LaLaLuna
Civic Theatre, 88 Tay Street, Invercargill, Invercargill
19/07/2010 - 20/07/2010
Regent Theatre, The Octagon, Dunedin
13/07/2010 - 14/07/2010
Theatre Royal, 78 Rutherford Street, Nelson
22/07/2010 - 24/07/2010
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
16/07/2010 - 17/07/2010
Production Details
A surreal and whimsical tale of the moon’s caretaker as he struggles to re-light the darkened moon, LaLaluna is circus, theatre and film woven together with a poetic and comic physical language all its own. Beloved by audiences around the planet, LaLaLuna is the joyful solo creation from Wolfe Bowart, one of today’s masters of physical theatre.
Pocket a moonbeam and take the journey to a place where gravity isn’t always on its best behaviour … An extraordinary theatrical journey for adults and children alike.
“Luminously inventive and magically silly … Wolfe Bowart’s show about the night the light went out in the moon will have you howling with laughter at the dark circle in the sky.” – The Melbourne Age
“An enchantingly loony dreamscape … Wolfe Bowart specializes in a magic realism that evokes childlike wonder.” – The Australian
“Lyrical and ingenious” – The Herald Sun
Wed 14 July, Regent Theatre, Dunedin
Fri 16 July, Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
Sat 17 July, Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch
Mon 19 July, Civic Theatre, Invercargill
Tue 20 July, Civic Theatre, Invercargill
Thu 22 July, Theatre Royal, Nelson
Fri 23 July, Theatre Royal, Nelson
Sat 24 July, Theatre Royal, Nelson
“Inviting the audience into the realm of the fantastic, Bowart utilizes his penchant for silent theatrics, beautiful staging and storytelling to portray the moon’s caretaker. … Undertake LaLaLuna, and undertake boundless splendour.” – The Empire Times
In 2007, LaLaLuna made its UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the London International Mime Festival. Following a 40-performance national tour of Australia later that year, Bowart went on in 2008 to premiere LaLaLuna in Hong Kong as part of the Family Fiesta Series, in Greece at the Volos International Theatre Festival and the International Mime and Puppet Festival of Kilkis, in New Zealand at the FUEL Festival, and in Brazil at the Festival Internacional de Teatro. He also returned to Australia for seasons in Hobart (Theatre Royal), Sydney (Seymour Centre) and Melbourne (Arts Centre).
In February 2009, Bowart was invited to present his particular brand of zany to UK audiences. LaLaLuna headlined the inaugural Family Theatre Festival at the Theatre Royal in Bath, and premiered in Poole at the Lighthouse, and at the Warwick Arts Centre. Following the UK tour, Bowart undertook a 91-performance national tour of Australia with his next solo production Letter’s End – a wildly off-kilter take on the dead letter office – courtesy of an arts grant awarded by the Australian government.
In addition to LaLaLuna and Letter’s End, Bowart and fellow performer Bill Robison have won acclaim internationally with their physical comedy production The Shneedles. The Shneedles most recently completed a 6-month season in Germany for GOP-Varieté Theaters.
As a performer/playwright, Wolfe Bowart’s previous work has been produced for the theatre in the U.S. and in Europe. Harold’s Big Feat and Smoke Fire Fish had their premieres at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum. The California Youth Theatre commissioned Seven Baskets for Khalid, Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis produced Table Settings and Maine’s Arts Centre at Kingdom Falls commissioned and produced Bowart and fellow performer Beverly Mann in The Daft and the Daring. Bowart’s play Lemmings and Pallbearers won the Best of the Festival at the New City Theatre Festival in Seattle. Charcos Secos was created for Atenau Popular in Barcelona, Spain. The award-winning Through the Sipapu was co-written with friends Steve White (Blue Man Group) and Bill Robison.
As a director and artist-in-residence, Bowart has brought physical theatre to people of all ages in conjunction with the Los Angeles Music Centre, Wolf Trap, the Ahmanson Theatre, the Playwrights Project, California Youth Theatre, the Virginia Avenue Project, the Mark Taper Forum and Australia’s National Institute of Circus Arts.
