A GHOST IN MY SUITCASE
Stage adaptions have, by nature, the tendency to go awry, the difficulties of translating characters, place and time from page into something tangible within performance, are all too-well known. However, in this adaption of A Ghost In My Suitcase, originally written by Gabrielle Wang, here made real by Barking Gecko Theatre, lies an example of how such adaptations can not only be successful in performantive notions, but can go so far as to also breathe new and extended life into it’s source material.
The ensemble works hard with a detailed and complex set, made up of many boxes and dual projections, becoming almost ensemble members themselves. It’s simply a lovely work, which is aimed at little ones in the audience, but manages not to become reductive for older audiences. We are taken on a journey which is visceral and emotive. The story follows a 12 year old girl, plucked from Australian shores, and placed in the bustling metroplis of a Chinese water town, where she has taken her mother’s ashes to be scattered. Along the way, she is drawn into a mythological place, filled with ghosts and legends. A touching experience, and a story that many Australians, with our multicultural fabric, can relate to.
Co-directed by Matt Edgerton and Ching Ching Ho, this creative pairing proves to be a dynamic one, each individual have unique perspectives and influences a-tune with this work, and within the performance, each of these really comes to the surface; this is not a simply superficial work, and within the realms of children’s performance, this a rare commodity, indeed.
Completing the picture, is emotive lighting, which helps in dissolving the fourth wall, blinding white light shocks the audience back into their realities numerous times, only then to have them lulled back into the hyper-reality of the theatre, musical scoring too, is a great mix, and helps to underpin and frame the work as a whole.
Completing the picture, is emotive lighting, which helps in dissolving the fourth wall, blinding white light shocks the audience back into their realities numerous times, only then to have them lulled back into the hyper-reality of the theatre. Musical scoring too, is a great mix, and helps to underpin and frame the work as a whole.
This is great theatre, perfect for audiences young and old, and comes highly recommended, let’s hope that audiences around the country and so to, abroad get to enjoy this dazzling work of magic and performance.
