one4review | On 18, Aug 2025

Treeeeee compresses a tree’s 500-year life into a brisk 50 minutes, performed solo (sort of) by Christiaan Hendriksen in the small Daisy room at Underbelly, Bristo Square. Framed by the folkloric Green Man, the piece plants a pine cone, sprouts and grows toward a forest through physical comedy and low-tech “magic”. The children poured pretend water and played guess the colour of the wind while a pantomime villain, Clements, the tree-hater, brings fire before the children step in and there’s regrowth. The show arrives with a clear promise: an environmental tale told through bodies, sound and imagination rather than scenery.

With all that said though, it felt a lot more like free-form clowning than a strongly plotted story. There was extended call-and-response, children were repeatedly dubbed “wise”, and running time-checks became part of the bit. A surprise “bird show” detours into head-shakes and calls; it’s lively in the room but feels like a time-killer more than narrative. There is lots going on to keep younger eyes engaged and lots of moments for them to get involved (watering, sharing props) make the space feel welcoming. At times the loose improvisation often smothers the central storyline, so the promised centuries pass as scattered beats rather than a journey, and the ecological thread has to be restated near the end to land. That’s not a bad thing; I think I went in with a few too many preconceptions about the show, and what we got was a man with a few costume changes, props and a feeling he’s halfway through his fringe and a bit tired. Which is understandable if you have children berating your leaves for 2 weeks.

Where the piece works is in Hendriksen’s easy rapport and the gentle, hopeful message: care for trees, and we can start again with a single pine cone. Where it wobbles is pacing: tangents, self-aware timing gags and a thin narrative spine that can’t quite hold the ideas. If you tell a bunch of young children it’s fine for them to talk throughout the show, they will, and one child in particular thought Christmas had come early, and I chuckled when another child muttered, ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ when yet another tangent kicked off. Tighter transitions and firmer links between set pieces (seed, growth, threat, renewal) would help the concept really bloom. For families who love joining in, there’s charm; for anyone seeking the advertised arc, it may feel slight. This is a friendly, intermittently funny eco-romp that to some may feel like it underdelivers on its premise. I enjoyed it, but I doubt it’s always the show we saw.

***

Reviewed by Matthew

Underbelly Bristo Square – Daisy