On Saturday afternoon, the Fortune Theatre was full of kids laughing themselves silly. 

They were watching The Emperor’s New Clothes and enjoying its great story, lovable characters, loads of goofy, exuberant humour, idiotic capers and face-pulling. [More] 

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The Emperor’s New Clothes is the Fortune Theatre’s offering for children these school holidays. It is a timeless tale about vanity and denial that current events prove is still an important tale to tell to all ages. It is the story of a scam of the epic proportions we all secretly hope Trump’s campaign to be.

The essentials of the story are the appearance-obsessed Emperor and his deceitful tailors who create a new suit for him out of material that only intelligent people can see. The Emperor would rather risk parading nude in public than admitting the truth – that he cannot see the special fabric. Also fearing the category of ‘stupid’, his people go along with it until a child points out that the Emperor is naked.

Gregory Cooper, fresh from an amazing performance of Niu Sila at the Fortune, has added in an intelligent daughter, a dancing mannequin and the worst punishment of all time: being forced to wear a unitard.

The young cast are regular performers in Improsaurus and Counterpoint productions. They bring a lot of energy and crazy facial expressions to the stage. Trubie-Dylan Smith uses his Improsaurus background well for his character of Rufus the con man. He responds beautifully to the audience and takes care of his fellow performers on stage. His elastic face is a hit with the children in the audience.

Nick Tipa plays both Emperor and mannequin and Rachel Chin plays Eva and Dufus. They both handle some quick costume changes very well and play their comic characters for maximum effect. Chin shows an aptitude for physical theatre.

Not to be underestimated is the effect and contribution of Zac Nicholls as the musical director. His performance perfectly underscores and enhances the show. He plays a variety of instruments, has perfect timing and adds some much needed texture to this performance. My niece enjoys dancing to his music.

The most poignant feature of this story is supposed to be the voice of the child who shatters the carefully crafted illusions of the adult world with the truth. This audience is true-to-form in the role of the voice of the child when Tipa’s emperor, at his lowest point, monologues his despair at losing his clothes. A pint-sized optimist from the front row offers, “But you still have your socks,” and once more pretentious adult triviality is cut down to size. 

Director Jordan Dickson has chosen his cast well. They modernise an old story and acknowledge the range of ages in the audience. The pacing of a couple of scenes will no doubt tighten up as the run progresses.

The Emperor’s New Clothes is well worth the trek up Stuart St from the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival festivities in the Octagon. It is my niece’s first live theatre experience and aside from being mystified at the start as to why the strange adults are yelling at each other – not yet being fully filled in on the importance of the latest fashions – she is caught up in a way that only Peppa Pig has achieved so far. So if you are heartily sick of Peppa Pig and her ilk this holidays, bring your small people along to the Fortune for a welcome break. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer