Justine Clarke’s Look! Look! It’s a Gobbledygook

Justine Clarke’s Look! Look! It’s a Gobbledygook
Sydney Opera House Playhouse. Saturday 1 July – Tuesday 11 July 2017

Justine Clarke is one of Australia’s best loved children’s entertainers and I’m sorry to admit that I have never gotten around to taking my children (aged 7 and 4) to see one of her shows. So we were very excited to kick off the school holidays with Justine’s new show Look! Look! It’s a Gobbledygook.

Based on her award-winning book, The Gobbledygook Is Eating a Book (written with Arthur Baysting and illustrated by Tom Jellett) and their latest collaboration The Gobbledygook and The Scribbledynoodle, the show includes a live band and some very cheeky monsters to explore the magic of books and the art of story-telling.

Being book lovers, we loved the set which replicated a library with large inflatable books and a huge screen displaying a shelf full of books (which had the titles of Justine’s songs).

While I’ve read a few comments online about people not being a fan of Justine’s voice, I really liked seeing her perform live. She has a gentle way of speaking to the kids. She doesn’t baby them, she isn’t too loud or over the top like some entertainers can be, but she seems to engage even the tiniest tots. She is happy for the kids to yell out and responds to what they are saying. It was delightful to see very young children up to about age eight and adults enjoying the show and joining in with the actions.

I think that having live music, especially in a kids show, always adds an extra element, so it was fantastic to see a small band including keys, drums and a double bass. Justine also played guitar at one point, but I thought it was a shame that she only played for one song. I would have liked to see her play it a bit more.

What was really effective was the interactive way Justine used the screen to illustrate her songs and get the kids involved in creating electronic works of art.

My kids enjoyed hearing Justine’s well known songs but also some they hadn’t heard before. My four year old son particularly loved the Scribbledy Noodle Monster and its antics (including scribbling everywhere, farting and spitting) which he found hysterically funny!

An enjoyable, light hearted and playful show which helps foster a love of books in children, spark their imagination and teaches them a few lessons on how to look after books properly!

Shannon O’Connell

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