Night of the Big Wind

Canterbury-based Little Cauliflower has developed its own distinctive style of puppet-led storytelling, innocent and homely, and in this follow up to last year's Street Dreams it's no surprise to see Night of the Big Wind filled with the same lyrical gentleness.

The company's ambitions have grown, though, and instead of the simple black box stage of last year, now the space is filled with the accoutrements of their craft – sandbags, lamps, and the company's ingenious wind and thunder makers. They are more involved in the action too, taking the roles of actors, storytellers and puppeteers in turn to tell this simple folk tale of an Irish boy finding a connection with his reticent father through the trauma of a big storm. It's beautifully told, and the bunraku boy is especially enchanting, manipulated with a style that echoes Raymond Briggs's drawings in The Snowman.

But where Street Dreams had an urban mischief underlying the sweetness, this hale and hearty story feels a touch more earnest, and this, coupled with the group's wholesome vision, makes the piece feel in danger of becoming too wide-eyed. The live folk music accompanying it is beautiful too, but perhaps having it as a backdrop encourages the scenes to be drawn out longer than they should, the build up to the storm in particular.

It is a thing of wonder in itself, though, to see a new company's imagination grow and it is genuinely exciting to see what Little Cauliflower will come up with next.