UNDER THE STARS ABOVE THE TREE, presented by Yawazzi Theatre Productions, directed by Sanjin Muftic (fringe, physical theatre, Masonic One today at 2pm, tomorrow at 4pm):
Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor
THIS two-man production tells the story of a young boy in a world where the entire planet is covered by a huge tree and no living person has ever seen the sky, except the boy’s grandfather.
Grandpa is very old and is almost ready to die, but cannot until someone else on the planet has climbed to the top of the tree and seen the heavens. Based on the old man’s stories, the boy also believes he can only become a man once he has seen the sky.
Andrew Laubscher plays the boy, while the show’s writer John Keevy plays all the other parts and handles the multimedia aspects of the show.
There is a projection screen behind Laubscher, on to which Keevy paints some of the scenes and writes prose.
After establishing the background, the story picks up pace once the boy starts climbing (although Laubscher’s movements look more like he’s opening a series of windows than climbing up branches).
First he encounters a dassie (who prefers to be called a hyrax), the guardian of the specific segment of the tree, who teaches him about the importance of protecting one’s family.
Next he meets a bird, which isn’t very helpful – it’s philosophy being that people and animals should stick to the lot they’ve been given in life and not try to change their situation.
He next encounters a gorilla, which challenges him on his definition of a man and how seeing the sky can help him become one.
His final encounter is with a snake, which tries to eat him, but also helps on his journey of self-discovery.
The dassie, bird and snake are done with puppets, while the gorilla is just a mask.
In the Fringe booking kit, this show is listed under physical theatre, says it has a PG rating and that the “nature of the production will be disrupted by children”.
But I can’t see how it would. There is nothing adult in nature or disturbing in the content and the show seems better suited to children than adults.
If anything, it is probably have been a better choice for little ones than some of the options officially placed in the children’s theatre category.
Tags: physical theatre, masks, puppets, sky, tree, dassie, bird, snake, gorilla, multimedia
