Theatre criticism about characters and costumes, but also Pringles and stuff the reviewer yelled at the cast.<\/p>\n
The Worm is aimed at theatre-goers aged six and up, so The Spinoff sent Emma, aged eight, to review the production with Veronica, aged quite old. Their subsequent conversation over drinks (wine for Veronica, \u201cwater freshly from the fridge please\u201d for Emma) veers from characters and costumes to Pringles and why Emma was yelling at the cast.<\/p>\n
Veronica: The Worm, written by Carl and Peter Bland, gets straight into the action, with the opening scene introducing us to a little worm (played by Puka Moeau) and his mum (Alison Quigan) living in Shaggy\u2019s garden. We only just had time to admire the terrific pink rolls of the worms\u2019 costumes when a giant bird beak appeared stage left and snaffled up the mum. What did you think of that opening, Emma?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emma: It was pretty scary. It must have been really horrible for the worm. It must have been really lonely after the bird took her. I was sorry for the worm.<\/p>\n
Veronica: I agree \u2013 no worm wants to be left alone underground without their mum, especially when the little worm\u2019s dad had disappeared some time earlier. But that bold start was the beginning of the worm\u2019s quest. He vows to travel up above ground to rescue his mum, and once he\u2019s got her back, he says he\u2019ll find his dad too. But things get hairy. Throughout his journey, the worm has to dodge Shaggy\u2019s spade, which sporadically slices through his dirt home, and a hungry spider. His true nemesis, however, is a blind, rapping, narcissistic rat (Shauntelle Jones), who variously threatens to suck him up \u201clike spaghetti\u201d and chomp on \u201cworm sashimi\u201d.<\/p>\n
Emma, I noticed that when the rat came on stage for the first time, you said \u201cshe\u2019s cool\u201d, and at one point when she\u2019d been off stage for a while and then came back on, you yelled out, \u201cI missed you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma: When I first saw her I thought she was going to be a good rat, but she wasn\u2019t. I still thought she was really cool. I really liked her glasses and her walking stick and also she was hilarious, like, when she made a song about a lightbulb dying all about her. When I said I missed her, I meant I missed her hilariousness.<\/p>\n
The rat, played by Shauntelle Jones, and the snail, played by Alison Quigan, surrounded by slug pellets<\/p>\n
Veronica:\u00a0 You loved the rat. I loved watching the always brilliant Alison Quigan\u2019s movement and facial expressions transform as she moved between her roles of the mother worm and the snail. But back to that rat. She wanted to eat everything \u2013 cockroaches, dung beetles and definitely the little worm. Lucky the little worm met an old, wise worm (Ahi Karunaharan) \u2013 who had himself been attacked by the rat some time ago \u2013 and wanted to help the little worm get to the surface to rescue his mother. During their journey, the two worms came into the audience and came right up to you, didn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
Emma: Yes, I offered them one of my Pringles. The old worm took one but the younger worm didn\u2019t want one.<\/p>\n
Veronica: We won\u2019t give away the rest of the plot, Emma, but we should say what we thought of The Worm overall. I thought this version of the production, directed by Ben Crowder and Carl Bland, was a pacey 65 minutes, offering quirky characters and sharp humour \u2013 the funniest part for me was when the beautifully clueless plant bulb (Brett O\u2019Gorman) made friends with an old light bulb buried in the garden. The costumes (by Elizabeth Whiting and Denise Hosty), were superb, from the snail\u2019s shell to the old worm pushing his belongings around in a supermarket trolley, after sustaining rat-related trauma. The sound was epic for a tiny set-up, careening from the keyboard to the trumpet, and it brought the garden alive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emma, If you had to tell other children about the play using only three words, what would they be?<\/p>\n
Emma: It was awesome.<\/p>\n