Captain Sandy & the Sea Monster – Puppet Barge, London

Writer: Maddie Dai

Bravely eschewing a traditional Christmas story this December, the Puppet Barge’s main show is a tale of climate action and marine responsibility, with Maddie Dai’s Captain Sandy & the Sea Monster exploring themes including the rapid human impact on the seas through overfishing and pollution as well as appropriate behaviours between friends who cause havoc through mockery. Far less earnest than it sounds, the traditional style marionettes in the ever-beautiful Puppet Barge hold a particular charm for its mixed audience of young children and their equally enchanted parents.

With fish supplies running low in the village of Rocky Snore, Captain Sandy is convinced that a local sea monster is to blame, having eaten all of the stocks and leaving none for the fisherpeople to catch. Worried about their jobs, the locals are eager to support Captain Sandy’s attempts to reason with the monster, but when she receives some home truths instead, she decides to take revenge on them all.

Dai’s story is lots of fun, and there is considerable joy in the staging of this 45-minute story aimed at 4–10-year-olds, although much older audience members will appreciate the puppetry craft and performance just as much. Sandy’s confrontation with the sea monster is particularly entertaining, first introducing the creature with a series of visible scales or a tail fin to build drama before the head of the monster emerges as well. The ensuing fight in which the Sea Monster attempts to topple Sandy out of her boat, as well as eating parts of it is brilliantly done, drawing lots of laughter from the crowd.

There are plenty of jokes aimed at mums and dads about the absence of fish who may have swum home for Christmas or left because of the “political environment”. But with its strong climate message, Captain Sandy and the Sea Monster is filled with magical creatures that delight the children most, including a golden dolphin and a seagull called Marvin, all of which speak in their own language and are interpreted by the adult characters.

There is a murky morality here that eventually rights itself, although during the central period of the story, Sandy’s fisherpeople friends mock her, so she decides to ruin the sea for everyone by polluting it with her rubbish – leading to lots of pinging garbage flying back and forth, and eventually all the sea creatures submerged in litter. For a while, Dai pursues the fisherpeople’s guilt and a storyline involving them atoning for mockery, but Captain Sandy’s own reaction seems too extreme to stem from some friendly ribbing. However, in the final sequences, Dai has Captain Sandy make peace with the Sea Monster and the ocean itself, taking accountability for her bad attitude to put things right.

Runs until 26 January 2025