This production had two casts. In the interests of fairness, TASA reviewed both casts.
Benji Riggs and the Flying Elephant Company are active and successful in providing new and entertaining theatre for young audiences. This one hour two-handed piece is well constructed and had the audience’s keen attention from the outset. Riggs wrote the script in conjunction with Silly Science With Simon‘s Simon Blacket who, incidentally, also played the character Uncle Linus. The structure and content of the production was a skilful blend of fast-paced and varied dialogue, some illustrative songs, and some scientific experiments. All of those elements were framed within a quest for the two main characters to find the Orb of Energy and charge the Crystal of Power. Thus the play successfully combined science and fiction. That’s a neat twist, because it wasn’t science fiction in the accepted sense.
Most importantly, the experiments and their explanations were briskly presented by Blacket without a hint of condescension. That’s so important in such a presentation. They became a fascinating and necessary part of the whole narrative, seamlessly woven into it.
Behind the main item of the set, a long laboratory bench, dwelt a seemingly unending supply of experimental equipment which Blacket whipped out and delivered in a confident and practised manner. He was bouncy, enthusiastic and engaging, effortlessly bringing the audience along with the action.
A particular challenge, which he managed very well, was to be both characters in the narrative, and, at other times, the narrator. Further, as Linus, he combined the factual explanations of events such as the vanishing water and the turning silver into gold experiments, with the fanciful notion of the quest.
Opposite him, on the first occasion I saw this production, was Sophia Genery as Phoebe, his young niece-cum-assistant. She did very well in the role. Rather than being merely a passive figure and observer of the action, she often built the mood of a scene with, for example, a decidedly quizzical expression, gently challenging Linus’ word. She used the space well and was a match for Blacket in energy and style, and indeed performed a number of the experiments herself.
Both performers handled the songs well, integrating them into the story line with ease.
I was fortunate enough to see the production twice. On the second occasion, Bethany Swift played Phoebe. She was chirpy and animated in the role, and used her bright voice and lively facial expressions to enliven both her dialogue and songs. She was a similar age to many in the well-filled audience, who clearly identified with her in her comic and also her serious moments.
The whole piece was well devised and well presented. It’s another imaginative example of the creative work of Benji Riggs and his Flying Elephant Company and is well worth seeing.
