Emil and the Detectives
\nby Erich Kastner
\nAdapted for the stage by Nicki Bloom
\nSlingsby.
\nLevel 5 Myer Centre, Adelaide
\nJuly 23. Tickets: $16.50 – $35.
\nBookings : slingsby.net.au
\nPublic performances July 29 and August 5.
\nDuration 60 minutes. For ages 7 and over.<\/p>\n
For ten years, Slingsby, under the meticulous direction of its founder, Andy Packer, has been making captivating theatre for young audiences. Packer specialises, as he says, in \u201ccoming of age\u201d or \u201cgetting of wisdom\u201d stories and his latest production is no exception. Emil and the Detectives<\/em>, written in 1929 and originally set in Berlin, broke new ground in liberating children\u2019s fiction.<\/p>\n When the schoolboy Emil travels by train to visit his grandmother, he is robbed on the train and arrives in the big city, alone and desperate. Fortunately he meets Gustav and his motley band of child detectives, and finds the courage and resources to track down and confront his dastardly nemesis, the master thief in the bowler hat, Mr Grundeis.<\/p>\n Nicki Bloom\u2019s crisp and sprightly adaptation is the ideal springboard for Packer\u2019s signature picture book theatre. Wendy Todd\u2019s beautifully intricate design in muted browns and green is matched by Ailsa Paterson\u2019s 1930-ish costumes; Geoff Cobham\u2019s chiaroscuro lighting is masterful and Quincy Grant\u2019s score is splendid. The use of cut-out silhouettes (made by audience members before the show) brings a Wes Anderson low-fi charm, and the robbery scene in the train carriage, with Chris Petridis\u2019s video projections, and animations by Luku Kukuku, steals the show.<\/p>\n The performances are pitch perfect: Elizabeth Hay is understated and unfazed as the intrepid Emil, and Tim Overton is a blaze of versatility as the Narrator, Grundeis and – everybody else. Watching these detectives is a theatrical delight.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching the detectives a sheer delight in low-fi staging\u201d Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner Adapted for the stage by Nicki Bloom Slingsby. Level 5 Myer Centre, Adelaide July 23. Tickets: $16.50 – $35. Bookings : slingsby.net.au Public performances July 29 and August 5. Duration 60 minutes. For ages 7 and over. For ten years, Slingsby, under the meticulous direction of its founder, Andy Packer, has been making captivating theatre for young audiences. Packer specialises, as he says, in \u201ccoming of age\u201d or \u201cgetting of wisdom\u201d stories and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,17,5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-37","category-adelaide-companies","category-archive","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2784,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions\/2784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Australian, July 25, 2017, p.14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"