Bowart graduated from Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts and furthered his studies with mentors as diverse as performance artist Rachel Rosenthal and members of Cirque du Soleil.
Pure delight in finding the light
Review by Moreen Eason & John Jefferies 22nd Jul 2010
La La Luna is enchanting. And Mad. And funny. And magical. And enthralling!
It transcends all ages and cultures. The audience, from the very young to the very old, was entranced and mesmerised by Wolfe Bowart’s amazing one-man show telling the story of the night the light in the moon went out.
Instead of weeping and wailing, Bowart’s protagonist decides to relight the moon, and the audience is taken on a madcap ride with him. He takes the blown light bulb from the moon, and then the replacement shatters. The rest of the story is taken up with his search for another bulb, and the adventures he meets along the way. His relighting of the moon at the end is touching.
Almost without dialogue, Bowart creates a parallel universe where nothing is as it seems. He arrives on a unicycle accompanied by the ever-present white rabbit, which proceeds to torment him throughout the tale. There are birds, giant balloons, suitcases on which he stands precariously, huge bouncing spheres, and many more white rabbits which he consistently throws offstage, only to have them return.
Bowart’s talent is special and unique – acrobat, magician, comic, dancer, mime artist, juggler, musician and actor – there seems no end to his skills. His rapport with his audience is complete and compelling. Music before, during and after the performance is perfectly chosen for the occasion. Sound and lighting effects are uncannily accurate, due in no small measure to Bowart’s superb timing, but a credit to his technical crew. The use of an interactive screen is especially effective.
Mention must be made of audience member young Ben Harrison, who, with no rehearsal, assists Bowart in a musical rendition of Moonlight Bay – he’s a natural, and came close to stealing the scene with some very capable upstaging.
La La Luna is a show which should be seen by everyone, whether regular theatre-goer or not – an evening of fun and pure delight. Wolfe Bowart must be encouraged to return to Nelson. It is not often that theatre of this quality is seen in such a perfect venue as the refurbished Theatre Royal – a compliment to all concerned!
La La Luna is an evening of joy and laughter, evoking simpler times and pleasures. Nelson’s season runs at 7pm ’til Saturday evening, with a matinee at 3pm on Saturday, at the Theatre Royal.
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For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News.
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Everyday objects made magic with extraordinary skill
Review by Lindsay Clark 18th Jul 2010
Physical theatre of this calibre comes rarely, so that when it does the magic is all the sweeter. The polish of international touring has in no way dulled the sheer fun and sparkle of the multi-talented Wolfe Bowart, whose charm has his audience captivated from the moment his dressing gowned presence appears in a wacky tooth cleaning process.
Bed time with bendy white rabbit. Floaty dream time. What if… time for the caretaker of La Luna. What if the moon stopped shining, its light bulb refusing to operate?
Ah, then that would lead to a wonderful set of enterprises, with balancing and illusion, juggling and clowning seamlessly weaving an adventure full of surprises. The clown is often the victim of wayward props but he never stops inventing.
To support the fun, there is a running shemozzle with the white rabbit which keeps popping up or out or in, often airborne and sometimes multiplying into a pesky plague of errant bunnies. Indeed offstage has a busy time of it as the slickly resourceful keeper brings in and discards object after object to save the night sky.
One of these proves to be a gas cylinder in disguise. Among the most enchanting sequences involves the giant balloon pictured in promotional material. The nimble clown works his way into the heart of its translucent world and even produces shadow puppetry while there.
Equally impressive is the sound used to cue and underpin the fun. Timing is everything in the illusions so generously created, with never a dead second. The youngster who contributed so cheerfully to one musical number, with a range of farty sounding devices, had the young audience at least, quite riveted.
At last a working light bulb is found, supplied by a wonderfully contrived doppelganger, seemingly behind a screen. How things work though does not matter once we remember that anything can happen here. “Ideas like balloons set free, fly high.”
There could hardly be a better treat for Kidsfest, this combination of extraordinary skill and everyday objects made magic. The moon will be watched carefully by a host of little ones for a good long while.
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For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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