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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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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