BADJELLY THE WITCH (2021)
Tararua Tramping Club, 4 Moncrieff St, Mt Victoria, Wellington
10/07/2021 - 23/07/2021
Production Details
Who has Lucy the cow? What are Tim and Rose going to do? Do Appletrees become policemen? Badjelly the Witch has all these answers and more in this wonderful, chaotic, classic tale of silliness and fun.
Packed with quirky characters, big and small, crazy coincidences and we can’t forget Badjelly herself. Woven with KidzStuff’s awesome tradition of audience interaction, Badjelly is just what you need to stretch those legs and laughing muscles these school holidays.
So get out your broomsticks and come and join Tim and Rose on their quest to find Lucy the cow!
Our 2018 version of this show was so popular, we are re-mounting it! Annica was in KidzStuff’s original, 2018 Badjelly cast, then KidzStuff’s Jessica Bo Peep straight after, where she played the title role. You may also remember Tom from The Pied Piper in 2019, in the title role with his magnificent green cape and red hat. Eryn is returning to KidzStuff for the 1st time since 2014, to take on the title role of Badjelly!
Our original 2018 Badjelly The Witch (Amalia Calder) is currently too pregnant to be Badjelly this time around, but she will return. This will be Haydn’s 1st KidzStuff show, but he is no stranger to children’s theatre, we are excited to have him on the team.
Tararua Tramping Club, 4 Moncrief Street, Mount Victoria, Wellington
10 – 23 July 2021
Monday – Friday 10am & 11:30am
10am shows only on Saturdays!
Tickets $12.00 pp, Children under 2 Free
$7 Special Opening Preview, Saturday 10th July 2021
Bookings: www.kidzstufftheatre.co.nz
CAST
Annica Lewis
Eryn Street
Haydn Carter
Tom Kereama
Theatre , Family , Children’s ,
A kids’ delight
Review by Margaret Austin 12th Jul 2021
I always enjoy the show before the show that I arrive at a kids’ performance. Sure enough, up the red carpeted aisle at the Tararua Tramping Club and greeted by a blue wigged being comes a cohort of youngsters in bright raincoats, glitzy shoes and umbrella wings. Curiosity and eagerness mark their expressions – unlike the world-weary air of the accompanying adults.
Next to me an eight-year-old is following the match of the day onscreen. I enquire if he’s intending to watch two shows at once. Fortunately, the end of England v Italy forestalls a response.
Badjelly the Witch is an adaptation by Alannah O’Sullivan of Spike Milligan’s book, and being performed by members of KidzStuff. The set is promising – there are mountains, a forest, a distant castle and a forbidding set of prison bars. All play a part in the unfolding story.
We are primed to dislike the Badjelly the Witch (Eryn Street) from the outset – who could feel any sympathy or affection for someone so outwardly vengeful and child hating? Badjelly doesn’t seem to mind, though, as she sets our heroes Tim (Haydn Carter) and Rose (Annica Lewis) on a journey to rescue Lucy the Cow from her witchlike clutches.
Our courageous pair are destined to meet a series of helpers on the way. There are about a dozen of these, and they are deftly presented by various cast members in the form of puppet like masks with fanciful names.
Who can fail in their quest with so much support? To say nothing of our youthful audience who jump – literally – at the chance to summon the hapless Lucy with a communal “moo”. Thus the supplier of milk for Tim and Rose is saved and Badjelly the witch and her sidekick Dulboot (Tom Kereama) get their just desserts.
The production team, with Hilary Norris as director, is an unusually long one – a reminder that a show of this nature requires a lot of work from a lot of people. I commend their efforts – the result is a kids’ delight.
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