The Light Princess

There’s plenty to admire and some things to enjoy in Marianne Elliott’s imaginatively staged production of Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson’s musical. But though its title character is made to soar and float over the stage for most of the evening, the show itself remains stubbornly earthbound for too much of it.

On the one hand, it is beautifully designed, musically rich (if repetitive) and boasts an absolutely stunning performance from Rosalie Craig as Althea, the floating princess who, like Elphaba in Wicked, finds herself defying gravity and is destined to fly around her kingdom. As creatively manipulated by four acrobats, she is constantly in some kind of animated suspension, and Craig has to be congratulated for her sheer fearlessness in singing while balanced on three sets of legs, or hanging upside down.

But on the other hand, the show – based on an unconventional Victorian fairytale that has her falling in love with the son of the ruler of the neighbouring kingdom – has an unremitting earnestness that made me wonder just who it was designed for. Children are likely to be both bored and confused, and adults will find it hard to care.

It has, however, been brought to the stage with loving commitment and attentive detail, from Rae Smith’s gorgeous pop-up toy theatre sets to the inventive puppetry of Finn Caldwell and lush sounds from Martin Lowe’s band. A superb ensemble also features Amy Booth-Steel as Althea’s friend and confidant, Clive Rowe as her father, and Nick Hendrix as her lover.