To the moon!

Rocket Boy is a classic girl-next-door-meets-boy type of story. 10 year old Jessica has just moved into a boring cul-de-sac and is mourning the loss of her friends and exciting city life, when she comes across Benjamin – an astronaut building a rocket ship to Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons.) The play follows the trials and tribulations of their blossoming relationship and explores love, life and astronautical engineering through the eyes of two, ten year old children.

Set in a small room at the back of the Bakehouse Theatre, the audience becomes very aware of the people around them, sitting on a makeshift chair arrangement to view a very tiny stage. It created a very intimate atmosphere, possibly too intimate with the person next to you, for an exclusive number of 20 or so people. However, the lack of children in the audience seemed to smack of irony when the play clearly suited a younger audience. There were adult puns galore, which satisfied the mature pallet, but if the audience had contained little ones the atmosphere would have changed. Perhaps, I went on the wrong night.

The actors put on a great show, skilfully re-creating child-like characters that satisfied both the innocent representations of the children, yet maintaining a maturity about them that was convincing of some of the more adult witticism. The most amusing aspect of the play was the way the lines were delivered. The three children Jessica (Kaitlyn Mahoney), Benjamin, or as he prefers Lieutenant (Julian Webster) and Ivy, Jessica’s best friend and confidant (Lauren Farquhar) performed with childish language and mannerisms even as they spoke of adult issues, such as the “spark” being gone from their relationship after four days. But, as Ivy asks “Do you like him?” to which Jessica replies, “More than ice cream!”

Mahoney’s 10 year old Jessica is performed with a pure, but discerning nature that makes her a joy to watch. Along with Farquhar’s Dolly-obsessed Ivy, the two girls are the most engaging and believable on stage. Webster’s best quality was his physicality in conveying the petulant, neurotic Lieutenant, but with his lines predominantly yelled, the character’s personality grated. The fourth character was omniscient Narrator (Andrew Jackson) who portrayed a stuffy English professor, complete with red bowtie, very aptly. The Narrator lent the play a sense of magical storytelling, fitting the themes of classic tale and childlike narrative. We, the audience were transformed into children, led by the hand by the Narrator, who guided and added titbits of information about the characters.

The sensation of being transported to a children’s story book was enhanced by the set and props. The rocket ship was handmade, collected from bits of old flowerpots and shower curtains to convey an authenticity about its creation. The image design by Alex Gabbott remained deliberately simple to be effective in occupying the limited stage space. The set added to the symbolic representations of three different areas used on stage: the rocket ship, Narrator’s chair and Ivy’s room. Director Kendall Feaver adeptly commanded the use of stage space and the characters never seemed too crowded.

Rocket Boy was short-lived, just as Jessica and Lieutenant’s relationship, but it was short, sharp and sweet – in every sense of the word.

Credits