Pinocchio at Shakespeare’s Globe
Shakespeare’s Globe’s programme continues into a windy, wet winter season with a brand-new musical version of Pinocchio. Despite the occasional darker story beats that draw from Carlo Collodi’s 19th-century original Adventures of Pinocchio, Sean Holmes’s production is a superb retelling that delivers sheer wittiness, deft stagecraft, and heartfelt sincerity.
The story of a wooden puppet desiring to be a “real boy” is well known, although musical creators Charlie Josephine and Jim Fortune expand on Pinocchio’s setting before releasing their string-less tyke on stage. It’s a traditional Italian town (via way of Northern England) that views any change as a hindrance. Bumbling inventor Geppetto (a lovably vexed Nick Holder) wants to shake things up, creating a puppet-boy from a remarkably vocal lump of wood (voiced and performed with terrific exuberance by Lee Braithwaite). Pinocchio is born, and alongside a litany of questions, he’s got a boundless thirst for adventure.
While designer Grace Smart’s baroque-rococo aesthetic, Victorian toy-theatre layered set, and Megan Rarity’s commedia dell’arte costumes appear to tease a conventional production, Pinocchio is a thoroughly modern rendering that combines irreverence with unabashed heart. The titular star feels very appropriate for today’s audience: a magic puppet with attention-deficit disorder that drives his insatiable curiosity. Sublime puppeteering from Braithwaite, Stan Middleton, Aya Nakamura and Andrea Sadler not only create life-like movements but also embody his loud, impulsive nature. He’s an eye-trap for the children, and sufficiently noisy and domineering at times to keep them fully engaged.
But there are delights for adults too. Alongside cheering on Holder’s insecure underdog as he blunders through the travails of unexpected fatherhood, Josephine and Fortune’s script revels in jabbing at the story’s famous retellings (such as Steven Webb’s camp, pointedly renamed “Giacomo” Cricket and Lucy McCormick’s depressively “Blue” Fairy) and the Globe setting itself. Ed Gaughan’s shabby showman, Franzini, is a particular naughty pleasure when he adlibs about middle-class audiences and other West End theatres. Yet, the play isn’t all jokes and sentimental songs about blueprints for life and love. There are a few shocking moments on Pinocchio’s journey, although this darker edge isn’t permitted to linger long.
The above is just a few splinters of this enchanting show. The ensemble remains energetically comedic throughout; the creative stagecraft and choreography surprise when realising improbable story scenes on-stage; and some of the tunes in the vaudevillian-style score are very catchy (Act One’s finale tune Money Matters has the audience humming into the interval). Best of all, the modest pit area is probably the best view in the whole house. If audiences can’t splash a fortune on the London Palladium’s Christmas panto, this new musical is a wonderful and, dare this reviewer say, superior alternative. The joyous magic in this production not only brings the wooden boy to life, but London’s famous “wooden O” as well.
James Humphrey
Photos: Johan Persson
Pinocchio is at Shakespeare’s Globe from 13th December 2025 until 4th January 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
Watch the trailer for Pinocchio at Shakespeare’s Globe here:
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