OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 7 June 2009

Auntie Janet Saves the Planet - Frances Morrison as Madame Pipistrelle and Steven Struthers as Sargeant George (Photo - Drew Farrell)

QUEUING outside the theatre doors, children and family members were asked if they would become voles before being led in to the performance by the brown soldier hare and his marching drum. With spots on their noses and pink vole ears, the audience marched into the theatre.

Comfy cushions were placed on the floor where the first three rows of seating would normally be in the OneTouch, and most of the children popped down on them, ready for the performance. The delightful set on stage captivated them.

Auntie Janet (a hen) was having a crisis, she informed the audience, and needed help. Her lovely woodland and home would be bulldozed in the morning by the loggers, if she couldn’t find the one thing that could save her environment. Her pals, the Brown Hare (Sgt George), Song Thrush (Mavis) and Pippistrelle Bat were going to help her. Auntie Janet said they were to find the song that would stop the disaster, but they had to be back by dawn for it to work.

So the three set off on their adventure, narrowly escaping the jaws of Brutus the cat in the woods, and came across the travelling carnival with some very engaging and amusing puppets. The first character, Noxious Stinkerton – a rat obsessed with cleanliness (he was in the bath at the time of performance on stage) had the first part of the song, which he shared with Sgt George.

There was something fundamental George had to do so that he could learn the new beat – and that was to change his old ways and play the rhythm Noxious taught him. All the voles in the audience were encouraged to get up and dance along to the new groovy beat and Sgt George had learned that change was possible and it was good.

Next came Olga Petrova, mistress of the skies (an Eastern European bumble bee with hayfever) who taught the group the harmony. Again more audience engagement with children dancing and singing along with the stage characters. Melody came next from the world’s strongest micro-organism – Giganticus Rex – who could only be seen through a large magnifying glass.

The voles, of course, knew the rest of the song, because they were clever and know the colours of the rainbow. And with a huge group effort with audience and characters working together, they managed to get the song back in time to Auntie Janet. Each character having accepted that change could only happen, if they were prepared to alter something about themselves and learn to sing a new song.

The tale was amusing, engaging and sweet. And the message was this – “When you stand together and the song you sing is true, everybody listens to you.” With a moral to the story, an education in how to make music and interesting characters, this musical brings a great deal to performance for children. And when the characters left stage, the children in the audience were reluctant to leave, staying a good while to dance to the music and probably hoping someone would come out again. A sign that they had a good time.

© Jelica Gavrilovic, 2009

Links

• Scottish Opera