Grit

Since the success of The Last Miner at the Fringe in 2010, puppet theatre company Tortoise in a Nutshell has gone from strength to strength, with director Ross MacKay recently being supported by the National Theatre of Scotland. But while much of its previous efforts have focused on younger audiences, Grit isn’t specifically aimed at children, though it does have their welfare at heart.

The story focuses on a war photographer, whose daughter—portrayed by a large ragdoll-like puppet—is looking through his boxes and the pictures he’s taken. His travels come to life through the manipulation of overhead projections and shadow puppetry, and he spends a lot of time with children whose lives have been torn apart by war. We’re presented with strong visual images, such as a boy in a sand pit whose joyous playground slowly turns into a battlefield. And the climactic scene towards the end, in which the photographer faces tanks in Syria, is stunningly relayed in an obstacle course of boxes, paper towers and cardboard cut-outs.

This is stylish work, its illustrative style reminiscent of war-set graphic novels like Joe Sacco’s Palestine and Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles. Jim Harbourne’s captivating score adds to the atmosphere, which turns from innocent to forbidding. There are also fantastic child-like performances from the talented cast and MacKay’s direction is quietly affecting too. In fact, the only thing wrong with Grit is its length: at 40 minutes, it’s just too short. And with scenes as urgent and haunting as these, we’re left wanting more from this remarkable theatre company.