Bubblewrap and Boxes

100487 original

This piece of physical theatre for young children attempts to attain the simple, sensual appeal of popping bubblewrap, but ends up getting bogged down in too much extraneous packaging. We are introduced to a set consisting entirely of stacked brown cardboard boxes, in which a beige-clothed, flat-capped man appears to have made his home. He spends his time fussily arranging the differently-sized boxes just so, as if suffering from mild OCD, until the return of his similarly beige-clothed but less precisely-minded daughter threatens to throw everything into disarray. The man is particularly disturbed by a bright red box, which turns out to contain a number of postcards inviting the duo to exciting but mildly dangerous lands.

The challenge of stepping outside your comfort zone is a good theme for young children, and the performers (Australian duo Asking For Trouble) have an expressive, engaging stage presence and some undeniably natty dance moves. But they drag out and over-complicate their basic premise, and the resulting show merely succeeds in keeping its audience quiet for an hour without ever really engaging them. The insistence on keeping everything uniform results in a dull set, barely brightened up later in the show by a bit of coloured lighting that is meant to suggest the promise of exotic lands. The couple try to tell the story visually, but draw out the physical set pieces for too long whilst still relying on wordy readings from postcards to fill a lot of narrative gaps. There’s a good show in here somewhere, but they never quite get it out of the box.