Sitting down with me to chat about his upcoming project, director Thomas Gladstone promises that a celebration of joy will hit the ADC in week seven. The House at Pooh Corner looks set to be a jubilant recognition of not only childhood imagination, but the intricacies of theatre through the use of puppets, alongside striking set and musical design. A homage to the centenary of the childhood classic, Thomas promises to bring together the nostalgia of these classic characters through the craft of puppetry and set design.

Sticking to its script’s subtitle, “a play for everyone”, The House at Pooh Corner appeals to all ages with a “charming and sweet” core, says Thomas. The play explores “growing up and moving on”, and so, Thomas hopes that all students, particularly finalists, will be able to connect with Christopher Robin’s journey. Hoping that any student seeing the play will be struck by the “bittersweet acceptance that you need to kind of move on and go out into the real world”, Thomas seeks to make this realisation more humorous through the play’s jokes and jibes about education – particularly enjoyable to all who have survived Easter term.

“Thomas hopes that all students, particularly finalists, will be able to connect with Christopher Robin’s journey”

An especially striking aspect of the play is its puppetry. A fairly unseen skill in the Cambridge theatre scene, the custom puppets (designed by the experienced Clotilde Dumont) seek to enrich the show immensely. Thomas notes that the puppets’ lack of “uniformity”, varying in purpose and size, mimic the uniqueness of the play’s beloved characters.

As “extensions of Christopher Robin’s imagination”, these puppets look set to be quite the joy to watch. The puppets will become played with, much like a child with a toy, coupling imagination and reality. Thomas talks of the “sense of unreality” that he wants to be “deliberate”, stating that “in theatre there is a sense of breaking the world’s immersion, much like Christopher Robin who has to move on from this world of the play”.

Through honing specific skills of vocalisation and movement, the actors have developed personal “relationships” with their characters “to make the puppets living and breathing”. The plethora of skills in the team comprises a technicality that lends itself well to the particularities of bringing the well-known story to life. From assistant director Millie utilising her experience in dance to help the puppet work be “creative with the space”, to sound designer Maddy’s intricate work alongside composer Alexander, the team should “take immense pride in what they’re doing”, praises Thomas.

“The 'original joy' of A. A. Milne’s novel has been preserved and transformed into this tribute to all things Pooh”

Having not rehearsed with the puppets in the room yet, Thomas tells me how this only highlights the skill of the actors who already are conjuring the “characters’ presence”. Following inspiration from a Winnie the Pooh adaptation and My Neighbour Totoro, he decided to add puppetry to the script. Noting that this “encourages you to be resourceful”, Thomas opened my eyes to the detailing, such as magnetised props and sounds to match movements, needed to succeed in this. The set (designed by Aneeka Maryam and Bram Heierman-Rix) hopes to be a swan-song for the nostalgia and pure joy of Winnie the Pooh, featuring Owl’s treehouse, a puppet-accommodating bridge and an extensively painted backdrop. Every detail of the production looks set to celebrate not only the “fantasy realm” of the beloved storybook, but also the plethora of details and skills that theatre amalgamates.

Thomas’ directorial choices seek to draw out the book’s “playful energy”, with a relaxed approach to the specificities of entrances and exits. In the “earnest” interaction of Christopher Robin and the puppets, Thomas describes how there is “no difference between animal and human”, suggesting that “everyone can find some part of themselves in any of the characters”. When asked what subject the characters in The House at Pooh Corner would study, Thomas convincingly describes how they would be Geographers due to their “interest in the small details of the environment, from the North and South Pole to acorns”.

The play is anticipated to be a wonderful opportunity for any audience member to become absorbed in a poignant stroll down memory lane with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and all their friends. The “original joy” of A. A. Milne’s novel has been preserved and transformed into this tribute to all things Pooh – an “unforgettable experience” for all, in the words of its director.

The joys of childhood hidden in the trees of the Hundred Acre Wood will resurface in the ADC from the 17th - 20th June, a perfectly warm end to the Cambridge year!