Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and touring 2006

Tim Settle and Simon Donaldson in Jason and the Argo. (photo - Douglas McBride)

WHAT CHILD wouldn’t like to get their hands on Robin Peoples’ set for ‘Jason and the Argonauts’? At first sight it’s just a wooden cart with two large wheels either side – somewhere for actors Simon Donaldson and Tim Settle to sit as they bide time waiting for the action to begin. But as Robert Forrest’s highly enjoyable play swings into life, so the set comes into its own.

Naturally, it functions as a vehicle for young Jason to set out on his epic journey in search of the golden fleece. But with a flick of a couple of catches – and a few clever shifts in scale and perspective in Douglas Irvine’s witty production for Visible Fictions – it transforms into a giant paper boat, a perfect size for a crew of Action Man Argonauts.

So it trundles on, deftly concealing the various props as it goes, until the whole thing is upended and transformed once more – this time into a chamber where the valiant Jason is imprisoned and a receptacle for the prize fleece.

The mutations are in keeping with a show, pitched at the over-nines, that is never less than playful, funny and inventive, yet that always keeps sight of the dramatic seriousness of the story.

When the actors create a dragon by billowing air through a plastic tail with an electric wind machine, they get a big laugh, but we never doubt the ferocity of the beast or underestimate the challenge Jason has in defeating it.

Forrest’s script has theatricality built in to it, requiring the actors repeatedly to swap roles, frequently within a single scene. Irvine handles this with great precision, causing only a couple of brief moments of confusion as we try to keep up with who’s doing what to whom.

For the most part, he makes it seem effortless, a big game of make-believe in which the narrative is all-consuming and the characters subservient to it.

The result is a fast-paced hour in which our hero does a deal with the murderous king, sets sail to the end of the world, struggles against impossible odds, wins the heart of Medea and returns to face the duplicitous king once more.

Reminiscent of a Wee Stories show – and none the worse for that – ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ rediscovers the vitality of an ancient Greek myth and performs it in a way that is as silly as it is serious.

(Jason and the Argonauts can be seen at the Craigmonie Centre, Drumnadrochit, on 7-8 November; Gordonstoun School, Elgin, on 9 November; and Mallaig & Morar Community Centre, Mallaig, on 15 November).

© Mark Fisher, 2006

Link

• Visible Fictions