Survivor - or Big Brother? "Robinson Crusoe" adapted by Gillian Rubinstein. Windmill Productions and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image [review]

Abstract

Windmill Productions have completed their first year of operation and there is much to celebrate. In the capable hands of Creative Producer Cate Fowler, Windmill is firmly in the first rank of companies which specialise in work for young audiences. In the repertoire thus far Windmill has shown us big puppets with its visually appealing "Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge", showcased the Bell Shakespeare’s excellent production of "I Girragundi" and re-staged "Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish", Simon Phillips’ production based on the work of Eric Carle, which not only successfully toured to Montreal and New York but collected one of this year’s Helpmann Awards as well. The concert feature "The Sign of the Seahorse" was a strong collaboration with the ASO and the Japanese co-production "A World of Paper" was, - along with Brundibar, the haunting children’s opera written and first performed in the Terezin concentration camp - a highlight of this year’s Come Out. The most recent production, "Robinson Crusoe", from the Sydney based Kim Carpenter Theatre of Image is, in some respects, less satisfactory.