Big Fun Sometimes

What a marvoullous production. I especially liked the puppets,
Yes I did lave 'some fun' - ha
cheerio
Ingrid Bombay.

I saw this production last night at Rechabites. This is Luke Milton's latest creation involving puppets, music by Steve Hearne & Brent Hill, designed by Bryan Woltjen and a talented cast of established and emerging actors.

Girth tells the story of his adventures from when he was 6 and met Erzebet (the someone from the saying "some people have all the luck") with whom he becomes besotted - following her form brothels, to gangster cites, underwater and monkey islands.

The puppets are enchanting. There are so many and each just adorable (or grotesque, depending). The use of puppets is a mesmerising device and so engaging. The actor/pupeteers successfully manipulate the miriad of puppets. Although haven't seen many puppet shows: these guys added another layer through their own physicality and voices - which i thought really worked.

What blew me away most was the layers of symbolism that Luke had written inot the play. What if people didn't have hands, would we be just like monkeys? Shouldn't we live life just to have fun? Does anyone else feel like a whale stranded in a city - boxed in by what we "should be doing" and losing the point?...I could go on.

It's just a shame that its on the same night as a slick musical down the road. Rent was really great and impressive. But for my money I'd rather see this magical creation that has taken a few risks and provided an engaging piece of theatre that I thought was meaningful, thoughtful and super creative.

Often when one sees a film with a star cast, it turns out to be a total disaster. So when seeing the cast list for ‘Big Fun sometimes’ and recognising almost every name as being extremely talented, it was with some trepidation that I went to see the show.

Luke MiltonÂ’s latest production at the Rechebite Hall (until the end of the week) turned out to be brilliant. No other word for it.

I have been a fan of Luke’s for some time, and on each occasion he has come up with something different. This production is a little like a tragic opera, and when I heard it had 21 songs and 57 characters I must admit I cringed and thought ‘overload’ as people find it difficult to listen to a couple of CDs non-stop, but with Brent Hill and Steve Hearne’s perfect music the time just flew.

As with all of Luke’s shows, everything was over the top. When the average writer / director would go for the easy way out, Luke went straight for the quality. The rehearsals must have been a nightmare as the cast tried to come to grips with his demands but there is no doubt it was all worth the effort. The actors had to act, sing and dance at the same time as working the incredibly complex and innovative beautifully made puppets – the main character Girth, could easily become the Christmas present of the future.

The choreography was demanding; with Mike Djukic making everyone’s mouth just gasp with part of his routine. He was backed by a very attractive and talented ‘chorus’. The colourful costumes all being completely different and again different.

The script was very well written and the story interesting and ‘mad’ enough to hold the interest.

There were some truly brilliant performances with Josh PriceÂ’s whale winning a few hearts. Accolades for Claire Hopper and Andrea Gibbs, but many may think this is unfair to the rest of the cast who were outstanding and faultlessly worked their butts off.

Where does LukeÂ’s talent go next?

Yes another five star rating, this time on the ‘professional’ scale.