MR GOITCH’S CURIOUS CABINET

Review by Margaret von Klemperer of production at Hilton Festival 2010. (Courtesy of The Witness)

Creative Madness, in the shape of Bryan Hiles and Peter Court offer entertainment for kids of all ages from Mr Goitch’s Curious Cabinet (full title The Curious Cabinet and Mysterious Memorabilia of Mr Goitch). They say they are drawing on Victorian toy and shadow theatre; but what they do is really closer to old-fashioned storytelling with props. It is impossible to compete with computer generated stuff and special effects, so to hold the attention of 21st Century kids, the personality of the storyteller is all, and these two Durban theatre veterans have it in spades.

Their props are, on occasion, beyond cheesy, and the stories they took from the cabinet at the performance I saw were hardly new, but they hold their audience by the amiability of their performance and by something most kids seldom see as they stare at a screen: live people interacting with them. And that interaction is what matters if you are going to create an audience for the future. - Margaret von Klemperer