THEATRE

The Age

Saturday November 14, 2009

Tim Richards

WHAT AfricaWHERE Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt St, SouthbankWHEN Tonight 8pm, until November 29COST $26/$20, 9685 5111, malthousetheatre.com.auIT'S A tale that tugged at the heart-strings of millions when it broke in January. Two young Germans, Mika and Anna-Bell, planned to elope to the warm plains of Africa, only to be stopped by the police at the Hanover airport train. There was a reason for the authorities' unromantic objections, of course: the couple were only six and five years old respectively. It's a cute true story that revealed the resourcefulness of youngsters, and has inspired performance collective My Darling Patricia's new production, Africa. The hybrid work mixes puppets, performance and projection, in order to explore what would happen in a world in which children were in charge of their own destinies. Making their way through a complex multi-level set populated with props and debris, the young characters must draw on the powers of imagination and fantasy to survive.

© 2009 The Age

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