Review: The Paper Dolls at Little Angel Theatre for triumphant puppetry

When I parked in a charming street in Islington on Saturday, I felt we were on a family adventure. We searched out a busy Ottolenghi restaurant, spotted a Londoner with a paper cup from Gail’s and were tempted to stock up on Aesop hand wash in a boutique I felt had a San Francisco feel to it. Walking Through a gate we then discovered a small, quaint, brick building with the sign Little Angel Theatre, which seemed like a magnet to families with children in the same age group as ours, and we were delighted to have located the venue that we had set out to find.

We had been invited to review The Paper Dolls, a puppetry version of the picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, which is now playing at Islington’s Little Angel Theatre. The puppet show, a Little Angel Theatre and Polka Theatre co-production, is recommended for children aged 3 to 8 and tells the story about a little girl called Rosie and her mum who creates a string of paper dolls.

Rosie names all her dolls, and takes them on an adventure, pretending to go on a boat and taking the dolls into the garden. But her brother keeps disrupting her play, and with a pair of scissors, he manages to turn Rosie’s dolls into confetti.

The Paper Dolls stands out for a sweet storyline about sibling and mother-daughter relationships combined with gorgeous puppetry. At the end, Rosie has grown up and makes paper dolls with her own little girl, which we decided was our favourite puppet as Rosie’s daughter had us aahing in the first row.

We also particularly enjoyed the scenes where the setting changed with the help of sheets being rolled across the stage to depict the ocean or the garden. Puppets then popped up from behind the sheets, and in the garden, audiences were first transported to the outdoors with the help of a cute mice and a ladybird that could be seen whizzing around in the grass.

The show also features catchy tunes, and the two-person cast performed the story with charm and grace.

A delightful puppetry treat!

The Paper Dolls will be playing at Little Angel Theatre until 18 April. Running time is 45 minutes.

Photos by Ellie Kurttz

Tags: Children's theatre, Islington, Julia Donaldson, Little Angel Theatre, Puppet theatre, The Paper Dolls