The Cockroach and the Inventor positions itself as outdoor theatre more than street spectacle. The story is a version of Pinocchio; a young cockroach grows beyond the expectations of his inventor-master and desires his independence.

As expected of Macnas, the grand-scale puppetry is stunning. The aesthetic is steampunk and the original cockroach is a copper skeleton of limbs and pincers, found materials cobbled together to create an enormous insect that moves gracefully in the small rotunda of the Civic Amphitheatre’s stone stage. However, the production is limited rather than enhanced by the outdoor setting.  Despite the use of microphones, the gestures and voices of the performers aren’t large enough to create the spectacular sense of the company’s Galway parades, say, and, although the audience participation makes for some surprising, unwieldy moments, the overall effect is disappointing.

Some of this is certainly due to the storyline, which is under-developed even within the short 25-minute running time. There is no denying the fantastic puppetry and visual appeal of even this lesser example of Macnas’s work, but within a more static format, one can’t help but wish that the company had paid more attention paid to the narrative.

Star rating: ★★★