The Wider Earth

Queensland Theatre and the Dead Puppet Society have created a luminous boys’ own adventure about the voyage of young Charles Darwin on the Beagle.

Charles is running from a future in the Church but, ironically, the Beagle is really off to covert heathens in Tierra del Fuego, and use Charles to prove a then popular geological theory which would underline God’s purpose. 

Instead, the Captain and his cleric sink into maelstrom and madness, while Charles boyishly chases the world’s biology and, guiltily at first, begins to trace his logic On the Origin of Species.   This clash between God and Science, as the Beagle faces disaster, is the most engaging part of this epic written and directed by David Morton – as well as the theatrical tools he uses.

The star is the huge rock/ship shape carved on one side as if by nature, which revolves to the interiors of homes and ship, designed by Morton with Aaron Barton.  Behind, a panoramic screen speedily paints and signatures each new setting and projects beautiful abstracts of sea, sky and land (Justin Harrison), driven by a rousing score from Lior and Tony Buchen.

And then there are Morton’s designed puppets – the huge turtles, iguanas and a host of fish and birds, big and small, and Darwin’s favourite dog (a beagle, naturally).  Alone, the puppetry is modest, even pedestrian, but together with all else, and in the hands of the seven busy actors, The Wider Earth is compelling story-telling. 

Tom Conroy is suitably intense as Darwin, leading an energetic ensemble of Margi Brown Ash, Emily Burton, Thomas Larkin, David Lynch, Anthony Standish and Jaime Ureta.  Colourful period costumes, also by Morton with Barton, add the final flourish.

Martin Portus

Photographer: Jamie Williams