Read the latest review by Lowdown's Adelaide based reviewer Jane Howard who visited the latest offering from Victoria's Drop Bear Theatre during a recent trip to Sydney - oh my how very national!
Aleksander and the Robot Maid was presented by Drop Bear Theatre in association with the Seymour Centre in NSW. The story is about when Aleksander journeys to the hallowed city of Robotika he is captivated by the technological marvels of the Steam Age. Lured by the promise of a life of leisure, the people have been liberated from work by the box-headed Industrials. But all is not as it seems.
The show played during the school holidays and was presented as "an original steam-punk adventure where childhood curiosity and friendship prevail in a troubling world."
Children were invited to help build a giant robot from recycled and repurposed materials in a free post-show workshop and is suitable for children 8 years and older.
And Excerpt from Jane Howards review....
Aleksander and the Robot Maid, Drop Bear Theatre’s new steam-punk adventure for children explores a technologically advanced age. But, instead of the future, we’re taken back to industrial-revolutionist Russia in an alternative history: one with robots. Y
Young Aleksander (Tim Kurylowicz) is moving from the country to the big city Robotica with his guardian Miss Katarina (Sarah Lockwood). Here, they never need work again: the robots will do everything they require. While Miss Katarina cannot wait for her life of relaxation and luxury, Alek isn’t so sure: what will he do all day, when he has nothing to do at all? Aunt Lychova (Margot Politis) warns Alek of the dangers of getting to close to the robots, under the care of the menacing Mr Whipp (Andrew Brackmann) and tells him to take his peppermints for his health.
Left without a father after a robot-mishap, Alek is at first scared of the robots, but then befriends one he calls Daisy (Carolyn Ramsey, remarkably expressive as she jerks around the stage, head concealed in a cardboard box.). Aunt Lychova is less than supportive of this friendship, as she strives to make Robotica the utopia she dreams it to me.
For ages eight and up, Caleb Lewis’s script directed by Ali Gordon, is frequently quite menacing, but always maintains a ...