teenage years, she begins to join her Dad borrowing, with the one condition that they must remain hidden from the humans of the household, especially the mean Mrs Driver. However, when an evacuee, a young boy from Hull, comes to stay at the house, Arrietty becomes curious and makes mistakes. As a result, the family is forced to flee their home and go on an adventure to find a new one.
The cast are fantastic and capture many conflicting feelings throughout the show. The courageous Arriett is played by Bea Glancy, who provides a wonderful heroine for the show and has a beautiful voice. Her parents, Homily (Deb Pugh) and Pod (Marc Akinfolarin), are also fantastic, showing vulnerability and courage in their differing ways. The rest of the cast who play multiple characters (Ewan Ling, Megan Leigh Mason, and Rachael Garnett) top off the brilliant cast, and make some of the most incredible quick changes I’ve ever seen! Ling and Garnett also play instruments at various points throughout the show, which is fantastic.
The cast expertly use puppets (John Barber, Liz Dees, and Ian Mitchell). The puppets for the Borrowers demonstrate the height difference when they are interacting with the humans, being manipulated by their actors. This allows for the audience to see the facial expressions and body language that the actors are providing when using the puppets, adding that extra layer which wouldn’t have been possible to see if they were just using the puppets alone. There are also the additional puppets of giant wasps, crows, and other insects which the Borrowers came across when living outside. These puppets are also incredibly well used, and you could tell a lot of attention to detail was paid to ensure they looked realistic.
The set design (Patrick Connellan) is incredibly done and well-utilised throughout the show. The middle of the set spins, which at the beginning and end of the show is the space for the Borrowers under the floorboards, and at the beginning of Act 2 becomes a field when out in the wilderness, allowing for a quick transition between the two. The set is also well created to show the height difference between the humans and the Borrowers. With a massive clock at the top of the stage, where the Borrowers come out from when on their borrowing missions, and the set for the humans living in the house (above the floorboards!) being seen at the same time as the Borrowers under the floorboards, highlighting how what was happening above the floorboards were impacting those below. All the little touches with the props (Louis Smith and Mark Kesteven) such as pin needle knitting needles used by Homily, the matchbox bed used by Pod and Homily, and a thimble bucket added to the beautiful world-building the show aimed to create.
Overall, the show is a perfect introduction to theatre for the whole family and makes a lovely change to the traditional pantomime at Christmas, yet is still full of humour, joy, and festive spirit!
The Borrowers runs at the Hull Truck Theatre until 4th January.
★★★★☆ (4*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Tom Arran
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