Media & Reviews
Wicked witch has tunnel vision
Bunter From
The Hinterland
The Church in the Marketplace
Children’s theatre
If you thought the Cross City Tunnel was cursed, you’re not alone. In Bunter From The Hinterland, the
tunnel is inhabited by a wicked witch hell-bent on destroying Sydney.
The only person who can stop her is a young, beach-loving superhero called Bunter, who has yet to discover his superpowers.
With his sidekick Papa Pizza, a pizza-maker, he takes on the witch. The show is suitable for children aged from 3 to 12.
Superheroes have always been popular with young audiences, says actor Will Snow, 27, who plays Bunter.
“I think kids are fascinated by what may be possible,” he says. “And, when you’re a kid, you think you’re a superhero everyday. I did when I was younger. Now I get to act out that fantasy on stage.”
2. LOCAL HERO
Take the kids to see Australia’s first superhero as he fights to save Sydney in Bunter from the Hinterland.
Weekdays, October 2-13 at Church in the Market Place, Oxford Mall,
Bondi Junction.
Tickets: $12.
Sunday Telegraph Magazine
October 1st. 2006
Action man... actor Will Snow plays Bunter.
Picture: CHRIS HYDE
The Daily Telegraph
Friday, September 29, 2006
JENNIE JONES
Bunter from the Hinterland
Written by Brad Syke
Tuesday, 03 October 2006
From old favourites to new, there’s plenty to see during the
vacations, Wendy Preston writes.
Toddlers to teens can experience the magic of live performance these holidays.
There are old favourites like Play School and Bananas in Pajamas, the return of the Sydney Puppet Theatre and new fun to have with The Fairies, Varekai from Cirque du Soleil and Bunter From The Hinterland.
Bunter From The Hinterland is a comical adventure about Australia’s first superhero as he seeks to perform his very first amazing feat and prove to the enrtire country he is a worthy superhero - as long as he can discover what his superpowers actually are!
This production suits toddlers through to primary school kids and plays at the Church in the Market Place in Bondi Junction on weekdays from Monday October 2 to Friday October 13 at 11.30am and 2pm.
Tickets cost $12 (1300 306 776)
t's a tried-and-tested team: writer and producer, Tony Laumberg; director, Richard Cotter; actors Will Snow, Natalie Rose, Tricia Youlden and Kim Knuckey; (not forgetting set designer, Tony Youlden). Indeed, while the term wildly successful might be bandied about all too loosely, they've, in fact, enjoyed such, with a string of comedy hits, including Unsolicited Male, The Great Divide, Lawyer! Lawyer! and Lawyers in Love.
Now, they've gone out on a limb with their first-ever children’s show.
It's somehow typical of the Laumberg sensibility, as I understand it, that he should invent Australia’s one-and-only (well, The Croc Hunter is no more) superhero, Bunter from the Hinterland; a name, we're assured, way cooler than plain old Jack or Jill.
Bunter is a little unsure of himself; especially with regard to his superpowers. (If only the real superpowers had a little more humility in this.) Like Superman's Kryptonite Achilles' heel, Bunter's fragile self-esteem makes him an accessible superhero, inasmuch as superheroes ever are. And Will Snow is as quick and nimble a kids' performer as the best party clown.
But there's no room for doubt, when you're up against the formidable Tricia Youlden, taking a nasty turn, as The Wicked Witch of The Cross-City Tunnel, hellbent on obliterating life on earth (even if, as she assures her subservient monster, it's just a figure of speech) and threatening to banish all and sundry to that cold, impersonal chamber. I, for one, was not merely alerted, but alarmed, by this spectre.
Kim Knuckey is amusing, too, as the half-hearted, quite congenial monster; not quite as silly as he looks, but almost. In truth, he reminded me of my bear of a brother, 'though not as crabby.
Natalie Rose, in her first-ever role for kids, was a treat as the somewhat brattish Jill, desperately seeking Jack; a little more worldly-wise than her pigtails might predict.
There were some flatspots, but plenty of clever (never try-hard) gags: like Bunter's warning Jill not to go up the hill; Papa Pizza, the gerbilesque puppet (Richard Gere, eat your heart out), appearing from, well, Bunter's own hinterland.
Laumberg and Cotter, being the canny pair they are, probably have more adventures in mind for the bethonged Bunter. And that's something worth leaving the suburban hinterland to see.
BUNTER FROM THE HINTERLAND
Venue: Church in the Market Place, 400 Oxford Mall, Bondi Junction (next to Bondi Junction Train Station and Bus Interchange)
Dates/Times: Mondays to Fridays from 2 to 13 October. Shows at 11.30 am and 2.00 pm.
Tickets: $12.00 (children & adults) including GST (plus any booking fee) and are available at the door at the time of the performance or through MCA on 1300 306 776