Guy Langford has done an especially good job of reworking Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling to make it entertainingly relevant and meaningful to children and adults in 2017. In place of the supposedly ugly becoming the most beautiful, the focus is on accepting difference within the family and wider community.

The Little Duckling starts with a fun chase, between the titular Little Duckling (Sabrina Martin) and Brother Duck (Adam Koveskali), before Sister Duck (Emma Katene) tells them it’s time for bed. And as the obligatory “One more game!” plays out, it becomes apparent Little can neither quack or fly. In fact sometimes she feels as if she doesn’t belong to this family at all.

The need to use Stealth when playing ‘Go Home Stay Home’ does allow Little to win something, for the first time ever in her life. And a lullaby brings a peacefulness to proceedings which has the children mesmerised – until the ducklings’ snoring raises the loudest laughs of this opening performance; much louder than for the extended fart jokes which today’s audience tend to take in their strides.

When rats scratch in the night, signifying an attack on their home, the ducklings have to abandon nest. Helping Little to fly – by flapping, soaring, swirling, swooping – is a recurring audience participation routine, and landing is something Little gets better at each time. But on her first venture into the high, wide unknown she loses Brother and Sister.

It is in the process of trying to find them, and a new home, that the Refugee theme comes fully to the fore. While the children are happily entertained by the birds Little encounters, and readily relate to her need to find her family and a home, the Adults tune into the political satire (which makes a welcome change to being patronised with risqué humour).

Kelly the Australian Kookaburra (Emma) claims every bit of territory as her own and has no interest in accommodating a different kind of bird – so Little decides she doesn’t want to live there anyway and continues on her search.

It is Stuart the English Stork (Adam) – happy to deliver babies anywhere but not to welcome Little into his land – who tells Little she’s a Swan. He has also seen Brother and Sister, and heard them calling out “Little!”  And so the quest continues …  

Little finds herself flying over an enormous country but when she comes into land an unfriendly Bald Eagle, Eddie (Emma), with an orange toupee, assumes she is a threat, intent on evil, so slaps her in detention. But despite the huge wall he believes will lock her up until she doesn’t even remember what her family looks like, Eddie has failed to factor in Little’s ability to fly.

On the next flight, surfing a rainbow adds another dimension to the theme of diversity and inclusiveness. And so the heart-warming reunion with Brother and Sister is achieved. Except they are ducks and Little is a swan! Does that mean she can’t be part of their family? Of course not.

The message is brought home along with Little: “If we’re open and we welcome,” the final song goes, “The world can be a better place / There’s room for everyone.”

My only quibble is that Adam plays Brother with a hyper-acted childlike voice, a style I have an aversion to, especially when Sabrina and Emma make their sibling characters real and accessible without being patronising. Otherwise all three acquit themselves splendidly – with special mention due to Sabrina’s admirable ability to respond constructively to the children’s volunteered comments and advice while keeping the plot on track.  

The Little Duckling is highly recommended for all ages – and I hope it gets picked up by other groups in other towns for their holiday productions. It’s a folk tale for our times. 

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