The One Who Planted Trees

Rather than attend the official Opening Night of The One Who Planted Trees, I had the pleasure of attending a schools matinee with many dozens of children, all of whom appeared to be enraptured by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s very first musical.

Students from Sawyers Valley Primary are lending their very informed voices to this review. Yr 2-6 students attended the performance as part of their Performing Arts and Sustainability studies.

The show opens with some beautiful hand drawn animation from Clare Testoni, and Izzy’s "favourite part was when the screen folded down” to reveal a set, a moment she describes as “exhilarating”. Leon Hendroff’s set has several unexpected transformations and might well be the best set ever seen at Spare Parts. Olivia “loved all of the designs on the background” - a result of some beautiful projection work, and superb lighting design by Kristie Smith.

Tilly says that “The One Who Planted Trees was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen. It had such a kind and important message that brings awareness to the world about the current state of our forests and bush”, with Charlie adding that “the setup feels like you’re living the story and the way that the puppets look and move make you think it is real”. 

Ameeka enjoyed that we followed some bush animals, a koala, a frill-necked lizard and a bandicoot, as they despair the lack of vegetation, and Lemoni loved watching the “lonely shepherd farmer, as she carefully plants seeds in the desert like soil, where trees thrive until people come to foolishly chop the trees down”. 

The puppets are endearing - Solly described them as “made with lots of care and time”, the result of beautiful work by Leon Hendroff, Jackson Harrison and Jesse Wood.

With multiple characters and a huge amount of movement, many of the children, like Declan, “found it fascinating that it was only three people” on stage, as performers Amberly Cull, Nick Pages Oliver and Bec Bradley were in what Olivia felt were “a million places at once”. Students loved the songs (written by Melanie Robinson and Carmel Dean - with expert sound design by Lee Buddle).

The children had many different favourite parts - Chelsea loved the expert puppeteering and that we couldn’t see the operators; Lucas loved the staging of the wood choppers chopping down the trees; Sonny loved the artwork and Dean and Caris loved the fun of the dog chasing the sheep. Max loved that it “was informative” and that the show makes him want to plant trees himself.

“This play has inspired me to continue helping the environment’ wrote Amelia, with Charlize loving the message that “anything is possible if you put your heart to it”. Many of the children describe this show as “heart-warming” and I find myself agreeing with Albie’s recommendation that The One Who Planted Trees Is “a great show for kids and adults”. In the words of one anonymous student, “Make more like this!”

Kimberley Shaw