Allegory of the Cave – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

Mythical tales re-telling the story of people’s lives is enchanting, and Allegory of the Cave excel at making the tradition of storytelling delightful in their presentation with an improvised show which also incorporates puppetry. 

Grandma is always good to have on hand to read these mythical tales, and in this instance, she is a G&T drinking Granny.  She asks her grandchild to ask her imaginary friend what fear she had when she was a child, and of course the imaginary friend is us, the audience.  Brave audience member Mark recounted his recurring bad dream of being chased by bees, and so the troupe would weave Mark’s fear of bees into the story.

The story centres around the battle between nature and the destructive force that are humans.  This tale feels like a prescient warning of things to come in our world, as human populations grow, and our need for more housing is destructive to our environment.  In this once upon a time tale, a child is to become age eighteen, and the realities of no longer being a child rest on their shoulders as they register to vote and to pay taxes.  In a lavender field the plants talk about the impact that humans are having on mother nature, but the owner of the land is being pressured to sell, as her shop business is not doing well.  The shadows of flowers are behind a backlit screen with puppeteers bringing to life Mother Marigold, who called a meeting of the flowers.  The addition of the puppetry adds another dimension to this story told by granny, and the efforts made by the plants to hold back the development of the land by city industrialists, are a running theme here. 

For the audience, seeing a tale crafted and developed in front of them, about a very current subject i.e. climate change, and the necessity of keeping our green spaces is a joy.  The improvisers have to work hard to move between storytelling and puppetry, but the combination of the puppetry which provides a visual onstage depiction of the flowers, and the chance for them to talk about the flower’s viewpoint is done very well. 

Overall, the Allegory of the Cave added a different type of improvisation to the proceedings, and their skills in puppetry and folktale telling was endearing.  A younger audience would love this type of show if it were tailored for them, I know that my grandchildren would love that! 

Even though the festival is over, you will be able to find out further details of upcoming shows, previews, reviews, and about the companies involved in the festival by going to – https://www.liverpoolimprovfestival.com/

Reviewer: Caroline Worswick

Reviewed: 26^th April 2025

North West End UK Rating: