Easter Bilby - The Pantomime. National Museum. Yarramundi Visitor Centre Theatrette. Two shows daily at 10.00 am & 1.00 pm March 25-29. One show daily at 10.00 am March 30-April 14. Admission: Children $2.50, Adults $5.00, Families (two adults plus children) $12.00. Bookings essential on 256 1115.
Reviewed ~March 25, 1996
I recommend you ring up and book right now, even if you are an adult without children. I found it fascinating watching children from Kindy to Grade 3 from Palmerston Primary School enthusiastically metamorphosing into Bilby, Numbat and Chuditch (spotted quoll) in the indigenous team against Easter Bunny, Flash Rabbit and lots of Naughty Rabbits in the exotic team, with Finch and Wren as umpires. Well, it's not really the ARL vs SuperLeague, but this story by Ali Garnett and Kaye Kessing has implications far beyond the story of the environmental disaster caused by rabbits in Australia.
Easter Bilby - The Pantomime has already thoroughly entertained 2500 children at Yarramundi since 1994 and is set to become a permanent tradition. Wonderful costumes and set were made by Canberra designer Kaye Kessing and have been acquired by the National Museum. Kaye and writer Ali Garnett have produced the Easter Bilby Action Pack and have worked with presenters in many places around the country, training others in the ways of interactive educational drama.
I saw Regan White as the Storyteller/Guide and David Bailey in the character role of The Professor in an delightful production (assisted in the costumes department by Catherine Heness and Anna Bochenek). The Theatrette at Yarramundi is a little gem, small-scale and intimate, allowing Regan to work the children into the story ready for the surprise entry of The Professor. At this point the children take off into their dramatic roles, re-enacting the story with mad moments of "whooping about"; beautifully serious exchanges as Numbat and Chuditch, and later Finch and Wren, advise the quite kindly, old Easter Bunny; and a grand celebratory parade when Bilby is awarded Easter Bunny's job according to proper merit principles.
I found the presentation especially rewarding because it demonstrates how quality drama has become part of our lives, the result of 20 years' development in drama-in-education. No longer is it unusual for a Museum Information Officer or a Zoo Keeper or a Science and Technology Guide to use drama skills in a show like this. Even more important, the quality of the performance I saw was highly professional and supported by educationally sound thinking. I wish I could say the same for some other pantomimes that I have watched in shopping centres during school holidays. They may be professional in performance, but the scripts use cheap ways to extract reactions from the young audience. Easter Bilby engages the children directly in both enjoying the drama experience and understanding the environmental issues.
If you are an adult feeling responsible for children under your care, take them to see Easter Bilby. You can feel free to let them participate under the expert guidance of the Museum's presenters, comfortable in the knowledge that tolerance and understanding are what they will learn. But be warned that you will probably be expected to seek out those responsible shops which sell chocolate Bilbies for this year's Easter celebrations!
© Frank McKone
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