ESCAPISM could rarely have been so high up the wish list as in these past few money-monitoring months. As own brands, stay-at-home holidays and crunch-boxes at desks become part of the daily grind, our stages and screens are looked at with beadier e
xpectation for a dash of that razzle-dazzle entertainment.
So in swept Mary Poppins to Edinburgh last week, fresh from a three-year run on the West End, and with high expectations attached. Not only has it already pleased audiences, but its creative calling card includes producer Cameron Mackintosh, choreographer Matthew Bourne, writer Julian Fellowes and director Richard Eyre – a greater dollop of the cream of the British arts establishment you couldn't hope to scoop.
With such calibre involved it should have come as no surprise that the dark, looming theatricality of PL Travers' original turn-of-the-century tale is clearly the greater influence on this show than the Disney film version most of the audience will be familiar with.
An inventive set design for the blink and you'll miss 'em shifts between upstairs, downstairs and the rooftop of 17 Cherry Tree Lane, and the quality of performances, in particular from Caroline Sheen as a mesmerising Mary, exude charisma, even if the fun and oom-pa-pa has been put on the back burner.
Morals and ethics are to the fore, told through the recognisable plight of the very precise Mr Banks' struggle to keep his job and to show affection towards his children. In steps supernanny Poppins to remove the children from the gloom of home and take them to the park to meet Bert, and other 'colourful characters', from the bird lady to fellow chimney sweeps.
The dark days at the bank loom over the production, however, and it is in these scenes – though magnificently designed and choreographed – that one wonders how much fun the little ones in the audience are having. That said, when the ensemble attacks the grand scale moments of 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' and 'Let's Go Fly A Kite', there truly is a sense of magic in the air, and Bourne's choreography eagerly comes to the fore to meet Eyre's classy direction.
Austere and surprisingly adult, this Poppins is an intelligent blend of the traditional and the contemporary, but, clocking in at more than two-and-a-half hours, a little more sugar-coated entertainment wouldn't have gone amiss.
Until December 6
www.edinburgh-playhouse.co.ukThe full article contains 418 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
