“Matthew Lenton’s production, a collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland, is visually ravishing. Kai Fischer’s set is a field of barren soil, waiting for the rain to usher in new life, while projections of sperm, foetuses and babies flicker across the back wall of the family’s flat. There is no such thing as the innocence of childhood for as long as the neighbourhood paedophile is at large. Extending Svankmajer’s surrealism, Lenton’s actors coax babies and cabbages from the ground and even find a real cat in a pram, while Christopher Shutt’s score keeps the show on an uneasy line between laughter and fear. As distinctive in its way as Improbable’s Shockheaded Peter, Little Otik is a macabre delight.”
The Guardian ****
“Between them [Vanishing Point & the National Theatre of Scotland] they have burrowed deep into the various subtexts to introduce a coherent framework of ideas around the theme of fertility and growth. The stage is covered with rich dark loam from which things begin to sprout; the back wall is a kaleidoscope of complex projections from trees to sperm to the very ordinary town in which these very extraordinary events are played out. ?What emerges at the centre of the piece . . . is the coming to maturity of Elspeth, the little girl next door. Rebecca Smith, in an astonishingly assured professional debut, catches that moment of standing on the brink of womanhood, awkward, knowing, part-Lolita, part-philosopher.”
The Times ****
“The spectacular co-production between Vanishing Point and the NTS…generates huge theatrical excitement…Matthew Lenton’s thrilling production…throws a huge battery of state-of-the-art theatrical devices at this powerful story, without ever losing control of its own chilling, tragic-grotesque atmosphere. There’s superb, understated suburban-hell design by Kai Fischer; beautiful back-projected images by Finn Ross; animatronic puppetry of the most chilling post-human kind, and a superb cast of nine.”
The Scotsman ****
“Vanishing Point’s Little Otik is as visually, stylistically and atmospherically singular a work as you’ll see on any stage…Kai Fischer’s set is phenomenal, Ewan Hunter’s creepy puppets are impressive and numerous striking tableaux will burn their way into your brain.”
Metro ****
“Director Matthew Lenton’s captivating production… Both Kai Fischer’s set and lighting and Christopher Shutt’s sound and music are beautifully attuned to the atmosphere of a story which is, by turns, menacing and elegiac.”
Daily Telegraph
“Superb set and lighting design by Kai Fischer, complete with a hut that drops in from the flies, animatronic puppetry (by Ewan Hunter) that makes you shiver with every gesture, projections (by Finn Ross) that are quite beautiful, convincing rain and a real cat. The performances are of a universally high standard, none more so than that of young debutante Rebecca Smith, through whose not-always-reliable eyes the bizarre tale unfolds. Louise Ludgate and Sandy Grierson are outstanding as the childless couple who adopt a lump of wood as their surrogate son, without foreseeing the dangers of the appetite they are creating.”
The Herald
“An intriguing, engaging and highly theatrical delight… Matthew Lenton’s direction and Vanishing Point’s process of devising are at the heart of the play but it’s their ability to combine and play with the dramatic and technological that makes this co-production so original…A disturbing, imaginative, technically stunning piece of work.”
Western Mail