Review: THE WIDER EARTH at Princess Theatre

Dead Puppet Society's The Wider Earth breathes a new life into the life of arguable the most famous naturalist of our time.

Directed and co-designed by David Morton, The Wider Earth is a reimagining of Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle in which skeletal puppets fly, walk, crawl and swim on and offstage. The aesthetic of the performance is very much like a pop-up storybook that your primary school teacher would read during story time; with a panoramic screen at the back of the stage painting colourful landscapes, flora and fauna of each setting, brought to life by Lior and Tony Buchen's dynamic score.

At centre-stage (and literally at the heart of it all) is a huge rock which transformed into the interior of the ship as well as served as a piece of the landscape. It felt very Lion-King esque and I wonder whether designers Morton and Aaron Barton took inspiration from there...

But what truly makes the show are Morton's puppets which feature schools of fish, iguanas, armadillos, a gorgeous beagle and a majestic turtle and its puppeteers that bring these creatures to life. Although he could work on his intonation, Tom Conroy brings the perfect blend of insecurity, naivety and curiousity to Charles Darwin, leading an powerful ensemble of Frances Berry, Anthony Standish, Alex Kaane, Jaime Ureta, Kevin Spink, Barbara Lowing and Liesel Zink.

Unfortunately due to the venue of the Princess Theatre not having tiered seating, a lot of puppets that moved on land where hard to see from heads sitting in the rows before you. In addition, patrons that were sitting at the end of each row either side of the stalls in the auditorium, including myself had restricted views of the projections. This was particularly apparent when words, including the title of the show, were spelt on the projection and certain words were missing...

The Wider Earth is colourful, vibrant and at times, like a Disney coming-of-age movie that has never been made. It's the perfect family show. Well done Dead Puppet Society on another glorious, theatrical masterpiece. As always, can't wait to see what's next.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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