Above is a quote from one young audience member, even before
he’d exited the Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse. I don’t know what other
experience he’d had with plays; ‘pretty good’ might mean that he wasn’t really
impressed with other stage shows he’s seen. Or maybe he just didn’t know what
to expect from a one-man version of Roald Dahl’s The Witches.
The theatre was basically full, mostly of parents and their
children – some of whom were delighted by their interaction with actor Guy
Edmonds before the show even began. The boy sitting next to me – who would
later become part of the play, as a Witch – was talking to his mother about
what he was expecting. Or, rather, they were discussing how they thought
Edmonds might pull off different parts of the story.
“How is he going to become the witch, do you think?” his
mother asked.
“Masks, probably.” He was quite confident.
“What about the mice? How do you think he’ll do the mice?”
The boy thought for a while and figured out that Edmonds
might just crawl around on the floor. The answer to how he “does” the mice is
what makes the show such fun – and I won’t give it away here, but he uses three
different techniques to bring the mice to life, each more thrilling than the
last.
For a show that runs for fifty minutes, it’s full of
invention that many plays of twice the length can lack. The script and direction
are tight. Edmonds performance is so full of energy – as you might expect, but
also clever and layered. The twist and turns of his body and voice as the
various characters act and interact was precise but also felt spontaneous.
There was so much life in a show that could feel like just a technical
accomplishment in lesser hands.
I don’t know what children expect when they go to the
theatre. I see so much theatre, I come in with baggage – it’s been so long
since I’ve read The Witches or seen
the film that I really wish I’d remembered it better. But the conversations I
overheard before and those I heard after meant that whatever these kids wanted,
they got something they really enjoyed.
I expected to have fun. I didn’t expect to be grinning from
ear-to-ear from beginning to end.
Australian children’s theatre is some of the best in the
world. This production of The Witches
continues that tradition. Though the show has already played Sydney and closes
in Melbourne this weekend, I expect a tour will come soon enough. Because there
are a lot more children across Australia to be delighted by this show.
It is pretty good for a play, after all.
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