Poppy Burton-Morgan is the co-founder of Metta Theatre, a company putting on an innovative new version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book at the Theatre Royal in Windsor April 21-23. Amanda Hodges finds out more
If spring is the season of renewal, then the revamping of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book by Metta Theatre has arrived right on cue.
The company name is a play on words, reflecting both a compassionate ethos derived from Buddhism (metta) and the dramatic principle of replacing reality with imagination (meta-theatrical), leading to intense, highly physical works that encourage the audience to engage fully in the unfolding drama.
“At the start of The Jungle Book, we see the performers just as performers – without costume – and then suddenly they’re transformed into the different animal characters, so that we witness their creation,” explains co-founder and Artistic Director, Poppy Burton-Morgan.
“Baloo [here a beat-boxing bin man rather than a bear] has a spoken word prologue and introduces each character, conjuring them into being so the audience takes that imaginative leap.”
In this vein, Shere Kahn is now a gangsta rapper, Bagheera a graffiti artist and the wolves who nurture the young Mowgli – now a young girl making her way in the modern urban jungle – a skateboarding crew.
“Historically, we’ve done quite a lot of gender switching. Whenever we get the chance to have a brilliant, strong, empowered female protagonist, I’m in there,” laughs Poppy, who is revelling in her twin role as the show’s adaptor and director.
“It’s always useful, as my director’s vision often comes so early on that it actually shapes the adaptation. With this, we’ve transposed it to a contemporary urban world, so it’s about a mixed-race girl growing up, affiliating with different street tribes and searching for a sense of identity and belonging.”
Even so, the core tale is close to the original.
“Kipling has these great big sections of rhyming verse and couplets, and we’re faithful to that. If your reference point is Disney, this won’t be familiar, but there’s also a live action film of The Jungle Book out this spring, so hopefully in future people will know the whole, non-Disneyfied story.”
With performers from the likes of Cirque du Soleil, physical virtuosity is key. But so too is the storytelling.
“There are levels to it, so although you could watch with an eight-year-old, some of the themes are quite dark and the observations about contemporary society quite adult. If that goes over your head, fine, but it’s there for adults to lock onto.”
You can book tickets to Metta Theatre's production of the Jungle Book at The Theatre Royal here
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