Escape to Peligro Island

Although I’ve taken many a grandchild to the pictures, I don’t recall taking them to live theatre. Unfortunately I didn’t have one available to come when I attended a school preview of Escape to Peligro Island. I wish I had.

There were school children aplenty attending and they were captivated. And why not? Each was given an electronic controller to record their vote on alternative situations proposed by the cast, and the voting determined the outcome of the story. The controller would turn a different colour, depending on how it was held, to record a vote.

The voting was very enthusiastic! Each voting round took about thirty seconds and there were cheers when the result was confirmed. You could also see how the voting was progressing, which added to the excitement.

Unfortunately the controllers only appeared to work successfully for little people, and I didn’t have a small person to assist me, so my vote wasn’t always what I intended.

It was a typical children’s story with villains, a plane wreck, a vampire island, pirates and the like. The three adults played a variety of characters, but mainly the 12-year-old nerd and the gorgeous vampire he falls for.

The island sat on a table and was about one metre high and a bit more in diameter. Three video cameras trained on this would depict scenes on a screen with little miniature cartoon characters on the island. At the end of each vote the lights went down and the music came up while the characters changed various aspects so they could continue the story in the direction decided by the audience.

Even the adults found it entertaining and the younger members were right into it. There was question time at the end and the most eagerly anticipated question was “Was that a real kiss?” of course the audience had had to vote on whether the kiss took place.

Are school holidays coming up?

Graham Ford.

Image: L-R Jude Henshall, Alirio Zavarce and Dave Heinrich. Photographer: Tony Lewis