Theatre: The Red Balloon (★★★★)

By Albert Lamorisse
Adapted by Hilary Bell
Black Swan State Theatre Company
Directed by Chrissie Parrott
Set and costumes designed by India Mehta
Lighting designed by Trent Suidgeest
Sound designer and composer Ash Gibson Greig
With Dylan Christidis, St John Cowcher, Ella Hetherington, Eloise Hunter, Ben Mortley and Sarah Nelson
State Theatre Centre Studio
Until 17 October

To successfully adapt a well-known and loved film to the stage takes a little luck and lots of good decision-making.
Hilary Bell’s adaptation of Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 Oscar-winning short film The Red Balloon has both in spades.
In its original form, the story is a simple one, but Bell fleshes out the enigmatic original, largely by the introduction of three animal characters that narrate and comment on the otherwise all-but-wordless action. They are wise and entertaining additions.
It was an inspired decision to invite the celebrated choreographer Chrissie Parrott to direct the show. Her sensibility fits perfectly with the mood of the work, and the dances of balloons, the boy and girl, and the vermin, are highlights.
Kids are the best reviewers of their theatre, and they do it in real time, with laughter, gasps of wonderment and, especially, questions.
There were plenty of all three for this wonderful, impressively staged, story.


Read the complete review in The West Australian.

Theatre: The Song Was Wrong (★★)

Jacinta Larcombe and George Shevtsov

Perth Theatre Company
Written and directed by Melissa Cantwell
Music composed and performed by Nick Wales
Set Design by Bruce McKinven
Sound design by Ben Collins
Lighting design by Matthew Marshall
Featuring Astrid Grant, Felix Jozeps, Jacinta Larcombe, Sarah Nelson, Thomas Papathanassiou, George Shevtsov
STC Studio until June 20

The Perth Theatre Company has put some significant runs on the board since it became the junior tenant of the State Theatre Centre in 2011, based on smart programming and some astute partnerships with independent companies like Weeping Spoon and Side Pony forged by its artistic director, Melissa Cantwell.
Cantwell has also demonstrated that she is a sharp, inventive director, often delivering productions with greater contemporary appeal than PTC’s larger upstairs neighbour, Black Swan.
But the company’s latest and most ambitious project, The Song Was Wrong, is a significant misstep.
New work needed to be tested, next door at the Blue Room or elsewhere – as many of PTT’s previous properties have been – before being given a full main stage production. It’s disconcerting that such a process wasn’t followed in this case.

Go to the complete review in The West Australian

Theatre: This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing

By Finegan Kruckemeyer

Barking Gecko Theatre Company

Directed by Noel Jordan

Designed by Alicia Clements, Quincy Grant and Trent Suidgeest

Performed by Ella Hetherington, Jo Morris, Sarah Nelson and Drayton Morley

Subiaco Arts Centre

Until July 21

Ella Hetherington, Jo Morris and Sarah Nelson

The most important thing is always the telling of the story; children demand imagination and clarity, and adults deserve it. This is the secret of fables and fairy stories, and it’s the standard by which theatre for children can best be judged.

By that measure, and plenty of others beside, Barking Gecko’s show for these school holidays, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, was a genuinely enjoyable experience for the parents, grandparents and stray adults in the audience. For the kids (the play is recommended for six-year-olds and up), I turned to the infallible wriggle-meter, and the needle swung well away from “Bored and Restless” to the “Got ‘Em” end of the dial after a bit of customary early shuffling, and despite a little impatience towards the end (the play might be just a smidgen long).

As always with kids, the more their imagination is engaged, the more their interest is aroused. The fabulous scenes where Morris’s Beatrix’s lighthouse ship, made from a lantern, a bucket and a whisk, sails away to adventure, and where Hetherington’s fierce Albienne, full of Joan of Arc-like martial ardour, fights off the invaders with flour and ice-cream scoops, had them especially gripped and entranced. 

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian     

Theatre: Blueback

Terrapin Puppet Theatre

Adapted by Peta Murray

from the novel by Tim Winton

Directed by Philip Mitchell

Performed by Sarah Nelson and Michael Barlow

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle

Oct 1 – 15, 2011

Tim Winton’s Blueback is the story of three generations of the Jackson family, their home on the mythical Longboat Bay, its waters, reefs and the giant groper Abel Jackson befriends as a child.

Our unofficial state laureate is in very familiar waters here, and his short novel is given a sweet, emotional adaptation and supple, inventive staging by playwright Peta Murray and the Terrapin Puppet Theatre at Spare Parts in Fremantle.

I couldn’t imagine a better school holiday treat than a visit to the Maritime Museum, fish and chips down at the fishing boat harbour and a performance of this charming and insightful production.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian