A curious race of flight-obsessed creatures has crash landed in the remains of the Red Hill Skate Arena, just outside the Brisbane CBD. Eager to get back to “upground”, the Gremlins have thrown open the cabin doors, inviting passengers to join them as they take to the skies with their budget airline Airlinius Hippopotamus.
Please ensure your seatbelt is fastened and your tray is in the upright position. We’re about to go through some serious turbulence.
An immersive theatre experience, your flight with the Gremlins begins as soon as you check in and receive your boarding pass… well, it’s less of a boarding pass, more of a nut or a bolt, that would probably be more useful as part of the half built plane waiting beyond the gate.
Gustoff, Mofball, Pensil, and Gargarov drift in and out, offering pre-flight snacks (read: potatoes), checking for explosives (don’t forget to pack them!) and, presumably, discussing all the amazing safety features on the upcoming flight. I’m not so fluent in the Gremlinian language, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were saying.
It was this build up that told me I was in for something quite special, getting glimpses of the characters that would be accompanying us on the flight, the show starting before it was officially slated to begin. There’s a real dedication to the characters and their story that shows throughout the piece, a sense that things don’t stop or start depending on when there’s an audience there.
What emerges from this is an hour of big laughs and mischievous antics. In fact, mischievous is a buzz word here, perfectly capturing the sense of what audiences can prepare themselves to see. I honestly went in expecting some kind of circus act, with bigger set pieces than were actually performed, but the key thing to remember with the show is that the Gremlins themselves are the set piece. This isn’t bold, brash cabaret – it’s whimsical and, yes, mischievous. It’s quirky, it’s intimate, it’s fun, and it works! It’s more important here that we get a feel for the characters, that their weird family dynamic comes through – after all, there’d probably be just as much chaos if my family decided to start their own airline, and definitely less flight!
A fusion of physical comedy and really quite fantastic world building, the highlight of the evening for me had to be Mofball and her story of the first Gremlin flight. Translated by her brother – the plane’s captain Gustoff – the tale was about as heartfelt as a list of air disasters could be. Both funny and poignant, it’s almost a brief respite from the craziness of just about everything else that’s happening. Almost.
There is much to be said for the location and the design of the whole experience, too. The eerie remains of the burnt out Red Hill Skate Park loom behind the makeshift flight deck, the bar is housed in an old container, passengers enter through a gap in a huge sheet of red t-shirts…
Everything, from the set design, to the costumes, to the green hue of the cast is quirky and interesting, meaning there’s always something to catch your eye – look out for Mofball’s lampshade corset and Pensil’s “support”!
For a truly wild ride through the night, you’d be mad to miss a chance to see the Gremlins take to the skies.
(Though – spoiler alert – you’ll probably need a parachute!)
Reviewer attended opening night on Thursday May 5.
Gremlins is presented by Bent Schematic as part of Anywhere Festival.
Performances run until May 21, at the old Red Hill Skate Arena, Brisbane.
It is suitable for just about all ages. Tickets are available through Anywhere Festival’s website.
The arena can be quite hard to find if you’re unfamiliar with the area (burnt down buildings aren’t always listed on GPS!), so it’s best to aim for Clovely Estate, the wine seller next door, located at 210 Musgrave Road.
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