Download WHO SANK THE BOAT (formerly PoM pOm)

Production Profile - WHO SANK THE BOAT?
Performers:
Paul Blackwell or David Pidd or Cameron Goodall,
Eileen Darley or Bronwen James Sweeney,
Heather Frahn or Belinda Gelhert
Kerry Reid or Billy Jo Van Dam
Writer:
Director:
Composer:
Live Music:
Designer:
Lighting Designer:
Puppet maker:
Pamela Allen
Dave Brown
Tim Sexton
Heather Frahn
Dean Hills
Dave Green
Vanessa Ellis
"From Pamela Allen's first publication in 1980 it was clear that here was a creator of
picture books with all the glow, din and dance to capture the attention, engage the
imagination, teach, show, tickle and excite small children."
Who Sank the Boat is a wondrous, theatrical story-fest, adapted from eight of Pamela
Allen’s most-loved books. Using a host of inventive theatrics, incorporating puppetry,
black-theatre, operetta, mime, dance and live music, the show presents Pamela Allen
favourites: Mr McGee Goes to Sea, Who Sank the Boat?, My Dog Maisie, The Bear’s
Lunch, Black Dog, The Pear and the Pear Tree, Herbert and Harry and Bertie and the
Bear.
This acclaimed production has performed return seasons at the Odeon Theatre in
Adelaide and the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne and a three-week sell-out
season at the Sydney Opera House. The production is currently on a 23 week,
Playing Australia national tour to over 30 venues in 7 states and territories –
performing to an estimated 35,000 children.
Critical Acclaim
“Pre-show, the audience was a mass of squirming, shouting, entirely uninterested
patrons. Almost no one would sit down, the noise was incredible and the ushers were
pondering all in silent disbelief. Yet, minutes later, silence! The nearly 400, three-toeight year old theatregoers … fell under Patch Theatre Company’s spell almost
immediately.”
“From the darkness, Mr McGee appeared drinking tea and sheltering under a dancing
umbrella. Suddenly the furniture comes to life. Soon stories about a donkey, cow,
sheep and mouse dancing and rowing and sinking a boat, a young boy befriending a
scruffy ginger cat and a big, brown, charming bear with buck teeth stealing a picnic
lunch have the sea of small faces absorbed.”
“Children are perhaps the toughest, most honest, critics and on that basis this is an
extraordinarily inventive and enchanting show.”
Lenny Ann Low - Sydney Morning Herald, Dec 2002
“The real critics, the children, could not have been more exuberant watching this
simple, gorgeous picture book come to life. Their squeals of delight were a
convincing argument for live theatre as a wonderful tool for nurturing imagination.
“African drumming, wooden flutes, a cappella harmonies, puppets, dance, movement
and simple narration brought the stories of Pamela Allen to life.”
Wonderfully crafted and directed, this is the kind of theatre all children should see at
least once.”
Vanessa McCausland – Sydney Daily Telegraph, Dec .2002
“Using the playful rhymes and sometimes eerie stories of Allen’s books, Brown and
his collaborators have created a theatre piece with real charm and imagination.”
Murray Bramwell – The Adelaide Review, Aug 2001
“A strikingly original piece, - part black-theatre, part play, part opera…. a symphony
of excellence””
Samela Harris - Advertiser Newspaper, Aug 2001
“The quality of Patch’s performance of PoM pOm was up with the best of all the
performances I saw at the esteemed Hame’s Castle Festival in Finland.”
Diana Laidlaw – SA Minister for the Arts 2001
“The students were enthralled the entire time – any performance that can keep an
audience of K-3 spellbound is something really special.”
North Adelaide Primary School
“Berry, berry good!”
Ella Gillespie (aged 3 years) Bellevue Heights
“Best Physical and Visual Theatre 2001”
Helpmann Award Nomination