Kipling classic a magnet for school holidays

Hold on to your jungle juice all your favourite characters from Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book are ready to liven up the school holidays.

Little lost Mowgli, the wolves who adopt him and other characters of the Indian jungle are poised to entertain the young and young at heart in the Blenheim Children's and Youth Theatre's latest Cushion Theatre production.

Audiences sit on cushions and join in with foot stomping, clapping and cheering at the shows, which have been a highlight of Marlborough school holidays for 14 years.

Director Duncan Whiting said the format offered the young actors the experience of performing and provided a fun introduction to theatre for the those in the audience.

The show includes classic Kipling messages: Don't follow the crowd, stand up for what you believe and good always triumphs in the end.

"I like the script, " said Mr Whiting, who found it on the internet and sought the rights to put it on here. It's not the Walt Disney version. It has a lot of comedy and is light hearted, but it has an underlying theme that it is OK to be different."

Mowgli's differences enable him to do things the wolves cannot, such as using his fingers, which he calls twigs, to release traps when the animals are caught. The story is also funny, Mr Whiting he said. Brace yourself also for the scene where the children in the audience learn how to make the noises of the jungle animals.

Mr Whiting said parents and grandparents often appear to get just as big a kick out of the shows as the little ones.

He loves the idea that theatre allows adults to revisit the experience of make-believe.

The cushion-theatre shows have a tradition of "graduation" for the teenage actors in their final years of the Blenheim Children's and Youth Theatre company.

The show features beautiful animal masks, colourful ethnic custuming and a simple but clever set.

The Jungle Book is on at the Floorpride Marlborough Civic Theatre from today (Tuesday) to Friday, with performances at 10.30am and 1.30pm daily. Each performance is about 1 1/2 hours.