Tree by Highly Sprung Performance Company

Tree was an adventurous story, amazingly acted. It was performed by the Highly Sprung Performance Company. Tree is a model of a six metre tree with harnesses and bungee ropes. The performers use rolls, jumps and movement to show the story of Sophie's mother having Huntington's disease and doctors trying to cure it. Sophie cannot see her mother so she starts to get angry and confused. She runs away and goes to the only place where she is happy (playing on Tree), who is also sadly dying. Sophie says that she could play on Tree all day. Sophie's mother is trying to show Sophie the importance of science. Sophie soon realises how important science is. As Sophie's mother gets more and more ill, she sets out to find the cure and continue her mothers work.

The art forms used are a unique combination of physical theatre, storytelling and aerial bungee stunts.

My favourite part was when they introduced the C.A.G. The character C.A.G was performed by Mark Worth. Mark also wrote Tree. The C.A.G symbolised a type of glucose that the D.N.A character gave the person/tree. It explains that tree cells are similar to human cells. The performers gave everyone in the audience a leaf to help you feel like you were a part of Tree. The performers made C.A.G into a monster that was making a sticky mess wherever it went. It was shutting down all the vital organisms and leaving the rest to slowly get weaker and die. Every single time D.N.A got confused it created C.A.G. At the end of the play Sophie's mother and Tree were cured. The play was interesting and energetic. I felt the play explained everything well, the storyline was clear and emotional I felt I had connected with the characters and that I was part of the story.

Review written by Cameron Austin