Erth Visual & Physical (Australia). Norwood Concert Hall. 10 Mar 2016
Only a few days to get the kiddies and your adult self to this enchanting giant puppet show of creatures past and present found in the deep blue sea. The Norwood Concert Hall proscenium stage is transformed into a giant aquarium glass and then magically into open ocean using sparkly light, bubbles and by getting a school of kids in make-believe deep diving suits to hold their breath and swim around on stage.
Instead of being hosted by an avuncular and earnest scientific type, like Erth's creator in the accompanying dinosaur offering, this show attempts a bit of humour by foiling the incompetent and loudly dressed "marketing manager" with a bright young marine biologist- and palaeontologist-type.
They start small with the sedentary Charniodiscus and one of the first swimmers, Dickinsonia rex, of the Precambrian Ediacaran Period. They proudly point out that this geological time period and a lot of its creatures were named and found right here in South Australia in and near the Flinders Ranges. In fact, all the prehistoric biota of the show were discovered in Australia.
Soon we do a detour to the present day deep ocean where equally bizarre creatures exist presently. They were represented by magnificently large and colourfully lit puppets that either loom over or travel right across the audience. The kids get a first glimpse of plesiosaurs gliding through the water in their cutesy juvenile state, foreshadowing an enormous puppet of this long-necked beauty. And no show would be complete without a scary villain, here represented by the even larger plesiosaur hunter Kronosaurus queenslandicus, whose head is as large and toothy as that of a T.rex.
The kids and the parents and I loved the learning and the graceful movements of these awesome puppets. I hope this show creates some budding paleontologists in the audience. A definite go see.
David Grybowski
When: 10 to 13 Mar
Where: Norwood Concert Hall
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
