17 January, Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
A production from the Queensland Theatre and Dead Puppet Society, depicting Charles Darwin's journey on the Beagle and his formulation of the theory of evolution.
There's much to admire about this play: the revolving stage that fluidly turned from interiors to exteriors, the video backdrop, and most of all the puppets.
All the animals are puppets - from pigeons and puppies through to tropical birds and, most impressively, a life-size, lumbering Galapagos tortoise. The puppets don't aim for realism but instead all have a wonderfully steampunky, skeletal air. I didn't feel they were always integrated well into the production, but they were really impressive.
I like the ideas in this a lot too, the way we see Darwin connect the theory of tectonic plates - a physical world that's constantly undergoing the act of creation - and his own burgeoning ideas about evolution.
So I liked a lot. I just didn't like… uh… the script.
Kudos to Tom Conroy as Darwin, a familiar face from the Sydney stage scene who did his best, but there wasn't much to work with. This felt very simplistic, with each character falling into quite a neat little box - the religious one, the skeptic, the scientist - they seemed like the ones adhering to some grand design rather than being allowed to live and breathe.
Good ideas, good design, lots of good elements, but this never came close to hitting the mark for me.
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