Adapted from Eileen Browne’s much loved 1995 book, this 35-minute show is effectively an opera for preschoolers. Akeyo (Rujenne Green) wants to take a gift of fruit to her friend Handa (Hannah Akhalu) but all the fruit she gathers is eaten by animals she meets on the way so it’s fortunate that a goat knocks some tangerines off a tree. Tangerines – and every child in the audience is given a segment – turn out to be Handa’s favourite and that’s the surprise.

It’s a rhythmic story in which each fruit celebrated in song, in an African language, in a repeated melody and there’s a little tune which I know as The Farmer’s in his Den. The music is very simple and, almost entirely consisting of rounds based on major chords. One child, at the performance I saw, was singing some of it back to them before we were even half way through. Green and Akhalu both have clear, sweet voices and their intonation is excellent. There is no accompaniment although both actors are on stage smiling and rocking and sweeping to steel pan tunes before the show starts.

The fruit eating animals are puppets (by Peter O’Rourke)  which either emerge from the edge of Sophia Lovell Smith’s sandy African set or are assembled from around  Green’s person. The delicate teetering monkey is attractive and we get a neat zebra from inverting a neck sling that Akhalu is wearing. The giraffe is probably the tour de force moving with spindly elegance on its bamboo legs.

The children and their parents are seated on the floor round three sides of the square playing space – as a venerable (or something) onlooker I am given a chair. All the puppets tour the audience to wave at, inspect, gently peck the children in the audience which goes down well.

It’s a show which exudes charm and it’s very engaging. All the children I saw it with were entranced.

First published by Sardines: