Royal Croquet Club & Last Great Hunt. Royal Croquet Club - The Menagerie. 24 Feb 2016

 

I was attracted to this show by the omnipresent and enigmatic poster imagery of a man in black with a ukulele and a lamp on his head, next to a cartoon of a what's-it and a who's-it, also with a lamp on his head. And the gongs! Best puppetry, original show, theatre production, outstanding solo show awards from all around the globe.

 

But poor Alvin. Global warming has created a water world and his wife's soul, in a rather macabre deathbed scene, heads for the deeps of the blue sea. Whether Alvin is determined to save the world or to die by the bends to meet the missus is not altogether clear in this fishy tale.

 

Perth-based Tim Watts's creation is an elegant blend of the visual and performance arts. After watching Alvin in the opening cartoon sequences don a diver's helmet for his long descent, he suddenly appears outside the round screen and I say to myself, "Oh, there he is. He really exists!" and all he was, was a hand-in-glove and a softball-sized sphere with a light in it. Yet I believed. The performer, perhaps Watt himself, has us swimming along with Alvin, searching ever deeper. We are voyeur and voyager. Light and sound are scarce commodities in the ocean and the experience is dreamy and ethereal.

 

While charming and beguiling and ingenious and all that other stuff said on the flyer, I also found it a bit soporific. For all ages.

 

David Grybowski

 

When: 12 Feb - 14 Mar

Where: Royal Croquet Club - The Menagerie

Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au