The Pocket at the Stirling Fringe was the perfect pop up venue for Sticks Stones Broken Bones, presented by Bunk Puppets. This ingenious show was created by Jeff Achtem originally from Canada and now based in Melbourne who performed it for a number of years to critical acclaim. Demand for the show then grew and so Achtem enlisted the help of Hew Parham to enable the show to travel internationally, Parham recently touring it in Norway, China and Germany. Last year the company was also in South Korea and Japan. This show is very transportable and can be 'blown up' to be played in larger theatres or scaled down for smaller venues like The Fringe and it all starts with a shoe.
Using household objects and bits of rubbish, the audience watched in wonder as Parham transformed these simple objects into wonderful silhouette stories. As each scene unfolds, instead of it all happening behind a screen, what makes this production stand out from others of its kind is that all of the preparation is done in full view of the audience. The mess that we originally see is then manipulated onto the screen into lifelike people and creatures and the result is, at times, mesmerizing.
Performed to a punchy soundtrack, Parham's performance is exquisite and seamless as he takes us into his wonderful world of imagination. This show is incredibly technical but you wouldn't know it as Parham's unique style of performing has you thinking that everything is unfolding at random.
The way that he engaged with people of all ages just added to this delightful show. Parham's ability to ad-lib during the preparation for each scene was so much fun to watch. The squeals and delight which he emanated from the audience just enhanced the atmosphere in what I must say was one of the most comfortable performance tents I have ever sat in during a Fringe Festival.
Parham works so incredibly hard from start to finish and his energy never waned as he transported us out of our real lives and into his imaginative one, for the full 50 minutes of the show. To perform this show one has to be ambidextrous, which Parham proved numerous times. This, coupled with a sense of fun and adventure, makes for one very entertaining show.
Achtem directs Parham in a way that allowed him the freedom to make this show his own and, amongst all the mayhem, Parham is able to evoke real emotion from his audience and that, to me, is a true performer. All there were drawn into a magical world where a little finger is a bushy eyebrow, a piece of masking tape be can be anything, and a poor teddy bear gets put through his paces. It was a world I would have been happy to stay in for a lot longer and, for me and others there, it ended all too quickly.
Throughout the show, the audience watched Parham having so much fun and then he reiterated to us, as our time together came to an end, that "no matter how old you are, there is always time to have fun." Sticks Stones Broken Bones is a gem of a show which, hopefully, will return to Adelaide one day.
Reviewed by Fiona Talbot-Leigh, Friday 9th March 2018.