The Young King: Adelaide Festival World Premiere
A former amusement complex is to be transformed, as internationally-acclaimed Adelaide theatre company Slingsby takes audiences into an exquisitely magical world. Lesley Reed reports on a 2016 Adelaide Festival of Arts World Premiere, The Young King.
Dazzeland operated at the Adelaide Myer Centre for seven years until 1998 and during its lifetime its rollicking rollercoaster and fun games were enjoyed by people of all ages. When Adelaide theatre company Slingsby takes over the former amusement site the company will transform it into a hundred-seat intimate and immersive theatre space. Despite the venue’s metamorphosis, the childhood Dazzeland experiences of many adult audience members are likely to be fondly recalled before they are drawn into the magical world of The Young King, a production created for families and adults.
“Dazzeland is an ideal space in many ways,” Slingsby Artistic Director Andy Packer said. “It will stir the magical memories of many who visited it in the past and Oscar Wilde’s story and our production, incorporating original music by Quincy Grant, sets designed by Wendy Todd and lighting by Geoff Cobham, will create new memories for our audiences. We are not giving too much away, but people really can expect something different.”
The Young King is an interactive fable-like tale of a naïve young goat-herder who leads a simple life. Unaware at first of his birthright as heir to the kingdom, fate finally catches up with the boy, taking him from his forest idyll to assume his kingly duties. As a quest ensues for treasures to create his robes, crown and sceptre, the boy faces a series of internal struggles and contemplations.
The Young King stars Tim Overton (most recently in STC’s The Popular Mechanicals) and Jacqy Phillips (recently seen in Adelaide in STC’s Summer of The Seventeenth Doll).
“The achingly beautiful and tender language of literary great Oscar Wilde was the springboard for this mystical creation that leads audience and cast on a journey in wonder, to a land of challenging choices and rich rewards,” said Andy Packer.
The production is also part of the Adelaide Festival’s Schools Program and so Slingsby will hold Q&A’s for students post-show. During the season the company will also present two Access performances in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival and Access2Arts.
Slingsby came into being in 2007 at the hands of performer and Director Andy Packer and Executive Producer Jodi Glass. Andy’s vision was to create a company specialising in high quality and emotive theatre experiences that both adults and young people could share, and which could tour to regional and metropolitan centres both in Australia and overseas.
Not long after the company was founded, Slingsby presented its first production, The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, which was conceived by Andy Packer and written by Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer. The inaugural season sold out and was subsequently staged at the 16th ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival, held in Adelaide in May 2008.
Slingsby’s work soon grabbed attention nationally and around the globe, with invitations to perform in 2009 at the Sydney Festival, IPAY Showcase in Cleveland (Ohio), Singapore, Madrid, Bath, Edinburgh, Hamilton, Glasgow and concluding with a season at the Sydney Opera House.
Slingsby was the first Australian company to perform in Madrid’s Festival Teatralia and the first Australian company in twelve years to perform at Edinburgh’s Imaginate Festival, widely regarded as the world’s premier English-speaking festival for young audiences.
At IPAY (International Performing Arts For Youth) Showcase 2009, Slingsby performed The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy to packed houses and acclaim. Invitations then flooded in for the company to perform the play. This resulted in an eight-week North American tour in 2011 which opened with a sold out season presented by the New Victory Theater on 42nd Street New York followed by seasons in Columbus (Ohio), Banff, Calgary, St Albert and Saskatoon.
On 22 May 2009 Slingsby achieved an impressive milestone: the company had two different productions performing in two different continents on the very same day: The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy was presented in Bath, UK, and Wolf was presented in Port Pirie by Country Arts SA and Come Out Festival for Young People.
In 2013 Slingsby was one of just four Australian companies who presented at the invitation-only International Performing Arts for Youth 2013 showcase event in Philadelphia. Slingsby’s spotlight presentation of Man Covets Bird was enthusiastically received around the world.
With such an auspicious evolution for Slingsby, Adelaide Festival audiences will be excited to see the company’s World Premiere of The Young King.
“We’re thrilled the Adelaide Festival will host the debut of The Young King. It’s the first time we’ve been part of the event since 2010, as the intervening years have been busy for us,” said Andy Packer.
The Young King is sure to be a delightful theatre experience, one to build lasting memories for people eight years+.
WHERE: Dazzeland, Level 5 Atrium, Myer Centre, Rundle Mall, Adelaide
WHEN:
Sat Feb 27 5pm
Sun Feb 28 2pm and 5pm
Wed Mar 2 1pm
Thu Mar 3 – Fri Mar 4 1pm and 7pm
Sat Mar 5 3pm (AUSLAN) and 7pm
Sun Mar 6 2pm and 5pm
Wed Mar 9 1pm
Thu Mar 10- Fri Mar 11 1pm and 7pm
Sat Mar 12 3pm (Audio Described, including pre-show Touch Tour) and 7pm
Sun Mar 13 2pm and 5pm
1 hour 10 minutes (no interval)
TICKETS: $22-$39
BOOKINGS: adelaidefestival.com.auor BASS 131 246
Images: Tim Overton, Andy Packer, and Tim Overton and Jacqy Phillips. Images by Andy Ellis.
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