Review: Putting a bite into school holiday fun

Dylan Underwood as a shark in The Great White Man-Eating Shark and Other Stories at Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna. Photo / David Rowland.

What: The Great White Man-eating Shark and other stories
Where & when: PumpHouse Theatre, until July 21

There are some certainties about mid-year school holidays: the year feels like it's moving too fast (that's the adults) but simultaneously too slowly (that's the kids); the weather will be miserable for at least half the time and, because of the above, it's easy for everyone to feel at a low ebb.

But another certainty about school holidays is that Tim Bray Productions will stage one of its consistently good plays for children and, if you're smart, you'll go along with the kids because it will make winter just that bit warmer.

This July, Bray has adapted three of Margaret Mahy's - The Great White Man-eating Shark, The Boy With Two Shadows and The Boy Who Was Followed Home – with songs by Marshall Smith and music by Oliver Huang-Hsu.

You can't really go wrong with source material as great as Mahy's delightfully quirky and wholly original stories. I mean, who hasn't wanted to have an entire beach to themselves? It's just that not many of us would be inventive enough to do so by impersonating a great white shark. Throw in a witch or two and some colourful hippopotamuses and you're clearly – judging by audience reaction – onto a winner.

The cast, Dylan Underwood, Calum Hughes, Erica Kroger and Kat Glass, are wholly committed to their various roles with Underwood, in particular, throwing himself into all he takes on; Glass puts in an endearing performance as a nomadic hippopotamus far from home.

I had with me two nine year olds, who are possibly at the upper end of the age scale for these gentle and whimsical productions. However, they were completely engaged, laughed loudly at all the right moments and left talking excitedly about how they might have a go at making their own hippos (and then wanted to read the Mahy stories again).

What struck me most was that they've become more interested in the stagecraft of these productions. How will the shadow of a witch be portrayed? How do create a beach on stage? Can an actor really portray a shark? Simply but cleverly and in a way that delights.