I saw this play when it last came to Leeds and so enjoyed it that I thought I would see if it had changed over the past three years and, if so, how. It was obvious that the cast had changed, but what about the show?
Having just read my original article I realised that there had been a couple of alterations, one which enhanced it, and the other, I’m not so sure about. The show is based on the book of the same name by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, which tells the story of the eponymous Stick Man, who lives in the family tree with his wife and three children. I won’t repeat my original corny joke but, if you read my stuff, you will probably have twigged what it was.
The action begins when Stick Man sets off on his morning jog – honestly – and soon realises that it is going to be one of those days. He has not gone very far when he encounters a dog which fancied a play, so wanted to pick him up, run about a bit, drop him, and start all over again. Fortunately for our hero, the Park Keeper was about and dragged the dog away as it was not on a lead.
Stick Man, Sam Makepeace-Beach, hotly pursued by a swan, Maya Bassi Curtis
Just as he is heaving a sigh of relief, along comes a girl, who seems to be just as bored as the dog and thinks that using Stick Man to play Pooh Sticks would be great fun, so she takes him to a bridge and drops him off into the river. If that wasn’t bad enough along comes a swan who carries him away to use in building its nest.
Fortunately, Stick Man is able to set himself free and floats down the river, but finds himself swept out to sea. After some time he is washed up on a distant beach where he is discovered by two holiday makers who first use him as a bat in a game of cricket and then embed him into the top of their sand castle to act as a flag, where they abandon him.
Jack Ward and Maya Bassi Curtis as the holidaymakers, have fun with Stick Man – Sam Makepeace-Beach, very appropriate – between playing cricket and building their sand castle
He climbs down from the sand castle and begins to walk but the weather takes a turn for the worse and it starts snowing. He lies down, cold, lonely and far from home. He then has a ‘be careful what you wish for’ moment when, craving warmth, he is gathered by a chap to take home and put on his fire. As he is in the grate, he hears a noise above, it is Santa who has got stuck up the chimney! Stick Man pokes around and manages to free him. As a mark of his gratitude, and seeing a way to get a free labourer, Santa says Stick Man can help him deliver the presents, and, when they have done, he will drop him off at home. Not literally, obviously. There follows much rejoicing in the Stick household, where his wife and kids have been worried.
You can tell that this is a story for children, if it had been an adult play, Stick Lady would have laid into him for not phoning, after checking her call log of course, and accused him of making it up to cover for seeing someone else, or worse still, spending all day down the pub playing darts with his mates. Look – if he can go jogging he can swill ale and chuck arrows.
Once again it is the fun and games which go along with the tale that matter and they were all executed superbly well by the five people involved. Sam Makepeace-Beach, played Stick Man; Stick Lady Love was Maya Bassi Curtis; Actor-Musician and Swing Stick Man, Jack Ward; with Swing, Hannah Baker. The fifth member was an unnamed lady who interpreted the show into BSL. If my memory is not playing tricks on me for once, I think it was the same signer who did the show I saw last week at Leeds Central Library. She seemed to be having a ball on both occasions.
Snow? All I need!
The action was executed by having Sam Makepeace-Beach do the walking around and mirroring Stick Man’s actions and expressions whilst either holding a model in his hand, or mirroring what was happening when our hero was in the hands of other people. As was the case last time, those present were particularly amused when the dog was nibbling at the model stick’s mid section whilst the actor was grimacing and rubbing his bum.
In addition to playing Stick Lady, Maya Bassi Curtis was the dog, the girl, the swan, Santa’s reindeer as well as one of the holiday makers with Jack Ward who was also Santa, the Park Keeper and interlocutor – get him with his big words! – using a megaphone to warn Stick Man of the next impending danger. All this whilst playing several instruments.
As you would expect, the audience members were in the range of 3+ and the rear half of the hall was filled with school children not much older than that, who were all wearing hi-viz tabards. I was seated to the side on an elevated part so could see both the stage and those present, I don’t know which element was the more entertaining. They were all impeccably behaved but very loud and enthusiastic when called upon to be so.
Santa, Jack Ward and reindeer, Maya Bassi Curtis, take Stick Man, Sam Makepeace-Beach back to the family tree,
There were a few lines in the piece which were aimed at adults, although not in the same way as in panto; a couple of examples were when the children, old and young, were asked to put their arms in the air and sway, when the musician said that it was like the Queen concert at Wembley Stadium, and a reference to winning points when he came over all Brucie and asked ‘What do points mean?’ – tumbleweed.
The deviations from last time I saw the show were in the beach scene, when the holidaymakers had used an imaginary beach ball to play their game of cricket, an invisiball, later to be thrown into the crowd, who pretended to throw it back. Today it was a real one, which was alright but lacked the silliness of the original. The second was a new chase around the auditorium when the dog was being pursued by the Parky and we were asked to say where it was. The place was in uproar with pointing and shouting. Brilliant.
As I noted last time, it was great to see so many young children having a good time, and how I hope that it will encourage them to experience live performances throughout the rest of their lives.
Stick Man was directed by Mark Kane and runs at Leeds Playhouse until 4th January, 2026. More information, and tickets, can be found at https://www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/event/stick-man/ For details of other shows at Leeds Playhouse it is https://www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on/
Photographs by Cian O’Riain
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