The Wind in the Willows *** 1/2

‘The Wind in the Willows’ is Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s story presented by Curtin’s Hayman Theatre Company in the Dolphin Theatre, UWA until 1^st July 2006. Many of the performances are during the day.
            This is a lively adaptation by the director Tony Nicholls. This play was presented about three years ago and has returned by popular demand.
            It is the tale of how Wally Weasel and his friends who are fed up with living in a damp river bank and have decided to move on. The residence that they fancy is that owned by Mr Toad, a wealthy waster. They set him up, get him arrested and sent to prison. He escapes and manages with his good friends Ratty, Mole, and Badger to regain his mansion.
            This drama, with pantomime overtones, starts off quite dark and for the first couple of minutes some of the children may be a bit worried. Then the Rabbits appear and the whole show becomes much lighter. There is singing and dancing with the extra fun of Alfred the flatulent horse.
            This show whilst being extremely well directed by Tony Nicholls and Sarah Fay tended to polarise the actors. Many first year students have been given a chance to perform. Some like Ratty (Jonathan Best) really got into their part, others despite giving it their all, were a little weak.
            The makeup (Megan Guise and Lisa Stichling) and costumes (Alyce Pilgrim) were excellent.
            The main acting credit must go to Mole (Ashlee Giblett), Wally Weasel (Alan Chambers), and Toad himself who was truly outstanding and held the show together (Angelique Jorre De St Jorre).
            The children loved this. Even a couple of three year olds just beamed. Recommended for the youngsters.

            One of the sad points of this show is that this whole show could have worked in Curtin’s own venue, rather than the Curtin University’s hierarchy wasting many thousands of dollars unnecessarily hiring another venue.

On Gordon's advice we took our three-year-old along to see Tony Nicholl's Curtin swansong. As predicted Felix was terrified by the weasels and stoats that opened the show but quickly recovered after the appearance of the fluffy rabbits and a very likeable Mole. An hilarious couple of hours followed with Toad and entourage delivering an energetic performance with great physicality. Doubtless Tony's greatest legacy at the Hayman has been his contribution to the three decades worth of skilled and experienced graduates that the Theatre Studies course at Curtin has churned out - people that, whether on national or international stages or within local community theatres, have passed along some of Tony's wisdom and infectious enthusiasm. But during his time at Curtin Tony may most fondly be remembered by the largest group of people for his phenomenally popular pantomimes and other entertainments. The Wind in the Willows brimmed with the trademark Nicholls' theatrical excess and energy, bristled with literary and dramatic references for the astute and included a lavish assortment of groan-worthy puns, spoonerisms, double entendres and much glorious innuendo - an italian suppositry, as I seem to recollect from a past panto. It was a particular delight to see that Tony's theories on modern drama, as reported to me by one of his students: that "modern theatre is boring because there are more than three pages between flashpots" have expanded to include "modern theatre is boring because there are more than three pages between fart jokes" - a shortcoming that Tony addressed admirably through the vehicle of Alfred the dancing, talking - mostly out of his arse - horse... also managing to bring new meaning to the title of the production. I share the dismay of others at what appears to be the demise of the Hayman and the impact that this is having and will have on the course and the community in turn. I hope Tony will forgive me if I reproduce the last paragraph from his personal postscript in the programme here: "Those of you with a taste for metaphor will note that the narrative of The Wind in the Willows concerns an attempt by a rabble of philistines to capture, occupy and desecrate a cultural icon. Fortunately a small band of good-hearted creatures succeed in preventing this and all ends happily in a joyous shared song." I can only hope that Curtin's loss in Tony's retirement will be theatre's gain in at least one respect; that Tony will find many more opportunities to expand his already considerable output in this and other genres. Cheers Grant PS. I think I forgot the ferrets. ;-)

Such a great show that truly deserves these reviews. We are all going to miss having Tony around. One correction though: Mole was played by the talented MissvWhitney Richards, Ashlee Giblett played one of the (extremely) adorable rabbits. TF