The Magic Chicken

New Zealand’s Theatre Beating is on a winner with The Magic Chicken, a chaotic hour-long show for the young and young-at-heart, in which two madcap chefs cook up a merry concoction of rapid-fire slapstick comedy and mime.

In a wonderfully quirky cafe, where nothing seems quite right, including the slanting kitchen shelves and fiery, temperamental oven, the two funny and totally inept chefs struggle to serve their one and only customer, the baddie of the piece. The bad guy has an anger management problem (of course) and is intent on capturing a little chicken that has taken refuge from him in the café. The chicken has a magical skill: it lays large golden eggs.

Presented by arrangement with Arts Projects Australia, with support from Creative New Zealand’s Touring Australia Initiative, the show is directed by Geoff Pinfield. It is performed by Barnie Duncan (short chef), Trygve Wakenshaw (tall chef), Kai Smythe (bad guy) and Oliver Smart (chicken puppeteer) with Matthew Armitage and John Bell, as The Beat Root Boys, providing musical accompaniment.

The Magic Chicken is off-beat and extremely physical, all of which delights the young audience members, who seem unfazed by the lack of verbal dialogue.

There are funny walks, an oversize chef’s hat, an oven that gobbles people and, much to the excitement of the youngsters, flying food. Chicken feed and water are launched randomly into the audience and far more pizza flour and tomato sauce ends up on the stage floor than on the pizza the manic chefs eventually make.

The frequent ‘slow motion action’ miming sequences are highlights of the performances, producing spontaneous applause- yes, the grownups love it too.

If I were as picky as a chicken, I’d have to say there is a nugget of disappointment in this production, though. The Magic Chicken is the show’s title and so one would expect the show might involve the chicken puppet as a prominent, madcap component. Instead, the chicken’s characterisation is overwhelmed by the human antics. Unlike its appreciation of the human characters, the young audience seems not to be particularly engaged with the creature. Perhaps this is simply because, despite skilled puppetry, the chicken is small, acts fairly like a real chicken and, apart from its beautifully-brassiered chicken breast, is not particularly offbeat, either physically or in its actions, unlike the other characters.

Music by The Beat Root Boys is wonderful; quirky and just right for kids. The Beat Root Boys also supply perfectly-timed sound effects.

The Magic Chicken lists only chicken and pizza on the limited menu board in its crazy café, but it serves up a wonderfully diverse meal of physical comedy and mime. It has surely left its happy and satisfied young audience wanting seconds from New Zealand’s talented Theatre Beating.

Lesley Reed