Red Racing Hood
Terrapin Puppet Theatre
Backspace Theatre, Hobart .
September 16th 2015.
Reviewed by Gai Anderson
There was a palpable excitement in the Backspace
on Saturday afternoon as I took my seat amongst the groups of primary school
aged children and their parents for the latest show from Terrapin Puppet Theatre
- Red Racing Hood. Some it
seemed were back for a second time! It was great listening to the thrill in
their voices as they discussed how the complex action we were apparently about
to see, could possibly have been animated by just 3 puppeteers on the curious
retro-looking domestic set waiting in front of us.
Written by Sean Monro and directed By Sam
Routledge, Red racing Hood is a
simple story writ-large, about a girl called Red and her Gran. Quite cartoon
like in feel, with miniature racetrack and a heightened performance style, it
uses the archetype of the dangerous wolf in the woods as a foreboding threat
hanging over their small country town of Grinalong. The twist is that Gran and
the young Red are racing car enthusiasts, and their lives are soon turned
upside down by the arrival of a new mayor with big ideas for the restaging of
the Grinalong Classic car race.
Reliant on design as much as story and
character, the quirky, cleverly designed set allows the 3 talented performer/puppeteers
to inhabit and animate this action-packed show as it jumps between scales and atmospheres,
between racing action and domestic drama. And so, the domestic scene of Red and
Nans home cleverly transforms to become a miniaturized 3 D model of the town,
complete with racing track and dangerous woods. And their breadbox becomes the
garage for Nans tiny model retro racing car and the toaster becomes the town
hall. A tracking video camera and large screen allow the audience to jump
between scales, for close ups of the racing action as Red transforms to become
the driver of Grans tiny racing car.
The performances of Maeve Mhairi McGregor as the
vivacious young Red and Thomas Pidd as the vaudevillian-like Mayor (and dorky
policemen) drive the fun and action- filled parts of the show, with their
heightened energy and clownish verve in synch with the shows cartoonish style.
The more realistic style of Grans character in contrast seemed lack lustre at
times and I wondered about this choice. The potential of the central human
drama is also less developed than the action which left the story a bit thin
for me.
But it is hard sometimes as an adult to
appreciate a child’s-eye view of theatre such as this. So as I sat there
wanting the beautifully animated wolf to be bigger and to actually scare me, the
screams of fear and delight from the front row of the children as it got closer
to them, quickly changed my opinion on that.
Overall this is a great children’s show,
perhaps perfectly pitched for a primary school audience, and the audience I sat
amongst certainly loved it.
