The Lonely Giant - Review by Danielle Jeffers

“Baa, Baa” The first line of the show, funny from the start until the end.

My five-year-old cousin Jaeden giggles at many things, but ‘The Lonely Giant’ was good fun and had me giggling too.

This Babbling Vagabonds’ show is based on an old Scottish folk tale about a giant called Angus. It is performed by three very enthusiastic but very talented puppeteers who are like big children themselves finding it easy to get along with them. The voices they use for the puppets were hilarious.

The story follows Angus in search of a giantess because he is lonely. Angus is a one-of-a-kind giant. He is sensitive, lonely and is even a vegetarian. The audience follows his search as he faces difficult decisions whilst visiting many fun places along the way.

The performance is on a small set and the structure changes throughout the show making the area feel bigger as you move from a Scottish Hillside to a tropical island. It offers more than what you would expect from a puppet show.

The story of the play kicks in straight away, building suspense when waiting to see the giant. The giant was disappointing as he was played by a man in basic giant type clothing. Although he was a giant compared to the puppets, to the audience he was not a realistic giant.

The puppeteers worked well with the puppets, although sometimes it was obvious that they were holding them and caused some confusion with my cousin, distracted him from the play.

They are many colourful puppets in the show that grab your attention and it’s great that at the end of the show the puppeteers show you the puppets, how they were made and how they work them.

‘The Lonely Giant’ lasted for one hour, which may be too long for some children. My cousin’s attention span is short but he did manage to last throughout most.