The Last Yak

100487 original

This intriguing piece of puppet-based theatre weaves a complex fantasy world, telling a story of faith, superstition, grief and loss. The story is set in three distinct places divided by altitude: the village, to which a brother and sister return for their father’s funeral; below that, the jungle, where the animals have formed an age-old bureaucracy led by a benign patriarch tiger; and above, the mountain, where the last ever yak is slowly dying.

The animals have taken the yak’s high dwelling place as a sign of divinity and worship him as a god. Meanwhile, in the village, the brother and sister come across a strange, savage child, who forces a collision between these seemingly separate worlds.

The story is told with some inventive staging, which transforms the largish room into an intimate space framed by four gauze screens. Parts of the story are told with shadow projections on to the screens, whilst the animal characters are played using large, wooden puppets that are operated by a cast dressed in black. There’s some good puppetry on display from the non-professional cast, particularly from Ishbel McFarlane, who gives the feral child Dharla an appealing personality despite having to lie curled on the floor for much of the show. There are times when the pace lets up a little, and the multifaceted fantasy world sometimes fails to gel. The pessimistic ending is perhaps a little overwrought. But in general, it’s a creative and compelling piece of work, well worth having a look at.