Reviews

For the last 34 years, Central Coast Scouts and Guides have come together in the July School holidays to put on their annual variety show. They are always spectacular, and this year is no exception. Gang Shows are a nearly 80-year-old tradition of the Scouting and Guide movement, starting in the United Kingdom before spreading around the world in the decades that followed. There are roughly 15 Gang Shows still produced around Australia.

It’s always impressive to see a massive cast of thousands all working together in a well-rehearsed show. That’s exactly what this production delivers. Aside from the core cast, it includes over 700 young performers in its ensemble. The scale is mind boggling as hundreds and hundreds of munchkins appear out of nowhere, popping up right next to you in the aisles, singing and dancing their little hearts out.

Ross Daniels is a hilariously funny, almost weird little guy, but not quite. He has guest starred in several classic Australian television dramas over many years and has been at the high end of the comedy circuit in Melbourne since the nineties.  His hilarious new show One Small Trip takes us on a wild and wacky journey to the moon, along with his  bunch of loony misfits.

Writer/Director Rob Reed has inspiringly woven a rich tapestry around themes of revolt, rebellion and war that Euripides’s The Bacchae speaks of.  One can only sit back and enjoy this lengthy but swiftly flowing work.  At the same time it is impossible not to marvel and wonder at the enormous amount of targeted research required to create such a beguiling and masterfully thought-provoking piece of theatre.

All the linkages, that I could grasp, made perfect sense.  Those I couldn’t grasp I was happy to believe were making perfect sense.