Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories (★★★½)

Adapted by Dan Giovannoni and Tom Kerridge
from the story by Reinhardt Jung
Barking Gecko Theatre Company
Directed by Luke Kerridge
Designed by Jonathon Oxlade
Lighting design by Chris Donnelly
Composer and sound designer by Ian Moorhead
Lead puppeteer Tim Watts
Bambert constructed by Hamish Fletcher
Performed by Igor Sas, Amanda McGregor, Jo Morris, Nick Maclaine and Tim Watts
State Theatre Centre Studio
Until April 23

The publicity for Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories recommends it for ages 8 to 108. Behind that ambitious marketing hyperbole, there lies a truth about the wonderful quality, and genuine fascination for all ages, of contemporary theatre for young audiences.
No-one has been more successful at it than Perth’s Barking Gecko Theatre Company under the audacious artistic directorship of John Sheedy,
Sheedy’s successor, Matt Edgerton, has assembled an A-list team for his first production, the adaptation (by Dan Giovannoni and Luke Kerridge, who also directs) of Reinhardt Jung’s 1998 German novel, Bamberts Buch der verschollenen Geschichten.
I have some reservations about the clarity of the story, and will be interested to see how it plays to those “all ages”, but, despite those misgivings, there’s no doubting that the skills and intent Barking Gecko has built up over the years remain strong as it enters its new era.

Read the complete review in The West Australian