Juan and the beanstalk
The Isle of Man’s Alternative Pantomime
December 2020
Fee FI FO FUM, I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A YOUNG MANXMAN
We follow Juan, a young Manxman who catches crabs day in day out.
Until one day, everything changes….
Three Magic Beans. Two Crabs. One Juan.
Behind the scenes
Check out the programme
“Hello Little People is impressive enough with only two people playing multiple roles. What’s more impressive is that all age groups are belly laughing throughout, whether you’re 5, 10 or 32 you will be laughing along.”
The inspiration
The concept of Juan and the Beanstalk was inspired by the Manx myth ‘Yn Dooiney Marrey (The Merman of the Sea)’ which follows an old man, Juan, who likes catching crabs.
It goes a little something like this...
Juan saw a merman who said:
“Cur patan dou, Yuan” (Give me a crab Juan)
“What’ll you give for it?” said Juan.
“I’ll tell your fortune: As long you're alive on land, you'll not be drowned at sea”
Juan threw him a couple of crabs.
The Manx quirk to this tale has made it a firm favourite in Hello Little People’s catalogue of Manx myths since reading Sophia Morrison’s Manx Fairy Tales.
We have picked our favourite elements of pantomime in Juan and the Beanstalk, and combined them with our favourite parts of Manx folklore, to create our exciting and entertaining festive theatrical adventure!
