The Arrival. By Shaun Tan. Adapted for the stage by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Company. Directed by Phillip Mitchell. Kidz at The Street. Street One. The Street Theatre. Until September 30. Bookings: thestreet.org.au or phone 6247 1223.
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Nowhere is it more truly apparent that great children's theatre will appeal as much to adults as to young people than in Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Company's exquisite staging of Shaun Tan's award-winning graphic novel, The Arrival. Director Phillip Mitchell breathes life into Tan's surreal and evocative illustrations, revealing a world of mesmerising digital animation, atmospheric shadow puppetry, soul-stirring music and captivating live performance.
To open the pages of Tan's illustrated story of one man's migration in search of peace and prosperity for his family is to enter a cherished sepia-toned photo album of pencil drawings of post-war Europe and an era of mass migration. Aki, adroitly played with likeable, good-humoured innocence by Ellis Pearson, is the migrant Everyman of the story, seeking a land of opportunity for his family whom he has left behind while he searches for happiness and prosperity in a land far across the seas. His could well be the story of those who helped to build our modern nation after the ravages of war in their homeland. Aki's quest transcends the ages and the times when people have fled poverty, suffering and war in search of peace and freedom. The Arrival is a timely reminder of a universal humanity and a global dilemma, told simply and powerfully in mime by live actors, Pearson, Alicia Osyka, Adrienne Patterson and Shirley van Sanden, and magically realised by animation of Tan's illustrations and Lee Buddie's composition of Eastern European music.
Children in the audience sit entranced by the floating images and magical illusions. They laugh at the antics of strange puppet animals, snippets of slapstick and Aki's struggle to communicate. They sit in wonder as Aki's paper cranes turn into a bird flying through the sky. They look on in silent sorrow as Aki hugs the photo of the family he has left behind. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Company is the sorcerer of the child's imagination, filling them with wonderment and delight.
As The Arrival touches the child, so too does it move the adult. Separation of family, a journey to a distant land, the lack of language, the search for work and accommodation, the desire for companionship and the desperate hope for family reunion in a secure and happy home chart the migrant's perilous and courageous experience. Spare Parts' production of Shaun Tan's The Arrival is advertised as a school holiday show for children over 5. Such an extraordinary, gentle and unpretentious production offers Canberra audiences a rare treat for young and old alike.
