Mr Stink

Mr Stink is a multi-layered play in a single-story context, and for an hour’s entertainment in the school holidays, it is a valuable experience for parents and children.

For school children, the play goes like this:

A young school girl befriends a homeless man and tries to help him out when a would-be local government MP (AKA, the young girl’s mother) says all homeless people should be banned from her area of town.

Older kids and adults will read a little more into it:

A dysfunctional family and neighbourhood, which does not yet see its failings, is shown a reflection of itself by a homeless man whose opinion is suddenly thrust into the spotlight by an act of kindness.

Parts of this plotline are being mirrored this week in Martin Place, Sydney, where authorities have been moving on dozens of homeless people. But this play could be set in anyone’s neighbourhood.

The heart of David Walliams’s award-winning book, whose characters Maryam Master and Jonathan Biggins have precisely cut and pasted for stage, is in the discovery of who is actually helping whom and that poverty (in wealth or wisdom) can affect anyone, whether they carry a shopping bag from Harrods or Aldi.

Getting to this message requires some shallow breathing from the audience, as Mr Stink is shrouded in a visible fog of stink for much of the play. There is also much giggling, applauding and cheering, and even a little Bollywood dancing. But there are also tender moments when tiny audience members lean over to their respective adult to ask more searching questions.

The team behind this work is CDP Theatre Producers, who have been turning great Aussie kids literature into plays for years - think the 13-Storey Treehouse series, The Gruffalo and Horrible Harriet (which comes to Brisbane in September).

Simple sets open and close like storybook pages and set the scene for genuine performances from John O’Hare as Mr Stink and Romy Watson as Chloe, who build a strong friendship on stage. Anna Cheney lacquers her character with tonnes of styling gel to capture the electioneering frenzy that is Mrs Crumb (pronounced Croom if you don’t mind).

Amanda Laing masters multiple roles, including the sister in need of a personal assistant to manage all her extra-curricular activities.

While Darren Sabadina covers all bases as the embattled Mr Crumb, the Prime Minister and the audience’s most affable ally, Raj, who believes all problems can be fixed by purchasing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stationery set.

Mr Stink is children’s theatre at its most engaging and is not to be missed these school holidays.

Debra Bela

Images: © Heidrun Lohr