For A Delightful Tale, Just Follow The Bouncing Balls

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday October 1, 2008

Ken Longworth

REVIEW

EMILY LOVES TO BOUNCE

Presented by: Patch Theatre Company

Venue: Civic Theatre, Newcastle (phone 4929 1977)

Season: Daily at 10am and 11.45am until Friday

THE shows previously brought to Newcastle by Adelaide's Patch Theatre Company have been full of colour.

Emily Loves to Bounce, however, rations the colour to good effect.

When the curtain rises, the audience sees a collection of square white boxes of many sizes spread around the stage. They are set against a background of black curtains.

The lids of four boxes rise in turn to reveal an excitable boy, Henry, reserved girl Amy, and two musicians playing violins.

The boxes are soon being moved around the stage (and sometimes move themselves) as they become in Henry's and Amy's imaginations such things as castles and boats.

There is a literal bounce of colour when a large purple ball, Emily, makes its way around the stage, and at various points through the show's 50 minutes smaller coloured balls light up the scene, on one occasion cascading across the stage in their dozens while one of the violinists gingerly does her own bouncing among them without missing a beat.

Emily Loves to Bounce reveals how the very different Henry and Amy develop their friendship, with lots of game-playing and snatches of song.

The sequence in which they cement their relationship is among the most memorable, with one box opening out to become a large screen on which shadow puppets representing the children eventually are joined by the silhouetted figures of the actors playing their roles.

In another scene that makes effective use of light and darkness, Henry takes one paper lantern after another out of the smallest of boxes as he voices his incredible thoughts. It is literally stage magic.

Directors Dave Brown and Ingrid Voorendt have made risky decisions that work well. Apart from the limited use of colour, they have the musicians playing classical and folk music to back the child characters' movements. The music and the performances complement each other delightfully.

The show is targeted at four- to eight-year-olds, and actors Ninian Donald (Henry) and Sarah Brokensha (Amy) and musicians Emma Lukker and Karen Denardi keep them captivated.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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