REVIEW - I’m Still Wake, Still!

GORDANA ANDJELIC-DAVILA

MONDAY 3 OCTOBER, 2011

THE ARTS CENTRE: Based on the Australian picture-book ‘I’m Still Wake, Still!’, this entertaining kids’ cabaret successfully combines acoustic music, comedy and visual theatre.

Still Awake Still!, at the Arts Centre’s Fairfax Studio, is a glorious performance geared for children four to ten years old, but the older kids who, upon entering the theatre, donned long faces and expectations of a ‘baby show’ were pleasantly surprised by the music and creativity which unfolded before them. Laughter and glee was overflowing during the performance I attended.

Based on the Australian picture-book I’m Still Awake, Still! by author/illustrator Elizabeth Honey and the accompanying lullabies by composer Sue Johnson, the performance is a combination of acoustic music, comedy and visual theatre, making it a fabulously entertaining and funny sort of ‘kids’ cabaret’ .

The show introduced ‘the legendary Ms Ivory Tinklefinger’, who possesses the incredible talent of singing the children of the audience to sleep. Miss Tinklefinger is dressed in a luxurious red plush dress, her ginger red tresses coiffed so high that the audience’s youngest pointed and asked how she achieved such a gravity defying hair style, and she speaks in short words which squeak out of her between long hushed murmurs as she ‘floats’ across the stage to her grand piano.

Her attempt to sing the children to sleep fails terribly. In a further attempt to produce some ZZZZZs from her audience, she somehow conjures two mischievous musicians – a bit like Dr. Seuss’ unpredictable Thing 1 and Thing 2 – from the heart of the piano, and suddenly a nutty and amusing adventure of music and magic is unleashed, much to her discontent and the audience’s delight. The story and performance had a Chaplinesque air to it, a certain naiveté with a universal comedic appeal, making it effervescent and utterly entertaining for the whole family (adults could be heard bursting out in very loud laughter on several instances).

The show was inspired by every parents’ daily challenge: bed-time and children’s seemingly miraculous resistance to actually falling asleep, exploring the clash between rest and play, order and chaos, thorough music and drama.

Still Awake Still! is the first production from Jump Leads, a new non-profit arts organisation focusing mostly on innovative works for children and families, featuring musical talent drawn from Coco’s Lunch, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Carnival of Mysteries. If their next projects are as entertaining as their first, I don’t care that the shows are intended for the youngest members of the family; I plan on going to all of them, even if it means going by myself!

Still Awake Still!
Director: Jessica Wilson
Musical Director: Sue Johnson
Designer: Jonathon Oxlade
Performers: Carolyn Connors, Dan Witton, Renato Vacirca
Set Construction: Michael Baxter
Props Maker: Tamara Rewse
Costumes: David Anderson
Wig: Kate Aubrey
Lyricist: Elizabeth Honey
Dramaturges: Jim Lasko, Julianne O'Brien

The Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
September 28 – October 2

I'm still awake, still!
Story and songs by Elizabeth Honey and Sue Johnson
ISBN 978-1-74175-321-9
www.allenandunwin.com

The above review was originally published on ArtsHub.com.au and can be viewed by clicking here.