Australia's Windmill Theatre Company will return to the Walton Arts Center this weekend to perform a new children's show, "Grug and the Rainbow," an interactive, whimsical mix of puppetry and storytelling based on one of Australia's most popular children's book series by Ted Prior.
"Embarking on his own epic journey to find a rainbow, it always seems just beyond his grasp," reads the description of the play on Windmill's website. "But Grug is full of determination, and his adventures are always full of surprises."
FAQ
‘Grug and the Rainbow’
WHEN — 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — Starr Theater at the Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville
COST — $8
INFO — 443-5600
"Grug is this really naive person, just discovering the world around him," says performer Ellen Steele, who has been working with the popular theater company since she graduated from acting school. "It's lovely for this age group, because they're just discovering the world, too, so there's a real synchronicity there."
Steele says the ideal audience for the show is between the ages of 1 and 5, although she says that kids up to 10 who have attended with their siblings have been delighted by the play.
Set designer Jonathon Oxlade's lovely, deceptively simple set is the background as the performers act as puppeteers and storytellers.
"We all share the puppeteering," explains Steele. "So sometimes I puppeteer Grug, and sometimes I take on his great friend, Cara the carpet snake. She's pretty great. And we all sort of facilitate the story. When we're not puppeteering, we're taking the story further."
The performers frequently interact with their young audience during the course of the approximately 40-minute show.
"We kind of comment from within the piece," says Steele. "It sort of invites the audience into the story, so we're all sort of responding to what Grug does in real time."
-- Lara Hightower
NAN What's Up on 04/07/2017