The trick to really engaging children’s theatre is to thoroughly engage and amuse the world’s most discerning theatregoers – children – while simultaneously finding a way to include their exhausted, distracted parents. It’s a fine and difficult balance, but when it can be achieved on both fronts, you end up with an engaged and entertained audience across age groups and a unanimously happy crowd. This production of The 3 Little Pigs slightly misses the market for both groups.
The performers are talented, the singing is excellent and the choreography is cute. But more would be needed beyond those solid skills to leave the audience feeling the magic of the show.
It was missing the silliness or laughs that would engage the younger members of the audience or the more sophisticated, grown-up humour that may entertain their families. We’re left with a production that isn’t bad, per se, but it isn’t particularly memorable either.
The recommended age for attendees is two years old and over. But, when this reviewer attended, halfway through the show parents were noticeably struggling to keep their little ones entertained as their attention waned.
Showing at the gorgeous National Theatre in St Kilda – currently celebrating its 50th anniversary and undergoing a facelift (the Art Deco building was constructed in 1921 as a 3000-seat cinema) – this show’s key characters are the three eponymous pigs, their mum and, of course, the wolf. The three pigs are all solid performers, as is their mother.
In a blonde curly wig and 80s-style knitted sweater, the pigs’ mum is reminiscent of a porcine Kath Day-Knight. This may have been an opportunity to ham up some Kath and Kim references (think: “look at moieeeeeee”) for an Australian audience (the play was first staged in Singapore). But instead it went into the basket of missed opportunities.
The wolf does the job, but can’t quite find a unique or truly engaging character to inhabit. He sports an Elvis-style pompadour hairpiece, but it isn’t until quite late in the production that he busts out a few hip swings, leaving another sense of unrealised possibility.
While the three pigs are strong, the jokes are pedestrian and fall a little flat, as does the arrival and purchase of the straw, sticks and bricks.
Given almost all kids know the story of the three little pigs, there was never going to be any surprises in the telling of the tale, so the excitement and amusement needed to come from somewhere else. Unfortunately, it never eventuates.
Read: Book review: Tomorrow There Will Be Sun: A Hope Prize Anthology, various authors
It is also disappointing to see a disclaimer on the website saying that because the theatre’s stairlift is not operational, patrons have to navigate 20 steps to get into the auditorium. This needs to be fixed as a matter of urgency to ensure that accessibility is available for all patrons, including grandparents who may be engaged in caring duties over the holidays.
The 3 Little Pigs
Presented by AG Theatre
Writers: Stiles & Drewe
Director: Tahra Cannon
Cast: Isabelle Davis, Ben Hamilton, Zak Vasiliou, Tristan Sicari, Tayla Thomas, Jake Lonergan
National Theatre Melbourne
Tickets: $35-$59 (free for those under 18 months)
The 3 Little Pigs will be performed until 29 December 2024.
