Review: THE LOST LIBRARY OF SPITALFIELDS MARKET, The Greenhouse Theatre

Just in time for the festive season, The Greenhouse Theatre presents a magical immersive performance in the heart of Spitalfields Market.

This company have transformed a currently unused shopfront into an old curiosity shop, holding a collection of stories - some fantastical and far-fetched, and some humble and more close to home.

Playwright and director Oli Savage has crafted an absorbing and intriguing fantasy, elegantly weaving together tales in a celebration of perhaps the most primal human instinct - the urge to collect and share stories.

Ronay Poole plays Isla, a young girl drawn into the mysterious library and the stories therein. Poole is a masterful storyteller with a voice you wish could read you to sleep each night. She is paired onstage with Eoin Lynch as the delightfully weird and perhaps predictably eccentric Maximilian Crimp - librarian of the eponymous establishment. Under Savage’s balletic direction, the pair weave around each other onstage as they regale the audience.

This production is a neatly wrapped Christmas present full of love and light and joy. If you tend to flinch away from the plethora of panto programming around this time of year, we recommend curling up with a delicious mulled cider from the humble pop-up bar and enjoying some traditional winter storytelling at the Lost Library of Spitalfields Market.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

The Lost Library of Spitalfields Market plays at 8 Market Street, Spitalfields Market until 24 December, with further information here.