Lean close, my friends. I’m telling you a story.
By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — From the get go, we are charmed into the magical storybook world of Pigpen Theatre’s The Tale of Despereaux playing at the Old Globe through Aug 11. With a tight ensemble, poetry, puppetry and song, it is a tale of darkness and light with great heart.
Based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux is an unlikely hero, a curious little mouse “with ears like frying pans” who thirsts for adventure. His older siblings are more cautious and practical, scavenging for crumbs. As crumbs are lacking, they eat paper in the library. But Despereaux gets caught up in the stories. He determines to become a brave knight, vanquishing dragons, rescuing princesses and righting wrongs.
The wrong to be righted is that there hasn’t been a banquet in the castle for a long time, causing hard times for the mice. At the last banquet, when the chef presented a soup “that smelled like happiness,” a rat dropped into the queen’s bowl, giving her a heart attack. The grief-stricken king banned soup, but the villainous rat is still at large. Despereaux befriends the lonely Princess Pea and a scullery maid, Miggory Sow (her Pa named her after his prize pig) and vows to bring that rat to justice. With a sewing needle for a sword, he sets off on his quest.
The set by Jason Sherwood is kind of like a tree house, childish and playful with places to climb and explore, yet with enough dark shadows to be spooky. I loved it when they went down into the dungeon and glowing pairs of red eyes filled it with rats. The puppets of mice and rats were simple and easy to manipulate. When they interact with humans, they use the puppets. But when they’re alone, they just use themselves.
Roscuro the Rat makes a compelling villain. Scheming and manipulative, he convinces others that it’s in their best interest to do his bidding. But characters aren’t always what they seem. Kings aren’t always good. Princesses aren’t always happy and prisoners don’t always deserve their lot.
Hats off to the Old Globe and Pigpen Theatres for coming together in a tight ensemble to tell an enchanting tale. If there’s a child in your life in whom you want to foster a love of the literary arts, this is a great show to take them to. And you will find the child in you excited, delighted and satisfied that your thirst for adventure has been quenched.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com