Tipsy Teacup’s, A Little Piece, at the Victorian Arts Centre, 22 September 2010

Tipsy Teacup’s latest production, shown at the Victorian Arts Centre for the school holidays, is an utterly charming theatrical installation.

A Little Piece tells the story of Harry the Hedgehog as he is cast out into the world from his cosy place of birth (a toyshop, of course) and tries “to find his place in the world”. On his travels, Harry meets groups of lost things – a bunch of musical teaspoons, a couple of sadly lockless keys, some no-longer-smelly socks and a tailor’s trove of missing buttons. With each meeting, Harry recognises his own state reflected in that of the objects he encounters. He also realises that sharing the condition of being lost is not enough to build a relationship on, and so continues searching for his place.

At times, the language used to tell the story seemed a trifle sophisticated for children under five years. Harry’s plight begins to seem like a kind of philosophical conundrum, his lost state epitomising (post)modern hum…