‘Wonder Wimp’

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 8

‘Wonder Wimp’

Wonder Wimp, written and performed by members of the Smart Artz and Purple Inc. Theatre Companies, at the Christchurch Arts Centre Theatre. December 17 to 24 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Running time: one hour forty minutes. Reviewed by Lindsay Clark. Purple Inc. will be remembered locally for their street and stilt theatre and as one of the successful teams to emerge from Access training. The Smart Artz couple hail from the North Island. Both groups involved in this production have a commitment to making fun happen on stage and since audiences for their school holiday special will be hoping for a similar event, the climate seems right for this blend of slapstick, stilt work and folk heroics.

Surprise and rapid action are necessary components of this “what happens next?” direction. Thus the nonchalant cleaner who announces cheerfully at the outset that “There’s no-one here,” sets a tone where any turn of events is freely accepted. He goes on to fill in with a few acts of his own, producing a ventriloquist’s dummy from an appropriately battered trunk.

By now audience rapport is sufficiently established for there to be no shortage of volunteers when a coat peg is needed. Indeed the first half romped along with plenty of variety, familiar clowning, larks with chairs and pulleys, cream in the face and so on. The second half was devoted to a

"chronicle of crime” featuring Wonder Wimp himself (purple shoes and pink cape) and his devotion to thwarting the evil plans of Screw Loosky, the scientist, together with his manufactured henchman. The latter achieves a new high in sinister hovering from his stilts.

To add to the fun there is a wonderfully Horrible Thing with Hairy Feet and a dreadful Brain Washing Machine from which the innocent victim is rescued at the last possible moment. It was a pity, in the midst of all this inventiveness that Wonder Wimp’s ultimate answer to violence was a giant hammer, albeit a wimpishly floppy one. In such sequences not only "what happens next,” but how slickly and comically it is effected matters. Timing, editing and technical details did not always measure up well to these criteria although they will undoubtedly sharpen under the scrutiny of an audience accustomed to smart, pacy television. All four performers worked hard, each bringing contributions of merit — among them Patrick Duffy as the evil Screw Loosky, Gavin Buxton as Wonder Wimp and Andrew Hampton’s clowning along with Christopher Harding’s hammock sequence. Certainly the audience for whom this production is intended will not be bored. The rest of us may reflect how far from Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein the horror fantasy has evolved, but that is matter for another play.