Out of the Box Festival

I knew I was in for something different when I left the train to cross the street to QPAC. It was like wading through a vast school of little fish in feeding frenzy. Trains, out-of-town coaches, buses and private cars disgorged excited children with bigger people trying to herd them in one of three directions.

I know no other city in Australia that biennially turns over its entire Cultural Centre to children’s cultural and educational activities for one week. This is its 22^nd year. It now attracts local artists and companies to provide diverse experiences for children. OotB, as it’s become known, also draws professional companies that premiere here, or on tour.

Most activities are free, so I could roam and observe. As well, I chose three paid shows: Carnival of the Animals (produced by acclaimed circus company Circa, with QPAC’s OotB). Full house was enchanted, spontaneously clapping to familiar Saint-Saëns sections while circus acts performed to the rhythm – theatre etiquette passing from second-timers to the ‘littlies’. As a grandpa, I appreciated how much entertainment value was due to director, Yaron Lifschitz and his set design vision, Michaela French’s video, and Jason Organ’s lighting. It was an all-ages delight.

So was Adelaide Windmill Theatre’s audience winner Big Bad Wolf by Matthew Whittet. Patrick Graham’s friendless would-be poet Wolfie is befriended by charismatic and multi-talented Heidi (Emma J. Hawkins). Ellen Steel skilfully covers as narrator, Wolfie’s mum, and puppeteer and voices of multiple other characters.

My third choice was another book-to-stage piece, Still Awake Still. On tour from the USA, with script by Jessica Wilson and the collaborating artists (inspired by Elizabeth Honey & Sue Johnson’s book of the same name) it is ingenious, brilliant entertainment. A grand piano, meant to settle children to sleep, rebels and creates bizarre visual and musical chaos to keep them in stitches instead. Multi-talented musical and comedy virtuosi, Carolyn Connors, Dan Witton and Renato Vacirca are the performers.

Meanwhile, fun in the sun was happening in all green spaces. Theme this year was Asia so Bollywood dance training, Japanese drumming, a Gong and Bowl Garden and a Korean display attracted big crowds. Eight theatre shows, four concerts (each repeated twice), seven workshops (again, with repeats), and a wealth of free activities including pop-up events and the ABC van kept the cultural forecourt busy. The Museum offers a ‘denizens of the deep’ exhibition and an underwater cave adventure, while the state library provided various alphabet, storytelling and illustration experiences. The galleries offered a variety of drawing and pattern experiences.

No wonder hundreds of thousands of children and adults turn up every second year to celebrate OotB Festival!

Jay McKee

Images: Still Awake Still and Big Bad Wolf. L-R Patrick Graham, Kate Cheel and Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis.

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