It’s a carnival of blow-up sculptures, clowns and balloons when I make my way to Brisbane’s annual Out of the Box Children’s Festival to see Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead. The event, held in the Concert Hall of Queensland’s Performing Arts Centre, makes use of the entire Queensland Symphony Orchestra. I can only remember vaguely a couple of encounters with an orchestra as a young child, and certainly relished the opportunity. Even as an adult, there are few guaranteed performing arts spectacles as rewarding as seeing an entire symphony orchestra playing on stage. As we waited patiently for the performance to start, the young audience was already starting to guess who would fill the dozens of empty seats on stage.

The Composer is Dead follows a loose narrative, primarily invented to teach the young audience about a symphony orchestra. An Inspector, in this case played by the very well-loved Bryan Proberts, is hired to investigate the murder of the composer, and interviews each of the sections of the orchestra in turn. The piece was originally commissioned some years ago by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and produced as a book and an audio recording. It’s in these mediums I believe the piece would really shine. Proberts makes the performance as physical as possible, but he certainly feels caged. It’s an audio adventure, and one that has been performed live around the world many times. Apart from the visual spectacle of the orchestra itself, it is not a visual performance.

Nevertheless, there is a five minute introduction carried out in silence. Proberts takes on the role of clown trying to organise sheet music for the orchestra. This gorgeous mime is enchanting for the audience but feels a little like an after thought, as it bears no relation to the rest of the performance whatsoever. I’m perplexed by it’s inclusion.

Lemony Snicket is the author of the blockbuster young adult series A Series of Unfortunate Events. These books sparkle with a dark humour, juxtaposed with an underlying warmth that has allowed Snicket to break free of the Rowling dominated age and make his own mark. The Composer is Dead is very much in his voice, which is where a small problem is encountered. A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of books for eight to twelve year olds. Snicket tackles large themes such as death and family betrayal that may be lost on a younger audience. He’s done the same with The Composer is Dead, which is full of a mature wit and charm that I don’t believe fully engaged the Festival’s very young target audience.

The festival aims itself at four to eight year olds, and advertised this performance for those aged six and up. I couldn’t help but notice that the original San Francisco press release advertised their production for those aged seven and up, and I’d have to agree. It would take a very mature six year old to appreciate the performance. Seven is about as young as one could manage. I question a six year old’s ability to understand the concept of murder, which is central to the narrative of the piece. The resolution of this, a witty and superbly ironic punchline that caught me by surprise, also feels too mature for such a young crowd, and is potentially quite confusing for them.

Still, the idea behind the performance is genius and a great way to introduce young audiences to classical music. The music itself is a beautiful collection of Wagner, Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, including original compositions by Nathaniel Stookey. The Queensland Symphony Orchestra executed these with grace and ease that had children in front of me dancing in their seats.

It’s a daunting job for Proberts, who in some senses is doing a children’s one-man show here. Always an enchanting and hilarious narrator, Proberts at times felt as though he was trying to wrangle an enormous beast that could slip away at any stage. Part of this was the character, but it was also the difficulty of trying to synchronize a large orchestra with one actor on stage. It’s quite a technical qualm, but the cueing of the orchestra was never quite right. There was usually an unsatisfying second or two of silence between Probert’s narration and the orchestra playing. This minute drop of energy meant Proberts was forced to work very hard. Where it felt as though the orchestra and him should be working in partnership, it too often seemed as though one was lagging slightly behind the other. This translated into a performance that felt slightly too long, and slightly dry. The slight tightening of the cues would mean an incredibly slick and compelling show.

Whatever worries one may have with the production, however, it’s Snicket’s words that really shine through. The idea of this piece is truly brilliant, and Probert’s characterisation of each of the sections of the orchestra shows him off to be the truly superb actor that he is. Queensland is very lucky to have him. It’s also blessed to have a superb symphony orchestra, who show themselves off here and go along for the ride with a wonderful sense of humour. They looked as though they were having a lot of fun. As did the audience, who greeted the orchestra and Proberts with boundless glee. There would have been plenty of school buses tuned to classical FM stations on the way home.

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