How to Train your Dragon: a Wagnerian tale better than awesome

How to Train your Dragon Arena Spectacular
Vector Arena
Until April 22

You would have thought a bunch of fire breathing dragons would have had the kids terrified and screaming, but last night these amazing creatures had them totally transfixed and spellbound.

How to Train your Dragon Arena Spectacular is an extraordinary combination of technology, wizardry and superb theatrics which transports us back in time and into another realm.

Despite the fact that dragons have never existed, they play an important part in the culture of most societies. They suggest all sorts of hidden powers, supernatural interventions and our fear of the unknown.

Dragons is a tale of youth attaining manhood, winning the girl and saving the village by transforming society through following the path of truth and honesty.

It’s universal tale featuring big journeys, battles and the final solution.

While it has all the great dramatic components, much of the time it seems to be a reworking of a great Icelandic saga produced by Cirque du Soleil and Monty Python.

It has drama, humour and spectacle which appeals to all ages. Some will see it as a Wagnerian epic and others as a huge 3D animated computer game.

Somewhere way up north, the Vikings are having a real problem with dragons.

They destroy their village mainly by blasting them with fir but they also manage to set up huge earthquake tremors, presumably from their underground lairs.

How to control the dragons is much on the mind of the Vikings and Stiok, the leader of the Vikings, and his followers know the best way to deal with them is to destroy them.

It is a battle which has been waged for years and all the young men aspire to become dragon slayers and rid the land of the terrible beasts.

And then there is Hiccup, Stoik’s son. He wants to be a dragon slayer but after capturing one he can’t bring himself to actually kill it.

Instead, cute Toothless becomes his friend and they have some adventures.

But his dad finds out about this unnatural friendship which brings on a final drive to exterminate the dragons.

Hiccup comes to the rescue with the outrageous notion that dragons and humans could be good friends and neighbours, and live peacefully.

At the centre of the story are the amazing dragons in various sizes and levels of ferocity. They are brilliant hi-tech constructions, belching fire and smoke and roaring.

They also display personalities with the droop of their head, the flick of a tail or the blinking of an eye.

Their skin is like crocodile hide speckled with jewels and their movements are generally fluid and lifelike, even though they are mounted on motorised platforms

Giving the show a real sense of drama and adventure are the lights, music and amazing visual projections.

The laser lights which sweep the main stage can provide a sparkling seas, underwater realms, rocky highlands, fields of molten lava and cloudscapes.

In one sequence, Hiccup's goes on an impressive journey, like vast computer game where he gives the impression of dodging rocks, leaping chasms and ascending collapsing ladders.

This is done by bringing together hi-tech visuals, with the actor suspended on wires taking him on his hectic and heroic journey.

When Hiccup has a go at drawing Toothless, his sketches are shown on a vast scale, which seems to transform him into a young Leonardo da Vinci, and his drawing take on a life of their own.

The other Vikings are great actors and acrobats, and their battles with the dragons are inspired pieces of lunatic choreography.

There are other sequences which use old-style theatrical techniques such as a shadow puppet-style presentation on the different dragons, and there is the beautifully conceived procession of Viking ships, paraded as large paper lanterns.

This mixture of the high technique, the conventional and great acting come together to make what the kids were saying was “just the best”, “totally cool” and “better than awesome”.