Inside the Walls: A Giant Pop-Up Book Ghost Story @ Ukiyo at Gluttony, Adelaide 9/3/2017
Theresa O’Connor stars as the storyteller and puppet master of Inside the Walls, and she’s also the artist and the writer. O’Connor studied pop up books for a year before creating the wonderful, magical ‘Inside the Walls, a ghost story escapade for children.
Through the pages of her giant pop up book, we are introduced to Izzy who is moving with her parents from the city to the country. Buildings rise high and vehicles whizz by and we hear the busy buzz of the urban centre transform into the bird calls of the bush. But their new home isn’t quite as it appears, and when Izzy finds an old shoe hidden under the front porch, it begins a wonderful adventure all throughout her brand new home and the surrounding countryside.
Through
simple cut outs to more intricate marionette styled puppets, the story is
brought to life before our eyes via the turning pages of a book. This is
projected up onto a screen behind the performance so everyone is able to have a
close up view of the action. Light is used beautifully throughout the piece,
announcing the change from day to night, and also highlighting handwritten
diary entries and conversations, and the sound design by J. David Franzke really helps to draw you in.
It reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, with Izzy left alone by her parents
to explore her environment and make new friends.
O’Connor stays for questions from the audience after the performance, and the children had many. While I witnessed a few kids covering their eyes and cuddling into the safety of parents arms, one child announced that it ‘really wasn’t that scary’. This was followed by another child’s assertion that this was ‘the most specialist book in the world’.
With shadow puppets for sale and workshops to participate in, this is a wonderful show to bring your children too. But bring water, that tent gets stuffy.
Fringe Review By Carly Whittaker
Tickets for Inside The Walls: A Giant Pop-Up Book Ghost Story head to Fringe-Tix.