Review: The Borrowers, Tobacco Factory Theatres

Arrietty hooks her leg up through the grate, swings back and lowers herself to the floor. As she moves expertly down the rope, I find my own breath tightening. At any moment she could be discovered by a cat or fall through the endless space which is, improbably, opening up underneath the floorboards.

If I feel tense, though, it’s nothing to what Eli is feeling in the seat beside me. In fact, by this point I notice that he’s actually left the seat and is stood up, breath rapt and fingernails curled into little balls, his body making involuntary little movements as he wills the Borrower to safety.

There can’t be many people who grew up in the 90s who don’t have some sort of strong nostalgic attachment to The Borrowers via the BBC adaptation that aired on Sunday nights. With that in mind, I thought I knew what to expect from Bea Roberts’ theatrical version. If I had to put my finger on it, specifically I was looking forward to seeing lots of massive props (and on that front, the show didn’t disappoint. I can now look people in the eye and tell them that I’ve seen a packet of Walkers crisps big enough for three grown humans to fit inside).

David Ridley in ‘The Borrowers’ at Tobacco Factory Theatres. All pics: Mark Dawson Photography

But this show went beyond a reliance on such tricks of perspective, to create an immersive, playful space where scale shifted constantly. Craig Edwards, Jessica Hayles and Peta Maurice’s brilliant physical performances impressively seemed to capture exactly how it is to be five inches tall.

While this is going on, at the other side of the stage, David Ridley and Ellie Showering, playing the ‘human beans’, were occupying the other side of the scene – but at the macro scale. It’s a tremendously effective device to build tension, and it’s testament to the quality of the play that, by the time it starts to be employed after the first act, my belief is sufficiently suspended that the conceit seems perfectly natural.

Jessica Hayles and Craig Edwards as the Borrowers

This playfulness is inspiring to see in a children’s production. At one point, although she has little more than a few strands of green tinsel to work with, Jessica Hayles has us convinced that she is stepping out amongst gigantic blades of grass, experiencing the shocking, huge, blue sky for the very first time. I feel Arrietty’s joy – and it brings me back to the best days of childhood, where we make new discoveries and completely lose ourselves for hours at a time.

Peta Maurice essays the human assault course while Simon Armstrong provides the soundtrack

It’s not all wide-eyed reverie, though. The adventure also includes a marauding hoover, which pulls the whole set to the other side of the stage – and the Borrowers with it. As well as being hilarious and impressive, the experience was genuinely terrifying, with peril that almost brought tears to the eyes of Eli (and maybe a little bit to me).

The play is introduced by grown-up Eddie (Simon Armstrong), and his narration and presence anchors the whole play in a space of wistful but secure memory. This guitar-playing granddad, with his sequined jacket and kindly smile, invites us into this intense land of lost figures, skirting on the edge of our consciousness. But he also takes the time to put the injustices suffered by young Eddie into a mature and forgiving context that rounds out the villainous stepmother role that is painted for Mrs Driver.

Simon Armstrong introduces the play

The following may well be overkill for a children’s Christmas performance, but for me Bea Roberts’ Borrowers is the mirror image of Ibsen’s Ghosts where, rather than trauma being inevitably accumulated and transmitted through generations, we see how – through kindness, bravery, and good communication – families can heal, and things can get better over time.

The Borrowers is great fun – and will give you loads of ideas for hoover-dodging, table-leg-climbing, curtain-hiding games back at home.

The Borrowers continues at Tobacco Factory Theatres until January 20. For more info, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/the-borrowers

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