Foreword
I would like to start this article by giving my apologies for not getting this review out sooner. I had planned to get my Out of the Box Festival reviews out on Friday evening, ready for school holiday audiences looking for something to do up at South Bank over the weekend and beyond. However, I instead spent most of the weekend unwell, and was unable to get pretty much anything done on either The Theatre Sphere or The Otaku’s Study.
However, while it might be too late to see this production at Out of the Box by the time you read this, I highly recommend keeping an eye out for them in the future if interested. If like several other Out of the Box Festival commissioned works, Creature: An Adaptation of Dot and the Kangaroo will likely be doing rounds both interstate and potentially at other venues across Queensland (Nothing confirmed to date however). Gazillion Bubble Show on the other hand is touring Australia, with QPAC being the first of many stops.
But enough from me, lets get this review started!
Creature: An Adaptation of Dot and the Kangaroo
As its title implies, Creature is an adaptation of the renown children’s book Dot and the Kangaroo, first written by Ethel Pedley in 1899. Its not a book I remember reading in school, however I was nevertheless interested to see how the team at Stalker Theatre would adapt this long-lived book onstage for young audiences in the 21st Century. While I do think it could use a little bit of work, the end result was something creatively stimulating, which also provided solid educational opportunities surrounding social studies (SOSE) and the arts in particular.
For those unfamiliar with the book it is based on, Creature: An Adaptation of Dot and the Kangaroo follows a young Australian girl by the name of Dot. After being chased by wild animals, she finds herself lost in the Australian Outback with no means of making her way home. She is rescued by a kangaroo, and upon eating an assortment of berries presented to her, is able to converse with the Australian wildlife. The unlikely pair team up, as they search for a way home, with the assistance of some very colourful personalities.
Creature takes full advantage of its small cast, with two performers each taking on the role of Dot and the Kangaroo. While both cast members in each duo appear on-stage at the same time, one could be considered the more dominant performer, while the other is more responsible for narration. The most prominent figure onstage by far is Ursula Yovich, whose expertise on the stage and ability to draw in the attention of youth clearly showed. From the moment the show started, she engaged with the audience, and effectively managed to drag even myself into the story. The other cast members were also impressive, both in terms of their acrobatic/aerial work and more general acting skills. Judging from what I was like during my early years old, these are actors I could see myself learning form back in the day.
One of the more interesting aspects of Creature: An Adaptation of Dot and the Kangaroo was that it used digital technology to give life to the stage, which at times reacted to movements made by the cast. It was an interesting concept which was used differently to how I imagined it would. I quite liked their use of wireframe animal designs and stimulating landscapes in particular. However I would have liked to see better use of the “interactivity” component to these designs. For example, I didn’t really grasp the purpose of the wireframe animal models distorting distorting the way they sometimes did following lots of movement onstage. That being said, this is just from my perspective as an adult, as the children in the theatre seemed to enjoy it.
Creature provides some powerful and important messages about animal and habitat conservation, in addition to some perspectives on the charms of Australian wildlife. This is all the while effectively immersing viewers in a simple yet charming story tailored well for the 5-8 year old age bracket. It might not be the most enjoyable show at Out of the Box in 2016, but I do think the balance between entertainment and educational development was just right.
Overall, this was a fun and educational journey through the Australian Outback, which I expect will be experienced by many more children in the future.
