Akimbo Theatre's The Animator tells the fascinating story of German Lotte Reiniger (Lexie Baker), who, 10 years before Disney, created a feature-length animated film.
Lotte's film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, is a fairy tale made using silhouettes and an innovative new style of camera. In 1920s Berlin, this genre strangely reflects the bohemian, free-thinking, liberal mindset of Lotte and the eccentric men who helped her.
And it is in stark contrast to what is going on around her. Germany is a country recovering from a war it lost, and another is brewing.
Fascism is rising, and the challenges Lotte faces are many, from the technicalities of making the film to finding an investor willing to take the risk and navigating the censors.
Her vision is big, bold, loose and free in a political landscape that is narrowing and becoming increasingly oppressive.
Akimbo Theatre's approach to storytelling is dynamic and high-energy, packed full of movement, dance and music, and The Animator is no different. It is bold and vivacious with the added layer of film and animation clips projected onto a large, white screen backdrop.
The story is framed by an aged Lotte (Lexie Baker) recalling the time, accompanied by footage of the real Lotte talking, a reminder of the fact amid the fiction.
Akimbo's is a performance style that suits the characters working in the animation studio, the eccentricities imaginatively captured in the movement and humour. Lexie Baker gives a compelling performance as Lotte.
However, when the story spills out into the world beyond the studio, it becomes a little problematic.
The plot details, subtleties and dramatic tension occasionally get lost in the physical performances, and the humour sometimes detracts rather than adds. The layers of activity are sometimes simply in the way, blocking what is happening on the screen.
It's a wild and intriguing story of an incredible woman and extraordinary achievement set during an interesting and perilous time, but the style of performance didn't always serve it as well. I was left wanting to know more about Lotte.
I'm giving The Animator ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half.
Production details: The Animator, Southwark Playhouse
Director: Rosanna Mallinson
Cast: Lexie Baker, Flo Wiedenbach, Halvor Schultz, Richard Durning and Owen Bleach.
Running time 1 hour and 35 minutes with an interval.
Booking until 30 August; for more information and to buy tickets, visit the Southwark Playhouse website.
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Video review: Born With Teeth, Wyndham's Theatre booking until 1 November ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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