Blessed with a fine if slightly breezy day, we gather at the Ilott Green (where the first Circa Theatre once stood). A big kid with a sensible sunhat is working diligently at a sandcastle. Behind her, stranded upon the performance area of faux grass matting, is a huge pneumatic whale, of the Blue variety if I’m not mistaken.

The ingenuity of this manifestation must be acknowledged. It spurts water, ups a periscope; its eye – the one we can see – closes, opens and rolls; its huge mouth opens, its tongue lifts; its pectoral fin moves, its tail lifts … It is even able to poop out people! Unseen puppeteer Jamie Bishop does a wonderful job of animating this creature and making us believe.

The girl (Carolyn Hanna) finds a strange red object – treasure? – before realising the whale is behind her. “Beached as, bro”…? She doesn’t say so, just runs off to tell her mum. And when a be-goggled Navigator (Penny Baron) emerges from the belly of the beast, she seems to be swimming under water. But later there is mention of stranding, so take your pick, I guess.  

What is certain is that the whale is sick, which brings the dubious Dr Walrus (Nick Papas) to the hoped-for rescue. Slapstick ensues as attempts are made to diagnose the problem and find a remedy – and volunteers from the audience get quite involved.

This day a boy called Jonah, no less, tops the helping hero bill and I’m disappointed the actors don’t make more of this – just a belated, “Are you really called Jonah. Gosh. That hasn’t happened before.” I’d have expected greater spontaneity and creativity from a devising company “famed for their ability to improvise on the spot.”

Meanwhile a shark (Carolyn Hanna) tries to profiteer by auctioning off bits of the whale, plastic garbage turns out to be a major part of the problem and its broken heart is mended when the girls returns with her ‘treasure’. So there is method in their madness, and there are good learning and further activity opportunities to be extracted from The Whale’s Tale.

Overall the ‘Born in a Taxi’ ensemble (from Melbourne, where so much excellent physical and comedic theatre is born) does great job and I look forward to their next show, A Curious Game, at the same venue next week. 

(There’s a public performance at 1pm this Saturday, 19 May.) 
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