Paul T Davies reviews Magical Honey at the Mercury Theatre Colchester as part of a tour.

Magical Honey.

Mercury Theatre and on tour.

25 December 2023

4 Stars

Sanskruti Dance have created this beautiful, graceful, and fun piece, which introduces South Asian dance to children and families alike. It’s the story of

Maya who discovers she can harness her own magic through art and stories, thanks to the help of the celestial being Saraswati. Together they discover the mystical world around them. But their joy is threatened by their evil Headteacher Miss Tusra, who believes no one should enjoy art. (She gives Dahl’s Miss Trunchbull a run for her money)! Together with the audience, Maya needs to combat Miss Tusra and restore beauty to her enchanting world.

It's a show full of high, non-threatening, audience participation, and there are some wonderful magic tricks that pleased the young audience members, and they were all fascinated throughout. We were encouraged to dance, move, create some of the creatures Maya encounters, and Miss Tusra was very scary with her harsh stare at some of the misbehaved Dads in the audience! The children were invited onto the stage to dance with the company and given activities that they could carry on with after the show.

The dance is beautiful, as is the score, together with exquisite violin playing. It confirms the work that I saw previously in their show Apple N Spice, the connection between nature, art, imagination, and creativity is underlined in a gentle, yet very effective way. It also shows that the library is not a place of punishment for some children- it’s an escape! Highly recommended.